Evening journal., 1912-11-22
NEW NEWS OF YESTERDAY
THE Money That an AStOr
Earned for a Special
Purpose"
By Holland.

/
"That man will, of course. pass
into history and tradition as the crea-
tor upon the stage Of one Of the most
vivid characters ever portrayed, a
dreamy idealization Of Rip Van Win
kle; and he will be remembered by
every one who has hereafter any
thing to do with the American stage
as highly successful, both from the
artistic and the fortune-making point
of view" SO said the noted theatri-
cal manager the late A. M Palmer
to me one afternoon as we were chat
ting in his private Office at the rear
of Wallack's Theatre, New York. The
picture to which he pointed repre-
sented Joe Jefferson in the character
of Caleb Plummer in "The Cricket on
the Hearth"
MY own opinion has long been
that one of the greatest of Jetfer-
sons triumphs as an actor has never
been recognized by the American
play-going public" continued Mr.
Palmer nor has it been recognized
by the writer's of that type of fiction
in which one of the characters is a
| typical Yankee. But Jefferson him
self was, | have reason to know,
! greatly pleased that he should have
been able 10 send into limbo the old
fashioned stage Yankee, and that
through his influence the typical YAM
kee of our early literature was also
ended.
The play of Our American Cousin
was written by Tom Taylor, an Eng
lishmon, principally for the purpose
of conveying an Englishman's idea of
what the typical Yankee at that time
was. The leading character in the
play was TO be that Yankee, whose
name was Asa Trenchard Taylor
/ draw this Yankee in the play in such
manner as 10 enable English audi
/ ences to see a picture of the cOnven-
! tional American Yankee I'D to this
! time the stage Yankee had invariably
been pictured forth something as
Brother Jonathan has always been.
He usually was dressed in a white
beaver hat; he wore q swallowtail
coat and tight-fttlng trousers. He
had chin whisker of considerable
length and long hair. His face was
featured with a whimsical smile.
when Mr.. Jefferson read the part
of Asa Trenchard which was assign
ed to him by Laura Keene, who had
the American rights for the play
which she produced first in New York
I'm 1858. Jefferson saw that the author
Of the play intended to depict the
| conventional Yankee. But as he stu =
led the part II dawned upon him that
an opportunity had come to his han1
to portray the Yankee as he really
, was at that time Jefferson had been
familiar with the real Yankee by rea-
son Of long-continued visits to New
England.
"He gave a great deal Of study 10
the details OF the part Unconsciously
two or three down-east Yankees who
were then living in New York served
Jefferson as models There were not
loud-spoken men nor did they talk
through the nose. They did not say
4 swan. or by cracky,' or make use
Of any of the highly-modified swear
ing which upon the stage aud in
books was put IN the mouths of typl-
cal Yankees. They spoke correctly
they wore conventional clothes, they
were not uncouth. but there was al.
ways a whimsical suggestion of humOl
and of shrewdness and an underlying
sense OF sympathy in what they said
and did
Here, said Jefferson to himself, is
the real Yankee, and I will put hin
on the stage in the part Of Asa Tren-
chard." The simplicity, delicacy ant
accuracy of the acting Of jefferson
on the first night of this performanc,
were highly commendable not only b,
the critics. but by the public Th'
part stood out distinct from the othei
characters OF the play It was not unit
Edward A Sothern had been allowed
TO build up the original minor part o
Lord Dundreary that Asa Trenchar,
became subordinate. Jefferson him
self very highly praised to me tn
skill and real artistic sense wh'cl
Sothern displayed as he was gradual
ly perfecting Of the character of Lor'
Dundreary.
"a year or so after the play wa
produced, Jefferson went to Australia
He gave up the part of Asa Tren
chard But before he sailed for Aus
tralia he was gratifed to konw tha
his representation Of the shrewd an
lSindly-minded Yankee had served &
end the convention stage caricatur
of the Yankee. and that thereaffe
upon the stage the part of the Van
kee would be played in simplicity. die
nifty and with realism. The innuenc
OF his example, Mr. Jefferson after
ward learned. extended from III
stage to the field OF novel writing"
Copyright 1912. by r. Edwards