The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1896-09-02
HAMLET LEFT OUT.
THE PRODUCTION OF PLAYS WITH.
OUT THE PRINCIPAL CHARACTER.

shAkespeare's Play Was Never So Given,
but Other Plays Have Been - John
BrouKham's Story OF the Absence of Po-
cahOntas and How the Play Was Put On
1t was Sir Walter Scott who furnish
ed the base for the proverbial express
sion, " Hamlet with Hamlet left out. /"
In the introduction to his "Talisman"
he wrote about a ''playbill which is
said to have announced the tragedy of
Hamlet, the character of the Prince of
Denmark being left out. {" AS in the
case Of most modern proverbs, the fin
ished product differs i'll form from the
raw material.
There Is no 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, the YER
sion of the first quarto, which was print
ed in 1908, was acted by amateurs.
They followed the customs of the thea
ter Of Queen Bess' time, using no seem
cry or decorations, and the actors were
CARRIED as Raleigh and his friends We're.
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 Booth s
ordinary production Of the tragedy.
Then the Count Joannes and James
Owen O'Conor acted the part of Ham.
let with two readers, man and woman,
to take tho other parts; and Bellew-
Kyrle Bellows father-read the play al
q desk in front Of the prosoenium, 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 Cushman,
Miss Marriott (who made famous
prinee), Adele Belgrade, Anna Dickin-
son, and 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, schoolteacher. She
thought she could write play, and SC
| worked ON John Kemble until he pro
| duced during the season of 1919 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 Kemble's part
and produced the rest of the play under
the name "Agmunda. AS before. she
played the heroine, and as before she
heard the play Missed and damned be-
yond redemption.
John Brougham, however, really
played play with one of the principal
characters left out, though, as he says,
sit was frightfully dangerous expert
ment. E"
The play was his famous burlesque
.Pocahoutas, produced nb Wuiiuck s.
then ON Broadway, near Broome street.
IN 1856. Brougham played Powhatan,
| Charles Waloot, Captain Smith, Miss
Hodson, Pocahontas; Peters, the Dutch
man; and the play worked its way VI
In the public estimation. Let Broughan
tell of his feat:
"One evening Mr.. Lester Wallacl
came into the dressing room where
Walcot and myself were preparing foi
the performance, with the announce
ment that Pocahontas was missing and
could not be found anywhere In 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, In desperation,
said to Walcott, Suppose we do 1t with
out Pocahontasl'
Agreed, said Charley, who was
always bright, quick and witty. Wen
do it anyhowl'
"Mr. 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 a 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 IL she were present, and then
he would talk to himself Where Is
Pokey?' he would exclaim, to which
would reply; Lost among tho icebergs
Of Broadway. But if she were hero
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 In matrimony.
we didn't know exactly what to do, but,
looking around the stage, saw broom,
and, seizing it, / boldly advanced to
the front, saying, as l handed 1t to
Charley, Take her. my boy. and be
happy. 1t brought the house down, but
1t was a frightfully dangerous expert
ment.
Tho audience the next night wanted
Pooahontas left out again, but Brougham
wouldn't have 1t 80. Hamlet may be
left out once, on the spur Of the mo-
ment, but not O second time, and never
when the man who makes the ghost
walk has time to put even gravedig-
ger In the princes place. The history
of the stage seems to prove that Scott's
playbill was not actual, but, like his
quotations from "Old Plays" merely
produced for the occasion from his won
derful imagination. -New York Sun.
A Great Relief.
Tramp-Please, ma Fam, 1 haven't
friend or relative in the world.