Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-11-03

! H@' @-'~
of David Holmes, the book worm in "A
| Bachelors Romance than In the third act,
| when he Is arrayed in evening attire Tor
| the matriarchS' ball.
| Everybody who writes at all has the
| play craze at some time or other re-
marked Miss Seawell, the author of 1.-The
| Sprightly Romance of Marsac." About
| six years ago 1 dramatized the story of
| Maid Marian for Rosina Vokes, and 1t
was great success-a rare thing in a first
| effort at play writing. However, as all
| who knew that extraordinary and fascinat-
ing artist will concede that her personality
could put life into almost any creation
| am glad to admit that to her matchiess
| grace and humor most of the success OF
| Maid Marian must be attributed. The
| part was poetical and romantic-even fan
| tastic-and quite unlike anything she had
| played. But with the compelling power of
| genius, this woman-short, stout, middle
| aged and plain-transformed herself into
| an Elizabethan maid of honor, the tigment
| of an artists dream, stepping into life
| from the canvas of a portrait"
| OF course, Miss Seawell felt impelled to
write another play. This time it was THE
| Sprightly Romance of MarSac." She of
| fered it to a, weIl-known comedian, who
| accepted it promptly for a projected star
|
to Miss Sea well about the piece was:
| "Of course, it is, an adaptation from the
French He was assured that 1t was
evolved from the purest American, and
when asked Why he thought it was from. the
! French he said:S Because it is so well
| constructed" He thought the plays for
| tune was made but the starring tour
| came to an end luckily before Marsac was
| produced Some months passed and Miss
| Seawell saw-one day in a New York news
| paper an announcement that prize of
ss,Oto would be- gfsen to the best novelette,
| not exceeding %. coo words. In less than
a week she transformed the four acts in
| which the play originally was into four
| chapters. and sent it in under an assumed
| name. In a-short time afterward she was
notified atSshe chad taken the prize over
more than a. thhIsapd competitors. Play
| pirates have already paid their respects to
! "Marsac', and it was with difficulty that
| theiN productions were stopped The COM
| ing presentation is regarded with much
| Confidence by the ma agement.
Joseph Buckley. manager of Otis Skinner
| has Just closed a most important contract
for Mr.. Skinner. II is trip to Australia, to
be made Immediately after the close of the
present tour which ends at San Francisco,
where he plays three weeks at the Columbia
/ Theater, early in April. After his San
| Francisco engagement Mr.. Skinner Is to
rest at one of the nearby watering places
for a week thence taking passage to Aus
! ITALIA. with a stop-over Of three weeks at
! Honolulu, where he IS to present a series Of
plays, which afterWard to be given in
! Australia. He carries with him. besides a
| company of seventeen people, special seem
cry for all the pays he will present in Aus
traia. The engagement is for twenty-five
| weeks. and the opening takes place in Sgd
ney. after which he appears in Melbourne.
| Brisbane and adelaide. Mr.. Skinner should
| feel highly honored in this contract with
| Mr.. Williamson. the Charles tTohman of
| Australia as he is the first American actor
to visit that continent with q guaranteed
contract The money wifi be deposited in
San Francisco before he leaves The roper
toire selected by Mr.. Skinner will include
| Prince Otto" Francesca" His Grace.
| De Grammont," and by special arrange
ments, he is to have the Australian rights
of ITO Have and to- Hold" and two or
three present New York successes. Mr..
Skinner has also been requested by Mr..
| Williamson to present in addition to the
| above plays Shakespearean repertoire.
| seen in the characters Of Hamlet, Shylock
and Romeo.
Memories of bygone days were recalled
last week at Chase's New Grand, when ].
X Murray sang kathleen Mavourneen'' as
! an Interpolation in his operate sketch with
| Miss Clara Lane. Mr.. Murray first sang
the song at the Grand long years ago. when
he appeared in the Irish musical drama,
"Glendalaugh,' and on which occasion
! Prof F. Nicholas Crouch, who composed
Kathleen" led the orchestra. Prof Crouch
wrote the song in 1880, when he was sol
| die, in the British army. At the advanced
age of eighty-nne years he died in Balti-
more, about three years ago. Prof. Crouch
| presented Mr. Murray with a manuscript
copy of the song 1t was originally writ
ten for a baritone singer, Mr. Crouch hav-
ing such voice.
Maclyn Arbuckle, though but thirty years
of age has had a remarkable career, and,
as told by himself, 1t is quite interesting. II
started my business career as a clerk In
a drug store at 500 month"; said Mr. Ar
buckle. Remained two months. In set
Ting up received no salary, but found that
1 was indebted to the store for $3S above
my salary for broken bottles. wrong mix
lures of soda water sirups, etc. My
| strength as an athlete led me to the wagon
department of hardware house at $40 a
month After three months of hard labor
l asked for an Increase of 81 a month on
my salary Received my regular salary
Saturday night with note saying they
could not afford to pay that extra 81
Later became a, clerk in cotton office,
with unhappy financial results. Then
took charge of my fathers Thoroughbred
stock farm and followed the cattle for a
year and a half Later became a clerk in
a bank Tfring 81 clerk life made up my
bought me 6. ticket and sent me on to Tex
arkana, Texas. where 1 studied law and
| was admitted 10 practice during the March
term In 1887. Being under age, my disa-
bilities as q minor had to be removed
by the court with my fathers sanction
After this Fwasa candidate for the office
: of justice of the peace, rode an old yellow
) horse, with brindle mule as a relay
through Red River bottom making
} speeches and enjoying square meals at the
. various political gatherings. Was duly de.
feated by a man who owned q grocery
store and who promised the voters hams
ing my study of law l took up the readins
of Shakespeare's plays and began to recite
from them, and at the 'Fireman's Benefit
| at the Opera House in Texarkana / was
proclaimed the coming tragedian of Bowie
t county, also America After this played
three seasons with Mclean and Marie
Prescott in a repertoire of ShakespeareaI
plays: but, alas. began to realize that m,
Mccullough aspirations were fading, as
$ found that pudgy nose and two chin.
8 | were against the traditions of the typica
1 me by noisy critic in New York the fol
. lowing year while playing In 'Spartacus
: the Gladiator with: From where I sa
i Mr. Arbuckle looked more like an East Sid,
J bstcher than he did like Roman. Tha