The sun., 1910-01-18
NED HAURiGANP HE'S BETTER
ABLE TO TEL HIS STORY AFTER
WEEKS or GRIP.
u,s VIE Thrums the Banjo while He Tells
Of the Rise OT the Cherry Hiu Boy
through "NIuIlIsan Guards" ''Otd
lavender" REILLY" and the Rest

EuLigsH Yesterday afternoon, ana the
,,ne she played was -The Mulligan
Guards For Dan MulIigdR-ev ybody
1, ow. Dan MulIiOdn. that's Ned Harri-
e. * course-has laughed himself
} hack toward health and he wanted to
lear his wife play the old piece again.
Every few minutes the telephone bell
would break in on the plink-plink-plmk
oF the banjo or a messenger boy would
come tumbling up the steps with Hey.
does Mister Edward Harrigan live here?
Well. sign here" And it seemed as il
everybody from the Battery 10 the Golden
Gate wanted to know il the man who made
New York chuckle for 80 many years had
got the laugh on the grip.
Most OF the inquiries came from those
Nwhom Ned Harrigan calls the kids of the
stsre-they've grown up since his day
and Annie Yeamans was about the only
one of the old Harrigan and Hart players
who sent telegram. John Wild is dead.
and so are Tony Hart and Billy Gray
Dave Braham, who wrote the music for
allthe Harrigan laugh makers, died three
years ago.
% There was a telephone call from Ada
Lewis, hut she was only a kid when she
played the tough girl twenty years ago
Al the opening OF Harrigan's Theatre,
now the Garrick, and made such a hit
in the first five minutes that Ned Harri-
gan went back to where his wife was
knitting in the wings and said: Its all
right, ny dear. That long legged girl
has won us theatre"
Mr.. Harrigan left his home at "a? West
IO:d street on election day to vote and
caught a cold that has kept him on his
hack ever since. There were times in
those eleven weeks when the doctors
thought it was a very bad case indeed,
but Ned Harrigan didn't agree with them.
He said it was Internal nonsense to say
he was an old man. nobody is old at rs.
and he would show them how much
vitality there was in a lad from Cherry
hill
'Oh, I'll take the medicine" he would
say to his son. DIR. Anthony Hart Harri-
gan, the one who was named for Tony
Hart; and to DIR. Lefebre: Il s'pose I'd
hurt your feelings il I didn't. Now,
Annie, get the banjo and give me one Of
those moke pieces Dave used to write
That's the kind OF medicine that does a
man good
And Annie Harrigan was able to tell
everybody who inquired yesterday that
Ned is convalescing and that il won't
be very long before he is sauntering out.
He was 80 much better really that he was
able TO talk through the open door of the
sick room and tell a few stories OF his
forty-three years work as variety actor.
comedian and playwright.
1t was Mrs. Harrigsn. though. who did
most OF the talking. Ned Harrigan would
say, DO you remember. ANNIE And
then Mrs. Harrigan would take up the
story and you could hear Dan MuHigdr
laughing quietly.
\ The talk went back to 1897 and San
Francisco, where Ned HarTiRan went
10 find an easier job than shaving planxs
in shipyard. They put on a little bit Of
everything at the Bella Union and the
Olympic Theatre in those days.
They had variety. minstrelsy and at
Hsrrigan. Il worked in blaokface. did
song and dance, was Dutchman in
chin whiskers. LOtta, Joe Murphy and
Maggie Moore were members 0f the
company. II was grand training"
1t was there that Ned HarTi gan met his
first partner. Aleck o 'Brien. They worked
up a song and dance turn. but IL didn't
last long. and HarriRan took on Sam
Hickey. who taught him a lot OF tricks
about character acting. They made
rgsn played the Irishman and Sam Hickey
the negro, and then took a chance en- New
York. II was september 2l, 1870, as Mr..
harrigan recalled yesterday, that they
made their first appearance here at the
old Globe Theatre in a sketch called The
! Little Fraud Hickey couldn't stand
prosperity and Harrigan had to break
with him.
Il said then would never take another
partner, but when does a man know what
Pc is going to do? ! met Tony Hart
Rid Mr.. Harrigan. Il ran across Tony
at the Winter Garden in Chicago in II
tnd We got together right away in
sketch we called The Big and Little Of It,
Mart Hanly has it all in his scrap book.
Tony could play Dutch woman better
than any other man who ever lived
With Hart Mr.. Hsrrigan had a chance
70 work out and put on the stage cherecter
studies he hRd been making all his life.
lie had found them on Cherry Hill when
\ he was boy, funny Irish men end women
and the old time negro, and the way
they talked and the things they did stuck
~ his mind.
1T wasn't herd" said Mr.. Harrigan.
In every crowd. ! don't care whether
' its made up Of Fifth avenue clubn,en or
Fast River longshorcmen or the negroes
"A used TO see them in Thompson street
or newsboys, there are g few who stick
out, dramatic figures IN their group.
Whoever uses his eyes and ears can dis
cover them in no time. The policemen
know them; the reporter finds them and
'''Vu WTlUeb aDOub Iietu All VIZ "eS
copy them for the stage. Dave Hraham
wrote such good music because he knew
. the people he fitted the music to-
1t was in 1871 that Harrigan and Hart
began to interest New York. They
opened at the old Theatre Comique at
Slt Broadway, playing The Mulcahy,
'Twins," The Day We Went West and
The Big and Little OF It. They stayed
At 5l4, with a road tour or two ON the
side doing nothing very ambitious, mostly
song and dance turns with variety per-
formers filing the bill. Pat Rooney,
Nat Goodwin and George Knight were
With Harrigan and Hart in those days:
Harrigan's 9 head was 30 full OF ideas about
more ambitious work that his friends were
8fr2id he would ruin himself.
Most OF the variety profession had the
horrors when ! said was going TO bring
out a piece called The Major. They
said il was sure ruin. They said would
be the worst failure New York ever saw
tried TO do anything more than song
and dance turn. But l thought knew
hest and produced The Major. IL was
a big success and all traditions were
shattered. After that determined 70
Mrte nothing but plays requiring whole