The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1912-02-09
Old Coat That Made a Great
Historic Success
oa,,,eat THAT Mo- sethsrn. Wore a.
Lord 0ynarsary In :ovrl American
Cousin" tvas Oorrowsd From
John Drouoham.

Whom Lester Wallack know that bis
day had passed as a great actor aud
theatrical manager. he and the late =.
M. Palmer. then coming into promi-
nence' ~ successful theatrical mana
ger. and later the successor OF Lester
lWallack in the management Of Wal
lacks theater, In New York, used to
make the trip together between the me
tropolis. and Stamford. Conn. whsre
each had his summer home. 1t was
during one of these trips that Wallack
told Palmer the story of the old coat
that made q great h%istrlonic hit.
1T was in 1868 that Laura. Keene
produced Our American Cousin with
Joseph Jefferson as Asa Trenchard
and Ned Sothern az Lord Dundrsary,"
said Mr.. Wallack. Il know that in q
general way it has passed into tradt-
ton that Sothern At first refused to
play the part Of Lord; Dundreary. be-
cause he thought the part was beneath
him. and that he only consented to
play it when Miss Keene told him that
she was in despair and after she had
consented that Sothern should gag
the part. But while all this is true
up to a certain point, I have no doubt
that from the moment Sothern read
the part of Lord Dundreary he saw
the possibilities that we're in 1t for q
delicate. humorous satire Of certain
OF the nobility Of England, and felt
sure that this satire would not o1hend4
but would amuse the upper classes Of
Great Britain, If ever he were per1
mitted to play the part al he would
like to play 1t before English au1
diences. :
well Sothern made up his mind
that 1t would be necessary to dress
the part with elongated black sideii
whiskers. which were. in the late fifI
ties and early sixties. the fashionable;
way. at least in France. Of wearing the
beard. He also decided that it was
essential in the first act, which was a
drawing room scene, for him to wear a
long,tailed frock GOAT with very yolum-
1nouss tails. But It slipped his mind!
that he should obtain a coat Of that
sort from the costumer, or have one
made. and because of this slip he was
in despair at the time OF the dress re-
hearsal of the play.
John Brougham, the playwright,
was upon the stage at the time. and
he told Sothern that he had in his
dressing room a long-tailed coat. very
Yull In it's folds, which had been used
by me in a play in which ! had ap-
peared some months earlier. It's just
the frock for you. Ned said Brous.
ham.
Produce it, john. returned Soth-
ern -
"a moment later Brougham brought
the .long-tailed coat to Sothern's dress
tng room. 1t didn't At very we'll upon
the shoulders, but the tails were long
enough and expansive enough to suit
sothern perfectly, and he. said he
coat. made. And so in a coat which 1
had wor in an earlier play and had
dent to John BrDugham-an emergency
coat, Sothern appeared for the first
time upon any stage as Lord Dun
dreary, and the Goa wa a success"
"By the way" said Mr.. Palmer,
:sWallack also told me that Sothern
predicted that the play would greatly
the British a~ristocracy. 1t did.
1t ran! for ar entire season with fash
ionable audiences, and the manager
made nearly 100000 out Of IT in that
single season"
Copyright. 1911. byssE. J. Edwarus. All
Rights Reserved.)