Evening star., 1921-06-05

ineton came to the theater. some OF
them in private carriages. whicn dlo
not cost as .much as a little au'omoe
bile does now. and some of them came
in hacks called from a stand or ar
banged for at Allison Majors livery
stable or Jim Pumphreys or Jonn
Prices or any one of the many Staples
in the town. Hiring hack. win q
seedy, often weedy. coiored orISeI'
der a moth-eaten plug hat, bore tne
same relation, to the customs OF that
simple time as calling a taxi does
now. 1t sounded just as rich and
swell then to say, hire a mack as
now it is to say. call taxi.
anneared at wallis Opera House and
at Ford's Opera House. according TO a
list which was handed the Rambler a
number of years ago; were Ea" ~
Davenport. Charlotte Cushman: MIS-;
Gen. Lander twhose Washington
home was on B street between New
Jersey avenue and lst street east. the
site being now covered by the House
office building): Adelaide Nllson'
Janauschek. salvini. Eossa; Iooh oohh VII MI
liam e. Sheridan. Mrs. Ransby. Clara
Morris. Mrs Langtry. Rhea apd Char
lotte Thompson. In the line OF comedy
there played at Ford's. Joe JEFFERSON.
John E. owens. John S. Clarke. j. L.
Toole. f. A. Sothern. Lester Wallack'
ence. John T. Raymond. the Vokes
family. Charles wyndham, Gus Will
liams G. s. knight. Lotta, Maggie
Mitchell. Minnie Palmer. Lydia
Thompson and Mrs. Germon.
Among the famous singers and i'm
portant opera companies which came
to Fords we're EteIka Gerster, Clara
Louis Kellogg, Lucca, Aimee. Caroline
Richings, Col. Mapleson's Opera Com
pany, the Strakosch Opera Company
husband Of carlotta Patti. sister Of
Adelina), the Boston Ideal Opera Com
paay. the c. E. Ford Opera Company.
the c. d. Hess Opera Company. the
George l.. Fox Pantomime. Hanlon
Brothers. Tony Denler and George L.
made people roar with laughter at
this old theater were Bryants. Emer-
sons, Hayerley's. Barlow and VIII
sons and the troupe of Thatcher.
Primrose and West.
: + X X X
IoHN T. FORD was what was called
"a theatrical power" in his day.
It is said that he put out the first
show bill printed in colors. "ef an
artistic character" that innovation
appearing first at Cincinnati, in 1857
as an advertisement of the thrilling
melodramar The Sea Of Ice" 1t is
said of him that the play East
Lynn" which had long run in all
cities. and prosperous tours of the
country. and is revived now and then
that bIase moderns may laugh in
stead Of weep, was written for John
T. Ford by George H. Miles of Balti-
more and was. Of course. produced
first by a John T. Ford theatrical
compa my. and presumably this took
place at his Baltimore theater. George
Miles wrote several plays for Mr..
Ford. but no oth>r was such a waller
and drew such torrents of tears from
grief-stricken audiSnces as East
Lynn" Two of the plays which Miles
wrote for Ford and which the Ram:
and oliver Cromwell" CO. We to
igreat-grandpa's ear trumpet and ask
him If he remembers them! Annie
Ford, John T.'s daughter. wrote plays
and some of them were dashing
thrillers. and nowadays they'd make
died Of suffocation. Some OF those
Annie Ford plays were THE Ken
lucky Ira gedy," Bertha" "Old NAM
selle's Secret" "over YondeE" Daniel
Boone. and Jack Harkaway." y
The Rambler has no doubt that, the
llSt QI dclOfS VINO appeared al + OLo
is all right but he has suspicion
that either his memory slips or the
list slips in two instances, those be-
ing the case of Tomasso Salvini and
Mrs. Langtry. When Salvini as a
fam6us actor came to this country
he opened in New York. and his
principal role. "Othello." was con-
demned by the New York critics be-
cause of its savagery and cruelty. and
they said he lost sight of the line.
For naught did in hate, but all in
honor"
Salvini went back to Italy and think
It was the next year he returned to the
United States, and his Interpretation OF
the Moor. was so much toned down to
meet the sensibilities Of the American
raihlic that he went behind n curtain Ito