The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1904-01-02

names are forgotten outside of the playbills and
we Have no means of estimating her ability ex-
cept &from her popularity She was nearly CON
temporary with Laura keene, the actress man
agerI whose celebrity has never been surpassed,
even In these press agent days; for Laura besides
having been fine actress. and successful man
ager, won place in history in connection with the
assassination of President Lincoln. On that fa-
tai night she was playing her part in "The Ameri-
can COUSIN, at tprd's theatre Washington, with
the president and his wife as part of her audience
When Booth eaped to the stage after the fright
ful crime, Miss Keene fastened to the presidents
box and held his head in her lap while the horri-
fed attendants did what was possible for his re-
lief. On the beautiful dress which she wore the
great mans lfe-blood left an indelible STAIN and
Laura heene kept the relic while she lived reverent-
ly passing it on to a friend before her death Miss
heene convert to the faith, and died with
the grace of the sacraments after an eminent and
successful career
Very few people ever knew that George Drew
Barrymore was Catholic, and left the legacy of
the faith to her three children She was the daugh-
ter of the noted Irish comedian, John Drew, and
his still more famous wife, Mrs. John Drew, and
undoubtedly the cleverest member of the famous
Drew family. She married Lionel Barrymore the
son of an Anglican clergyman, great leading
man for many years. now dying of brain trouble
in sanitarum. She became convert to the faith
while travelling in England, and died some ten
years ago In California of nervous prostratlon.
Her two boys were educated in Seton Hall col
1ege, and her daughter has won as great promi
nefce as her mother, both on the stage and in
social life. as one of Charles Frohman's stars.
Her son, Lionel, IN his unce's company last sea-
son, won favorable notice by his acting of char
acter part. Mrs. Barrymore's last appearance in
New York was with Crane in 'Ihe Senator a sue
cessful play in which she shone as the widow She
remained devoted Catholic to the last, and her
three children to have inherited both her faith
and her talent.
We look at these matters more sensbly now
adays Instead of crushing what we dislike, we
reform it. We guide the social instincts, having
learned that cannot suppress them. The novel
now enjoys place in the household. the dance has
become ordinary, the play is a subject for table
talk, the actor dimes with US, and universities con-
fer degrees on managers and playwrights Sir
Henry Irving! Sir Gilbert Parker Sir Walter
Besant! There are names and titles for you And
at last we Catholics have become proud of our
Catholic actors and willing to admit their
ability to keep the ten commandments and get to
heaven, if they choose. Our condescension is hard
ly appreciated. They have seen too many cold
Il shoulders past years to be charmed suddenly at
L the sight of smiling faces looking over the same
/! cold shoulders. Who were these Catholic actors
7 of the long ago? Who are Catholic actors to-
day? The record is long and remarkable, but no
one has gathered the precise .details.-John Tai
bot Smith in Donahoe's.