The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-01-09
The Old Pugilist"Doing q Turn"
Nightly Now.
USES WHIP FIERCELY
Weighs Three Hundred Pounds
in Stage Uniform.
Eliza and the BIoodhOunds Cow
er Before Him.

RaWluckeI, h H. jan "a lOcdi
critic says. Mr.. Sullivan is holding
down the center OF the stage here in
that quite well known play, Uncle
Toms Cabin"-a production with rep
utation almost, if not equally, as we'll
advertised as that of the famous Bos-
tonian who is assuming the star part
In it's cast.
Simon Legree the slave owner and
all-round villain, is now in the hands
Of the renowned world beater, and
'Sully'' is the heaviest Of heavy viii
aains, for he weighs today just 300
pounds.
Visions of Eliza escaping on the river,
the deadly bloodhounds on her track;
and the big fellow making cracked ice
of everything he stepped on outside o.
the scene painters trust the SECONDS
in poor old Uncle Toms corner throw
ing up the sponge and quitting, little
Eva escaping through the flies and the
prompter and stage manager directing
the performances from the boxes in
sront-an these visions fit before the
audience as they blow in at the box
Office, buy pasteboards and wait for the
curtain
But let US pass into the dressing room
and meet in a six-foot space the man
who held all 20-foot ring records FOR
decade.
The bIoodhounds have been fed and
the coast is clear.
Mr. Simon Sullivan Legree is making
up for his turn-that is. he is getting
into the apparel which transforms him
into the hated slave driver.
John L. uses no powder or pastes or
dyes in his Interpretation of Legree-
He dies in the last act, but that he ad-
mits is compulsory. He simply dons
SLOUGH hat, which is listed over the left
eye, just the same as he would do with
any old hat and the makeup is COM
plete. and he is ready for the bell
Mr. Legree rushes out and confronts
the glaring footlights and the eager
audience-tbe latter bursts into a volu-
fninous medley OF sounds
Bully boy, Sully."
''Hooray for John L."
yer all right john" and many 9TH
ers, too numerous to mention, all of
which the distinguished actor wards off
with his well known courtesy and com
posite remark that he remains yours
truly, John L." The latter postscript
has soothing effect on the spectators
and the seething ovation is lulled into
Inconsistencies
The auction Of the slaves is on, and
Legree is there with a roll of stage
money to buy up some of the bargains
IN bid a thousand for that GAL" is
Missed between his clenched teeth, in
deep bass.
Emeline was knocked down and out at
this figure.
Uncle Tom gets 81 200 uppercut. and
retireS to the Legree corner
Mr. Sullivan spins poor old Uncle Tom
around like a top with slight twist of
his burly arm, and says, IT own you
now" in a brutal voice; then, catching
both of his newly purchased slaves by
the wrists, drags them into the wings
as the curtain Is lowered, amid Kisses
and applause.
All through the familiar play he
growls out his orders in a forty horse
power basso and yields his slave
drivers whip in the true Villains style
His right hand swing for the jugular
of Uncle Tom would cause the latter TO
cease drawing salary if it landed in the
place where the audience thought it did
when the slave drops to the floor.
Many of the slaves" turn partially
white as he bowls out his curses on
them. possibly from a combination of
stage fright, Sullivan fright and excited
perspiration.
His famous fall when he is finally
killed has never been equalled on any
stage. Bernhard has dropped for big
money and remained dead till the cur
tain was rung down, but when John L.
drops with his 800 weight on the stage
the Pawtucket morning papers inform
their subscribers that an earthquake
mad visited the town the night before.
do hurt myself? Nawl Many's the
drop I've given the other fellows that
1arred 'em more than that They (the
audience) think I'm a regular brutal
villain when they see me on the stage,
polking old Uncle Tom round and
smashing him with the lash-but don't
hurt 'em-it's all bluff. Why, when I
make that swing at the old coon tn
blow goes over his Shoulder-see; and
when I swing the octoroon around,
that's easy. but it looks fearful rough
from the front.
"Bahl I'm too gentle to hurt a fly
that big fist of mine has the touch of
velvet 1 amt no Booth, a Salvini,
or a Barrett, or an O'Neil-Tm just
natural-just John lust act natural
when I see the glim of the footlights.
I'm honest all the way through, ana
everybody knows that But I'm in the
part that brings out the hiss from the
crowd.
stage fright? Who ever heard of
John L. having stage fright? I used
to leave that to the other fellers and
then win in a punch
THE shows closed for the night; let's
get out Of here" and the big fellow,
having donned his street garb, we left
the theater, away from the cracked ice
track of Eliza, the naughty Topsy, the
beseeching looks of old Tom. the tenn
porary funeral OF little Eva the siren
uous villainie5 of S. Legree and the
mysteries of the box office-to find the
champ" himself again in the open air.