The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1907-06-01
GREAT ACTORS
Such We're John Mccullough
and Lawrence Barrett.
Olcott Unable to Reach the
Heartstrings Like Scanlon.


from 10 to Is 1 believed that John
Mccullough was the greatest tragic
actor in the world, writes James *.
MCGUIRE in the Syracuse. N. Y, Sun.
1t cost 25 cents to sit up in the top
gallery, the niger heaven of the
wieting Opera House, Syracuse. and
the saving or gathering in of that
quarter was always attended with
great effort And often times the
quarter of a dollar could neither be
saved. borrowed or secured, and re-
MI Lehnen, and an arrangement was
negotiated whereof! I was admitted to
the show in return for peddlng pro-
grams or helping TO move scenery or
run errands.
To my boyish mind the greatest of
melodramas and spectacular produce
lions were those scenic wonder plays.
entitled 1.-The Lights of London and
'"rhe Romany Rye was too young
to appreciate the sweetest Irish lark
that ever sang on the American stage
poor, Inflated Scanlon-but l re-
member we'll the tears that rolled
down the eyes of many an Irish
woman, her heart moved by thoughts
Of the old land, remembering back to
the days of her girlhood, as the soft,
sweet voice of the Irish singing min
strel brought back with the memories
of the days that never come again,
and with them, too. the 'ove-lisht in
the eyes of the emigrants.
Chauncey Olcott seems to be the
most popular of the successors to Will
liam ]. Scanon. and Olcott is clever
but never once does he reach the
eart-strings the way that Scanlon
played on them, standing there the
young 1.-the. blue-eyed youth, with his
cap in his hand-and, oh, such a voice,
with the pathos and sadness, the mel
lowness and affection of his people in
that out-giving which changed a
1duSulIi5 duiltllIC lilD Il 'iS ihS D'AN'
When John Mccullough visited
Syracuse, where he was a great ia
vcrite, l would get down to the theater
as early as o'clock, so as to get
near the head of the top gallery line,
in order to get seat on the front row
OF the gallery. Mccullough was one
of the few heavy tragedians who east
ly filled the top gallery, for, as rule,
light-hearted boys have little interest
in the work of tragedians or plays OF
tragedy. Mccullough was an cxcep-
ton. The boys loved to watch that
man in action. To them he was a hero.
and never was an actor in the old Vie
ting Opera House greeted with more
cheers from the upper gallery than
Mccullough when he essayed the pow
erful part of the father Of Virginia in
James Sheridan Knowles play of
"Virginius" Knowles himself was an
Irish playwright, living for many years
in Dublin.
There is an Irish song somewhere
called Kitty of Coleraine.' and it was
in the town Of Coeraine in Derry. on
the banks of the Bann that John Nc
Cul!ough was born in the year 1887.
He was only 20 when he became the
leading man of Edwin Forrest, the
greatest American tragedian of his
day. Forrest loved young Mccullough
as a son, predicted for the youth, to
whom he left all of his valuable man
uscripts, a great future He was the
greatest Virginius of the last century
He was considerably under 80 when he
was recognized as one of the world S
greatest actors. when suddenly the
country was shocked with the an
nouncement that poor Mccullough had
gone mad and died within a year in
a Philadelphia insane asylum. And
the same was the fate of the mean-
choiy genius, the unfortunate singer,
Ecanlon.
To the end the voice Of Scanlon
was charming, but his friends and the
people noticed the malady that was
IN creeping over him and benumbing his
mind. Responding once to an encore
he broke down most pitifully in sing
Es ing the Irish love-song-
Il. "Ah, sweet Kitty Neil, rise up from,
that wheel
Your neat little foot will be weary
from spinning;
&. Come trip down with me to the syc-
amore tree
Half the parish is there and the
dance is beginning
The sun is gone down, but the full
harvest-moon
Shines sweetly and cool on the dew
ss whitened valley;