The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-11-12

street theatre, as Richmond. to the
Illchard OF Junius Brutus Booth. NV
eoeluihe' as l remember it, was several
SIZES 700 large, and altogether I must
nave peen provoking Rich
mond indeed. AT the end of the perform
ahCe, however, Mr.. Booth sent for me
ana taking me kindly by the hand said:
MY boy, you should go and learn how
70 read. But l do know how to read.'
sald l. half timidly, half dehantly. He
Iaugned pleasantly, well knowing that
l ald not understand his nearing. and
gave me the address of Lemuei Green
Whlte, TO whom he advised me to go
lor instruction. l acted Immediately
upon his suggestion and became a pupil
OF Mr. White, who, by the way, was the
teacher of Edwin Forrest.
After two years Of hard study, |
appeared again at the Walnut street
theatre-this time, in contrast to my
ambitious first attempt, appearing in
very small part consisting Of one
line In support of Mr.. Forrest. That
was really my introduction to the
stage. The ten years that followed ]
spent in the stock companies, working
and learning and hoping as all young
actors did at that time. l began with
the smallest parts in the classic drama
and played every male character in the
plays before being intrusted with the
leading roles. My experience was not
sutnclently unlike the others to war
rant me in going into detail about it.
AT the old Chatham theatre, on Feb.
Y, 1647 l made my first important New
York appearance, in the character of
Richard III, and in the same week l
played Sir Edward Mortimer "The
stranger, Iago, Hamlet and
Macbeth. My success was sufficient
10 gain me return engagement at the
Chatham, during which / played Ro-
meo, Shylock, Jaffler, ST. Pierre and
Rolla. After being thus launched upon
my career as star, l toured the coun-
try IN classic repertoire, having Clara
Elliss as my leading lady When I
think nowadays of Miss Elliss, who was
SIX feet tall, as Juliet and myself, quite
eight inches shorter than she, as Ro-
meo, l wonder that the audiences did
not laugh at US. But, mind you, in
those days players were expected to act
their parts rather than to look them
ana at the present time / fear that the
lGverse is the case.
In the year 1856 I went to England
Tor an Is months tour, playing first
at the Drury lane theatre, London. At
ter appearing in Liverpool, Manches-
ter, Dublin, Limerick and Belfast, I
returned to America and set about
making an English version Of Goe-
the's Faust" When the adaptation
was completed, I produced it in PhiTa-
delphla, with that distinguished actress,
anna CoWell, as Marguerite and my
seI IN the role of Mephistopheles. In
this play l toured regularly every sea-
son until 1876. Since that date. I have
appeared in public but rarely, and dur
ing tne last few years have devoted
my energies entirely to my work as an
instructor. That" said Mr. Roberts,
story"
The end of your history, yes" said
the reporter, but the members of the
PROFESSION would be interested to hear
your ideas of the drama For ex-
ample, how does the modern school
compare with the old?
I'm one way answered the aged
player, there is no comparison. We
nave no such actors nowadays as Bur
ton, the Plaoides, Blake, or a dozen
others that l might name. The mod
ern drama, as I said once in q little
atter-dinner speech, is like a beautiful
wax figure, richly gowned, ornamented
with the most costly Jewels, but lack
ing life The mounting of plays at the
present time astounds me. q have no
notion what these productions cost,
but doubtless the sums of money ex-
pended are enormous. Years ago
Booth spent about three thousand dol
lars on a production Of Hamlet at the
Walnut Street theatre. It was reck-
oned fabulous sum then, but now I
suppose it would be nothing out of the
ordinary. Forrest would not use elab-
crate scenery, nor did he give much
thought to the costuming. He had one
dress that he wore In nearly every
thing, but his acting was so magnif-
cent that no one gave any heed to the
inaccuracy of his attire He had the
brains; Booth had the true poetic in
stinct.~, From that you may draw
comparison of the work of those two
oraat man