The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1898-09-10
HOOD0OS TO STAGE.
AC TORS HAVE STRANGE
SUGGESTIONS.
Yellow Cats Barred-Black FelInes
However. Are Deemed Lucky, and
They Are Always Hospitality Received
Why Players Change Names. a

actor touches the eminent Irving, first
Of the sock and buskin to be knighted
in two centuries. After occupying a
seemingly i~mpregnable position at the
head of the London dramatic world for
a score of years, he is now said to be
succumbing tt his ambitious rivals.
His last season has been a succession
Of magnificent failures. On the heels
OF this ONE word that Miss Ellen
Terry, whose name has been insepara-
bly, connected with Irving's successes,
is about to go over to the enemy. Still
other influences are said to be at work
to dim the future Of the man who has
done more thar any other living actor,
perhaps, to lift the drama to the high
position it holds among the. arts. The
enemy in this case seems to be Beer
bohm Tree. For years he has been the
adroit manager of the London Hay
market and later Her Majesty's thea
ter. He is an actor who Is a master of
the art of make up and character i'm
~personation, although he has never
equaled Sir Henry in the genius of
theatrical production. Now here en-
tiers the Irving bogeyman. Irving was
christened John Broadrib. On the stage
he has ever been known as Henry
Irving. A few years ago he decided
to have his name legally changed to
Henry Irving. Soon the attendance
at the London Lyceum, which had been
the most brilliant in the English CAPT
tai, dwindled to a scattering few. Then
stage folks said: well he ought to
have known that he'd hoodoo himself
If he. changed his name" But Irving
defied the superstition. Then in rec
ognition Of his genius, Queen Victoria
accorded him the high honor of knight
hood, and made him Sir Henry Irving.
During the two years that have
elapsed since then a series of mis-
fortunes, n great when reckoned sep
arately, but formidable in the aggre-
gate, have befallen him. He alienated
the corps of English critics, whose
praise had been his standby. The press
became apathetic. An accident which
he suffered during the ~rehearsals of
Peter the Great" necessitated the
~postponement of that production for
WINS oIJC dlltI Ilt OIutT CHIl-
b%eline," Mime. Sans Gene" and Peter
the Great" all but failed before London
audiences. The hoodoo was beginning
to lay it's fell spell, but more was to
come, A disastrous fire totally ruined
the elaborate scenery and properties of
the few repertoire plays which had
been successful. Meanwhile Beerbohm
Troo1c nrnInnfinn IF fTr1iI,S Cnaeo ~ ~
Her Majesty's theater became the
reigning sensation in London. Then
came the secession of Ellen Terry,
which leaves Sir Henry without a lead
ing actress of note, at a time when 1t
will be difficult to secure another at
all adequate. AS Irving's productions
have been lavish and he was never ac-
counted excessively rich, he is now
poorer by hundreds of thousands than
before he tempted fate and changed his
name. While Irving's case is the most
noteworthy, other stage folk have been
h~oodooed in similar fashion. Minnie
Seligman Cutting was never as popular
as Minnie Seligman. Julia Marlowe
Taber found that the "Taber' was an
impeachment to popularity and three
sheet posters then dropped the TIA
ber." Thomas Quigley never knew
trouble until he added Seabrooke to his
name. Usually actors and actresses
have changed their names for the sake
of euphony when they went on the
| stage, but that is quite different from
changing it afterward. Thus Maurice
Kline deemed Barrymore" more
%euphonious and adopted it. Clara Nor
rison dropped the last two letters of
her name when she went on the stage.
Jennie Griffiths became Jennie Yea
mans. Joseph Arthur, who wrote "Blue
Jeans" was christened Arthur F..
Smith. Kate Cone became Kate Clax-
ton. Laura Joyce Bell was a Miss
Maskell. Nine. Janauschek is otherwise
Mrs. Fred Pilot. Mary Alice Hogan
became Alice Atherton. Mr.. Kendal's
name was originally w. H. rhinestone
and Mrs. Kendall was known as Madge
Robertson. Louis Aldrich was Louis
Moses. Marie Jansen was Mary John
stone. Marion Manola was a Miss
Stevens before she became Jack Ma
sons wife. Sadie Martinet's patro-
nymic is Egins. Minnie Maddern was
a Miss Davy. Pauline Hall dropped
her family mann of Schmittgall. Clara
Poole became Nine. Polini. Lily Lang
try and Lillian Leonard-Soloman-Pe-
rugini ct al. have had divers appella-
tons. Perhaps the most widely known
and deeply respected superstitions are
those about the bad luck consequent
upon raising an umbrella in the thea
ter, and the stage actors and stage
managers invariably thwart the au-
thor's purpose if there is any such bus
mess in a play. Peacock feathers are
a fierce and deadly hoodoo. Indeed,
the fire in the Fifth Avenue theater a
few years G was directly attributed
to the use of peacock-feather fans in
Fanny D~avenport's production of Cleo
patra." Light blue scenery, costumes,
upholstery, etc, used to be tabooed,
and if the first person who enters a
new theater is a deadhead the place is
Under a spell at once. If a leading
nan encounters a cross-eyed individual
1T the stage door he has hard work
10 square himself with his fellows who
hear of it. For generations il has
been forbidden to hum or whistle
Locke's incidental music to Mac
beth" behind the scenes at any time.
No actor is permitted to bring a yellow
trunk into a theater. Yellow cats
bring hard luck. Black cats are hospi-