New-York tribune., 1920-12-12

The Contributors
lie would have approved its uncon-
Ventionality, for in every page this
vivid many sided nature is re-crcated.
not by one hiographer, weighed down
oy facts, but by many who loved him
and knew him best.
The contributors to the volume arc
his widow, Lady Tree y his daughters.
Viola and his; his brother, Max Beer
9ohm; Rernard Shaw, c. Haddon Cham
oers. Edmund Gossc, Sir Gilbert Par
ker Desmond Mccarthy, W. l.. Court
ney and Louis n Parker. Two sornets
by Iris Tree. the sermon preached bv
the Bishop Of Birmingham ut the me-
mortal service, July -, 1917; speech es
made by Mr.. AsQuith, Lord Reading and
Sir Squire Bancroft at the unvciling Of
a memorial tablet or the Charles Stree
wall OF His Majesty's Theater, May
81, 1918; Trees Impressions of Amer
ica and extracts from his notebooks
are included. There are many illus
trat ions
Herbert Draper Beerbohm. better
known as Herbert Tree, was born in
London. December II, 1858, the son of
Julius t.w>ld Beerbohm and Constantia
Draper. He was educated at Frant, in
Kent. and later at Schnepfenthal Col
lcge, Thuringia His father was a
grain merchant and the proprietor Of
Beerbohm's Corn Trade Journal, which
reported the daily movements of ships
and cargoes in the corn trade Botn
he and his father were members Of the
Baltic Exchange.
Began as II Clerk
At seventeen he went into the City
Is clerk in his fathers office and
helped in the preparation Of the Jour
nal. Soon he became known as an ANA
teur actor and in 1878 went upon the
stage professionally. playing many
parts in London and the provinces. His
first success was made rs the Rev.
Robert Spalding in The Private Sec
retary." This role he originated in
London, and invented most Of the IA
miliar catchwords and phrases Of the
part, which subsequently became so
popular.
In 1882 he married Miss Maud Holt
Their first child. Viola, was born in
1884; their second, Felicity, in 1895;
their third. Iris, in 1897.
In 1887 he became his own manager
producing The Red Lamp" at the
Comedy Theater with much success. In
1895 he built Her Maiesty's Theater, of
(which he remained manager until his
death 1t was there in 1905 that he
gave his first Shakespearean festival
It lasted for one week. but he produced
different play every evening, taking
the leading part in each.
Raised to knighthood
In 1909 he was knighted. After this
honor had been conferred upon him he
did not disdain to appear in vaudeville
and in 1912 played Austin Limmason in
Kiplings Man Who Was" at the Pal
ace Theater London. A lnguist, ne
once acted in French. at the Prince of
Wales Theater. as Mont-Prade in
"I.'Aventuriere. He founded the
Academy of Dramatic Art in London
and was the author of three books, Ar
Essay on the imaginative Faculty
Thoughts and Aftcrthoughts and
Nothing Matters.
In 1895 he first visited America, ap
nearing in "The Ballad Monger," "The
Red Lamp" "Hamlet" and other plays
( During his second visit in 1915I6
when he presented "Hcnry VIII" ane
"Coloncl Ncwcomc,' he filed q con
tract with q film company IN Los An
gelcs, playing Macbeth.
The frs, half Of the memorial vol
iumc is occupied by Lady Trees souvo
nirs of her husband, "Herbert and l..
Il is full Of intimate sketches Of the
home life As we'll as details Of thei
professional adventures at His Ma
iesty's, where Tree presented lon
line Of vivid theatrical portraits whic
included such widely diversified char
actcrs as svcngali, Sir Peter Teazlt
Austin Limmason, Fagin, Falstah, Me
phistophelcs, Bottom, Caliban, Pc
truchio. Cardinal Wolsey. The charat
ter Of Lord Ilingworth in Oscar Wilde
"Woman Of No Importance was writ
ten for him.
BY her own admission Lady Tree wa
at first Greek scholar and somethn
Of blue stocking, but marriage wit
an actor brought her into the theatric'
world, and She played many parts
!, her husbands productions. Durin
those days celebrated statesmen, VIII
ors, artists, women, beautiful and ii
nous, gathered about the genial mar
/ acer and were guests at his sumpt'