The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1909-01-31

L hIOH I'll II OElN 10.
If have the markings OF prima donna
1 dare say I will get the opportunity
| to prove it Meantime 1 am not over
elated about this success. am simply
very happy"
Miss TAFT was a vaudeville star once.
She did singing and dancing turn with
Allen Sells. scion OF the circus Sells
family. He was the featured one. how
ever. and the sketch was a big success.
she told me. over the Hopkins circuit
of vaudeville houses in the east. But
Sells was taken sick and the engage
ment was abruptly closed The only
player I ever appeared with who gos
i'll was a man and OF course I couldn't
understudy him." said Miss TAFT rue
fully THAT vaudeville experience was
recent one. and then I was taken sick
with typhoid fever and kept my doc
tors guessing in Chicago for many
weeks whether was going to be a
credit to their skill or an undertake
er's asset. But I got well. as you see.
and II felt any better than I do to-
day I would be afraid that I'd die OF
good health"
II love the stage" said Miss TAFT: II
love the life and I love the people. 7
am happy in my work and will remain
so. even il I am never to be what Z
have wanted to be for u years.
chance has come at last Perhaps T
am deluding myself. because, after all.
a voice is only part OF the accom-
/ plishments which a prima donna muse
possess. I believe I can act and that
would make good as you say, II Z
got the opportunity. Perhaps last Mon
day night was that opportunity. Who
can tell? But anyway. If I'm not to be
prima donna. I'll remain chorus
girl. It's a distinction to be called
I girl when one is the mother OF two
children and is growing older every
day. I might be a chorus girl when
I'm a grandmother. and then join an
italian opera company."
Sires and Sons
San Francisco theater goers have been
privileged to hear this last week three
sons of worthy sires. ali OF whom have
made fame in the play that Sothern is
reviving. Our American Cousin
The three sons are Edward Hugh
Sothern. Thomas Jefferson and Row
land Blackstone Jefferson at the
American was still appearing in rip
Van Wrinkle" in which his father made
fame and a fortune; Blackstone was
playing Binney to Sothern's Lord Dun
dreary at the Van Ness. in the same
/ play that Buckstones father appeared
as Asa Trenchard in London when Our
/ American Cousin went across the At
+ lantic. Jefferson reminds US OF the
fact that his father played Asa
Trenchard in this country when the
( comedy was first produced. way back
in the hfties.
+ Il own" said Thomas Jefferson TO
me, that I was disappointed In Eddies
presentation OF Lord Dundreary- Not
that he was incapable OF acting the
part. but that it was so far behind the
/ times and I found myself unable to
understand it. He gave a perfect
presentation of the role, but II wasn't
worth his while and his unusual talents.
That's the difference between Lord
Dundreary' and Rip Van Wrinkle.
confess I am weary OF Rip. but there
is always a new generation coming on.
and they love the homely old play, its
pathos and it's humOr. it's tragic note
and its truth That is because there IS
a human interest in the part; but am
determined to take Rip on the boards
Just as soon as I get a play to take its
place"
Jenerson's criticism OF Our Ameri-
can Cousin" suggested bit OF criticism
which he had preserved in his scrap
/ book. Here" said the writer, ION
October is, 1858. at Laura Keene's
theater was produced for the first tins
the piece by Tom Taylor. Our Ameri-
can Cousin"
/ Much to his disgust, Sothern was
cast for the subordinate character OF
Lord Dundreary, who was intended TO
be an old man and who had only AZ
lines to speak. At first he declined to
play the part. but subsequently, on the
condition that he should be permitted
to rewrite it on lines of his own, IN
dertook it. Then he commenced put
ting into it everything he had seen that
had struck him as wildly absurd There
was not, he used afterward to declare,
a single look, word or act in Lord Dun
dreary that had not been suggested to
him by people whom he had known
since early bOyhood. On the first night
the part was by no means a success
indeed, il was some two or three weeks
before the public began to understand
what an actor whose name had hitherto
been Identified with characters OF a
serious and even pathetic type meant
by this piece of mad eccentricity. But.