McNairy County independent. (Selmer, McNairy County, Tenn.) 1902-1969, 1916-08-11
!! NEW YORK !
! LETTER,

luO JHCdVll Ooi CiClhIHV III ANOW Aot n
is small world within itself. embrac-
ing numberless places Of amusement,
ranging from the nickel-mo7ie to the
great Metropolitan Grand Opera
House, where last winter they wanted.
at the lowest price, six dollars a seat
to hear the real big things that were
given; such as Wagner's operas.
This is the place where the big at
fractions come first, and a reputation
made here means a national reputa-
tion. To say that a play ran 100
nights in New York is enough to
stamp it as something extraordinary,
but not necessarily very good, from a
moral standpoint. New York loves
to laugh, and can stand some pretty
tough performances, if they are only
funny, but there is such a thing as
police censorship here, and a play or
picture that is too much off color
will be put down pretty quick. TIC
know just how far to 20 in that re-
spect is a science of itself.
| have seen and heard two of the
greatest stage stars that ever played
in this country: The American, Joe
Jefferson, and the Frenchwoman
Sarah Bernhardt. saw Jefferson in
his favorite play of rip Van Wrinkle,
in Washington city, good many
years ago, but the impression he made
upon me is fresh to-day. My father
mother and went to see him. They
both said the same thing of him, anG
thought it was the best criticism
ever heard of an actor: You forgot
that he was acting. and it seemed az
though Old Rip himself were there
and that what you saw before YOU
was an actual bit of life. You forgot
the stage and the curtain, and the
theater itself. and saw only the
drowsy little town, or the mountain
nook up in the Catskills, where RiE
slept for twenty years. 1t took a lot
of science to dress Rip in such himsy
rags in way to keep them from fall
ing off him. In spite of the rag.
and the decrepit age that came ovel
Rip during his two decades of Stun
Der, you could recognize the same oil
easy-going, happy-go-lucky loafel
that his wife had driven away so long
ago. His voice seemed to come from
a toothless mouth these great actors
do not forget anything that goes tt
make their art perfect, but yol
could tell it was Rip speaking. JEFF
ferson was the son and grandson O
an actor, and was practically raise,
on the stage. That, and his grea
native talent for the stage, made hin
perhaps the greatest American acto
since the days of Edwin Booth.
| 1t will be remembered that Johl
Wilkes Booth, who killed Abraham
Lincoln, was brother of the cele
brated Edwin, and that their father
Junius Brutus Booth, was one of tn
early glories of the American stage
The miserable assassin did the deed i
Ford's Theater, on Tenth street, il
Washington. a building | have oftel
seen. The shot, fired on April Ia
1865, and from that date, the grea
actor Edwin Booth never appeared il
Washington. He held his super
place on the stage for many years
and his acting Of Shakespeare's Ham
let is said never to have been sur
passed. No doubt the deep sorrow
of his brothers infamy made the roll
of the melancholy Dane peculiarl
appropriate to him.
1t was with a good deal of curios
ity that | awaited an opportunity t
; see Sarah Bernhard, the creates
/, living actress, saw her at a Bait
more theater five years ago, in he
favorite play of Camille" 1t is no
a nice story: A fallen woman, VIII
had lost all heart, apparently, 70
; every thing that was good and holy
!. fell in love with a man named Al
!, mand, one of her chance acquaintanc
!. es. His family disowned him whe
they found out the romance, but h
returned her love, however, which wa
= cut short by her early death frol
y consumption. The play, which va
Il written by Alexander Dumas tt
E, Younger, throws o glamor of poetl
) and nobility over very sordid lif
and is decidedly and peculiar
French, but when played by Sara
. Rernhardt it became a work Of u