The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-04-04
THE EVER WITTY BARRYMORE
None Was Equal to the Famous Ac.
tor at Repartee.
(Kansas City Starr

(Kansas City Starr
g. The exceedingly unfortunate circum-
stance that has placed Maurice Bar
rymore, the noted actor in a hospital
! for the insane will cause a universal
mourning in the theatrical profession.
Barry, as everyone called him. was
most generally loved and this was a
most remarkable thing, for Barry
was wit and wits are seldom loved.
They may compel admiration some
times. but people who might expect at
any moment to be the recipient of
sharp shaft of wit are not Ii ely to have
a clinging feeling for the man who
launches the shafts.
Barrymore, however, had a most pc
culiar and prolific wit. He did not
seem to bite, and he always made his
SallieS with . smile that took away
all the sting. No one ever hated him
/ for anything he said. 1t was Barrys
eplgram that q man. to be good wit
must always have deXtrOus left hand
/ by which he meant that he who
launches a parry of words must be pre-
pared TO return a good reply. He was
known as probably the best at repartee
IN his prOfeSs ion. and his epigrams are
religlOuSly preserved in the memory Of
I actors, whether they knew him or not
Gus Skinner, who played at the Au-
dltorium last week, was reminded in
/ MS dressing room last night of the
( 1act that Barrymore was In an asylum
and Mr.. Skinner told many stories of
! Barry" that are common propertv in
4 his profession. Barrymore was leading
/ man for Modjeska for several years,
and during that time he and Count
/ Bozenta, who was himself a wit of rep
/ utatlon made many quips that will al
/ ways be told
''One story about Barry L remember
/ particularly" said Mr.. Skinner, and
] that has to do with a slight difference
OF opinion between Barrymore and
! ModJeska regarding a bit of business
/ Barry was doing in a piece The
! madam protested that Barrymore had a
| wrong conception of a certain infiec-
/ ton and she persisted in correcting
MIN. Barry went on without change
/ and thought no more about it, The
: madam, however, in a great rage told
/ her leading man that he would have to
J change his style. Barry refused, and
! the madam arose in great wrath and
/ gave him harsh lecture What do
you know about it?' she said. Who
/ are you? made you what you are. if
you want to know it, so how dare YOU
tell me what is right and what is
wrong% X
Barry swung round a few steps and
| laced the madam, pretending to re-
sent ',@r lecture very much. You made
meF cried in derision, Why, I was
known - an actor before the peopIe
knew whether you were d woman CT
/ a tooth wash.
/ covered
/ with snipes with the single work
'ModJeska printed on them-the same
! sort OF bills that We're being used to
/ advertise perfumes. tooth powders and
SUCH things, and the reply struck the
! madam so forcibly- in its hurnor that
she forgave Barry at once, and he was
allowed to have his own way"
When Annie Leslie, the dramatic
writer of Chicago, prepared her book
on the players of the time, she spoke
of Maurice Barrymore as "a most pic
| turesque revelation of extravagant YER
satility in talent and forgiveable ire
/ sponsibility. Something ought to ar
/ rive. she said, lin the procession of
/ inherited Barrymore genius, for moth
1 ing can come of delightful, brilliant
and gifted Maurice's waste of his own
/ advantage. He is the most charming
/ bundle of contradictions ever created.
! He has not even profited by his Won
derful good looks, and a handsome man
sometimes makes capital of that. He is
as tender and gentle and sympathetic
as a little mother. and he even wastes
1 that He Is a talker of faultless vo-
/ cabulary and a spinning wit which is
not of any time or nation but
uncomfortable as a spring freshet. To
! look upon, to watch, to listen to
Maurice Barrymore is a congenial part.
| is to behold nature in her liveliest tenn
| per or pleaSantneSS. MI barrymore.
perchance, has faults, but they are not
| in personality nor. face nor figure nor
/ intelligence. He is about as near a
: desirable man to see across the foot
lights as the stage shall ever give US.
1 He is a man of such undisputed physi-
/ cal endowmSnts that simply his pres
ence is a tribute to art. But aside from
/ his great luck in possessing eyes sung
| by poets, hands framed in Ouida' $
chapters, length of limb no tailor
can defy, and graces scarcely granted
| lesser mortals, Mr.. Barrymore has a
wit as brisk as Sheridan's and an in