The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-12-15

up the money was still on the floor. OF
mensely, because they hadn't seen any
thing of the kind before, and that is what
would succeed most to-day Everybody
wants originality
81 don't know how I happened to pick
up the tricks did. was taught to dance
by an italian who had come out TO CAL
lfornia to make fortune in the gold
mines. He didn't, so he led the orchestra
that used to play in the concert hall IN
which | appeared. He taught me TO sing
and to dance, but the other tricks that
used to make my audience laugh otten
came to me on the spur of the moment
In all the years that l acted my different
parts, 1 don't believe that 1 ever varied
them very much from one performance to
another l acted them in the same way,
but added to them anything new that
happened to occur to me, and worked
hard for all those thirty years to Keep
the friends had made.
Il shall never act any more. Mr.. JET
ferson asked me to act with him in the
production of The Rivals this spring
He wanted me to play the part of Susan.
and l should like to have done IL, but
when 1t came to the point my. courage
failed. / am well so long as ! don't act,
and Tam afraid to take any risks Be
Sides most of my time is so occupied
with my bicycle that never could have
Lolita will tell you no end of anecdotes
about a career that has extended over
some thirty years or more and included
possible in the actors life. When she
played first in the west theaters and life
there were crude. and the comfort of the
travelling actors was not the chief reward
of theatrical life. During the time in
which she was most popular few towns
were large enough to justify an engage
ment of more than two or three nights.
Probably If the average of all Lotta's en-
gagements could be taken, IL would be
found to be nearer two nights than a
week. Railroad travel during many of
these years was not as agreeable as it is
now, hotels were not as comfortable,
and the lot Of the travelling actor, partic-
ularly in the western states, was as hard
as it could we'll have been. But its re-
wards to Lolita were ample. Never, from
the time she danced in the California
music hall and collected the miners gold,
was she anything but the star of a COM
pany. When she started first to travel
il was her dancing and singing that were
made the central eatures of the perform
ances in which she acted. One of the
music halls in San Francisco, during the
days Of the gold fever, was the "Melo-
and Sophie and Jennie Worrell, and Mag
gle Moore, now in Australia, were her
associates. They were all known and
popular in their time, and the little girl
from the mining town, who had come up
to compete with them, had a hard strug-
gle to make her way in the presence of
Lolita came straight from the "Melo-
deon'' to New York, and in 1854 acted here
for the first time at Niblos saloon, which
she went to Chicago for New York had
not been particularly cordial. But she soon
came back and conquered it. THE Seven
ar's theater in Chicago, first established
her reputation in the east. From that time
until she retired, three years ago, there
was nothing but success in her life, bar
ring her experiences in London, when the
husband of q rival actress organized a
gang to hiss her at the theater.
I'VE used to have some dreadful things
hannah I chn unr
'and at first / worried myself to death
over the contretempS, but after a while
/ got accustomed to them, and regarded
them merely as unavoidable incidents of
our acting. l remember that one of the
worst of them happened when was play
| ing in the Little Detective" The heroine
| had been murdered, and her corpse was
to have fioated slowly past in the back
| ground This was usually done by pulling
her across the stage on little sofa on
| wheels. But 1t was discovered at the last
moment there wasn't a bit of rope in the
! theater that could be used. 1t was a small
| town, and the accessories were not as CON-
| plete as Henry Irving's. 1 was standing
| on the stage as the little detective, await
ing the appearance of the corpse. Presently
l heard a Shrek from the wings.
How dare you take hold of my ankle
| I'll tell my husband! l heard in the tones
of the heroine who had only a few mo-
/ ments before been murdered in the sight
of the audience and then cast into the
river. i never heard of such thing. L
| This conversation which had begun in
the wings, continued as the indignant
corpse whizzed across the stage with the
velocity of an express train. 1t terminated
suddenly when the dead body landed with
bump against the opposite wall of the
! theater.
The audience was laughing over the
marvellous behavior of the murdered lady.
and l couldn't conceal the fact that /
thought it just as funny. 1 never knew
until the curtain fell what had happened
Then learned that in the absence of the
rope, which should have drawn the body
slowly across the stage, one of the stage
hands had given the little wagon a shove
and started it rapidly across the stage.
In order to get a firm hold he had seized
the leading ladys ankle. That was what
had aroused her indignation, and she
was made even more furious when she
landed up against the brick wall on the
other side OF the stage. Those things
| happened more often in the old times,
and 1 got so accustomed to them after a
while that they became as laughabIe 10
me as they were to Others"
Lolita was never married. From time to
time rumors of her engagement have float
ed about, but nobody ever put much faith
in them. Once q man who claimed to he
her husband, turned up in the west, but
ne was soon lost sight Of. Her life has
always been of the simplest, and she is
probably the richest actress in the world.
There has never been a scandal con-
nected with her name, and her character.
as it has been revealed on the stage, was
found to be much the same in private
life by those who were lucky enough to
know the woman as well as the actress.
She was light-hearted and merry in her
plays, doing everything in her power to
make life seem the same. Out of her plavs
she has been conspicuous always for these
same characteristics. She has had shreWd
advisers, principally in her mother, whose
business ability has been as famous for
years with the people who are informed
daughters powers have been, and her
present fortune is due 10 the wise invest
ment Of the liberal earnings OF her long
career SO Lolita, although she has ceas-
cd 10 smile and sing for the benefit Of
others, 70 make life gayer and happier
Tor them, ls not compelled TO be sorrow
ing or sad over her own condition