The sun., 1919-01-19

| of the stage made the elaborate pro-
duction look rather cramped, though
| the services of everybody available
were enlisted, and even l was dragged
out of my anonymous obscurity Of
I private secretary. and as hungry
poet "a part which l had secured on
recommendation of Pinero as a
means to augment my slender salary
and satisfy my then stage struck am
hitionsl to parade in the first act as
one of the crowd and in the fourth to
masquerade as cadet Of Gascony."
A somewhat bloody battle scene
| didn't give me much outlet for any
humor l may have possessed. but
determined to have my revenge for the
extra work thrust upon me and ap-
peared in the first act as a monde
script character with long flaxep
wig and as girlish face as makeup
could give me. At the beginning Of
the act the crowd gathered around
CUrdno in the person OF Wyndham,
who when discovered had to say in a
ferocious voice and threatening atti-
tude as he drew his sword from its
scabbard. Press not so merciles sly on
my poor sword or 1t may vomit STEEL"
Seeing me at Its point the night in
question he ''audibly smiled and NUT
tered. Good God. what's this?" Mean
time my role as a hungry poet"
which l was gradually writing and
building up, was severely cut to pieces
after command performance at
Dublin. owing to the visibility of the
audience during love scene between
CUrdno and Rordne caused by my
sudden bites at a pastry tipped Tyre
and some better oles" at the back OF
my scanty costume which one day I
found another actor putting on. In
consequence I decided to follow Column
bus to America at the end OF the last
century. When I returned six months
later Sir Charles sent for me and
offered me four times as much money
to return to him in managerial
capacity, apd cured of acting l re-
turned to his fold. Better opportuni-
ties of advancement, however. came,
and l left him. to return again from
time to time. sometimes as play
reader. and always as general facto-
tum. AS I would not release Wynd-
ham from an engagement he had made
with me before letting" his theatres
for the season while he was holiday
making in Germany he gave me more
plays to read In few months than I
have read before or since in my life.
and he insisted on having a synopsis
Of several each morning with his
breakfast 7 treated them in a serio-
comic way (they were mostly too bad
to do otherwise) and Wyndham got to
enjoy them.
During one OF the intervals between
my engagements with Sir Charles
Wyndham I Joined the late Wilson
Barrett and shortly before his death
he produced his last play, Lucky
Durham" in Liverpool Barrett sent
me to London to secure n theatre for
this apparent success, and in my
quest I went to Sir Charles WIND
ham. He, to my surprise and Bar
rett's subsequent indignation, said he
had read the reports and that the
play bore a marked resemblance to
in fact was a plagiarism of-one pro-
duced by him a score of years before.
Wyndham gave sme a manuscript of
the latter to read. at Barrett's re-
quest, but I personally failed to find
plays. Wyndham stuck to his guns,
however. and the incident might have
led to some legal trouble. but Barrett
died after a severe operation before
the production of his own play in
London. I then Joined Sir Henry
Irving all the year round at his in
vitation On Sir Henry Irvings death,
notwithstanding a f1attering offer from
the late George Alexander. I rejoined
my old chief. Sir Charles Wyndham.
Six months before It happened I had
prophesled his knighthood in an
article Tor a daily paper on the sub
ject of "Should Actors be Knighted?'
with a second headline reading, "Sir
Charles Wvndham Coronation Prob
ability" The humor of the idea evil
IDENTIFY appealed to Wyndham. for on
showing him the proof he facetiously
asked. Cant you make 1t lord
Burton?" He was only knighted,
however.
After Irving's death there was
naturally a good deal of newspaper
controversy--some inspired, but mostly