Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-10-16

MIR. HODGE has a dog-in THE Road
lHl to Happiness" Not to mention
hen, a horse and canary. But the dog
Is the main thing, because the dog makes
Mr.. Hodge feel quite shakespearean, even
though he is playing "rube drama"
You see." says Mr.. Hodge, 'it is like
this: William Kempe was the leading
comedian of Shakespeare's company.
Kempe had a dog: his name was Crab,
and so the Bard wrote a part of him in
Two Gentlemen of Verona Well when
Lawrence Whitman was writing The
Road to Happiness for me, he ingisted
that my dog Shep should have a part
in the play. But Kempe's dog was evil
IDENTIFY not a dependable animal, for We
read in the stage direction, act 2, scene 3:
Enter Laurence, leading dog. Laurence
was one of Kempe's famous roles; yet
his dog Crab had more to do than mere
ly be led about on the stage. Some peo-
pie seem to think, by the way, that the
dog star in the theatrical armament is
an innovation. This is hardly so, since
it began with Shakespeare.
MY dog Shep has been acting in The
Road to Happiness for three years, and
has never missed a rehearsal or a per-
formance-and now comes along Jasper
In Young America the latest New York
success, and proves like Crab and Shep
that the dog star is something not to be
barked at. This calls to mind the fact that
a dog, whether seen or spoken of in a
play, Is of some consequence. Ask any
dozen persons you meet whether Schnei-
der appeared with Joseph Jefferson in
Rip Van Winkle,' and he will tell you that
Schneider was there in person. The fac:
is, however, that Mr.. Jefferson never
utilized dog In the play. Mr.. jefferson
was once asked why he did not have
a dog in the play and replied that he
disliked realism in art, and realism alive,
with a tail to wag at the wrong time
would be abominable.' Asked II the pub
lie would not like to see Schneider he
said, The public could not pay him
higher compliment, for 1t shows how
great an interest they take in an animal
that they have never seen exhibited
II am informed, however. by an old
actor that when Charles Burke, Mr., JEFF
ferson's half-brother, appeared in rip
Van Winkle' in 1850 he made use of a
dog, impersOnating Schneider. Another
old actor also tells me that when Robert
McWade appeared as Rip he also led
forth poor Schneider in real life. These
matters of fact l must leave to the
theatrical sharp There is no doubt.
however, that when ]. II. Hackett, the
elder, appeared as Rip in 1899, Schneider
was on view; that is, Schneider's remains.
When the elder Hackett woke up in
the mountains' the skeleton of Schneider
was on view tied to a bush.
MY old actor friends tell me that the
dog star enjoyed considerable popularity
In the legitimate drama half a century
ago. During the old days of the Bowery
Theatre. e. L. Blanchard was a tremen-
dous favorite in a play called The Forest
of Bondy; or, The Dog OF Montargis.
This play, II appears, was not at all pop-
ular with the leading man, for Il was
the business of The Dog of Montareis'
to dash at him in the last act and grab
him by the throat. A little later. when
Il. l. Davenport presented oliver Twist
and appeared as Bill Sykes he was ac-
companied by the redoubtable Bullseve
Then Lyn Harding also had a day. II
will be remembered by theatre-goers NJ
our day that ]. X. Emmett utilized in
his various plays strikingly handsome
Newfoundland dog. The same is true NJ
'Romany Rye in which drama a Nav
foundland dog was the protector of the
heroine. In Julia Marlowe's early pre-
sentation OF Shakespeare's Much Ado
About Nothing she made striking uss -
two impressive greyhounds.
The dog star has come more and mora
into use during the last two or three
seasons. The most important utiIization
OF dog In a play up to the present sea-
son was when Laurette Taylor Appeared
In Peg o. My Heart with her famons