The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1895-05-19

,tacroad,, had already asked me 10 20
Win him IA the Princess Theatre lot
season OF three years. but l "an,e9 10
come 10 the United States. ana saiieu VI
the Cunard steamer America y" ''f'
Der Is, lsis. .. h.-o to-
we made our first appearance hsie VI
gether in The Stranger. anu f'S g..
the Stranger 10 Miss Cus sl,,A, ,b-a,,,,h
uailer. After that We traVeile1 tNIo..e
80 ,r,,clnat cities. and when Miss Iush,
40, returned 10 London / had declutn
mat liked America enough 10 stay .ei1
90, think OF the work ] had IN thoS'
-, ,o-,rared 10 the lot OF our actors 'o-
~. Mics Cuehman at her henehls Al
,,.svs plaved Macbeth and The honey
moon " Think OF two plays HAe ."o'
one evening. / had 20 dress al'.l
.. in Macbeth and be ready as ~,
p7,uo IN sneak the first line IN "e
- - was usually exhausted
t-,t no amount Of argument couln per
- Miss Cushman 10 change tnat pro-
..rsn,noo. Her other benefit bill was hen
%, wiz and simpson q CO.. ana was
easier for the actors 80,
IN was I'm Philadelphia, where l actou
az The Walnut street Theatre amer Mls5
cuehmar went 20 Europe, that ] eol Nolu
~ a mart in which / made propaniy lhe
Greatest success in my career. oleh''.
there as Jaques In AS You Like IT, anu
shortly after that Nine. celeste came
10 play an engagement az the tH'a i.,.,,
bringing with her new pay an
Willow Copse.' / had me Ioie Oh IN, IN
t-ielsire and when / brought Nine.
rcioste before the curtain, she refused
IN accent tho applause for herself ana
introduced me 20 the audience as the mos
e,icceseful actor ln the piece. As we iell
the stage she said 10 me-
after YOUR acting as Luxe flehinE
This ulav ought 20 belong 10 you. loH
shall have a COPY Of 10 and the right 70
urOduce IL wherever You want 10.
Il took a copy Of the play ana maNe
NV first attempt ass star I'D IT.
member that IL had run or three ii.n-s
Boo Pittsburgh on my nrsl tour, an" ''",
was regarded as something Pu'Hv''''''i
a.. that town in those days. For twenty
,.aare Luke Fielding was one Of my mcst
ronular parts. but even 10 vas not PROOF
AGAINST tho depression in theatricals trat
followed tho panic OF 90. There was no
money in starring. so ! came back 10 Nc"
York and Joined Laura keene's company
at the old olympic.
"rn the company were Joseph Jefferson,
William Rufus Blake. Sothern' ana MINES
Lovick. While we We're there James bui
nett. our stage manager one Gay iedN
u new nvc-act play called OUT America"
cousin 10 the company. After the read
ir,. he asked me whether ! would play
the part Of Coylo. the lawyer, or ms
clerk. Abel Nurcott / declined 90 play
either part. on the ground that the piece
was nothing more than hvo-act Yankee
farce. "a kind Of play familiar enough in
one act as an afterpicce Solheih' WHO
was cast for Lord Dunlrcary. declined 10
act in the piece for the same reason
But Miss Kccne finally prevailed on both
of us. and SOthcrn's part made his fame
and Abel Mufc0tt was considered one or
my best parts
a season with John owens IN New or
leans in 1882 followed by years Of acting
through the country brought Mt. coul-
dock down to- Hazel kirkc,' and tho
Madison square Theatre This period
covers twenty years. the usual term Of
an actors work. but only about onc-third
Of the time that Mr. CoIidOCk has been
acting. For five years Do played Dunsian
kirke.
Il think that tho stage has improved
very much ir my time. the actor SAYS.
THE class Of men that go ou the stage
to-day ls higher than 70 used 90 Do. The
condition ~ the profession mas improv-
cd. and there IS ono instance in whl-n /
notice IL particularly There SIS nothing
now Ike the intfmpcrance t9lt formerly
existed among actors. 10 used to DE 40
exception in the old days when there was
not some one OF the actors in play
under tho influence Of liquor. ln the SOC
cletv PLAYS of to-day the acting is very
much better than it was formerly. az
though Boo the classic dramas Dr. is not so
good. but tfis comes. OF course. from ihe
little practice that our actors have in
these plays Formerly when a youne
Dad
billion 10 Get OthcllO. or Hamlet. or Roe
meo. and Dee waited until the opportunity
came. The system OF l0ng runs has the
disadvantage Of keeping a young actor
in "a certain part so that it is often
long time before 10 is discovered what he
really is best fitted for. But 10 enables
him to play port better taan we ala in
the OLD times. when, for instance. Dee
would give Macbeth once and then charge
the bin the next night. lf a star came.
the actor who usually PLAYED Macbeth
had 10 DO Macdun. and probably DO would
Doe months before he would be called upoy
20 play that part again. So there was
less opportunity to develop the charac-
tcrs
"Thc work involved on the actors part
was something 20 which l look back even
now with terror. I've set mp many
tiiitH aM ilHAL HAA4f Aii- liif lAtif1 ~ 4ftt
next part. and the result OF so much
changing was that there We're always
number OF the actors who We're very
shaky in their lines. but IL was the old
drama that brought forth such giants as
Macrcady. kcan. Charlotte Cushmau, and
Edwin Booth. We have fine stage mama
gers to-day. but We have no such actors
as these / believe that the taste for
the classic drama will return. and per-
haps the actors will come back with 10.
Am ! leaving the stage? That qucs-
ton always carries me back 10 what Ma
crcady said 10 me when I acted with
him in Liverpool after his return from
the United States. ] had heard that he
was going 10 retire and asked him II II
We're true
so. De said I'm not going 20 leave
the stage. But / am already afraid that
the stage is beginning 20 leave me. "-
New York sun.