The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1910-07-07
THE FIRST "UNCLE TOM,
Daniel Worcester, Veteran, Now at
the Soldiers Home IN Bennington.

Inc benuluSuOu bduHeI COuUdlno
a most interesting write-up of Daniel
Worcester, the original Uncle Tom"
of the original Uncle Toms Cabin
Company and former resident of
Montpelier, who will be very well
remembered by local people. Mr..
Worcester is a brother of Mrs. George
Huntington of this city. The Ban
ner says
| Daniel Worcester, the original I'm
I Gle Tom of the original Uncle Toms
Cabin company, the first organiza-
ton ever to present the world ia
nous slavery play, is in feeble health
at the Soldiers Home in this village.
THE last figure in an old time
school of acting, the creator of one
of the most famous characters in the
history of the stage is spending his
last days of his life in a cot in lit
tie hospital of a soldiers home.
LICKING back upon career which
is one of the most varied of the many
varied careers of inmates of the old
Vermont institution, Worcester, gil
ant in stature, has spent the days of
! the past spring confined to his bed
in an almost helpless condition. The
tremendous energy and activity which
carried him through so many years
of hardships has entirely failed him.
| OF late the old man has been at the
point of death during several hard
attacks of illness and he now feels
that he must die.
| Daniel Worcester was born in
Warren, Vt, in 1888, and was one of
a family of ten boys and two girls.
He was brought up on farm, among
scenes about as foreign to the stage
as it was possible to be in 1898. At
that time the town of Warren was
nothing more than small settlement
among the Green Mountains and the
Worcesters lived some miles out of
the town where young Daniel labor
ed about the farm with his father and
brothers. In the Worcester family
there were few books, and the few
did not number volume so ungodly
as to contain references, other than
uncomplimeptary to the stage. In
fact none of the children had ever
been inside a theatre and none of
the neighbors had ever see none. The
young Daniel had no conception of
such an institution.
at was not until he was Is years
old that Daniel first had revealed to
him the mysteries of the footlights
That was on the memorable occasion
on which he made a trip to Lowell
Mass. One day the young farmer boy
had decided to eXpolre for himself
and he bought a ticket to a play by
Sheridan Knowles which was then
being presented at the old Lowell
Musuem. The boy was hypnotized
by that one performance and decided
then and there that he would be an
actor.
Daniel was a stranger in the city
and knew very few people. His
tremendous ambition, however, stop
ped at no obstacles and he spent days
and nights scheming how he could
get into the acting business. Final
ly, after he had persisted for weeks
10 in n
to an amateur theatrical organization
called the Aurora Club. None were
!. more surprised than the club mem
bers themselves when this farmer
boy began to exhibit real talent. In
few months he was made manager
of the club and its stage manager. II
. was in this club that he made the ac-
quaintance of Denman Thompson and
e. W. Marston, who were fellow
players.
After some time spent with the
club, working hard during the day al
his trade and much harder at night
at his playing, Worcester finally re-
| dllZtu Tue dIIDltlOH vi LIS thISiSHSS'
He was engaged to do small parts in
the Howard Atheneum in Lowell al
that time first class theatre. Here
he played for about six months.
In 1851 Harriet Beecher Stoves
. Uncle Toms Cabin was presented Il
the public. AS soon as George Ait
ken completed the first possible dra
matization of the book Worcester
was chosen to take the leading par
OF Uncle Tom.
AS soon as the company was read!
to present the play the manager cas-
about for town to try it out on. Ma
tick was finally selected as the scene
of its premiere performance and i
was a highly successful one, and j
was entirely satisfactory to thos
who were managing the company.
4 was decided to put it out on the roat
at once. Troy, n. Y, was the seem
! of the next production and from tina
= time on the play was produced il
e nearly every city of size in New Eng
i land. Later it was taken over t.
4 New York, where it had a phenomen
S al run. By this time, however, 8,
q different companies were on tn