Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1899-12-01
OUR NEW YORK LETTER.
How E. IL. SOthern Fought His WAY
to the Front as an Actor.

n
ern rs II Medium.
NEW YORK, Nov. 30. - Especial
There was some shaking of heads n
few years ago when Il. Ii. Sotbern
whose father was so long a stage fa.
yoIite as Lord Dundreary. made his
first essay on the stage as n star. but in
this year of our Lord 1899 the son is
easily one of the most successful actors
Of the day. His recently closed on.
gagement here in THE Song of the
sword was highly successful,
Yet there is no question that even
his father questioned seriously the wis
dom of the sons going on the stage at
all.
John Mccullough Helped Him.
There were three Sothern sons-Lyt-
ton, who has been dead several wears.
L. ii. and Sam. Sam went in for the
business end of the profession. 10. IT
said he was going in for acting. The
father was fond of all the boys. but if
he had a favorite Il. Ii. was certainly
not the one. Lytton, said the old man
had unusual ability, Sam was practical
and might succeed" but E. II. "nev-
err E. IL. persisted in his pleadings
TO be allowed a trial, however, and aft
er many misgivings the father yielded.
though taking pains not to give the
boy part in which he could make
much of failure.
The young mans professional debut
or S,f
theater (since burned DOWN here in
New York in 1870, and his part was
that of the cabman in SAM" one of e.
A. Sothern's most popular plays. e.
II. had hardly more than single line.
his solitary speech being:
Half a crown, your honor. l hope
you won't object"
Over and over again he rehearsed the
words at regular rehearsals, in private
with his father and likewise alone by
himself Finally the night the young
ster had waited for so long arrived.
Down to the very moment of his ap-
pearance young Sothern felt confident,
and so, it must be admitted, did his ia
Their. But as soon as E. II. got in front
of the footlights the words deserted
him completely, and the only thing he
could do was to stare vacantly at his
father. The agonizing pause was bro
ken by a not less agonizing prompting
from the elder actor, who urged sibil-
antly:
go on, sir. Go on, sayr'
But E. II. couldn't have continued if
his life had depended on it. He could
only keep on staring. At last the elder
Sothern spoke again:
go off, sirv' he cried. "Get off the
stage, l sayw
But there was a man who believed he
could win. He was John Mccullough,
and he engaged E. H. to play all sorts
Of small parts at $50 a week.
Made n Brave Fight.
E. H. Sothern remained with Nc
Cullough one season, after which he
went to England to be near his mother,
who was i'll unto death. After she
died he came back to America and was
with Mccullough all through the last
months of the tragedian's career. Aft
er that the young man had to shift for
himself.
He produced play from his own pen
which was a dismal failure and after
the breaking up of his company was
almost but not quite ready to give up
the fight. His next chance came when
Helen Dauvray, then in the height OF
her fame, engaged him to be the vii
lain in play wherein she was star.
The play failed, but she engaged him
for her next play, zone of Our Girls, F"
by Bronson Howard. In this Sothern
played the part of a military officer,
making a decided hit. Since then he
has been generally successful. His
matrimonial venture-his wife is Wiz
vinia Harmed, a theatrical success be-
fore marriage as well as now-has been
successful also, and together they are
now coming money.
A SOthern "Reminiscences.
Notwithstanding the difference OF
opinion between the elder and the
younger Sothern concerning the ability
of the latter to learn the actors art,
the two were great friends and cronles
h. H. still has in his possession a
playbill, discolored with age, on when
his fathers name appeared for the
first time in America. This was IL
Boston in 1852, and the play was The
Heir at Law" Sothern had not then
abandoned his real name for the one
now used by every member OF tine
family and was billed as Mr.. Doug
las Stewart, from the Theater Royal
Birmingham, England" He played SC
badly that night that the audience
guyed him numerically. Before the
curtain went down. on the last act tine
Kissing became general, and Sothern
advancing to the foOtlights, mace
speech, which every one cheered u
the echo.
Ladies and gentlemen" he said' ~
you'll kindly let me finish tonight II
promise to bother you no further fol
some time, but will go home and trI
to learn how to act"
When he next played in Boston, N
was so much improved that he tooi
the town by storm. Only the oldel
ones in New York remember It, pu
there was a time, away back IN th'
tifties, that the elder Sothern pose'
as a spiritualistic medium here. III
performances in that capacity under
taken at first out of pure mischler
were truly remarkable, but he CAV
them up after awhile, to the grea