New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1902-05-31
ELLEN TERRY.
A SYMPATHETIC BIOGRAPHY OF THE
GREAT ENGLISH ACTRESS AND
HER SISTERS.

Go.
Miss Terry has found sympathetic and al
miring biographer in Mr.. Pemberton. His &C
count Of her career is an excellent and well or
dered one. painstaking and complete; and he
contrives 10 give a understanding of the charm
and character of the woman, though he does not
dwell largely on this side; and, to a much
greater degree, of her quality as an actress.
The sisters Kate Marion and Florence. occupy
much less of his attention. in proportion as their
public careers have been briefer and less dis
tinguished.
Ellen Terry herself has declared that her first
appearance on the stage at the Princess
Theatre, London. Mamius. in The Win
ter's Tale" with Charles Keen. when she was
about seven" Certain playful worms nave
determined that it was in 1856. But Mr. Penn
berton is inclined to give credit to other re
searches. which would find her first appearance
to have been with her sister as of the two
little princes in Richard Ill" However 1t may
have been, it is certain that in that year she
played many juvenile parts in Shakespearian
plays and pantommes Her father, Ben Terry
was a highly esteemed actor, befriended by scott
in his unfortunate financial affairs, even to the
extent of lending him money TO carry on an Ill
starred venture with the Adephi Theatre in
London so that Scott once wrote: Il have been
made a dramatist whether l would or no. be-
leve my muse would be Terryfied into treading
the stage even if / should write a sermon
From their father the girls were trained IN the
best traditions of their art; and even as children
they made their marks. One of Ellens first les
sons is thus told. apropos of her representation
of Prince Arthur in King John
At the point where she left the stage in the
fuU and terrible knowledge that her eyes were
10 be burnt out, she at first Cpresuma bly, at re
hearsal( made her exit with such cofnposure tndt
she received a strong reprlmand from IIs'
+,Ty5 She mn c
sion to the anguish of the situation rms niue
scolding caused the easily affected child TO sheo
such earnest tears that her monitress crled out:
"Oh. if you only do that on the stage, what
Prince Arthur you would be- The hint was
taken TO heart and adopted. and the success of
the impersonation was assured.
In 1860 we find the two sisters, Kate and
Ellen. acting in suburban drawing room enter
tainments," devised to overcome the conscien-
tious scrupIes of those who Stunned the theatre,
but indistinguishable at this distance of time
from comediettas or farces The father, how
ever soon put his most gifted daughter to
more serious work by securing her a position in
the famous Bristol Stock Company-it was
remarkable assemblage Of actors who have
since become noted. Their work hard, but
1t taught Ellen Terry the most useful lessons
Once she was cast for part in a burlesque:
She told the stage manager that she could
neither sing nor dance The reply was laconic
did in a way" she says; but il was the best
thing that could happen to me, for it took the
self-consciOusness out of me-and after Whl4e
/ thought it was capital fun, for the Bath and
Bristol people We're very kind.
Then came London again, and engagement
with Sothern; she acted among other parts that
IF Georgina, the affected girl on whom Dun
dreary was ''spoony" and later that of Mary
Meredith. in the same play. Ellen Terry never
liked Sothern. She admired him. but she could
not understand his mania for practical joking.
He was fond Of wreaking this his fellow
actors, and Miss Terry complained that he
teased her, made her forget her part and look
like an idiot But that she not above that
sort of thing herself is shown by this story of
her part in play called Blackstone at Home"
In this wild production she had to appear
Britannia, and she surrounded by the
knights of the Round Table. These stalwarts
were supposed to be unable to remove a certain
property stone . . The situation
meant to be taken seriously. but the light
hearted Britannia. possibly annoyed with the
absurdity OF tae production and the poverty of
her part in il. came forward, took the mock
bowlder in her hands. played BALI with the
/ fimsy thing at the same time gleefully crying
out. why, a child could toss it,
The first time Miss Terry played with Henry
irving was at the Queens Theatre, in London.
in 1861 in Garrick's act excelsior from The
Tanning of the Shrew' called Katherine and
Petruchio" It during this period that she
became the wife of Charles Wardell, an actor
well known the public of the time Charles
Kelly: and for seven years she withdrew from
the stage. She returned to it in 1874 as the
heroine OF Charles Reade's drama, The Wan
dering Heir and from that time to this has
not quilted it. Her introduction TO the part of
Portia. in which she has won some of her great
est distinctions came about in 1879 The Shylock
was Charles Coghlan. whose failure then Mr..
Pemberton characterizes as 'irexplicable." He
was an actor of admirable powers. and had evil
IDENTIFY studied the character most carefully; but
apparently he had made the fatal mistake of
thinking that Shylock one OF those parts
that would play itself" and that killed the
production. Miss Terry's Porta was "a never
TO be forgotten triumph" OF the part she her
self says
How loved playing Portia, l have tried five
six different ways Of treating her Cnfortu-
nately the way / think the best way does not
find response in my audiences.
In 1878 Miss Terry first appeared at the
Lyceum Theatre with Henry Irving, Ophelia
to his Hamlet. OF this performance it is re-
lated that she thought she had completely failed
and without waiting for the fifth act she flung
herself into the arms of friend. repeating Il
have failed, I have failedr' She drove up and
down the Thames Embankment half dozen
times before she found courage to go home.
Ellen Terry's elder sister. Kate. had brieI
but brilliant career AS early as 1858 she played
Cordea TO Charles Kean's Lear she appeared
as the principal actress in Fechter's company
when he managed the Lyceum Theatre. and
she won subsequent triumphs in various Lon
don playhouses till her marriage and retire
nent in 1867. The younger sister, Florence
Terry had a brief career; her first appearance
was not made TIL 1870. anG she retired in 1882
Marion Terry appeared filree years later. and
is still active the English stage. Mr.. Penn
herton has recorded the careers OF the four sis