Evening star., 1916-12-24

Them the Advantage of Rich Father. |
or Should I Marry Poor Man and Sur
round Them With An Atmosphere of
Love and Contentment?"
Participants in the contest should ad-
dress their essays to Contest Editor.
Polls Theater," and file them not late
than Monday, January /.
"Reminiscences of Clara MOrris-Of
the many tales exchanged in the dress
ing rooms and behind the scenes of
"Old Lady 81" now running in New
York, the "reminiscences of Clara Morris
by Viva Ogden are among the most in
teresting. Miss Ogden is the bitter
mouthed Nancy of the play. first intro
duced to the audience violently rock
ing on the porch of the Old Ladies'
Home.
Miss Ogden is the daughter of the
late John Ogden. and her record as an
actress is linked with plays in which
Edwin Booth, John Mccullough and
many others of the famous "old school,
were principals. Chief of these in
Miss Ogden's personal history was
Clara Morris, her godmother.
Clara Morris and my mother were
friends before I was porn," said Miss
Ogden, in a recent interview. "She de-
sired that l should be named after her
had vowed in the convent that her first
daughter should be named Genevieye,
was baptized with that name, though
have never been called by 1t since AS
Aunt Clara was Protestant and we
were Catholics she could not stand as
my godmother; but she performed all
the duties of the office, nevertheless
and was always very good to me.
When my second sister came she
was baptized Clara Morris Ogden, and
from the first time the aunt looked
into the eyes Of her namesake the two
Of them apparently took a violent dis
like to each other. The baby made a
face and Aunt Clara made a face, and
the infant was carried off bowling
This breach was healed in later years.
Aunt Clara's emotional power as an
actress is, of course, well known. But,
with that power. 1 never saw any play
er exhibit greater selS-control. I have
seen whole houses swayed and moved
to the breaking point and the mem-
hers of the cast just ready to break.
when. with tears streSming down her
face. she would turn and say some
ing under her breath that was so funny
or so foreign to the tension of the mo-
ment that while the transition abso-
lutely gave us back our own equipoise.
it was sometimes equally upsetting.
When I played Jane in Miss Moul-
ton my hair hung loose. 1 had very
long hair. and during my long speech
in one scene she stood winding strands
of 1t around her fingers and then slow
ly raised 1t and wiped her eyes All
during this touching scene, when I was
supposed to put my best into my
speech, she would be interpolating
under her breath: Whoa. steady, Go
easy now!' or. Get up there. Keep
going"
Il shall never forget the first night
that piece was on. Jane was an i'm
portant part, as all her scenes were
with Miss Morris. I never quite knew
how 1 got through the first acts, but I
shall never forget the last. The two
children in the play were brought to
see their dying mother, who, UP to then,
they had known a stheir goyerness.
Miss Moulton AS we came on, Miss
Morris turned and held out her arms.
the weeks of rehearsal. had done any
thing to prepare me for the effect she
had on me. Her makeup. gray hair,
pale face. the blue dressing gown over
the white nightgown-al helped. But
her face! 1t simply quivered with emo
lion. and. bursting into tears. l threw
myself into her arms. Jane then pleads
with her to confirm her suspicion that
she is not Miss Moulton, but her moth
.r. Call me your chfld-yours--moth-
err How l ever gained self-control to
speak at all l don't know. Somehow
l managed to sob out the speech. and
eliminated with a great burst of grief.
she originated business. letting me
cry as long as she wanted me to. Then
she leaned over me, face stained with
tears, anguish in every line of it. and
whispered. Shut up now and give me
show, This continued night after
night until the strain wore off and
got so I could pretend to cry and sob
instead of doing II in reality. as l had
the first night. She would let me go
until she felt we had gotten all the ef-
feet TO be produced. Then she would
press her fingers hard into my back. or
whisper. Ring off"
''>Ge had a good disposition. so far
rs working with her was concerned.
That is, She was not ugly or nasty as
stars sometimes have the reputation OF
being But she was very erratic where
time was concerned. 1t was no un-
common thing to wait forty-nve min
utes between the acts. and she often
was slow about taking her cues, and
we sometimes would have to invent
business to make up the gap.
"a famous story is told OF an ex-
perience Charles Towne had with her
in Camille He had the part of Ar
mand. and she was the Camille, of
course. In the middle Of the scene she
stopped and said. Well l think l shali
go and get d cup of tea" With that
She walked off the stage. He looked
dfd about the only thing he could.
We'll, guess I'll go, too!' he replied.
and went.
conformity with their plan to make
tbeatergoing more and more of a
Measure in this country. the Messrs.
Shubert have laid down the following
sat of rules for the observance of
greater politeness among their en-
uloyes in the box offices OF their vari- |
o,1s theaters in New York and other |
cities:
No l. Treasurers must at no time
use the word "only" in selling tickets |
as We have only tickets in the bal
cony. etc. In answer to the usual
question: Have you good seats for /
tonight?" they must say Yes" Then,
when the patrons ask where. the treas
urers must explain the location cour-
teously and the reason why the tickets
are as good as can be had now. If
the treasurers tell the patrons. we
only have seats in the sixteenth row."
the patrons will think they are bad.
even if they are good, so in no case
must the word only" be used. often
times balcony seats are preferable to
those in the orchestra, but they are no
longer so regarded by the public. sim
ply because theater treasurers them
selves continually hold them in con-
tempt when disposing of tickets.
No. 2. Greater solicitude must pre-
vail on the part of the treasurers to-
ward prospective patrons. When a pa
tron asks for two seats in the orches-
ira and the treasurer tells him: we
only have two seats in the balcony. |