The Hawaiian gazette., 1898-03-11
Unique and Touching Experience
Of Robert L. Scott.
DEATH OF ORIGINAL OLE
Gus Heege Was a Characteristic
Successes and Failures Came-A
Bow Under Gloomy Conditions.

OF play will disappear from the Ameri
can stage now. The only man VIII
would take the place Of Heege is an
chored in Hawaii The Honolulu citi
zen who would get good backing to g
out as a comedy star again is Bob
Scott, night clerk at the Hawaiian
hotel.
Heege was only thirty-six when ht
died. He had made half a dozen fail
sized fortunes with MS play building
and acting, but was not a saving
man. He was the son Of Lutheran
clergyman at Cleveland, O., and was
cursed with the one fault of yieIuIng
to drink. Heege was a bright. in
tellectual. studious chap. He took to
the stage on leaving college and while
with company in the Northwest con
ceived the notion of Swedish dialect
pieces. The Northwest is full of
Swedes and Norwegians and to Am
orleans they are odd with their broken
English and slow, innocent ways.
Heege wrote successfully and produced
himself "Ole Olson ''Yon Yonson and
a Yenuine Yentleman." The history
Of the handling Of each by Heege was
the same. He sold TO managing firms,
then in time left the companies. His
last theatrical venture was with a
piece he called Rush City in which
the Swedish character was prominent
but not central. This was a money
maker, too, but Heege went to pieces
with il.
E. H. Macoy. who was the manager
OF both the first and second "Ole o.
son" companies told the writer the
stories Of Heege and Scott at a social
gathering one night in lively town
in the Rocky Mountains. Bob Scott
mas then wearing diamonds big as
snOwballs, but was, with all his pros
perity modest and unassuming as to-
day In the original company Scott
was DR.. Single, the character taken
by Chas H Ramsey when the piece
was given by Mr.. Scott here in the
Drill Shed theater with home talent.
Mr.. Scott was Gus Heege's under
study and was excepting to be called on
any moment to take the part AT
Z o'clock one evening" said Macoy,
there was a 500 house in sight at
Havlin's theater in Chicago. was
against giving the show that evening
on account of Scott. He was there
for duty, but it made me cry to look
at him, for only a couple of hours
before he had come from the funeral
of his child. Bob was quiet, but he
was hurt deep. I was arguing the
case with the manager OF the house
when a messenger came rushing in
with the announcement that Gus
Heege had walked out OF a third story
window and had been bruised TO death.
Another messenger followed moment
later with the correction that Heege
was not dead, but was seriously in
jured and would have been killed but
for the fact that he was well primed
with liquor. He was sent TO hospital
and was on his back for weeks. In
fact he was never the same man ply
sically again. I thought this situa-
ton OF the company meant dismissal
of the audience, certainly, but the
house manager insisted and I never
had a harder thing to in my life than
TO 90 to Scott and ask him TO play
Ole He said he would do it and we
had a barber come to make his face
clean. for Bob was then known as
the swhiskered comedian In the
meantime Heege's child, who was in
the cast, had arrived from the hotel
and though crying Internationally was
ready to go on.
mo announcement was made and
the play went about as usual Scott
had lots Of applause, but he did not
seen TO mind or notice ii. He had put
all his will power into the task of act
ing. perhaps hardly thinking that ne
was making the difficult presentation
for the first time He made only one
slip and he covered that up. This
was where ole climbs the rope tC
rescue the heroine from the mill
SCOTS strength simply gave out and
he dropped back from the hawser. He
threw the heavy rope end and his body
against the door at the same time and
made the climax strong as ever. Ev,
erything was pretty well all right aftel
the first night. When the story wen
round that Scott had the part his ole
friends on the paper gave him consld'
cradle space. We did a big bushes:
and went up to Minneapolis with fail
prospects, but with not a little nery'
BUSINESS. Heege had played there onl!
a few months before and on anything
Swedish Minneapolis was particular
and critical. Scott suited them to
dot-carried them by storm and nigh
after night for two weeks the house
was sold out before the curtain wen
up"
At the time Macoy gave this account
Heege was out with lyon Yonson,
into which he had put a log jam scene
that was a realistic and exciting af
fair. but "Ole" continued to do goot
business everywhere. Scott was th'
star for two years and had an interes
in the profits the second year. He wa!
having a vacation in San Francisco
when he was engaged by Price 6
Burns, the circus men, to come to Ho