The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-04-06
NEW YORK LETTER.
Is Barrymore's Fate the Common
Fate of ActOr-PIayvright
of m brilliant COterie,

fute OF ActOr~fluyWrlBnts
of a Brilliant COterie.
New York, April S-Although the news
of Maurice Barrymore's misfortune has
been borne on the back of the electric
messenger from this city to the most re-
mote corners of the Republic, a word or
two from me may not go amiss l have
known Barry" for many years, and I
confess his collapse is no surprise. 1t is
! a logical conclusion, and arithmetical de-
duction, to a combination of facts and
circumstances. Many men travel the
pace that kills with wide .open eyes.
The goal is always the same, the mad
house and the grave. None know it bet
ter than these very men. They speak of
it and point out the footsteps made by
Captain Conner, John Mccullough, Tony
Hart, and a score of others. They fly
their course, initiating the hapless moth
which dashes itself into the consuming
flame.
The mental and physical collapse of
Maurice Barrymore reminds one of the
ship that has suffered shipwreck. News
papers with flaring heads and lurid text
describe the catastrophe, the world
i shakes its head, anecdotes and incidents
are related, the wreck is left straining on
|
and the world passes on only to ask after
| a few weeks what its name may have
| been. But, when that wreck is man
who, in a public capacity, has by the
force of his labors brought tears to the
eyes of thousands only to chase them
away with laughter, who, in private
capacity. has by the force of his win
someness, wit and good fellowship, drawn
hundreds to him, it is not easy to dismiss
him as the senseless object built of iron
and steel.
Maurice Barrymore has been a con-
! spicuous figure for twenty years in the
dramatic world of this country, in the
! literary world of the stage and in the
about town. life of this great metropo-
lis His stage personality is we'll known,
he having been for years a leading man
of unusual ability engaged by the most
! prominent managers as support for their
star He supported Modjeska, Mary
Anderson. Rose Coghan and a score of
actresses. But it is of personal capacity
l now propose to speak.
| When the chronicles of our times are
written upon some future day the writer
will look back, and in describing the CO.
| terie of brilliant men of this metropolis
who figured at the end Of the nineteenth
century, Maurice Barrymore will be
found in the cluster composed of Steele
! Mackaye. Nat. Goodwin, Richard Mans
field, billie" Florence, Harry French.
A. NJ Palmer, billie" Crane, Stuart
Robson Tony Hart, John Mccullough,
f. A. Buck. Augustin DAILY, John Gil
bert, Harry Montague Lester Wallack
Dion Boucicault, Harry Beckett, Ned
scanlon. Edwin Booth, John Drew,
Wright Sanford. Ned Thorne, Kyrie Bel
! lew, John Chamberln, VIM r. Travers,
! Leonard Jerome, Larry" Jerome, Ed.
Stokes, Charlie Delmonico, Joseph JEFF
ferson, Capt. William Conner, William
| Henry Hurlbut, Henry ]. Raymond
| Joseph Howard, John Russell Young, Sal
vini, Charlie Coghlan, Mark Twain, Paul
Potter Bronson Howard, w. d. Howells,
Archie Gunter Cazaran, Douglas Levien
William Winter and Clarence Cook. The
discriminating reader will, from his own
knowledge, separate the dead from the
living, and, furthermore, those who at
tanned proper age and those who died
premature.
| Few persons beyond the footlights
know what hard, exacting world, the
| world is behind the footlights How
pleasant it all seems to the average man
or woman. How little they know that
the curtain they have seen fall at eleven
| at night, nay, sometimes at half after
| eleven, or twelve, rises within a few min
! utes for rehearsals of a new play or for
| the rehearsal of a scene that don't work
| right" To be sure this is not a nightly
| occurrence, but it is sufficiently frequent
Then again, besides eight performances a
! week, there are new parts to be studied,
| new characters to be created, clothed as
| it were with flesh and blood
| III TINS labor is laborious 1t involves
| nervous wear and tear. Add to this the
excitement of pleasure and a fearful
| draft is made upon vital forces. One half
of the actors emoluments is 1attering He
i or she Lou "a
ness. Their universal statement is: 1--WE
work to impress the public, we are not
| satisfied with the applause and the
| silence, we want to hear from the lips
| of those who have seen us how we i'm
pressed them at certain times. This
knowledge is helpful" This desire leads
| to suppers after the performance neces-
states date hours and miscellaneous COM
| panions. Good fellowship conviviality,
etc, lead to dissipation.
Who, If he be at all familiar with met
ropolitan life, has forgotten old Brown 3
| famous chop house, or the Hoffman House
| cafe? Here, night after night, the actors
| met to tell their best stories, crticise
the authors latest works and the actors
best representations. Take the Lambs
| Club, for instance, or the Players, is 1t
not too early to go home at three IN
| the morning?
| Social ethics among actors are different
than among other persons. They have
! their own way of regarding the relation
| ship of the sexes and the conventionali-
| ties of life. And they enter the forbid
| den gates of Eden often to their great dis
| advantage.
| Now and then we hear of a man of bust
ness breaking down under the strain of
his cares, but such instances are compare
| lively few when compared with actors.
| Many of the most brilliant actors par
| ticularly those whose intellectual endow-
ments qualify them to be playwrights as
| well actors, have ended their days
| in madhouse and most especially those
| who add 10 this enormous combination
| of work the self-imposed task of being
good fellows, well met" But cases like
Barrymore, Mccullough, Emmett Hart.
Scanlon, ana others win be repeated so
| long as the moth flies to the flame. We
may, indeed, stand at their graves as
Hamlet stood at Yoricks. and repeat with
the Danish Prince his observations on the
fellow of infinite jest"
| Novelists from time to time have Great
| ed some extraordinary character in OPP
! position to the rules of anatomy and
| physiology. Victor Hugo furnished two
| examples. but II has been left to a mod
ern scientist to remodel man so that he
can exist without a stomach. This feat
has been performed at the German hos
pital, in Brooklyn. II the man lives, as