The Somerset reporter., 1896-08-20
HAMLET LEFT OUT.
THE PRODUCTION CT PLAYS WITH.
OUT THE PRINCIPAL CHARACTER.

Aiay was never SO Given
but Other Plays Have Been John
Brongham's Story of the Absence of po
cahontas and How the Play Was Put On
II was Sir Walter Scott who furnish.
ed the base for the proverbial express
sion, " Hamlet with Hamlet left ont u
In the Introduction To his "Talisman''
ne wrote about IA 'playbill which is
SAID to have announced the tragedy ot
Hamlet, tire character of the Prince OF
Denmark being left out. - As in the
case OF most modern proverbs, the fin.
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 III alme cverv 9th
er way. In 1881, iii Lone D, tie yer.
sion Of the first quurto, which was print
ed III lt03, 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 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 Booths
ordinary production Of the tragedy.
Then the Count joannes and James
Owen O'Gonor acted the part of Ham
let with two readers, man and woman.
to take the other parts; and Bellcw-
kyrle Bellew' 5 father-road the play al
a desk i'll front of the proscenium, 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,
omitted Prince Of Denmark must have
been the performances where women
played Hamlet; Charlotte Cushman,
Miss Marriott (who made a famou,
prinee) 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 a Han.
nah Brand, schoolteacher. She
thought she could write a play, and SC
worked on John Kemble until be pro.
duced during the season of 1912 he1
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 Kclnble'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,
"it was frightfully dangerous expert.
ment "
The play was his famous burlesqut
"Pocahontas, ~ produced at Wallack S,
then ON Broadway, near Broome street,
i'll 1876. Brougham played Powhatan,
Charles Walcot, Captain Smith; Miss
Hodson, Pocahontas; Peters, the Dutch.
man; and the play worked its way VI
i'll the public estimation. Let Broughan
tell of his feat:
Zone evening Mr.. Lester Wallack
came into the dressing room where
Waleot and myself were preparing for
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 We're projected, but none
would work. AT last, in desperation,
said to Walcott, Suppose we do it with
out Pocahontasl'
Agreed said Charley, who was
always bright. quick and witty. Well
do ii anyhowN
"Mr Wallack wena 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 u 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 We're present, and then
he would talk to himself Where is
Pokey?' he would exclaim, to which !
would reply: Lost among the icebergs
of Broadway. But if she were here |
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 90, but,
looking around the stage, saw IA broom.
and, seizing it, | boldly advanced 10
the front, saying, as | handed it to
Charley, Take her, my boy, and be
happy. 1t brought the house down, but
it was frightfully dangerous expert
ment. p"
The audience the next night wanted
Pocahontas left out again, but Brougham
wouldn't have ii so. Hamlet may be
left out once, ON the spur of the mo-
ment, but not a second time, and never
when the man who makes the ghost
walk has time to pun even gravedig-
ger in the prince place. The history
of the stage seems to prove that Scott 5
playbill was not actual, but, like his
quotations from "Old Plays. = merely
nroducpd for the occasion from his won