Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-05-27
REsoURcEFUL PRESS AGENT
A Circus "spieIers" Speech at a Uni
versity.

vefSity. r.v. s.st
In the June American Magazine ap-
pears the Autobiography of a Theatri-
cal Press Agent" in which the story is
told OF famous Shakespearean actor,
now one Of the foremost and richest
men on our stage, who In his early
days was scheduled by his press agent
to make an address at a university in
a city where he and his company were
to appear. The arrangement was made
without the actors knowledge or con-
sent and when the day came for him
to appear before the university, he
sent word to his press agent a few
hours before the gathering that he
would not be able to appear. The
press agent was angry at his employ
er. the actor, and decided to resign.
but before he resigned, he resolved to
get even," so he went to "spieler"
for Barnum's Circus and hired him to
go before the university. audience and
impersonate the actor. The press
agent and the "spieler" hastily got
hold of second hand copy Of George
Henry Levels "Art Of Acting" and
copied extracts from It, which the
ii"spieler' memorized for delivery as
his speech. The story goes on:
! "At 2.30 that afternoon, in big mo-
tor-car, the spieler, the circus press
agent, the dean of the university fa-
Guilty, and myself drove to the campus
where we found the biggest auditorium
packed with the intellectual flower of
the state, and most Of the counties adj
Joining. I had previously given out
copies of the Grafton to the local news
papers, and had sent others to the
leading journals in surrounding cities.
The spieler turned nary hair. He
was an old hand at almost any game,
but when 1t came to wind -jamming
he took Off his high hat to nobody. Fol-
lowing out the instructions, he main
tanned an impenetrable dignity, lis
tened meditatively to the organ obli-
cato which started the exercises, bow
ed his head modestly while the presi-
dent of the university uttered gaudy
encomiums on the art and artistry Of
the celebrated guest Of the afternoon,
and aroSe amid torrent Of applause
to deliver his speech. us.H 4-
Il. "And It was some speechl Carefully
tossing back stray lock from his gray
wig, he shouted, Lad-ees and Gen.
telmen! in a way that gave me ht
cold shiyers, and then, quickly regain
ing himself, sailed into The Art of
Acting precisely as Dewey sailed into
Manila Bay. He was a revelation and
a riot. A dozen times applause inter-
rupted his flow Of George Henry
Lewes's diction. Once, when he let
himself out bit, he had to hold up his
hand to stop the cheering; and when
he had finished, the audience rocked
with wild-eyed enthusiasm and pressed
forward to grasp the great mans fist.
None of my company was present
at the affair, and so the star was not
lipPCu Oil 90 ~ "Ae@s hs~N AA~~ffS@@~~-
until he alighted from the train Mon
day afternoon and was handed a bum
die containing copies of his speech IN
all the papers and box-office state
ment showing that his house was sold
out for that night and most Of the re-
mainder Of the week. Attached to the
statement was my resignation to take
effect Immediately. went to the cir
Gus that night. After the show the
circus press-agent, the spieler, and
had blowout in the palm room Of the
local hotel. At an adjoining table sat
my late star, his leading lady, to whom
he was married, and his business man
ager. He eyed me gloomily, but ut
tered no word. Next day headed back
to New York.
1.-THE Shakespearean company did q
land-offlce business throughout the
state, but although have passed him
scores of times on the street, in clubs
and in hotel Hobbies, the head Of It has
never addressed a syllable to me-