The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1905-06-09


A wee little tiny tow head girl
And boy with two stubbed toes
A wee little girl with a pigtail braid
And boy with freckled nose.
Maurice Smiley in Golfers Weekly.
Joseph Jefferson.
Joseph Jefferson was the last survivor
OF the first rate actors who helped to
maintain the fading dignity of the Ameri-
can stage during the closing decades of
the nineteenth century For MANY years
he had been quoted as the greatest living
master of eccentric comedy, the creator of
the most enduring stage figure know to
modern times, and one of the most bril-
liant opponents of true theatrical art
He was the remaining link between the
players of what it is now the fashion to
call the old artificial school and those of
the new, which dubs itself the natural,
and he constantly demonstrated in his
own person the definite superiority of
artificer why has conquered all the secrets
OF his trade over the apprentice who is
scarcely aware of their existence. Briefly
he was, in the fullest meaning of two
much abused words, furnished artist,
and it was the delicate beauty of his ex-
ecution, inspired by rare intelligence and
aided by charming personality, that
constituted his peculiar, almost unique,
distinction. A great actor he was not,
for his range of impersonation and of
emotional expression was narrow. At
no time was he able to conceal, or even
modify materially his own individuality.
Vehement passion, either of grief or rage,
such as Robson used to exhibit forty or
fifty years ago. or even the choler of such
characters as Sir Anthony Absolute and
Sir Peter Teazle, was altogether beyond
hts powers, nor could he sound the
deepest notes of pathos, for his humor,
however much it was suppressed, was
never altogether extinguised. it glimmer-
ed family even through his tears. But
most of the moods within what may be
called the temperate zone of human feel
ings, especially those which lend them
selves to touch of fantasy, he could in
terpret with exquisite facility.
No actor of modern times has been the
subject of more eloquent or, it must be
added, more undiscriminating eulogy,
the result of his prestige, his popularity,
and his personal charm. AS matter of
fact the sum of his achievement was
small, and his actual influence upon the
stage insignificant. In fact the record of
his artistic career is singularly barren.
He did nothing, beyond setting the ex-
ample of blameless life, to elevate the
profession to which he owed so much
Notwithstanding his vast influence, he Of
fered no encouragement to modern drama
tic authors and did little or nothing to
preserve the old from oblivion. The be-
ginning of his success was the end of him
ambition. Having once won the smile
of Fortune he would not put himself in
peril of her frown. The public never
wearied of his one masterpiece, and he
contented himself throughout by far the
greater part of his career with the prof.
table multiplication of replicas. Doubt
less in following this course he set an ex-
ample to his contemporaries of the world
ly wisdom in which most of them are so
conspicuously lacking, but it is difficult
to reflect, with resignation, upon the en-
ormous impetus which he might have
given to that theatrical reform, of which
there are so many professors, if he had
been animated by a more enterprising
and aspiring spirit.
Like so many other famous actors he
was associated with the stage from his
infancy. His father, grandfather, and
great-grandfathe were all players. His
father, after whom he was named, mar
ried the widow of the comedian, Thomas
Burke, and he himself was born in Phila-
delphia on the Goth of February, 1929.
When only three years old he appeared
before the foot-lights as the child of Cora
in "Pizarro," and little later on took
part in an act with Thomas D. Rice, the
negro comedian, who emptied him out
of handbag, to dance a jig in the
character of Jim Crow. At eight years
old, in the Franklin Theatre, in New
York, he enacted pirate and fought a
cutlass duel with Juvenile phenomenon
known as Master Titus, one of whose
toes he accidently Topped off. After this
he went Transforming" with his father,
leading a vagabond life in Southern and
Western Safes. playing in taverns, or
wherever there was opportunity and,
at one time, followed the American
troops engaged in the Mexican war. For
brief space, being reduced to great
straits he supported himself while in
Mexico by keeping coffee stall in a
gambling hell. Thence he made his way
to New Orleans, and it was in that city,
as he records in his autobiography, that
his ambition to excel as an actor was
fired by performance of John E. Owens,
the inimitable Scion Shingle of later days
Amid these rough experiences he gradual
ly acquired the '.rudiments of his trade,
until he was fitted to take his place in one
ofthe many stock companies ofthe period.
From 1916 to 1856 he acted chiefly in
Philadelphia, New York and Baltimore,
generally in the stock, but sometimes as
an experimental star encounterinp the
usual vicissitudes of theatrical life, but
advancing steadily in technical skill.
Minute detail here would be tedious and
uninstructive. Once he crossed the
Allegheny Mountains in stage coach in
midwinter and was nearly frozen to
death. But such adventures and others