Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1904-12-01

Interview With Mrs. Tom Thumb



minarets of dreamland dwells Mrs.
General Tom Thumb, the fairy god
mother of at least two generations or
children and the legendary heroine of
all of us, from the nursery up.
"Once upon a time"-that is the way
it seems as though any story about her
ought to begin. But, ia truth, there is
nothing at all mythical about the
Countess NJ. Lavina Magri, A. c. A.
ACTORS Church Alliance), as her ele-
gantly engraved carte de visite in
scribed. Her actual history is more
fascinating than fiction.
We would never give away lady's
age but every body knows that Mrs.
Thumb-Magri, nee Warren, is sixty
five. Like queens and other royalties,
she is on record in the almanacs, and
is thus denied the ordinary human
privilege of skipping a birthday now
and then. Every years counts.
They have touched her very lightly,
however. Her figure is plumper than
Of yore, but there isn't a gray hair on
her head, and when she takes off hen
tiny, goldrimmed spectacles her fine
dark eyes are almost as bright as they
were on the day of her first marriage,
somewhere back in the early COS.
That marriage to the redoubtable
Gen. Thumb was celebrated in Grace
church, New York city-an event OF
which there is pictorial record in the
form of an oil painting on the orna-
mental case of the characterization
Wheeler & Wilson sewing machine
which was one of the wedding pres
ents. The countess keeps this ma.
chine-which bears evidence of having
seen plenty of practical service-in
her Lilliputian parlor at Dreamland,
together with many other historic SOU
venirs in the way of furniture and por-
traits. These things are indubitable
proof, if any were needed, of the iden-
tity of the Countess Magri with the
original and only Mrs. Tom Thumb, q,
point upon which she is extremely
sensitive.
Until u4ey have seen her it is in
deed difficult for some elderly people
today to believe that she is the bride
who figured in that famous photograph
of The Fairy Wedding Group, copy
righted by Brady in 1864. and still
cherished in hundreds of plush albums
on parlor center tables. The group
consists of Charles s. Stratton (Tom
Thumb) and Lavina Warren, bride and
hpi1o0rnn,,a Wy
bridesmaid and Commodore Mutt best
man.
Now, ancient history, avaunt, Us
for Dreamland and the Midgets of to-
day.
Two dreamers of The Worlds
Metropolitan Section were dispatched
to Lilliput to find out what Mrs
Thumb" might be up to in the way Of
dramatic work. 1t had been rumored
that she was dissatisfied with the
playlet which she and her husband.
the count, and his brother the baron
are presenting at the Midget City
opera house, and that she had under
taken to reconstruct the plot and re-
write her lines.
What an extraordinary thing for
star actress to want to do,
Well, we approached from the sea.
after dark. The spectacle of the
domes, towers and battlements out
lined in incandescent fire set the artist
wild with color schemes and appealed
to the word-impressionist for fine
writin and unlimited space.
But we had mission, so we went
straight on down the Pike, turning
neither to the right nor to the left,
oblivious even to the Sewers of Paris
and the Temptation of st. Anthony.
until we struck Midget-hurst-by the
Sea.
At the porte-cochere a bantam band
played Justify, under the conductorship
of condensed Duss. A little cop told
us to move on, so we ducked into the
boiled-down city, with it's population
of over a hundred human atoms.
Our first impression was that we
were IL feet tall and still growing.
Everybody and everything was on the
midget scale. Midget ladies and
gentlemen promenading about, street
cleaners in white-wings uniforms, 20
licemen, fakirs, sports, shopkeepsrs
and salesladies, restaurant, fire de.
partment, with engine and horses in
readiness, opera-house, marionette the.
atre. and eircus-all looked as if view
ed through the wrong end of a tele
scope.
'1CtNe~ hugo ~i1nt. like ourselves
approached, and said he was Mr..
Rodriguez, the head ogre of the place
He would take great pleasure in pre-,
senting us to Mrs. Gen. Tom Thumb.
the Countess Magri.
There she stood. in the doorway of
her ohatelet--a quiet, matronlS look
ing little lady in a black bombazine
dress, who extended A small. chubby
hand in welcome, and said in her clear.
pleasant voice, yet which has an odd
suggestion of babyishness in it:
Good evening, gentlemen. / am
very pleased to meet you. am just
starting for the theater to do my little
turn at play-acting. but if You Will
come back here later. after the per-
foTmance. we can sit down and have a
comfortable chat