The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-01-01
HER FIRST PLAY.
Minister'S Daughter Seen at
Theater by Elders Daughter.
Both Had "Run Away" to See
Grip Van Winkle.''
AGREE NOT TO TELL.
Then Mrs. T. w. Thomas Says
She Enjoyed It.
Many T0pekans Saw Great Actor
in Greatest Play.


i'm Greatest Play.
The story Of how she risked par
entail wrath and dropped conscientious
scruples to see Joseph Jefferson play
Kip Van Wrinkle is told by Mrs. F. w.
Thomas, wife of the supervisor of APP
prentices for the Santa Fe. How the
| play Impressed her and how she met
| the daughter of the presiding elder of
the district in which her father was a
minister is told in a charming manner
| by Mrs. Thomas in the following writ
ten for the State Journal
Some eighteen or twenty years ago
my sister and were on a visit to rela-
tives in Baltimore, Md, at time
| Rip Van Wrinkle, alternating with
| Cricket on the Hearth and Lend
| Me Five Shillings," at Ford's theater
in that city" she said. My father was
the pastor of the NJ. E. Church South,
! of a little town in Virginia, and of
course we had been reared in a most
strictly religious manner Attending
the theaters was considered one of the
cardinal sins. But JefferSon'S fame
was so great and all that we had ever
heard of him personally. was so low
able that we easily quieted our con-
sciences, and decided to see Rip Van
Wrinkle.
Sis in the Gallery.
Money never being a very plentiful
article in our little parsonage home,
our purses were always slender, even
on the occasional trips to Baltimore,
so we found that we could only afford
seats in the very topmost gallery.
In easing our consciences in regard
to attending the play,We had not count
ed on the possibility of seeing any
one there who would recognize US and
it was a distinct shock to find sitting
imm edtately behind us the daughter of
our presiding elder. who was studying
music in Baltimore at that time. We
mutually agreed not to telP and set
tied ourselves comfortably for the
great treat in store.
Being unaccustomed to seeing
plays, I was completely carried out of
myself; what I saw was real, and the
lovable old man made us laugh with
keeneSt JOY at his quaint humor and
our tears were genuine when he was
driven out of his home into the dread
full storm. The spell of the play was
somewhat broken in the mountain
scene and our sense of the ridiculous
dubbed over when the majestic noun
tain with great rock boulders. of
which the hats of the dwarfs seemed
form a part, appeared from our point
of view as mere boards and the gro
tesque dwarfs, sitting on little trap
doors in plain sight to us, We're indeed
a comica1 sight and one that remains
most wildly with me.
What She Saw Was Real.
since that time I have seen other
artists, yet I count that one occasion on
which I saw Joseph Jefferson in Rip Van
Wrinkle as one of the greatest delights
of my life. In the eyes of schoolgirl.
one unaccustomed to the make-believe Of
the stage, what saw that day was real
and our hearts and synpathies were en-
tirely with the dear old reprobate. and
his famous toast given in his own IN
imitable style can never be forgotten
Here's to your health and your fam
lily, may you live long and brosber.
There seems to be no limit to the num-
Der of Topekans and Kansans who saw
the senior Joseph Jefferson play Rip van
Wrinkle. Probably one of the greatest
tributes of the veteran actors memory
lies in the fact that so many people re-
distinctly some of the lines he said and
the quaintness of his humor.
Many Topekans saw Saw J Him i'm. -
which distinctly his play. are the
W. P. Miller, Sixth and Topeka avenue,
who saw him at Cleveland, Ohio, in the
winter of 1868.
J. A. Read of Tecumseh, who saw him
in the Rip Van Wrinkle play in March,
1866. DR.. Read saw him at the Theater |
ROYAL at London. He still has the pro- !
gram given him by the usher as he en- |
tered the theater there. The night he !
Torrance of a 100 night run. He also saw |
him in the same play at the Grand opera |
house in Topeka in the eighties
John E. Lord saw him IN Rip van |
Wrinkle at Buffalo theater in 1867 but |
If he draws a seat he wants to give it 70 |
some who never saw rip and MY dog |
Mrs John r. Collins 1107 Western ave |
nue., saw him in 1878 in Syracuse, N Y |
c. c. Collins. who is employed at the /
state house. saw him play Rip Van |
Wrinkle in the winter of 1870 at the thea
ter on Liberty street in Pittsburg. Pa
Mrs Anna Wesson Henry, 1915 Van
Buren, street. saw him at q Cincinnati |
theater in December, 1867.
l. l. Perrine. 800 Quincy street. saw |
Kim in 1892 at NcVickers theater In Chi
-fS Charles G. webb Stafford, Kan, saw
Joseph Jefferson as Rip Van Wrinkle in
lS73 in an Elmira N. Y, theater.
Addie E. Covert, 1925 High street, saw
The famous actor as Rip Van Wrinkle in
1869 at Indianapolis, Ind.
Rev A. S. Embree saw the play with !
Joseph Jefferson leading seven times at /
in 1858 to 1870.
Mrs. Margaret Enos of Rossville saw /
him in Utica n. Y, theater the win
-er of 1865 She also saw him later at St
Paul in 1875. He visited the school at
which Mrs. Enos then taught and when
he children saw him the rules were dis
and ovation given him. An
nterrnission was declared that they
night all meet him.
Mrs O. ]. Mouldey saw him in the win
e~ of 1882, driving eight miles through
he snow to attend the performance
riven at the theater in Trenton. Ontario
Mrs c. S. Thorp. 1929 Quincy street,
n 1929 Her sister, Mrs. H. S. Day. saw
i'm at about the same time.
--A.mHA@R RARH - aaRR%