The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-05-26

MY HUSBAND.
 knorymous. The. John Lane Company,
 New York. a
 Perhaps Prof Charles T. Copeland of
 Harvard, to whom My Aetor-Husband"
 dedicated. might throw some light on
 he identity of the author if he would.
 At any rate the reading public Is in
 the dark as to who the lady is who has
 written the terrible tirade against stage
 fife and it's accompaniments.
 1 Following closely upon ITO M. L. G., pr He Who Passed, My Actor-Hus- band" finishes the task began by the
 uthor of the first named book, to score
 against the stage and its environments in
 he most caustic and unfeeling manner. . In fact. the writer of My Actor-Hus- band says in "foreword. 'in pre- kenting this autobiography to the public, that she feels it incumbent upon herself | Q impress upon her readers the fidelity .lnd- strict adherence to the truth, rela- live to the conditions which surround the player" 4 ]. 1fgk3fTH Continuing she says
 Tn no instance has there been either #xaggeration or a resort to imaginative creation. It is true story with all the Ilaliness of truth unsoftened and unem- pellished. Nor is the situation presented l m exceptional one. One has but 10 fol-
 ow the career of the average actor to be convinced that the dramatic profession
 s not only inconsistent with but wholly hostile to the institution of marriage.
 Nanasers and actors alike know and ad- |nit this to be the truth-among them .elves- What they say in print is of |ourse, mercy so much self-eXploitation. The success of any branch of the show business is dependent on the bureau of publicity. The moral spirit of the stage may not be a whit worse than that of half a dozen other professions. It Is pos bhle, but hardly probable. The very ex- gencies of a players life make for lax Aty and freedom from restraint. And in k1o other profession are the lives of the Individual members so intimately con .erned The popular contention that Food woman can and will be good under Rny and all circumstances Is fallacy. .rhe influence of environment is incom- .putable. I believe that my little friend .eila was fundamentally a good girl; In .iny other walk of life she would have re- |nained a good girl. believe that fun Ilamentally my husband was good man; n any other environment he would have been a good husband. The fantastic, un- |ea and over-stimulated atmosphere which the player breathes is not con- UluclNe ID Il SdIe dllQ Wtll DdldhNCd iiAc. The author then goes on with the story |bf her life, in which she records how she |xent on the stage and met her future ,1sband. Will Hartley. a young actor, hlso beginning his career.
 "Though l was not yet a really truly hctress, the fact that Will had meet me, v |she writes, ''in the profession, would have |prejudiced them (his relatiyes) against he; added to this was the fact that Will p1 Q VT tal<ipO a wife q the Threshold of his career. would not be looked at through our love colored .glasses. The effect my marriage might have upon my own relatives never roubled me When, at the restless age |bf 16. I announced my determination to become an actress, there was some sur Pace opposition, but no effort was made to inquire into my fitness for the dramatic profession as a career for any innocent .and unprotected young giri.' l The young couple land in New York Rnd live in a boarding house, afterwards taking flat which had no bath room, |and here a humorous, account is given Of
 now they risked the hazardous chance of bathing in the kitchen wash tubs
 The couple move on in their career until they try to get an engagement in the .Eame company which they find impossi- ple, as managers refuse to employ hus- bands and wives in the same theatrical organization, and so the actor-husband
 lad to join a road company. leaving his bride in New York.
 While skirmishng about trying to land
 ierself in a good company. Mrs. Hartley meets an actress whom she designates as
 Miss Burton, who confides to her that she
 has been with Charley Frohman, off and
 Dn. for years and expected to go back to
 aim
 .sI've been in his bad books" she went bn q had good thing and I didn't know it. When I think how I got in
 wrong all on account of those two big btiffs-"
 Mrs Hartley's inability to follow her was probably expressed in her face, for
 she Immediately rattled on:
 "You see 1t was like this. When Jack hnd Iswere married we were in the same
 company. He was what they call the acting manager travelled on the road hnd represented the New York office
 understand?
 "Well, the next year we didn't get an engagement together; we went off on the
 road and l created a part in New York
 production. It was simply-hell We |lsed to make the most godforsaken jumps lust to be together over Sunday. Why, bnce I can remember I rode all night In khe caboose of freight train to some little dump of town where Jacks com |pany had played on Saturday night Can
 vou beat it? Oh, tell you, l had it
 bad.
 After two seasons of separation Jacks tmpatience to see his wife was not as keen as 1t had been and the upshot Of 1t
 was that he threw her down for sec bnd rate soubrette.
 Mrs. Hartley manages to get an audi
 gree with a well known theatrical man. h ger at last, whom she describes as "a
 khort. heavy man, with preponderance
 bf abdomen"
 Her account of the insulting conversa-
 tion she had with him and 'how he en1-
 braced her and pressed his iheavy, wet 5ips against hers Is little short of terri
 ble and one revolts at such ideas and