The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-05-01

The illness Of MT. DeLeon that fisap- pointed so many of his friends at the anniversary exercises of the Shakespeare club, has caused frequent inquiry as to the origin and history of the noted Harl- let Travestie, which he was to have exr plained there, in It's relation to the great original.
 The Age-Herald has heretofore made an effort to satisfy curiosity on the sub ieet' partly with the authors consent and partly from other sources.
 Hamlet, Ye Dismal Prince, Ye Biga- miste and Ye Ghoste," as the first pro- duction was billed, was the first comedy and except Edwin Booths Winter Garden Hamlet the first play of any sort to score century," by holding the New York stage for 100 consecutive perform ances. It was there played by the Ia nous clown George L. Fox, with mo- table cast. and splendid stage effects. The Olympic theatre, of which Fox was the star. was owned and managed by Bluff John" Duff. man of means and pluck and the father-in-law of the after wards world-known Augustin Daily. There the comedy Hamlet ran all through Lent, and the worst weather unpaved Broadway had seen for many a year. No production of the day was so noted by the press; none drew such packed houses. Seats had to be secured three weeks in advance, and the standing room only" legend blazed nightly
 But this was not the performance Of Hamlet that will most interest Brming- ham. At the Shakespeare meeting Mrs. Clisby had an ancient and tattered play bill of the burlesque, dated Mobile, Feb ruary 16. 1870. On it appear names then and since famous in state history. The performance was for the Cant-Get-a-Way i club, who had fought the fever of the previous fall and had run wholly out of | money. That one night paid their debt of love; s1S57 being the door receipts. l But the play was repeated in after years, for other objects. and with changed casts.
 The New York bills of the 1869 perform | ance show many names still noted on the stage.
 It was said that the Mobile amateurs, In the various casts held names most notable in the politics of the state. Im- | personatlng the king, was Gen. T. K. IT, win, now the sole surviving founder of | the cotton exchange and board of trade; | Col. John L. Rapier, the queen, now pro- 1 prietor of the Register; Gen. Thomas N. Foler, as Queen Gertrude; Happy Jack" Williams now popular harbor master as the sweet Ophelia; Erwin Ledyard' late editor of the Herald as Polonius Charles Holt as the ghost; Schlessinger and John s. Holmes, composers and or ganists of long note, as grave-dgger and Horatio.
 It was not intentional to omit Hamlet from the above memoranda. The title role, Mir. DeLeon himself always played, he says, because l had an Edwin Booth costume and played 1t about as badly as any of them could have done" But he always adds: You should have seen oscar Zadek, then slim stripllng. Za- dek spent a small fortune on silks and wigs. and efforts to train John Marston' 8 donkey. He rode in. as a picturesque Laertes, the donkey grew jealous, and bray after bray divided honors with Za- deks great tenor solo; he booted the brute off the stage, and the play went on. To this day Zadek will open small bottle rather than recall John Marston's donkey. The burlesoue, MT. DeLeon says, owed its success to his absolute departure from the horse play, and avoidance or brains, that was then served on the New York stage, as burlesque. Tolstoi was purist and Aimee a Sunday school teach er compared to the coarseness or their American imitators. This MT Laurence Hutton said in half-tone illustrated ar ticle in Harper's Magazine a few years ago. In that, and later in "Curiosities Of the American Stage" issued by that firm, the same noted critic says that the Fox Hamlet was great and constant success. not only because 1t was funny and clean: but because 1t was close twist of the very plot, action, sequence of scenes-indeed of the very raison d'etre of the great tragedy. Asked yesterday for a scenario and extracts or the our- lesque, MT. DeLeon said:
 "There never was but one manuscript of this skit. and I had not looked at that for twenty years before l went blind. wrote it in convalescence from illness in New York in Bohemian days there, inst after the war. Then Duff and Fox were novelty fishing, heard of this, and put 1t on. Fox always told me he made the success I always answered that l wrote it first
 "You wish some songs and extracts Well. they'll be might rusty ones, from a memory full of much more serious and timely things.
 "The plot had to avoid any death. Ham, lat senior Is not real ghost The theory is that the ghost had out lot of bills and notes; these were bought up by his bad brother, Claudius, and the real king had to abdcate, give up his wife and go to a cheap boarding house selected by the pair Hamlets whole aim Is to get him out of his pawn.
 "The play opens Just after the funeral and wedding; the whole court filing in to Mendelssohns wedding march) and all dressed in half white and half black. The king and queen come down and re- ceive congratulations. Then the king says:
 Most loyal court your shouting does
 us proud
 And tho high words are low, these are
 aloud!
 Within this week our royal brother left, At his demise this beauty all bereft From wailing and bemoaning naught
 could rouse her;
 So. to avoid the row, sir. we espouse 'er.'
 .Soon the queen calls Hamlet down: