The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-04-15

Listen while tell you something:
Mr.. George Sidney is real true.
true human being.
Yes he is, believe me.
/ know he doesn't look like 1t on the
stage, with that bunch of Yhiskers on
his chin, that look like lawn mower
ought to be run over them TO cut them
down; neither would his clothes indicate
that he'd ever been in a civilized coun-
try but in spite of all this, when the
greasepaint and the makeup. has been
removed and he's dressed in every day
citizens clothes he looks like a prosper
Gus New York banker, or retired finan-
cier, more than anything else l can think
of.
Mr., Sidney-funny as he is ON the
stages quite serious off of the stage
and tells his little story with much
modesty and reserve-as though he
didn't care to have the public know
every little step he's made in the climb
up"-though WY. don't know. because
every syllable of it is interesting
The first thing about Busy Izzy'' that
! impresses you is the fact that he's got
the incest, dancingest. brownest eyes
you ever saw.
They are the lSindest eyes / nearly ever
looked in and you can tell that the man
has a heart as big as his sense of hui
mor-and that's saying a whole lot
When we were Interviewing yester-
day, | asked Mr.. Sidney If he was an
actor by choice, or OF it was hereditary,
like any other defect.
He laughingly replied:
My wife was born in a theatre-now
what do you think of that? Her mother
was playing in stock company in Chi
cago and the little girl that I after
ward married was born in the green
| room of the theatre. Ny people were
! not theatrical people, but good, substan-
tial New York citizens, and never
dreamed that I'd ever go on the stage"
| may say incidentally that Mr. Sid
neys wife is the pretty Miss Carrie Web
Der. his leading lady, who is such a
| favorite in Birmingham, and who is one
OF the most talented and one of the
cieverest actresses who has ever ap-
peared at the Biiou.
Was the road difficult and hard to
climb?" l asked before you got to be
a starr
Walt till | tell you said Mr.. Sidney
seriously. Way back in the barnstorm-
Ing days-and they were days to talk
about, | can tell you'll had the worst
time of any fellow you ever heard Of
In the first place, ! was my own detec-
tive. was the one who found that
had talent for the stage. / don't mean
-that conceitedly. understand but as a
youngster | used to recite at all the par
ties that my friends used to have"
Il know-The Boy Stood on the Burn
ing Deck. and 'Curfew Shall Not Ring
Tonight | interpolated, "and they all
thought that you were the che-i-l-d WON
der--eh?'
You're a mindreader" said he They
got SO they wouldn't have party unless
| feclted, and they couldn't make me mad
by asking me, and so took up a notion
that | could act. When | grew q little
Older joined a social club on the East
side In New York, and there ] fell IN
with lot of fellows who have since be-
come famous There's Judge Rosalslxy,
one of the most famous men in New York
today and Max d.. Steuer the big lawyer
who defended Raymond Hitchcock when
he got into lot of trouble a few years
ago, and he was also the lawyer in the
Rosenthal case recently. Lots of profess
sional men-lawyers, doctors and politi-
cians-now famous belonged to that little
club. We called it The Journal 1t was
| -Nffc'~' ~ f'V i'iiiiNs anu 90 iidut
hit with my editorials and they all liked,
me as an editor, l again become Sher-
lock Holmes .and detected that | had a
sense of humor and was funny
Among the men / met at this club"
Mr.. Sidney went on to say, was the
brother of the famous song writer, Harry
Won Tilzer. He introduced me to the
song writer, and we got to be great
chums. He was not only my friend, but
my mascot. We formed company and
started out playing one night stands
through New York state Pennsylvania
and the east. For three months we starred.
Then, alas remember we got as far as
Dayton, o. All during the recent food I've
been thinking about Dayton and how L
met my Waterloo there. Q don't mean
that as pun, believe mel Harry Won
Tilzer lived in Indianapolis and we had
such bad luck on our trip that 1 couldn't
get MIN to go any further, and so he
stopped at his home and stayed there
You can imagine after that how | got
back TO New York in a hurry, but |
wasn't discouraged. Before l knew ii |
had an offer to join company and
jumped at the chance. / made good, and
once my luck turned. | kept steadily go-
ing up. The next good luck-that hap
pened to me was a place with Ward and
vokes, and for three years starred with.
them, introducing Busy Izzy Then the
stellar light for me. Since then I've had