Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1905-10-09
JEFFERsON'S EARLY LIFE
The Only Time He Was Kissed From the Stage Oe.
Cured in St. Louis. Came to Love the
Same City.

The only time Joe Jefferson was ever
hissed from the stage occurred In st.
Louis. where in later years he was to
become one of the most pronounced IA
vorites Of all the actors who visited the
city.
Jefferson's early life was Of the most
varied description, though never ex-
tending beyond the limits of the sock
and buskin save when for awhile he
essayed to run a cafe in a Texas town,
but, despite its Kaleidoscope quality, 1t
was never one in which the embarrass-
ment of dismal artistic failure entered
except on this occasion. The genial III
actor, the dean Of the American stage,
at the time Of his death, dismisses 1t in
a kindly but brief manner in his "Au-
photography" yet it is apparent that be
was stung to the quick by the tiasco,
for he did not appear In st. Louis
again for thIrty-two years and then
only when his position had scared to
assured and brilliant stellar heights.
Speaking Of this temperance In 1915.
he merely says that It was his first In
st. Louis since the memorable season
when as a youth ! had been Kissed
from the stage"
1t was in 1874 that the trouble oc-
Cured, when Jefferson was but If
teen years old. The occasion was his
first trip to the west and south. He
had joined the company, Of which his
mother was a member, the season be-
fore, when it was starting for the west,
had played in Chicago, then only an
Insignificant, village, worked down
through Illinois to Louisiana and Mis-.
sissippi, and on the return north be-
gan a summer engagement in st.
Louis under the management Of Lud~
low 4 Smith, then n Of the most
prominent theatrical firms in the coun.
try. The stars Of bic company, an ex-
ceptionally good one for Its time, In.
cluded players whose names are well
remembered even unto today, and
among them were such notables in
the stage world al Mr.. and Mrs.
Charles Kean. Anna Cora Mowatt and
James X. Hackett.
The reason spent in travel had been
u~neventful, and that in st. Louis was
no departure from this even tenor ex-
cept for the unfortunate fiasco which
befell young Jefferson. Everything
went well until the night Of the Fourth
Of July, and on this occasion the man.
agement decided to make the perform
ance fitting to the day by introducing
at the close Of the regular bill a pa
triotic tabIeaux. In which Jefferson
was deputed to act az soloist and sing
the 'Star Spangled Banner" When
| the assignment wns given him he was
! plunged into III ecstasy OF delight
| Hitherto he had been playing all man
ner Of small parts. handling properties
and doing such other things Of general
utility as the managers saw fl to sad
die upon him, and now for the first
! time in his career he was to stand Ii
the center Of the stage, the attention
! Of the audience concentrated upon his
youthful form. and render the stat
number Of the bill.
The patriotic tableau had been heavi
ly billed. and the house was crowded
for the independence day performance
Jefferson was IN a frenzy Of excite
ment, and as he pceped through the
curtain at the great audience he fell
that his reputation was made. Fol
days he had reheaised the national an
them, sung it backward and for
ward" as he subsequently declared
until he was certain of the effect liz
would produce. coupled especially Will
the enthusiasm that would naturally
be in the air on such an occasion. This
night his fame was In the making: oi
the morrow it would leap from tongue
to tongue around the town. SO he fel'
and proudly strutted the stage In thu
ardor ard assuredness Of his youth
waiting impatiently for the moment
to come when he, and he alone. woult
be the center Of interest. the star o.
the principal event on tie bill.