Los Angeles herald., 1909-08-22
AN ESTIMATE OF THE LATE
RICHARD GOLDEN'S LIFE

The following words on the career of
the late Richard Golden are from an
article by james . Donnell Bennett IN
the Chicago Record Herald:
The career OF Richard Golden, which
was closed by death on August 10,
points moral not infrequcntly. i'm
parted by the annals of the players
He was an excellent actor and he pos
sessed remarka BILE whimsical and orig
inal gifts. In the technique of his pro-
! teSsion he was extremely proficient, and
his acting conveyed an impression of
authority and finish that was delight
| full and instructive. And vet he exert
| ed no influence upon the stage of his
time, and he leaves no impress; had
| he wrought out his career with def
| mite purpose and had he possessed ap-
| plicaton he might have done both and
| left to posterity record of brilliant
achievement. He had all the talents
| requisite to fine career, but in the
| formative period of his life he neither
practfced nor saw the use Of self-disCi-
| pline. His early manhood was festive
| and the future was the least of his Wor
ries. He adorned his art because he
had a great gift for acting and loved
! it, but he was never the serVitor of a
| beautiful calling. He could not see
why he should be.
He contributed one charming, au-
thortative study (his old Jed Prouty
| in the play of that name) to the galaxy
of native stage types, and he played
that part many hundreds of times-3OOO
he once said. For more than a decade
| he delighted the public with this i'm
/ persona tion, but when the course of
the play was run and there no longer
were audiences for it this genuine art
! list was as one lost. His frequent plaint
was: If | could only get hold of a
! play" He made feverish and i'll di-
rccted efforts to this end, but he did
not possess that indefatigable spirit
| which makes great actors bend them
! selves to the mastering of new and
difficult material, rather than go fun
bling about for vehicles and medi-
ums especially suited to the powers
they might before have manifested in
| superlative degree. Hence Mr.. Col
| den passes into the record as man or
one part. and that part not one of the
first rank, though he played it beautl-
/ fully.
He was conspicuously before the
/ public for nearly thirty years. but be-
! cause he had not the hardihood to take
himself as seriously as his gifts war
ranted him in doing-or was not willing
to work as hard as taking ones SELF
seriously demands-much of his long
stage career was wasted. In the latter
years of his life he played many parts
that in his soul he must have despised,
and that he need not have played If in
ordering his artistic life he had heWn
to the line that distinguishes the man
of pussant genius from the mere en-
tertainer He died at the age of 80, and
he had been acting since his fiVe and
twentieth year.
"Mr. Golden was capital story
teller, and he had no passion for early
| hours. In his younger days he was the
life and joy of any company IN Whlch
he found himself, and he could entrance
group of dramatic stars with ms mn
tations and his raillery, or ne could
meet on common ground with circus
rerformers, for. as q lad he had FOL
lowed the white tents. In pubic ana
in private he could play the bufoon
broadly, and he often did, but the es-
sence of his nature was sweet ana po-
etic, and his art in its best manltesta-
ton was delicate, truthful ana pol
ished. Though he experienced many
ups and downs of fortune, ms llle OH
the whole was merry and he a very
winning character.
"His funeral was held from the Little
Church Around the Corner in New
York, and among the bearers OF the
pail were actors who had otten cloWheu
with him to the public's delight or
heard him discourse in the social cir
Gle on the vicissitudes and joys or the
nIayer's calling. Those who performeq
the last office of affection for a good
fellow and good actor were clay M
Green, Joseph w. Herbert, Frank Bel
cher Charles Lane, William Muldooh
and w. H. Thompson,
REV. Or. Houghton read the service
The burial was at Bangor, Me-, not far
from the region old Jed Prouty made
known and dear to hosts of American
playgoers who long will treasure the
memory of the man who gave MN 10
the world with all the nature that Is Oh
life and all the feeling that is of po-
At