The Wichita daily eagle., 1898-01-12
OF the Latest in Drama
BARRETTs PARENTAGE.

-
The exact truth about Lawrence Bar
rett's parentage and boyhood is at last
told by Larry" Hutton in the current
| Harper's Magazine. whoerein he gives ar
intimate view Of Booth, Barrett, Lester
wallack, Montague, Florence and Nc
| Cullogh. Says he:
| Though Lawrence Barrett never preten-
ded to be anything more than he was, a
| report that his real name was Larry
Brannigan" annoyed him beyond mea-
sure. His father, as he often told me,
was Patrick Barrett, and Irish immigrant
who never roso very high inthe social
world. His mother was a hard working
woman, whom he never forgot, and OF
whom he always spoke of with the great
est affection and regard. He was a seven
months child, with a preter-naturally
large head, which was so heavy that he
could not walk until he was quite a lad.
He often told his friends, and never with
the slightest sentiment of shame, how his
mother wiped the suds from her arms and
left her wash tub to carry him to the
little school where he was taught his
letters; coming back for him and carrying
him home again when the proper time
arrived.
His father seems to have been unjustly
severe with the boy, and when the lad
was tn vars old, vry slight and frail, he
ran away from home, concealing himself
under the seat of the buggy" OF a travel
ing cattle dealer, and not discovering him
until it was too late to send him back. He
found employment in hotel in a western
city, and later he became call boy in a
western theatre. Here he made f-inds
with the property man, who gave him the
ends of the candles used in the house,
which he took to his garret and stuck into
nails driven in the floor, because the
lights were too short to burn long enough
in the bottles which were his only caud-
elabra- BY the uncertain fame Of these
dips" lying on his stomach on the carp
etless planlSs, he studied an old copy of
Webster's Dictionary, which fromed his
entire library. 1 have heard him tell all
this to president Of the United States
in the White House, and in the presence
of foreign ministers and secretaries of
state and their wives and daughters, as
simply as if he were boasting of the
CLANS of long descent. And to prove how
familiar he was with his only book 1 have
heard him repeat and spell and define the
many obsolete and obsolescent words
which the very first page of that die
tionary contains.
ON WEARING TIGHTS.
The declaration of Mr.. David Belasco
hat Mrc ic MI 70 ctr
about the stage in male garb'' has crea-
ted much comment in New York theatri-
cal circles, and the semi-official state
ment has been pretty generally resented.
Mr.. Belasco's rmark was called forth by
the query of a Morning Telegraph repor-
ter in connection with her reputed deter
mination to play Shakespearean roles, as
to wheter she would play Rosalind in Gas
You Like It." The Telegraph says: Ada
Rehan and ulia Marlowe are to play Rosa
lind in New York this week. No one has
Rehan as unwomanly, and Julia Marlowe
has been regarded as above the woman
liest little women that ever happened.
Ellen Terry, Nine. Modjeska, Fanny Dav-
export, Marie Wainwright, Rose Coghlan
and other actresses now before the pub
lie, who hav played Rosalind in ''As You
Like IT, and Viola in Twelfth Night"
are apt to feel that Mr.. Belasco has made
an ill-advised statement. 'Of course"
said Anna Held, 'it is not always pos
sible to judge as to how a woman will |
look in boys costume from her appear |
ance in the garb of her own sex. Ishould |
Judge that Mrs. Carter would be disap- |
pointment intights. She is not as heavy |
4 woman as Bernhardt. But Bernhardt |
n boys costume is a dream. Why |
Mrs. Carter also be a dream in |
tights? / don't think any actress should /
consider herself too womanly to play |
Rosalind. 1 may play the part myself |
some day."