New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-07-10
Anglo-American Memories
Copyright. 1910. by George w. suar,.y,

George w SmaIley.l
and sat silent. There are few moments
IN lrving's career which his friends re-
eau with greater delight; few in which
/ the fine qualities Of the man showed
themselves with more decision.
10 the question of criticism and its
effect upon the actor there is, OF course.
financial side when the actor is the
owner or lessee of his theatre. Criticism
may or may not be felt IN his dressing
/ room, but II is sure to be felt in the box
Office a theatre is commercial enter
prise IL it is to live, it must pay, and
II order TO pay the actors and actresses,
/, or some of them. must attract the pub
lie Depreciate the actor and you reduce
the receipts, and if you reduce them be-
low the living wage you close the thea
tire and send the performers out into an
unappreciative. or too appreciative,
world. All this is obvious, yet it has TO
be restated as often as you estimate the
influence of criticism on the actor.
In 1rvings case mary, other things
than criticism conspired to bring about
failure at the end: for failure it was.
The management of the Lyceum was
lavish. It was so lavish that purely
fanciful stories of the sums invested in
the production Of particular plays were
current They ran as high as s125,000.
Irving said to me:
You have seen that The Merchant Of
Venice cost me 620,000?"
Yes; that is what some of the papers
say"
Well, I will not tell you what The
Merchant of Venice cost, for I do not
yet know These gentlemen of your pro-
fession know a good deal more than I
DO. But I will tell you that the highest
sum the production Of any play has ever
cost me is less than $1,000. If I had
spent what the papers say. should
have been in the Bankruptcy Court long
before this
The expense was, in any case, far too
great; and it was supplemented by other
expenses, arising not out of business
necessities real or supposed. but out
Of Irving's uncalculating kindness Of
nature. He had a pension list quite is
much out OF proportion to the deserts of
his pensioners as that Of the United
States is TO the services actually rem
dered in war by many OF its countless
benefciaries. No man ever found more
difficulty in saying no to d sutton. AS
manager Of the Lyceum Theatre he had
to dismiss many an actor and actress
whom he found unsHited to the work he
wanted done. Other managers do the
J Il,
But when n was discovered that Irving
! had given some of these ladies and
gentlemen a continuing allowance, other
/ ladies and gentlemen applied for allow
ances. So quick and wide were his SYM
pathies that he presently found himself
( paying salaries, or half salaries, TO a
great number of persons from whom he
/ got nothing in return. That was not
business. II meant bankruptcy.
! When I last saw him in New York, as
/ he was sailing for England. he told me
{ he had had a wonderful season. He had
been in what he still called The States"
+ from autumn to spring playing through
/ out 10 good business. He said:
America is the place to make money;
first. last. and all the time Yours is q
/ generous public; generous in applause.
/ generous in support am taking 100000
home with me-
What became of It, and why. at the
/ end, was he forced by need of money to
go on acting when he ought to have
rested? That, and that only, caused his
! death.
During this last hour in New York he
/ looked tired but in great spirits. There
as always in his face something of the
ascetic: Of the great ecclesiastic. It was
! stamped with lines of thought and
OF other hard work He had always
worked. If his had been a life of splen-
dor, that was because it had also been
a life Of toll He and Sarah Bernhardt
were alike in that and in their genius
for splendid squanderiRg. He did the
work of three men: # the actor, Of the
producer, and of the manager. He
shouldered responsibilities lightly, but
never shirked them. His face was the
record Of a great career and the outward
expression Of great soul G. w S.