The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-07-06
ORIGIN OF RIP VAN wIxKLE.
The Genesis and Development Of tn
Famous Play.


JOSEPH Jefferson, In Boston Herald.
art has. always been my sweetheart
and / have loved her for herself alone. / had
fancied our affection was mutual, so that
did. l thought she had fitted me. Not so.
l wronged her. She only reminded me that
I had taken too great a liberty, and that
suit with more patience. Checked. but I'M
daunted in the resolve. my mine dwelt upon
my vision. and I still INDUCED in day
In casting about for a new character my
mind was ever dwelling on reproducing an
lied to pathos that smiles and tears should
mingle with each other.
During the summer of 1853 / arranged to
my IN Paradise a. valley IHsef at o' the ed foot
of Pocono mountain, In Pennsylvania. Stray
farms are scattered through the valley and
who till the soil were born upon It; there
and only there they have ever lived. The
valley harmonized with me and our re-
ION one Of these long. rainy days that
always render the country so dull, / had
climbed to the loft of the barn, and; lying
book. The Life and Letters of Washington
Irving 1 had gotten well into the volume.
and was much interested in II, when, to my
surprise, ! came upon a passage which said
T The er and that f5se 1 !" reminded kd'f him N Of my :
father in look. gesture. size and make
II was comparatively obscure. and to find
myself remembered and written of by such
q man gave me a thrill Of pleasure l can
there linking how proud 1 was. and ought
to be. at the revelation of this compliment.
What an incentive to a y~oungster like mt
And SO 1 thought to myself Washington
Irving. the author of the Sketch Book"
n which Mhieh is R the y auai W,n SsSTy there Fl asi Ra y1 tn
me magic in the sound of the name as / re-
peated IT. Why. was not this the. very char
scter that wanted An american story;
the theme suited to an American actor.
In ten minutes 1 had gone to the house
and returned to the barn with the Sketch
Book / had not read the story since /
was a boy. 1 was disappointed with it,
not as a story, of course, but the tale was
estins. E bu nar nat draa Mas the The s cSsr lnsssr
Of Rip does not speak ten lines. What
could be done dramatically with so simple
a sketch? How could it be turned into an
three or four bad dramatizations Of the
story had already been acted without
bered gave me the slightest encouragement
the tSs' existing inss materials sH' s TIL I was 50 Bent
upon acting the part that ] started for the
city. and In less h a week. by indus
triously ransacking the theatrical ward
robe establishment for old leather and mil
ing. the making of wigs. each article Of my
costume was completed, and all this, too,
before / had written a line of the play or
This is working in an opposite direction
from all the conventional methods In the
study and elaboration Of ramatic cnarac,
/ would advise any one to pursue. merely
mention the out-of-the-way upside-down
manner of going to work as an illustration
of the Impotence and enthusiasm with
which I entered upon the task. / can only
account for my getting the dress ready be-
fore / studied the part to the vain desire
-x---.f-- -.~r.. In a III q
decked out and equipped as the hero of the
Catskills.
81 got together the three old printed yer.
The plays were all in two acts. thought
it would be an improvement I'm the drama
to arrange it in three, making the scene
This would separate the poetical from the
domestic side OF the story.
"But by far the most important alteration
Was in IN the hsrd inssrv tssy w spoke ehs sn api sans. II !
remembered thai the effect of this ghostly
dialogue was dreadfullyk human, SO ar
ranged that no voice but KIP snonia o. o.
which but one person speaks while all tne
Others merely gesticulate. and / was quite
sure that the silence or the crew "1 ha s ns
and add to its supernatural weirdness. II
required some thought to hit upon just the
nod and shake of the head. and TO arrange
that at times even Rip should PROFOUND q
query TO himself and answer IL.
sIn the seclusion Of the barn 1 studied
and rehearsed the part, and by the end OF
the summer / was prepared to transplant II
from the rustic realms of an old farmhouse
ITO a cosmopolitan audience in the city OF
Washington, where / opened at Carusfs
Hall. under the management OF john It.
/ had, by repeated experiments
so saturated myself with the action OF the
play that a few lays seemed to perfect
the rehearsals. I acted on these occasions
| with all the point and feeling I could mus
| ter. This answered the double purpose OF
| giving me freedom and OF observing the
effect Of what l was doing on the actors.
There was In the subject n the part
| much scope for novel and fanciful treat
| ment. If the sleep of twenty years wal
merely homogeneous. there would be room
for argument, pro and con. but as 1t Is ar
impossibility, / felt that the audience would
, accept 1t at once, not because 1t was ar
| imposssbllity, but from a desire to know ir
| what condition q mans mind would be II
| such an event could happen. Would 1t be
thus changed? His identity being denied
both by friends, strangers and family
would he at last almost accept the verdic'
| and exclaim: Then / am dead, and that /,
the fact?' This was the strange and origi
nal attitude that attracted me. wa:
| quite sure that the character was what
had been seeking. and ] was equally salts
| quality was there, but the human interes
was wanting. However, the play was acted
with a result that was to me both ~satisfac
tory and disappointing. The final altera
tons and additions were made five years
4, &ar h., nfop Roucfoaulfo