The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1896-09-02
HAMLET LEFT OUT,
THE PRODUCTION OF PLAYS WITH.
OUT THs PRINCIPAL CHARACTER.

Shakespeare's Play WAS Never So Given,
but Other Plays Lave Ecen John
Brougha,n's Story OF the Absence Of po-
cahontas and How t:1e Play Was Put On
It was Sir Walter Scott who furnish
ed the base for tie proverblal express
sion, Hamlet with Hamlet left out. "
In the introduction TO his ''Talisman'
he wrote about q ''playbill which Is
said to have announced the tragedy of
'Eamlet, the character Of the Prince of
Denmark being LETT out. - as III the
case CT most modern proverbs, the tin-
ished product differs IN form from the
raw material.
There is 10 record that Hamlet" ev-
er was acted with the character OF the
Prince Of Denmark left out, though the
play has been acted IN almost every 9th
er way. In 1881, in London, tie YER
sion of the first quarto, which was print
ed in 1903, was acted by amateurs.
They followed the customs Of the thea
ter Of Queen Bess' time, using no seen
cry or decorations, and the actors were
garbed as Raleigh and his friends were.
About the same time, too, Edwin
Booth and his company arrived at Hart
ford minus their trunks and gave three
acts Of the play in their travelling COS
tunes. Probably, however, the effect
was not vastly different from Booths
ordinary production Of the tragedy.
Then the Count Jcannes and James
Owen O'Conor acted the part Of Ham
let with two readers, man and woman,
to take the other parts; and Bellew-
Kyrle Bellows father-read the play at
a desk in front of the prcscenium, While
the actors moved about the stage with
appropriate gestures and opened and
shut their mouths and said no words.
But most nearly approaching to Scott's
omitted Prince of Denmark must have
been the performances where women
played Hamlet; Charlotte CCshman,
Miss Marriott (who made a famous
prince), Adele Belgarde, Anna Dickin-
son, and a round dozen Of others tried
the part.
But if Hamlet has not been played
without the prince, other plays have
been on occasion.
In the last century there was Han
nah Brand, a schoolteacher. She
thought she could write play, and so
worked on John Kenble until be pro-
duced during the season of 1912 her
five act tragedy 'Huniades," based on
Hungarian history. Kemble played
Huniades; Miss Brand played Agmunda,
the heroine. The play failed; and then
Hannah Brand left out Kemole's part
and produced the rest Of the play under
the name s'Agmunda. % AS before, she
played the heroine, and as before she
heard the play Kissed and damned be-
yond redemption.
John Brougham, however, really
played play with one Of the principal
characters left out, though, as be says,
sit was frightfully dangerous expert
ment'
The play was his famous burlesque
"Pocahontas, produced at Wallack's,
then on Broadway, near Broome street,
in 1856. Brougham played PowhataH,
Charles Walcot, Captain Smith; NJ 5
Hodscn, Pocahontas; Peters, the Dutch
man; and the play worked its way up
in the public estimation. Let Brougham
tell of his feat:
"One evening Mr. Lester Wallack
came into the dressing room where
Walcot and myself were preparing for
the performance, with the announce
,nent that Pocahontas was missing and
could not be found anywhere i'll the city.
"What was to be done under the cir
cumstances we couldn't conceive. All
sorts of plans were projected, but none
would work. At last, il desperation, I
said to Walcott, Suppose we do it with
out Pocahontas!'
Agreed, said Charley, who was
always bright, quick and witty. Well
do it anyhow
sMr. Wallack went on the stage and
announced that, owing to the absence
of Miss Hodson' (the truth was she had
eloped with somebody, the play would
be produced without her, Messrs. Wal
cot and Brougham having kindly con-
sented to fill her part
"For moment dead silence reigned,
but directly the fun Of the thing WAS
taken in, and the people fairly screamed.
We went on. First Charley would say,
This is what Miss Pocahontas would
remark if she were present, and then
he would talk to himself. Where is
Pokey:' he would exclalm, to which [
would reply: Lost among the icebergs
of Broadway. But if she were here 1
know she would answer you in this
way, and then would give her speech.
.'At the end, when it became neces
sary to join their hands i'll matrimony,
we didn't know exactly what to do, but,
looking around the stage, saw broom,
and, seizing it, I boldly advanced to
the front, saying, as I handed it to
Charley, sTake her, my boy, and be
happy It brought the house down, but