St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-07-15
EEMASH NOTES., WRITTEN TO
GIRLS WHO ARE UPON
THE STAGE.
SOME OF THEM AMUSING.
SERVANT GIRLS AND SHOP GIRLS
WHO WANT A CHANCE
TO ACT,
LETTER TO ANNE BLANCHE
A Young Fool Rnshes Into Verse
in Admiring the Little
Actress.


One of the many annoyances at
tached to an actors life is the So
called mash notes" written by ad-
mirers, fair and otherwise; notes
from people who are anxious to get
on the stage and who wish advice
as to the best way to go about it,
and, lastly, letters from embryo
playwrights, who desire the recip-
lent to read their plays and pass
judgment on them.
The sensible age of an average
American girl must be between
twenty-one and thirty, for, as a gen
eral rule, those who so far forget
their dignity as to write ''mash
notes to actors are either between
the ages of sixteen and twenty, or
from thirty to any age at which
one would think they were cid
enough to know better. The writer
has interviewed many actors and
managers on this subject and has
collected a number of amusing let
ters, some of which are given below
that they may serve as warning
to those who may have an inclina-
ton to bore some overwOrked TheS-
plan with their effusions.
Those maidens that labor under
the mistaken idea that they are des-
tined to elevate the stage, generally
write about as follows:
Dear Sir: My friends tell me that 1
would make a great hit on the stage.
/ have appeared in several amateur
performances, and have been advised
by those who saw me that l should go
on the professional stage. Now, 1
should very much like to join your
company, if you can give me
chance, etc.
her personal charms and what parts
she has an idea she can do justice
to.
Manager Wilbur, of the Wilbur OPP
era company, receives from twenty
five to thirty letters week from girls
who wish to display their charms and
carry a spear in the ranks of his
company. They are mostly from ser
want girls or girls who are working
on small salaries in large stores.
Mr.. Giffen. of the Giffen & Neill
company, received a letter the other
day from a young lady VINO modestly
stated that she knew she would make
a splendid actress, but she desired
some assistance in making a start.
The letter was poorly written and the
spelling would jar the nerves of an
advocate of the phonetic school. Mr..
Giffen answered it, and advised the
young lady to employ her spare mo-
ments in perfecting her education in
stead of dreaming of conquests on
the stage. Mr.. NeiIl, who is part
owner as well as leading man of the
stock company now at the Grand, has
received letters Of all kinds since his
arrival in st. Paul Most of them
are from matinee girls, and they gen
orally arrive after he has played q
romantic part such as Capt Swift
One Minneapolis young lady, who is
the daughter of prominent whole
sale grocer in the Flour City, sent Mr..
Neill her photograph as an introduce
ton and then wrote a letter request
ing him to meet her. The letter was
destroyed and the photograph was
used as prop by Miss Anne
Blancke in Nancy & CO..
missives. In private life, Mr. Neill is
. the husband of Miss Anne Blancke,
and, SO far as he is concerned, the
matinee girls may save their postage
stamps.
OF course, this foolishness is not en-
tirely confined to the fair sex. Young
men-or, rather, those who have not
as yet acquired the titIe-are some
times moved to express on paper their
ardent admiration for some foctlight
goddess, and to send it to- the object of
their alteration. Here is a letter which
was received by Miss Anne Blancke, af-
ter her performance of Little Lord
Fauntleroy' in Minneapolis. The po-
etc muse evidently visited him on
crutches:
:" 'Armsi around his neck, and we were
friends OF course you were-he
couldn't help it, The audience were all
your friends-you lovely, little fairy
bit of youthful gracefulness.'
Here the muse struck him and ne
fell into poetry 81.
You shake your curls and win your
way,
With dancing eyes and shoes of tan
While flannel suit and graceful pose
Straight to the heart of every man"
He then commenced his letter in ear
nest
Dear Little Lord Fauntleroy: This
is not really mash note so much as
let US say-a bouquet-a bunch of big,
red American beauties-merely a testi-
monial that / hope will be more last
ing than flowers would be
must tell you that never before have
I been so stirred as by your
The story itself is elevating and pure
good deal of credit, of course, be-
longs to Mrs. Burnett, but more is due
you for the way you portray it,
Here his feelings get too much for
him, and he drops into verse again
''Your sweet face and rosy cheeks,
And pleasing personality
Are redolent CT q charming sense
OF innocent vivacity.
You have made a, picture on my
heart that time will never efface; a
new feeling in my breast that I be-
lieve will never be quite smothered by
the daily life of this world. That is
the feeling 1 carried away from the
Wednesday matinee at the Bijou.
near ME all my life-that L could look
in that bright face every day and hear
that sweet voice every hour
But perhaps you will say enough of
this gush, so 1 will let it go by saying
that l think you are the sweetest, pref
test, brightest, daintiest little girl I've
ever seen, and / wish l owned you.
Lovingly yours. From a
DEVOTED ADMIRER,
''To Miss Anne Blancke, Minneapolis
and st. Paul"
He then closes his effCsion with a
couple of outbursts from his decrepit
muse:
''How often Is our path
Croccad nv some beIpe whose bright