The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-04-30
FAMOUS ACTOR BEGINS
 10TH YEAR TO-DAY.

.1UAH YEAR 1O-BAY
 William H Crane, the veteran acc tor who recently starred with Douglas Fairbanks and Amelia Bingham in ssThe New Henrietta 2 and who has been on the stage for over half cen- tnry will begin his seventieth year to- day. MT. Crane was born on the last day Of April in 1s45. at Leicester, Mass, His youth was spent in Bos- ton, where he divided the period all .lotted to his education about equally between the old Brimnet School and the Hollis Street Theatre across the way. Young Crane was a born mim- ic, and he kept his schoolmates con vuIsed with laughter by his facial con tortions and limitations of his teach Ier. his playmates and the actors h. had seen.
 Mir. Crane was eighteen when he. made his theatrical debut. He be- came acquainted with son of Mrs. Harriet Holman. who had been ia 2 nous actress. but who was then niak- ing annual tours with a stock com pany. After hearing young Crane sing. Mrs Holman offered him a place in the cast of the Holman Opera Company, and he accepted. His first public appearance was made on a stage in Utica, N. Y, in July. 1s6s. Among his associates on that barn storming tour were sienor Perugini. then lad of eight: William Davidge, Jr, Charles Drew, three of Mrs. Hol- mans children. and several others who later attained theatrical promin ence.
 MT. Crane was formally apprenticed to Mrs. Holman to learn the acting trade and in return for his ser vices he received board, lodging and transportation, and an occasional suit of clothes. All he had to do to merit this princely remuneration was to play minor roles in the farce. the one-act
 7 comedy, the pantomime and the op- eretta which usually comprised the bill offered by the Holman Opera Company, and to keep the audience amused between acts by singing and dancing. Young Crane had "a very sym pathetic bass voice. .' according to |signor Perugini. That Mrs. Hol- mans training was of immense value is proved not only by MT. Cranes suc- cess. but by that Of nearly all of the members of her company.
 It was in the role of the Notary in ..The Daughter of the Regiment that MT. Crane made his premiere in Me- chanics' Hall in Utica For eight years he remained with the Holma f, company, and then joined Alice Oates as low comedian. Mrs. Oates was the mother of musical comedy. His next engagement was as low comedian cago. In 1877 he became co-star with Stuart Robson, and the two great actors played together for eleven years One of their greatest success es was ."The Henrietta" which was recently revived by MT. Crane.
 MT. Crane is to some extent respon- sible for the high cost of living. Thir- ty years ago the best seats in practi- ca.lIy all of the leading theaters of North America sold for dollar. Crane and Robson started the advance in price by charging a dollar and a quarter for the good seats in the thea tres where they presented ''The Com edy of Errors There was no great public clamor about the extra shil- ling, most of the admirers of Robson and Crane considering their perfor- nance to be worth more than the av- craze, but it was but an entering wedge which was soon followed up by