Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1901-02-15

CLAIMING. :
y T He ;A' ! |:

Claiming was simple, serious, mis-
taken young man who had come to
New York to learn to act and SUBJ
sequently to 60 on the stage. Chan
ming had always been cast for old
mems parts at the school Of acting, and
he played them Observation-Disclosures
conscientiously than necessity required,
for nature had partially equipped him
for the task by giving him asthma and
only one lung, and the cough which
old men on the stage always suffer
from didn't have to be counterfeited
in Channing's case. Moreover, he
caught a bad cold because there was no
heat in his hall bedroom-you can't
heat for So a week--and this would
have made his "old men imperson-
ations'' very realistic if he only had
real part to play, but he didn't. He
had to sit in his overcoat and study
his part, which didn't take. him long,
being only six lines, and the most
vapid six lines possible, and between
times he would 60 and read at public
libraries, for this is not only improving
to the mind, but also warm. The
sudden changes from the intense heat
of the public libraries to the intense
cold of the hall bedroom, and there
is nothing colder in the world than
that, gave Charming pneumonia be-
cause he didn't have enough troubles.
and when he went to rehearsals he
couldn't get through his six lines for
coughing.
Charming played a gentleman's part
and consequently dressed we'll, because
he had to. He also received invita-
lions to actresses receptions and went
to them in a dress suit. Accommodate
ing young men who will pass round te3
and claret cup and give recitations are
so rare that they are sought after, even
If they are poor as Job. Besides, if
you meet young man at a reception
and he is attired like other young men
and talks in an educated way. how
are you to know that he has Just
pawned his watch and fears that he
will have to pawn his overcoat? When
you meet young man who throws
money away Oh learning to act, how
are you to know but what he lives at
the Waldorf?
So that to Gwendoline Maltravers
who took the ingenue part in the play
In which Claiming s'suped." he seemed
no poorer than other young men,
Gwendoline Maltravers was really Bes-
sic Brown, for the smaller the part on
the stage the bigger the name. Bes
sic Brown was not as old as ingenues
are popularity supposed to be, but sh,.
played her part just about as badly as
third rate ingenues generally do ana
overdressed to the same extent.
She was pretty and had loud 7oice,
evidently proceeding from perfect
lungs, and Charming, having only one,
admired her. Her careless generosity
had something fine about II, and when
she ran on the stage and Rugged an
other man he felt jealous.
Bessfe's father was a pawnbroker.
which is one way of saying that Bes-
sic was well of. She acted because
she wanted to and got an engagement
because she knew a theatrical man.
"Under the weather, aren't your
she asked Charming one day when he
was coughing. "You need quinine."
Claiming said that he would get
some. He would have got vitriol ii
she: had recommended it. He remem-
bered as he said It that he had big
bill at the drug store, and his heart
sank. i ~ s.. ,r...,a:ty Ii ~:
1t was then that he decided to pawn
bis }evercoat. 1t was the kind Of over
cost! thai: actors: favor, fur lined and
fur *collared' 81 }efrect1ve as oh in.
genue's stage name. OF course the day
eed 1 "a msn m:ses 6s seea ss or
such = Gay, and Other. people miee \,
especially whenit is such a preteatious
garment, Bessie missed IT,. She Wa
not facfful* Inf ddlldod haa rtof