The evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1907-1908, 1907-08-31

night there succeeds me on this stage a
young artist of great charm and talent who
belongs In your affections by every tie. She
Is the aughter and granddaughter of two
Philadelphia actresses. and ! hope you will
extend the same glorious welcome TO Miss
Ethel Barrymore that you gave to me-"
While Mansfield was the most rigid Of
dlselplinarians and the greatest stickler for
absolute obedience to the rules he pre-
scrlbed, it is d fact that he OVERRIDE all
rules, violated all stage conventions and
was discharged many times for mis-
behavior when he was a ''supe" or an
unknown actor.
A friend asked him as 20 the truth Of an
anecdote that has been told of his youth
full days when he was q minor member Of
the Union Square Stock Company. Having
Il thinking part In an important scene, it is
said, he ostentatiously took an imaginary
pin from his lapel, bent 1t in the way
schoolboys know, and carefully placed 1t
upon q chair in which the leading man was
to sit at the crisis Of his scene. His antic.
so the story goes. attracted all eyes In the
audience, and when the leading man sat
down upon the imaginary pin the house
I've forth a murmur of warning, and then,
as In sympathy for the expected wound,
several in the audience involuntarily rose
No. it is not true! They tell a lot OF
things about me that aren't So replied
Mr.. Mansfield. 1T probably developed from
something L dld Wlllle L was pinyllB Ill
London. ! once took a stick pin out of my
tea real pin. mind you-and bent 1t. and
put 1t into my trousers-my own trousers!
Then while the leading man was working
up his b.glseene. i went from chair to chair
and made ar II to sit down in each ot
them. l didn't do IT, but all the same that
light ! was discharged"
Then he recalled Il string OF other
things he did which were outrageous ac-
cording to stage ethics. One was of n
time when he was cast for a waiter in bib
"a nd unrop WhoSR only 1ntU Xvna fn dTn W
u cork. Mansfield was equally offended
by the snallness of the. part and the
largeness of the apron-indeed. by the
fact. of having to wear an apron at all
When his cue came he marched on TO
the stage and tugged at the cork in vain,
having taken pains to ram It home before
story, he exhausted all his wonderful
powers Of mlmicry in picturing In his
features the efforts Of the waiter. me
stage manager. In a rough whisper, shout
I'd to him to quit that, and then ordered
him off the stage. Mansfield turned a
leaf ear, and presently handed the bottle
and corkscrew to the second walter, who
exerted all his strength and failed To pull
the cork. Then Mansfield took back the
bottle, and, renewing his eft0f ncon htna ally
ii gave, in contrast with the terrific eff
forts 10 pull it, sent the audience into q
"That night said Mansfield sadly. 81
was discharged.
on another occasion. in a play called
The Special Delivery Letter, the man
ager asked him to take the part of a
sdnire who was to receive the letter-or
rather, who was to call for it. and not
get II. the letter having been stolen by
the villain. His part consisted only II
saying, II am surprised, and gong on.
manager explained. I'VE must have an
J acton who can look a country gentleman
and show surprise
No words can convey Mansfields accouut
| of the way he presented the part. his
whole face was made up to aecentuate the
| expression Of surprise. the eyebrows arcn-
ing up TO the middle OF his forehead. lie
| had Il brother who was n member OF tar
lament, this Mansfieldian squire asserted,
| and he would have his brother inquire lnto
the specinl delivery department, His wtfcs
cousin was a peer. and the House OF Lords
would pass q measure abolisning the whole
postoffice. The speech was punctunteu
with lifts OF the eyebrows and exclama-
ions of Il am surprised"
During twenty minutes of this, TO the ac-
compartment of r0ars from the audience,
the stage manager shouting in the wings
for him TO come off. and the lending actor
standing helpless. Mansfield was the whole
show.
sAud that night says Mansfield in tell
ing the story. 81 was discharged
Some one who knew the actor well says
he was the greatest bundle of c%ontradic-
tions ever put up In a human package.
While he might rage at this person or that
person for something done or not done on
the stage he was az careful of the welfare
Of the member of his company as II he
were responsible for their keeping. He
has been known more than once not only
10 retain n player on the pay roll through
six months OF Illness. but to pay all the
sufferers expenses besides. Yet he would
discharge that player tncontinently fol-
some effense that any other star on earth
would consider trivial,