The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-05-19
FANNY HERRIEG PASSES OUT.
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eaneei ffotn 'the leel'- w yawdrvillr and
Inc eihirst mri sinth,a, eho hnd rusarl
yeasa In playina thrcr ~ four parts : N~eh
IN stoeh ~ the dsys ~ tho otl huwory
TR~atre she was a 30 ana toaat ~ the
stays; In t.,s ltst dorado she has heen nu'ed
a. tbe aofgce Nhp c%put,tn't uuit. ~ about
that time tte Vaudeville sks'rh teams topk
her up "tyo ieen un the atSg" ~ long ~
Fanny R.rring' always bTuuGht q laugh,
And sSlshta IN q Dime Missouri, q popular
eona N tho early o. an era incredibly
remote IN tho history ~ popular sungs
contained thr~e lines
Thea Penny Herring closed me snow
Win 4 drama laid In ohto
The stare ran red with the blood ahc tplled,
counted forty men she KILLED
Fanny Herring was the daughter of nm
old time English comedian. Tom Herring,
and Of Fanny Herring tho first, once q
favurite In London. The stage tradition
ran further hack In the family b that,
however-further back than any OF tho
Hsrr!ngs had ever tried to count, Tho
parents Of the Fanny Herring OF this gener-
alton loft her ~ n baby In London wbils
they went on a tour OF the United states
and Canada. When they found that this
country offered chances Fanny Herring
the elder returned to London and brought
the baby over. When little Fanny was
Q or 7 the whole family played the Bowery
In the Bottle, a f~orerunner Of Ten Nights
in a Barroom." The taby had her first
The family went on through the country
playing qittle Fanny whenever here was
q call for a child, a page or a fairy.
In New Orleans she had her first i'm;
portant part and made her start IN. Wild
West drama. She was in the cast Of -Po-
cahontas' as an Indian maiden, With John
Mccullough. Edwin Adams and John Wilkes
Booth. When she was II, a little. slim girl,
her mother Joined Forrest in Rochester;
He needed a Francois for -Richelieu' and
Mrs. Herring proposed her dsughter'
had Fanny scared to death by the first
night. When she made her entrance, car
rying a bottle of wine and a loaf OF bread,
she got stage fright, stumbled and fell full
length on the stage, The leaf and the
house roared and applauded. and Mrs.
Herring, in the wings, whispered to her
sBOw-bow," Little Fanny, in her boys
thoroughly feminine courtesy and some one
yelled from the gallery:
Now turn a somersault!"
A year or two later, Fanny Herring,
the elder, died; and for two years after
her daughter just vent ito to school sen o. o. ie 9ar
forty years. At 10 she was back again
as M Of the girls in Beauty ana the
Beast" She got 81 a week, but worked
her way into a speaking part az ~, A
little later she became the fa'ry queen
Col. T. Allston Brown in one Of his papers
OF "reminiscences tells of her first appear
ance in this production. She was clad in
floating. diaphanous drapery; buoyed up
BY one Of the great hoopskirts 81 the
through q, ~trapdoor. When the cue came
the throne rose and she, in a graceful
pose, rose with it, Her entrance brought
howls from the pit. She glanced down
and found that her gown had caught tightly
gracefully, but her. diaphanous gown was
staying behind. She crouched down on
the throne and made such frantic signals
that the property man reversed In time TO
prevent scandal
BY wartime she had played pretty nearly
every standard female role, including Por-
tia, 0phelia and Desdemond. She developed
an aptitude for boy parts. and Is probably,
remembered best for her Jack Sheppard
In a chapbook play founded on the lie OF
later she began to II the country in the
border drama-the old, dime novel, blood
and thunder thriller. She had a passion
for thrill and firearms. She played a male
part, like Jesse James. the Border Bandit.
tain Ruby. the Cattle Queen. Ore of her
famous roles was Chief Uneds, in George
Fawcett Rowe's -Ieatherstocking.' These
parts she played well into the sos.
The time had come long before when the
common run OF actresses marry, retire or
settle Down to playing grandmother or the
middle aged adventhress In the red princess
gown. But Fanny Herring refused to. go
sack on her youth: When the actors gather
on the Rialto in the fall-she had seen the
clear up to Forty-second street-they used
to meet her and ask her:
well, Fanny, when are you going to
ntire?'
aOh, there lie a year or two more Of a SOU
brette 10 me-" she would
So she became a tradition and stories
grew up about her. They old how a certain
manager wanted a soubrette. An applicant
appeared, leading a granddaughter. She
went through her PAGES, but the manager
shook his head.
sYou won't do" he said. mo steadiness.
You're not old enough. ! guess III send for
Fanny Herring" He did, and + amy Her,
ring got away with the part. She could
tackle anything from Hamlet to blackface-
and do q fair job in 1t.
Az for her age, she used TO deny it con-
~sistently and declare that the Fanny Her
ring whose name was on the old time bills
was hsr mother, Her friends to tease
her used to read her fake reports saying
that Maggie Mitchell made her debut at
q benefit to celebrate Miss Herring's thirty
ffth birthday. This always got a rise out
Of her.
In the late sos. being then a widow,
with q fine house In New York, property
invested, a farm in Connecticut and two
sons on the stag she tried 10 retire. Two
seasons Of rest were enough for her, and
In dsp2 abe was back at tina dime museum,
where she actsd short and bloody Wild
West p~lays-henoe the popular song quoted
above, After n eAasOn or two she tired