The record-union., 1898-03-01
UNITE FAMOUS FAMILIES.
Marriage of Ethel Barrymore
Binds Two Theatrical Houses.

Binds Two Theatrical Houses.
Ethel Barrymore's marriage with Lau-
renee Irving will unite two famous the
atrical families. and is the logical,
| though By no means inevitable, effect
from certain causes. 1t was Laurence
Irving who called his fathers attention
to Miss Barrymore's excellent acting
when she was doing Secret Service"
in London. 1t is Laurence Irving's play
in which the young woman has been
acting; they are both young, and She
az any rate, is beautiful. The match
ought TO be a popular one, except with
Miss Barrymore's rejected suitors, of
whom there are said to be MANI. Both
parties to the engagement are clever
and both started well UP on the ladder
of fame, thanks to progenitorial en-
deavor. Ethel Barrymore has two gen
erations behind her of dramatic glory,
and Irving has one of greater glory than
his financee's two. The engagement has
made stir, and is talked about in Lon
don, New York, Philadelphia and chi
cago circles, in all which places the lady
has many friends and innumerable ac-
quaintances. She is the reverse of the
atrical in dress, manner of thought, and
|
inc and altogether pleasing has won her
social wreath.
Little has been known, oddly enough,
in this country, where the hearts of pub
lie characters are ferreted cut and
lmelight turned upon them, of the fam
lily life of the Irvings One reason is. TO
be sure, that there has not been any but
the absence of congeniality between
I h11ch1n6 on ;c nj ut
comment than it's tanner presence Mrs.
how Lady-Irvng has lived entirely
with, for and in her boys, and made
them objects of her intensest devotion
and care always. They have been men
for some years now; but her anxiety
never has ceased. She struggled hard,
and was seconded in the exertion by
her relatives, to turn them from dra-
matte paths: but heredity in the male
| line was stronger than negative infiu-
ence from the mother and Mrs. Irving s
heart was a good deal wrung when
Harry first began acting, first in pri-
vate theatricals. and then on the real
stage, TO which he took like duck to
the water. He is now, as is well known
a full f1edSed actor, and married to an
actress. Laurence, the younger, has
4 .
although he is, If one is not mistaken
by profession a barrister still. He is
very modern, Scandinavian, and given TO
sicllly and morbid, not to say hideous,
ccnjurings; as his "Godefroi and Yo-
lande'-that leprous phantasmagoria-
showed
Mrs. Irving's trials have been per-
sistently and willfully ignored in Eng
lar ND oil tn Mo-
that it would have done any good not to
ignore them, but to have shelved COM
pletely an innocent and exemplary lady
simply because the husband was a
popular idol whose martyrdon has been
proclaimed, is unjust, and not only that,
| but cruel. A friend, adnlirer and .tou-
ter" of Irving's once announced at a
large supper party, when asked about
! Irving's wife, that 1T was charity to
call her insane" This was infamous, as
being entirely misleading. The lady it
is true, has been antagonized by the
hard trials of twenty odd years; she is
clever ana interesting still.
When peoples lives are held in the
| full glare that beats upon the stage
there is no betrayal of confidence, no in
trusion in discussi ing their futures, pasts
and presents. Everyone hopes that the
very young, very beautiful, very brill
liant and very lovable Ethel Barrymore
will have the happiest of happy lives.
| And whether she stays upon the stage
or retires to private life, it is believed
that she has the elemnets within her
| that go to make up joyous career.
With sparkling temperament, optim-
| ism, health, humor and universal tact,
it must be conceded that a young wom-
an could hardly start in life better
equipped for enjoyment. With a de-
voted and enthusiastic young cavalier
beside her, the prospect Is certainly
rose colored. Miss Barrymore was Is
last August and Lawrence Irving is
about %. The young lady has the
beauty OF Maurice Barrymore, her
father, with much of his wit. AS she
is hardly more than child, it is pre-
posterous to expect that wit to have
become mature or finished. She is
quick as a fash, however, and ready
TO enter into any hyperbolical fun. The
eternal spring of spirits she seems to
inherit from her mother, George Drew
| Barrymore, who was said TO possess an
fnexhaustible fund of them. The Pc
culiar Drew profile Miss Barrymore in
herits, but not the fullness of the eye.
Her forehead is of AN artistic lowness,
and her complexion is creamy and col
orless-a marvellous skin, which the in
evitable rouge and black tuff of the
stage have not as yet impaired. There
! is no question about the girls dazzling
| beauty. She is always dressed simply
and like other girls off the stage, af-
fects no peculiarities of gait or speech;
/ TO gestures, nc dramatic tricks. no
emotion. as so many of them do. She
is yivacious, gay and sympathetic with
/ charming manners and a deferential
air TO her elders There is really al
most no fault to be found with Ethel
Barrymore. She is wonderful ANAL
gamation OF pleasant traits.
/ Her acting is different No one has
been found TO say that she has done
her part well in Peter the Great"
Apparently she has been oyerweighted
with it, and has not cared. Romantic
conditions do not temper the verdict
of public, however. and it is a pity
that Miss Barrymore tried anything so
evidently beyond her years, under
standing and capabilities. If she had
not been about to be- engaged to the
/ playwright she might have been quiz
+ city invited to withdraw from the
cast, or at least violently corrected. As
1t is. the circumstances were peculiar.
and perhaps her failure was not so
much so.-Chicago Times Herald
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