The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-01-02
OLD STAGE F~AvoRITES.
WEN AND WOMEN ADMIRED BK Plsz
NEW YoRK AUDIENOES.

NNNNNNNah hNANA bhe -
The Pincides-nsis. whcatry's Romance
Players WINE Were Ad,nired LonE Ago.
Ono hundred years and forty ago the dramatic
~favorites Of New York were tho Hallnms-father
and mother. two sons, and q daughter, all on
tho stage together. The mother was prone TO
pumpy rhetoric, and In THE Distrest Mother"
adapted from Racino's "Andromache," when
she delivered her FIRST limo. II have not yet en-
bracod my child" she made three ~syllables OF
tho partlciplo and fingered on ''ohe-yild.'
Nevertheless, tho New Workers. Of her day
broke into rapturous applause when she APP
peared. and the same reception was given to
Hallam the father when, as king Pvrrhus, he
launched stilted blank verso at orcsfes and
Pptndes, or when he calmly listened to hs
daughter as Hermione. Mrs. Hallam as q
matrUn preserved, even without the aid OF
makeup. much freshness Of youth, and her
daughter was q plump beauty who deeply
stirred the hearts Of the young men Of the day.
Young Lewis nallam and his brother Adam
wero youthful prodigies, for, although an FL
bridge T. Gerry lived then In New England, no
Gerry society existed to keep the young Hal
lams from playing the parts Of the boyishPr fnce
Of Wales and Duke Of Fork when their father
appeared as Richard III, and when their
mother, as Queen Elisabeth, listened to the
stage love-making of her own husband. After
two yeers in New York they betook themselves
finally to West Indian audiences. While tray-
cling thus tho senior Hallam died. and his
widow was married to another actor named
Douglas, and retired. The second LOWS Hal
lam managed the John Street Theatre from 1857
to 1878, and from 1885 to 1897, when he sold
his interest to William Dunlap. He died in 1908.
The Italians were succeeded In popularity
by tho beautiful Maria Storer, whom the New
York Gazette pronounced the Venus Of the
American stage. and whose Juliet was de-
scribed as n revelation OF amorousness. Her
modest residence in Horse and Cart street. the
original lame of William street, was besieged
by young Depeysters, Stuyvesants, and Cos
tars, who from pit and boxes worshipped at her
shrine. Her house was opposite the North
Dutch Church on Fulton street, and when the
congregation poured out Of the church doors
on Sunday the young gallants would look long
ingly across tho street in the hope of seeing their
stage divinity at the window. But when the
fascinating storer became Mrs. Henry the
young men capriciously transferred their ad-
miration to the still more beautiful Miss Morris,
who had little Of the talent of her successor,
Clara Morris, but more delicacy OF feature.
The Storer stage divinity had craved attention,
but the Morris hated publicity, and would
seldom shop in Cortlandt street in daylight,
and always walked from her rooms In Fair
street to the stage door wrapped from observa-
ton like a Clrcassian beauty. She was &C
counted bewitching in a play called THE Con-
slant Couple"
During the Revolutionary period in New
York-say between 1773-17s3-the drama was
at low tide. for more stirring dramas in real
life were being performed. But the British
officers treated the Tory New Workers to anna
teur representations. Among these performers
was Major Andre. Tradition says that he made
a grand stage lover and so interested Tory Man
haitian bellies OF the period that they shed copi.
Gus tears over his fate.
Feminine theatregoers in olden New York
had their male idols on the stage. During the
Adams Administration they lavished atten.
lions on young Thomas Apthorpe Cooper,
who was a noted Hamlet. He bequeathed his
personal beauty to a daughter who captivated
the eldest son of President John Tyler. Cooper
long resided in this city after his retirement
from the stage, and through his son-in.law's In
fuence obtained a berth in the Custom House.
Many merchants of to-day. then Office boys or
clerks, can recall his rubicund face, his old
fashioned courtesy and air OF high breeding,
ana his habit of always holding q monocla in his
eye. Even in his ripe old age he seemed to feel
as he often strolled along lower Broadway-the
promenade of the period-that he remained an
object of interest to feminine eyes.
A successor in the admiration of New York
theatregoing femininity tbut for heels and
limbs rather than face and brains) was a French
rope dancer named Alexander Placide. He was
very expert and graceful. Rope dancing was q
fad of carly New York, as great. g%randmothers
OF this generation can tell. Curious tricks did
Monsieur Placide on the tight rope. One of the
progr mines announces that Monsieur Placide.
while balanced on the tight rope in q sitting
posture, will partake of a cola ion furnished on
a table poised on the rope and use q chair-an
requested not to, applaud during the perform.
ance, 'inasmuch as conclusion OF air and
trembling ra b Of q ne he, So fSVs0Iop might ean, in Sanror is &c.
membered in theatrical annals not by virtue of
his skin, but because he was the father OF Hen
vorltos Of Now Workers.. Half a century, ago
Theatre not so much by the play as by the
fact that the Placides were billed for it. Hun
drsds Of II THE l.1 gsn Gnnleay G af E recall the he great gre Sr pro.
ers Placide. Perhaps, for the first time In the
history Of the stage that comedy received per.
thst t tbs pIos demands sA4 Even ut tho 1 actors SSai pre-.
s sSntasfIo S'n sf f ihs speetst tn sho NJ eaay m snsssG Who sRo
might be Hamlet, II New Workers. knew that
Henry Plaeide was to be PoiSaf,s or that The
gers they would crowd the Park. Theatre.
Henry was the first actor sS H. e Rsrsonase SottSm
Dream. was never acted on this side of the Al.
'antIc until Nov. 2, 1926. He was also the orig.
tnai Sir Harcourt Courtiev here, and for two
decades owned the role Of ST. Peter 7egslein this
city as the elder Il,aiG Fa Tnea did In London Iana New New
~ Placlde as the greatest American comedian,
evening he could win laughter as the ~bungling
lover OF Lady Gay Spanker and also draw
tears In tho pathetic afterpi 'ce of Grand.
father. whitehead. So much Of a fayorite
the 1fties was he that they would often embar-
rass him with applause on the slightest provo
cation.
Joseph jefferson the first became n great
him the Joe Jefferson, his grandson, whom this
generation know, ;, inherited simplicity and pa
tnos. He married a Miss Fortune. and John
w. Francis used to say he was the first man to
pront by misfortune. Jefferson's son and
namesakc made a happy marriage in wedding
Mrs. Burke, the widow of a famous actor and
Rip Fan Uinkie, preceded his half and
was the original Scion Shingle.
Few arc aware that a sister of Mrs. Siddons
was early In the century a stage %fay9rite With
She was a Mrs. Whitlock, and her huGband
was nm actor. She gave ideas. but ideas only,
IS l.. ads ar'a art In "a ,ranAnattAn that could