The Brunswick times. [volume] (Brunswick, Ga.) 188?-1900, 1897-04-18

Henry L. Dixie on the Ups and Downs of
Dramatic Lie.
[special Corregpondence.l


of philosophers ana tie keenest e
Of human nature the world ever knew.
William Shakespeare, bit the mark hSan.
PLY when he said there is
affairs Of men which, taken at
leads Oh to fortune" With members of
the dramatic profession the aphorism
applies with peculiar force l never
knew an actor of talent, man or wom-
an, who did not at some period of his
or her career mount the crest of the
financial wave. If they afterward sank
beneath the pillows Of poverty and de-
spair, it was because they failed to real
ize and seize the opportunity the bard Of
Avon speaks of. Indeed Dame Fortune
seems to be rather partial to Thespians
She frequently comes knocking twice at
their door, something people in other
walks Of life seldom experience.
Forrest, Booth, Davenport, McCul-
Tough, Barrett and genial Billy Flor
ence detected the tide when it came
their way, and they quickly sailed with
it. Others were not so fortunate.
Charles r. Thorne, John Drew, the cid
er; George S. Knight and poor Sam
Hickey. all great artists in their re.
spective lines were not acute enough
to perceive the food tide and failed to
reach prosperiity+s haven. It is so today
with artists before the public. Rose
Coghlan, for instance, is conceded to be
highly gifted actress as well as a mag
nificent woman, yet today she is COM
paratively dollarless, while Fanny Dav-
export, another artist of about the same
measure of ability and of physical
charms, is easily worth half million
Of Uncle Sans good hard dollars. The
explanation is simple. The tide came
running by Rose when she was at the
height Of her popularity at Wallack's
old theater in New York, and she did
not see it. She made tremendous hits
i'll "Rosedale, - 1.-THE Guv'nor," obi
plomacy, " FSchool For Scandal and
plays of that character. She should have
broken loose then and started starring
for herself i'll plays Of that kind. The
times were propitious. Every body had
money. But no! She waited until the
times became somewhat stringent and
then started out with an Indifferent
drama, called "Our JOan.''' 1t offered
the lady no opportunity to display to
country people who had not yet seen
her the scope Of her splendid abilities,
and-well, she did not achieve the sue
cess her friends and admirers ardently
hoped for. She tried other new plays,
but they were not suited to her ard did
not catch On.
Now mark Fanny Davenport's keen
perception Of the flood tide. When at
the very acme of her popularity at Da-
ly's New York theater and in the ze-
NTH of her glorious beauty, she set up in
business on her own account and select
ing fairly good company, started out
starring, first in the metropolis and
then on tie road, She played Shakes
pearean and standard dramas She
achieved a substantial success, but the
golden epoch of her career set in when
she acquired the sole American rights
Of Victorien Sardou's great 0E:ma "Fe-
dora, and enacted the title role to the
intense enjoyment of the American pub
lie. She had seen Beruhardt in the part
i'll Paris and was shreWd enough to per-
ceive that this powerful drama would
make great hit in Yankeeland and
Immediately purchased the American
privileges. In quick succession she also
bought the American rights of LA Tos-
ca, "Gismonda," CLEOPATRA and
other strong plays of the great French
playwright. Although the amounts paid
the Frenchman were enormous, Miss
Davenport reaped golden harvest from
the presentation Of these plays. 1t was
like having corner On gilded Wall
street stock.
I could thus go on indefinitely, but
some of my professional associates
would not like to have me tip off either
their poverty or prosperity. AS for Miss
Coghlan and Miss Davenport, they are
both good natured as we'll as good heart
ed, and know won't care jot. This
will say-fine actors like Richard Mans
field, Frederick Warde, Maurice Barry
more and others of their standing have
not the competence their talents entitle
them to. They missed the tide. They
did not perceive that it was running at
full force before it became fashionable
to import foreign artists and whole
companies Of foreign actors. mean no
disrespect to artists like Salvini, Bern
hardt, Irving, Terry, Duse, John Hare
Beerbohm Tree, the Kendals, Albert
Chevalier and their compatriots. They
are privileged to enter any field they
find profitable, but some Of the high
salaried freaks and underpaid "act-
awhs," with nothing to recommend
them but their accent" who have
been imported from abroad have hurt
our actors considerably.
AS regards my humble self 1 first
struck food tide dozen years ago in
my great run i'll "Adonis - l did not
know it, though, and spent money as
fast as / got it, thought the ''good
thing" would last forever. 1t didn't.
There are some men who are unlucky,
"born with copper on" as Nat Good
win puts it, who would never strike the
tide no matter how marked their abili-
ties. Bandmann, the German tragedi-
an, was one Of these. Poor George
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