The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-05-23
NJ "STRONGGRIP
A UNIQUE CLASS or ACTORS WHICH
THE PLAY HAS CREATED.

THE PLAY HAS CREATED.
they arc Known as Uncle Tomn,crs, and Act
in No other PIay-senre Managers also who
arc Faithrui 20 'Uncte Tom "-Novelties
That Have Transrermed the riny Entirely.
"The Uncle Tom business said the veteran
manager, has been so overdone that Il would
surprise almost anybody to know some Of the
tricks of that particular trade. There has come
10 DO n certain class Of actors known generally
as Uncle Tommers,' and they can be hired 40
very small salaries to play three or four parts in
the piece. For $15 a week a woman can be
engaged to play Elisa, Mrs. 81. clair, and tee
part Of one Of the ncgresses, and for about the
same, price the rest of tho actors can be had.
There are regular families OF Uncle Tommers.
with the child TO play Little Era and the other
child's part occasionally introduced into versions
Of the play. There are Just as many combina-
tionS to be made among tho men, and what 10
technically known as doubling up is n very easy
matter In tho companies playing this old drama.
1.-THE actors who have for years played in moth
ing but Uncle Tom companies, get to know all
the lines spoken in the play, and they are able to
step In and do any role that happens to be va
cant. have seen the whole play-that ia, so far
as the characters go-given by five people, with
the negro singers as the most expensive feature
in the company. know Of n man and his wife
who were for fifteen years in various Uncle
Tom companies. They had played, of course, in
that time. every part in the piece, and one Of
their children played Little Eta from the time
she was 8 years old until she was II. Once or
twice during the last season in which she played
the child's part, this girl played Elisa Harris
as well, and she always stood in the wings after
her death waiting for the grand apotheosis,s,
The Gates Ajar,' singing with negroes.
THE shifts and tricks OF the Uncle Tommers
are more diverse than those known to any other
branch Of the actors profession. OF lato years
the number Of these companies has very much
decreased. and they have played only in the
very small towns, not infrcquently acting under
q tent. The actors in the cheap theatres of the
larger cities within recent years have been in
significant features of the performance COM
pared with the donkeys, dogs and negro singers.
But they are marvels compared to the COM
panies that travel over the country giving
their performances in the small t~owns-places
of not moro than three or four thou
sand people: That was the field OF the
genuine Uncle Tommers, the actors who for
They. usually acted in 1t winter and summer.
year in and year out, but theirs was one case in
them any great reward. As said 4, their ho sai Gl :
were very small, and the Uncle Tommers were
growing scarcer now. and the diminution in their
numbers has not served to increase the COM
penbat1On ptlu IOr their SERVICES. 1nere lB no
great demand for the old piece now compared TO
that which existed some years ago, 80 q now
ssGsssa tS, Of I'D, the' TS actors !. has ns IIPs, E5owp . w 70
that the Uncle Tommer, that unique develop
mept, Of theatrical conditions Of two or three
There was permanence then In other than
the mere artistic III the word can stand the
The same managers chung for years to the play,
and every season three or four companies would
had been doing the same thing for seyaral aap-
sons before. There are three or four men con-
nected with this business. whose names became
which they clung to the play. 4 whole Gtera-
ture Of anecdotes has grown UP about this play.
things in the whole history Of the stage.
"of course when the play was given first in
the feelings against slavery to which it appealed
made It a stirring play and the Impetus It got at
i that s4s tIms fnSri esa i alS % ba for Of y %aes sT Thfn sn wh Ia
the managers began to take ali sorts Of liberties
m mite sh to 1 SUCH pan ndis s4 ssam East Ses Ls snst i Sas
possibly been played as often as any other
nobody ever heard of a scheme to make the play
duplex. as II were. and double the number OF all
think of two Lady Zines. but two Topsies, two
Eras. and two Markses were one Of the signs
p pop nsnyea S sas ee'b befor re- was @ns the i nere naa%HSo,
neous and disconnected exhibitions as the Uncle
- AetsSAhy SNhAAiO ~ eA'S
But they are nearly all gone, and Uncle
Tom.' as we'll rs the Uncle Tommers. is almost
a thing of the past. There was always q GER
tain sort Of a sticking power about these roles.
They were hard to shake off when once the
actors had taken them up. Cordelia Howard.
the original 7oDsy, played that part for years.
Marie Bates. now an old woman actress, was
for years a famous. TopsH and played no other
humber Uncle Tommers described above, who
gave up. once they were in the grasp of the play,
every other character. But they were not per-
sons likely to have been especially distinguished
as a rule in other lines of work, and they drifted
more or less naturally into the parts which they
stuck tor which stuck to them.
In the same way that the managers and the
actors have become confirmed Uncle Tommers,
30 have the negro jubilee singers and wing
dancers: Season after season. they travelled
about the country, often keeping for years in
the same organization. There were real negro
Topsies and genuine negro Uncle Toms. But
they were only incidental features OF some Of
the remarkable changes through which Uncle
Tom passed when he got OH the stage and had
to please public taste If he wanted to stay there"