The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-03-21
HISTRIONIC CAREER OF OVER SEVENTY YEARS

Richmond to John Wilkes Booths Rich. ard; Horatio with Forrest; went up and up until strong drink claimed him for It's very own, was a super in new York Theatre at $2s0 a week; put drink behind him, and was again in the ascendant
 . T am going to play in MT. Blaney's Child of The Regiment Company again next season." he said yesterday. The year after that, if my health con- tinues good, he is going to star me. should have been that long ago, ex- cept for drinking" Mir Mitchell con cluded simply.
 The aged actor told his story just after the second act of the play yes- terday afternoon. He had but just proven by a masterpiece of acting that his age was only in the calendars, not in his body or brain or heart, when he was asked for an interview. He was in his makeup for John West, a ranch- man of Dakota. Beneath his paint his skin looked ruddy and healthy, long, grizzled moustache did not con ceal the firm lines of a mouth that in- dieated the gentle strength of a man who has lived life in its every phase and yet has not let it's bitterness hard en, or its fleeting brightness mislcad him into the ways of the vainly proud. His eyes were clear, and they sparkied as he told of the old days. His figure is rather stocky and it's lines showed strength.
 It was not necessary for Mir. Mitchell to say that he was of the old school His behavior upon the stage said it for him. A certain studied but not stiff attention to minute details, carefully worked out tricks of voice and man ner, shadings of sentiment by gesture, dignity of conception rather than of motion, were notable characteristic of the days gone by.
 But in saying that he was of the old school. Mir. Mitchell cast no asper- sions upon the actors, of the present generation. Most of them are zeaious and many of them are wonderfully able Bat we old men are praisers of time past, I suppose" he said. with smile that was delight to look upon. Do you see this stick?" asked MT Mitchell, displaying beautiful ebon, cane with gold handle. "As you ma, note by its inscriptions it was pre- sented to me by The Child of Tn, | Regiment Company last Decembe when I gave the cast dinner to eel ebrate the seventy-frst anniversary O ! my coming on the stage Do you thinl look as if I were T5 years old?s. l don't You know it is left for the la | the privilege of merely feeling how | old we are. I decline the privilege- that's all I don't feel 75.
 But mustn't begin my life at tn end; let's go back to the first night On the night of December 23, 1886, tn elder Booth carried me on to the stag | of the old Green Street Theatre in Al bany. N. Y. had been born fou 1 years before. near Sandy Hook, so vol might think I could have only think ing parts I am not sure. though, tha 1t was thinking part I had for tha night I danced hornpipe in a linei suit that an old sailor had made fo me. He went down on the James K | Polk-but here is a part of the suit, and Mir. Mitchell fetched out of hi trunk a tiny pair of long trousers, 0 fine Irish linen and looking as ney as if the cloth had just been woven.
 You see the nautical touch in tn eagles and anchors that the old sailo embroidered along the walst-band.
 lost the coat, but $10.000 wouldn't bu
 these. worked for 12 cents a nigh and nearly starved. but kept tn
 pants-you see they were on the stag with Booth.
 But that night-Booth was play
 ing Pizarro.' Do you know 'Pizar
 TO? he asked with characteristi
 qulckness.
 |
 it," the reporter confessed
 That does pretty well: not man
 know that much. dare say you'll nev
 CT see it played" he remarked iron
 ically But in those days there wa
 always farce to go with the seriou
 piece presented-a sort of curtain
 raiser. So I danced a horn pipe
 Probably it was not a great horn pip then. but afterwards he was regarde
 as great a dancer as any upon tn American stage.
 That was the beginning. I did nc
 belong to a theatrical family, thoug
 my grandmother had been upon tn
 stage, but somehow seemed to be
 exactly the atmosphere could breath best.
 My next notable venture was wit
 the original Christie minstrels in 1S4 The negro shows did not take; tn people everywhere said they didn
 want to see negroes on the stage Bl
 the Christie company was the fri minstrel troupe.
 Then I drifted West and had tf thrilling experience of being arreste
 for a horse thief and nearly hanged But I managed to be extricated an got back to the stage I played Denver and managed a theatre ther painted some of my own scenery.
 was the first man in America to r,