The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-09-09
BY WILLIAM WINTER.

Clarice, in Tragedy and Comedy" the
Countess, IN Love-" Meg Merrtlies, IN
Guy Mannering;' Ion, in the tragedy so
called; Juliet Rosalind; Desdemona
(onee only; Perdita and Hermoine in
THE Winters Tale" and Lady Mac
beth. In each of those parts she gave an
Individual and potential impersonation;
but I was always impressed first and
most of all. by the inevitable quality IN
her performances.
Was Born to Act.
Mary Anderson. on the stage. had TO
make her way from comparative obscur-
ity. and at first. contrary to the common
belief. her pathway was not one of roses.
Artistically. she began at the top
where, as Daniel Webster said, there is
always plenty of room. Genius and
beauty can, sometimes, so begin, wisely
and to advantages; but in general, that
course is not judicious. The beginner in
this case acted on the advise of Char
lotte Cushman, who preceiyed her nat
ural endowments, and must have dis
cerned in her an exceptional fitness for
the dramatic profession. Just as Burns
was born to write poetry, Mary Anderson
was born to act. That fact the veteran
actress OWNED; and though firm In her
faith that, as she expressed 1t, "the are
of sailing a ship cannot be learned by
entering at the cabin window" she knew
that there are exceptions to all rules. The
origin of genius has not been ascertained
1t happens-and that is all we know about
it.
The antecedents of Mary Anderson af-
ford no explanation OF her proclivity for
the stage. She was born in the Eagle
Hotel, Sacramento, California, July IS.
1859. Her father. Charles H. Anderson.
was young Englishman who had come
to America to seek his fortune. An old
comrade of mine-Clifton w. Tayleure,
actor. dramatic author and manager,
long since dead and gone-told me that
he knew him; that he served as an
officer in the Confederate army, and that
he died early in the civil war. His grave
Is In Magnolia cemetery, at Mobile, Ala.
Her mother, Antonio Leugers, of Phila-
delphla, was a beautiful woman, of Ger
man descent. and of rigorous Catholic
principles. Neither of her parents was
theatrical. Her mother, after some time
Griffon, Of Louisville, Ky, where for a
time Miss Anderson was an inmate of a
Roman Catholic convent school, She was
reared in the Catholic faith by Father
Anthony Miller, Franciscan priest, her
mothers uncle-a man of extensive learn
ing and exalted character. She left school
before she was fourteen years of age.
As a child she had seen some of the per-
formances of Edwin Booth, which had
touched her heart and fired her fancy.
To such degree, indeed was she In
fiuenced by Booths acting that she learn
ed some of the parts she had seen him
perform-Tramlet. Richelieu Wolsey and
Richard III.-and acted them in private;
and also she learned and acted Schiller's
Joan of Arc.
Her resolute purpose to become an
actress (for, even in girlhood, she mani
tested exceptional strength of wild pre-
vailed over the scruples of most of her
pious relatives. DIR. Griffin, her step
father speaking to me of that period of
here experience, said that her insistence
was irresistible, and that at last, he was
constrained to go with her to the princi-
pie theatre of Louisville and ask for q
trial of her talents. Then came her per-
Torrance of Juliet. The verdict was fay-
orable, and the manager, Macauley-spec-
tally melted thereto by an approving
word from the tragedia John Mccullough
gave to her regular engagement begin
ming January 20, 1S76-from which time
until the season of 1SSS-S9 she was in con-
tinual practice of her profession She
first appeared in New York in 1877, at the
Fifth avenue theatre, and thereafter she
made annual tours of the country, and so
laid the foundation of a brilliant repown.
Her professional ventures in England en-
sued and Sc became a favorite abroad
as well as at home. Her acting was seen
with delight in Scotland and Ireland, as