The Washington herald., 1919-03-20
Thos. A. Wise Yarns
About Earlier Days;
Played with Doug"

Ihomds A. wise viii soon pe
celebrating his thirty-sixth year on
the stage in his thirty-sixth Broad
way production, "Cappy Ricks." at
the Morosco Theater. and yet Will
lam Courtenay's co-star takes Just
as keen an interest In his work ~
the youngest theatrical fiedginE
who sits up all night reading ths
FIRST dramatic reviews that let the
public know he's alive.
81 went into the show business"
he said, ION April 1. and I've been
fooling them ever since. Before
that l failed at practically every
thing. so IL seemed quite logical
that should go on the stage. I'd
been so successful at changing from
job to job that can't remember
them all. but do recall that I was
a shoe clerk, and that later / had
a job on the railroad at San Fran
cisco which brought me SEQ 4
month. which / gave up to 80 into
the theatrical game at IS . wssk.
My mother knew I had q bad
case OF the theater, but she said.
Well. IL you want to so on the
stage, go ahead--I couldn't STOP
you 1 got job with WAGON
show; they Travelled through the
country and did vaudeville turns,
and IL wasn't quite SO bad as q
medicine show. But / couldn't even
call myself an actor was Just an
advance agent, and 1 advanced
strictly on foot. There were no
railroads connecting the towns on
the Pacific Coast in those days. ana
must have gone to 'em all, en-
FINALLY the show went bust. laay-
ing only three actors-and that's
how / became a real actor. Ap-
parentIy, it was against theatrical
custom to put on a show with any
thing less than four actors, and I
was called in as one of the stars.
We stuck up the towns by mall.
sending the advance matter and the
posters ahead of. us. We played
East Lynne The Marble Heart and
anything that four actors could get
away with, and we changed cur bill
every night--my, but we were am
bitiousi
I'm the three years was with
this shown, / played in q regular
theater only twice. On every other
occasion we played in barns, stores,
hotels, restaurants, scheols-any
place where we could hang a cur
tain and where they wouldn't chase
us away. Then in 1885 william OIL
lette first brought me East in The
Private Secretary and I've been
hanging on to Broadway pretty
consistently ever since"
Mr.. Wise confesses he has had
pretty good time playing almost all
his roles, but the character for
which he has a particular fondness
is that OF Senator Langdon in The
Gentleman from Mississippi" who
fought evil interests with an old
fashioned oratory which. IL 1t had
occurred in actual life. would have
done much to draw readers even to
the Congressional Record. It was
in this piece that Douglas Fairbanks
also made a hop, skip and jump into
theatrical distinction.
Fairbanks was an accident" said
Mr.. Wise. explaining how the agile
Douglas happened to crowd himself
into this play. I'D put him on the
stage in a stock company up at Al
bany. so I was pretty well acquainted
with his calisthenic talents for the
drama When The Gentleman from
Mississippi came along Doug was tied
up by a contract to carry another play
on his shoulders.
Fortunately this play fiivvered.
even though it had Dous's legs behiu
it. The young man we had started
in the part OF the Senator's secretary
seemed unlikely to make a good Sec
retary even for three hours q night
on the stage. I told Mr. Brady the
part was written to Doug's measure
mert: Mr.. Brady grabbed him and
that's how Fairbanks was fired into
popularity.
MY own part gave me as much fun
as Doug seemed to fnd In his role.
Usually with me a part loses Its nov-
city after about two months and be-
comes work requiring q little perapira-
ton. But after doing The Gentleman
from Mississippi for a couple Of
years the character seemed just As
fresh as ever to me, though I could
have played II in my sleep. And q
little while ago, when I revived the
play on the road. It felt Just like get
ting home and hanging your hat on
the old peg.
Harrison Rhodes wrote the COM
edy with me In about four weeks, and
Il kept the Senator in session for three
years. The other two plays which I've
written-also in collaboration with Mr..
Rhodes-took about three years to put
together and lasted about four weeks.
They were An Old New Yorker and
Mr.. Barnum.' which I liked personal
ly but which the public seemed to
think was an attempt to fool them
after the great circus mans own