The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-12-19
@THEONLYoNEB0SS BULLY
MAY levin, VINO HASN'T a SINGLE
CARE IN THE HORLD.

That EveV Had 'Leveu Thousand Thinrs n
Dny to no and Got AROUND 10 no Them All.
Several hundred times has May Iru in assured
her audience at the Bijou Theatre that there's
only one boss bully, and that ones NO."
She no longer sings that particular song
across the footlights, but II she did sing IL this
season she would DO telling tho truth. There's
enc boss at the Bijou, and that's May Irwin.
Most actresses seem to have their hands and
heads full whom they have n leading part TO
play. Miss Irwin does not stop with any such
programme as that. She is star, manager,
bookkeeper, cashier, housekeeper, mother Of
two hne boys. and o sort Of a universal rood
angel OF tho strictly human variety. Tho
reader 10 requested. however, not to remember
the good angel Item.
"oh, said Miss Irwin the othcr day. sits q
dreadful thing to have q press agent. Mine
causes me all sorts of griot." She beamed
heneyol6ntly on tho individual in question.
sLast winter he told the newspapers how char
liable I was. bless you'll I've felt like a charity
application bureau ever since. Oh. the old ladies
that write to mol You may say I'm mean,
stinRy, hard Misunderstanding only don't say
I'm charitable |"
"well," said a voice from tho box office, ct
wouldn't say 1t before her face. but I don't
know anybody who Is moro good-natured and
generous than Miss Irwin"
anyway, bhiu tue buDJeCL OF tn1D ouIORy.
sI don't believe In red.tape charity. All these
leagues and societios-why, when you go to
them for help for some poor devil they send you
from pillar to post until the man 10 dead and
buried and you don't need their help. It's more
economical in the end, I SUPPOSE"
But you sang at O hospital benefit the other
dayf"
Yes, and I won't sing at another. I was q
candidate for q hospital when got through.
A woman physician said to mo: oh. / just
envy you'll Yes do. You haven't q care In
the world. Not q carei'" Miss Irwin man.
9uvred that left eyelid Of hers in the we'll
known Irwin way. snow, think OF that. will
youi Not a care in the world ! Do you know
what I dol manage this whole production.
keep all my own books, handle all the money,
make out the salary list. sign every check. I
know where every dollar goes. In my house
uptown I have my own office, with my desk and
papers and account books"
But is your acting hard worki It always
seems as IL it were pure fun"
at isn't work. I never could do it IL It was,
But it isn't all fun, either. People won't believe
you IL you tell them that I'm nervous. but 1
am, just the same. I never sing O new song
that I'm not oil of a tremble. Every time I
open in a new town I'm cold and shaky from
nervousness. The other day, up at that benefit,
j sang The Bully Well. 1t always was a hard
song for me. Whyi Because I work so hard In
it When I get through I'm Just sore; all ithe
muscles around my waist are tired out. 1t was
the same way with 'Crappy DAM That song
tired mo so l just had to give up singing 1t.
well. the other day when I sang The Bully
at the benefit it was the first time this fall that
i had sung 1t, and / tell you I was nervous.
When 1 held my arm out straight. like that, my
hand was Just going all of q tremble. 60 I
brought it in pretty quick and had hard work to
hold 1t still. even with 1t pressed up against my
waist. When I went of the stage / said to DR..
Johnson: See herei You don't think I'm Of a
nervous disposition. You look at that hand /
] held 'em both out, and there they were, shak-
ing like leaves, and coldi
"of course, The Bully wasn't q new song,
but there is such a thing as getting too familiar
with q song. Several years ago I had an Irish
song called The Spree and I think / must
have sung It about 500 times. when I suddenly
began to get nervous about 1t. 1t had hfty-two
l~ines-long ~lnes-in 1t. and it was one of these
things that just keep on and on, and on and on.
without any pausesf for breath. or interludes Of
any description. I'd got SO / used to sing 1t
without really thinking about II. Ny mind
would be wondering whether I wouldn't
better put q brown bow on the back
of my new gown and that sort of
thing. Finally 1t occurred to me that, in one of
these brown bow lapses ! might forget the words
OF my song, and from that time I was In nervous
terror about it One night when we v6fo play
ing in Boston l said to my sister. I'm going to
forget that song tonight know I am Well,
] went on and began TO sing and had got about
half way through when suddenly 1t was as II
something clutched my heart and squeezed II.
For a second everything left me, then I was all
right; but, do you know. the words OF that song
never came back to met Charles Frohman
wanted it for the cylinder of q phonograph and
/ had to read the words when 1 sang it."
stagef'
"Oh, I Just bowed. It was q long song and
they didn't know the difference"
do you ever forget your lines :"
"DoIi oh. I'm always forgetting them. I
say something else and we 60 on. It's too funny
to see the faces Of the others on the stage when
i introduce something new I'll never forget
how Miss johnson looked the other night. You
remember In the play when we are talking of
how easy It is to yet an Oklahoma divorce .
Well. I said something about It and went on
like this: You know what we were reading In
the paper the other nightf' Miss johnson
looked at me in perfect despair. Didn't know
whether ! v wanted her to answer or not. kept
on: The ~case-oh, you knowl-of the woman
that got q divorce from, her husband because no
", yes, ySu know; hln"oozie' i got d GOOD
Did you plan beforehand to say it,"
"Planf MOI / couldn't be funny II I planned
II all out | just happened to think OF the
name and so / brought II in. Isn't IL the drunk.
est name. you ever heard, anyway It's a real
one, you know. oh. yesI Some of the people
who were with me this summer, up on my
island in. the 81. Lpwrence, went to Niagara
Falls. and when they came back they brought
Polish shoemaker. ! don't suppose there Is a
performance that j don't say something diff
Ler0lt from what We have had before. npyar
can tell when ! will got a laugh, I find that out
,by experimenting. You remember the scene In
was u young and thirsty Ririf' That scene was
n: "fs fi IS almost im a. o,%Bis s tsou 81 'f for s1 nag to
introduce any new nit which has boon planned
Court, and / tried ten times before ! finally got
II In. / would get to the point and then. some
how. l just couldn't say II.
~ remember another time, the time that
Coroner Hocber and Nanny Friend played the
judge and the juryman in 'Courted into
Court OF course, that WAS planned before.
hand, and i had n little sDePch to make 10