The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-03-13

" HE other day In running over
"reminiscences of famous stars of
the stage Marcus Mayer of I'M
presario fame told the Hollow
ing stories:
Adelaide Nelson and Sarah Bern
hardt were among the jolliest OF the
lot. Sarah Bernhard was the greatest
money-maker. Who was the easiest 10
handle? Well, as a general prlnclpie'
the greater the star the better sot
along with him. Mary Anderson, for
some reason. was very difficult to ham
die. The most genial was poor, dear
old John Mccullough. All IN ALL
though. they were a great lot Fancy
handling the business of such people
as Adelaide Nelson, Christine NILSSON
Sarah Bernhardt. Adelina Patti, VINO Is
now a bona f1de widow Booth, Law
renee Barrett, Henry Irving and Ellen
Terry John Mccullough, Coquenn ana
Jane Hading, Etelka Gerster, Mary An
derson. Joseph Hoffman, the boy plan
sst: Sarasate, dAlbert, Gerardyr the
'cellist; Stavenhagen. Olga Nethersole'
I.angtry. Albani. Scalchi, Marcella,
Sembrich, Tamagno, Maplesons her
Matesty's Opera Company, and-don
let me forget her - the MenKen, the
greatest Mazeppa the world ever knew.
"Menken is somewhere in the here
after. 1 wouldn't like to say Whefe-
Yes, she was WONDERFUL woman.
Adah Isaacs Menken! In her day she
had at her feet the most noted men on
two continents l struck up with her
In San Francisco. and from the mo-
ment she made her appearance lheTe'
every leading woman in the frisco
stock companies wanted TO play Ma
zeppa' 1t was way back IN o. YOU
know. I've been in the business Ior
thirty-five years. The first VINO got the
'Mazeppa' fever was Agnes Booth: she
was Agnes Land then. Then Emily
Jordan, who is now Mrs. John Cnam-
berlain of Washington, was stricken
with it, The next to succumo TO the
awful fascination was Mattle leu,
who is now one of the Salvation army
Iassies of Booths London forces But
none of them was like the Menken.
Adah was as brilliant as she was hand
some: and yet she was woman OF un-
common mentality and an actress Oh
amazing power. She was louisiana
girl. born about 1885. She was beau
ty, with the whitest, pearliest teeth,
Iustrous eyes, rich, red lips and beau
tiful dark, wavy hair. At 20 she was
q ballet dancer; at % she was a tull-
fedged tragedienne, and at "a she was
q wife for the first time. Her husband
was Alexander Isaacs Menken. She
married him in Nashville, left him soon
afterwards and took with her nothing
but his name. which she made famous
the world over.
she soon FELL in with that noted
fighter and physical giant, John I.
Heenan. She married him at Rock Cot
tage, a former roadhouse in New York,
within six months from the date of her
separation from Menken. They were
happy for a little while; a boy was
born to them, and Heenan then left
her. Heenan was just preparing for
his great fight with Sayers, when the
Menken' returned to the stage and
appeared at the Bowery under the
name of Mrs. John c. Keenan, The big
pugilist was mad with rage. but he
couldn't trump her trick. She went
through the North as Mrs. Heenan.
The pugilist soon after sailed for. Eng
land, and during his absence she FORM
ed her third alliance. This time she
chose r. II. Newell, the 'Orpheus c.
Kerr of old-time journalism. He made
her promise that she would quit the
stage. This she did for six months,
and then she was back, playing Ma
zeppa' and The French Spy before the
California miners at $500 night She
appeared for sixty nights, and the
journalist couldn't stop her. She sepa-
rated from him and took up with Jim
Barley, the gambler. He was flush
in those days and so was Menken. Her