The San Francisco call., 1895-10-12

the Mercantile Library Association. An
entertainment by this society was af5ot,
the piece being The Scholar of Hen
Khorat, and Harry Parsons was cast in
one of the important roles. A few days
before the date of the performance Mr..
Parsons fell i'll, and l, being fair game
from the standpoint of the management
was taken in tow to play the part.
played it, and thenceforward mercantile
paths were no more for me. | had had
grease paint on my face, | had blinked at
the tOOtllghts, and, yes, | had listened to
the intoxicating music of thunderS of ap-
plause. Enthusiastic friends told me | was
success, and fear l was all too willing
to believe them.
This was III 1865. For time I did not
quite catch the drift of my talent and en-
tertained ideas of doing serious work-a
serious proposition, as | now realize. But
l soon gave up this notion, chance having
taken hand in my affairs second time.
At beneht l was called upon to play
Tobie Wrinkle in All That Glitters Is \ OF
Gold and later Aminidah Sleek in The
Serious Family and Henry Dove in Mar
rled Life One after another these parts
CHnched the comedy mantle on me. Then
/ had the honor of doing Box and Cox
with William Warren, and | turned nv
back on the heroes and heavies 70 rever
4leh DCCA III llulllGIOuS CnuTCn clOlrS
and was, therefore, something of a singer
but had no thought of comic-opera ca.
reer until 1873. 1t was.a happening again
The Boston Theater had piece on which
Jagged considerably, and, seeking for
paying substitute, somebody suggested
that an ideal company be organized to pre-
sent 'PlnafOre.' They named Tom Karl
Myron w. Whitney, W. H. Fessenden'
Mary Beebe, myself and some other we'll
known singers. The suggestion was acted
upon, and presently we were all on
the deck of her Majesty's ship.
and the public was crowding to the
gunwales to hear the tuneful music and to
laugh at the satirical filings at English
naval usages. Other light operas fol-
lowed and permanent organization was
effected by Miss Ober Thus the Boston
Ideals came into being, and with them my
career as comic opera comedian-purely
the result of chance.
For SIX years this organization under
MISS Ober'S management was one of the
most successful theatrical ventures in
America. During that time | appeared in
large number of comedy roles, most
of the standard light operas having
found place In our repertory. When Miss
Ober retired the Ideals continued under
other management for time Then Mr.
Karl, Mr.. Mcdonald and myself organ
lied our present company, The Bos-
tomans. AT first we presented only the
old and well-known operas, but we soon
concluded to secure new works which
would give US a distinctive repertorv.
'SuZette' was one of these and was fol-
lowed by the first of De Koven
q Smiths operas, written for us.
Don Quixote.' We played this for
a year, though 1t was not a strik-
ing success, and in the meantime had the
same authors write for US robin Hood. u
This piece was first done in Chicago. and
after we had given 1t a hearing knew that
something further had happened-we had
found an American opera worthy to rank
with the best OF those of foreign author
ship, which have survived the test of
time.
AFTER years of steady playing we find
Robin Hoods popularity still unfathom-
able. However, we have added another
De Koven and Smith opera, The Knicker-
bockers, to our repertory-a piece which
promises extraordinarily welI-and we
lfaye in rehearsal two other new Ameri-
can operas. One of these is located on
the Southwestern frontier, and the other
in Puritan New England. These will
be produced before the close of the
present season. | have been nearly thirty
years stage professional, and have had
in that time considerable experience, but
regarding the method whereby success as
an actor may be achieved, / confess have
not gathered much general evidence. |
have noticed, however, that those who
strive earnestly to make progress in their
art and who studiously refrain from an
nexing themselves to the notion that they
are the greatest people in the business
these usually succeed. May be after all
the best success recipe is: Don't get the