davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The New York herald., 1921-12-25

main written by local musicians and lbret-
lists, of whom Frank Pixley, creator of the
libretto of "The Prince Of Pilsen," was one.
Think of the opportunities young actor
got in that day." he said. 'for George Led
erer brought me to the Casino, where / was
the first Harry Bronson in The Belle of
New York / went to London with the com
pany, but came back after year, as I longed
for my own country. 1 acted at the Casino
in The Rounders, singing, too. Think of
that as a means Of learning ones art!
But there was still more to come. After
n while the moving pictures made their APP
pearance and was soon a director acted
in them first, which gave me the experience
to become q director.
Eyes. 1 know what you're going to ask,
There is not the least doubt of it. Any in
telligent actor can learn lot from acting
before the camera. / don't know single
respect In which his art cannot be improved.
Perhaps he cannot learn about the man
agement of the voice, since he never has to
speak But with the sight before him of
every gesture and expression he can tell
just in what respect he ought to change
If he ought to. have tried to convince
more than one OF my managers that they
The New York herald., 1921-12-25

could insure much better performances If
they would have pictures taken of their
plays and make the actors watch them, and
thus learn their own defects in the parts
they acting.
wait. / know the other question, too.
j don't think the movies have been of any
disadvantage to the drama unless it is that
they have so much increased the number Of
actors. There was during the most pros
porous days of the picture industry tre
mendous influx Of men and women to the
camera theater Not all of them sought the
work. They were quite often brought into
it by others Directors who were looking
for type would stop man or woman in
the street and ask If he or she wanted to
play In the pictures. Usually they did when
the pay was say SIS day and they were
earning perhaps twice as much every week
No wonder they took the Jobs That was
easy pay for just happening to be the physi-
cal type that a director was looking for.
"Of course when the bottom dropped out
of the movies and there wars no longer any
work for these people, did they go back to
what they had been doing before? Not on
your life! They were artists by this time.
They had to keep before the public So
The New York herald., 1921-12-25
Titled English Women in Trade Cater to Their Own Glass

one improvised showroom on a top floor
known in London as upper part" Here
coats are shown with peasant lines and
trimmings; one is sold to almost every in
quirer by persuasive Mimi; she stands pat"
10 the crack of DOOM overwhelmed with
sympathy for her Madame. "Oh. no. re
lady herself? she is nevere here. She stop
at home where she make all re cloak-al-
ways-always-pau Madame!" Drearily
she tells the tale. And so does violent ped
aling on machine overhead In another es-
tablishment where the daughters are known
10 design. evolve and finish the stock
throughout,
Sympathetic and Generous
Ways of Titled Trades Folk
And in this little world of the one time
great there is a second marked dependence
on one another and n determination to stand
shoulder to shoulder which comes out in
their trick of showing, advertising and sell
ing each others wares. This is sympathetic
and generous, and quite as beautiful as i'll
advised Now Cavaliers capes by the
Countess Courtley, for example, an "ex-
hibt" repeated i'm many showrooms. Sold
primarily i'm the Countess's own establish
ment around the corner, they arc neverthe-
less among the dresses at Lady Likisale's
and draped on the screen after a design
by the Hon. Mrs. Happen, who came by
her art entirely by accident The Hon. Mrs.
Happen makes room among her own furni-
ture, not far off for the paints, powders and
perfumes Of Lady Beautiful, who sells her
own, Of course, and wedges In all the lovely
new things made from old lace by the Fan
fare girls. Lady Advertsit has an amaz-
ingy generous way Of mentioning all the
unique things her friends have got together
to the exclusion OF her own pet scheme-the
shawl remade.
Very bad businessi Even the most choice
and elusive object becomes hackneyed II dis
played perpetually. II the honorable toy
horses made in her very own studio by the
Honorable Honoria Hobby are seen 10 rock
on every counter the most assiduous col
lector OF toys will pass them by. And even
that sticlSler for headdresses, Lady Topper
might be tempted to appear bareheaded after
encountering all the weird faces Of countless
Milbanlt millinery blocks, each with its filet
or bandeau, or headdress, or veil When
Mrs Flutterby Crrsus sets out with purse
strings flying she has n narrow eye for
business and another quite as narrow for
the individual touch.
The little shops of the peerage arc In
danger The flimsiest will go under. OF
course. The better sort will survive and
expand because their owners and directors
will have learned their trade.
The New York herald., 1921-12-25
One of His Pleasantest
Memories Is aChild's
Performance of H.
NJ. S. Pinafore'-H
Most tRecentAppear-
ances Are in Thank
You and 'Lightnin''

opinion Incompatible in action reading and
intelligence as the hero. There is one i'm
portant respect in which he differs from the
old timers I saw them all in my day. and
like everybody else who had a chance to
study their work and is willing TO tell the
truth about it, must admit that there was
a certain amount of scene chewing. 1t was
indispensable to the plays of that time, and
it was indispensable to the manner in which
they played Shakespeare.
But there were different kinds of scene
chewing The best actors did 1t very skill
fully and artistically, and there was just
enough of it to add point to their scenes.
Some of the bad old boys. on the other hand
lust revefed in it for its own sake. They
loved to get hold of something which, like
the old actor in 'Trelawney of the Wells,
they could get their teeth into. Naturally
that had to go with the improvement In
acting but 1t must be said that the public
used to enjoy 1t in the old days. 1t was all
a part of the theater of their day. There is
no suggestion of it, however, in the Shake
speare which Forbes Robertson gives to the
world in his Hamlet"
In spite Of all the changes in the lot OF
the actor during Mr.. Davenports fifty years,
which is practically Mr. Davenport's life, he
is one of the optimists that believe conditions
to-day are better on the whole than they
ever were just as so many other professions
find the pursuit of life and happiness some
what easier and considerably more comfort
The New York herald., 1921-12-25
Many of Their Little Shops Are Bound Fail Because
Taste of the Multitude and Profiteers

most any one among this group of aristocrats
in trade is capable of excaiming, under her
breath, How truly horrible" meaning the
taste exhibited by some perfect paragon of
virtue in the middle class. And she would be
right. Most of the clothes, furniture ana
what not collected by people without educated
taste are, in their entirety, horrible.
The ways of these inexperienced business
people must be, however. a source of positive
anguish to that guild of far famed shopkeep-
ers who are said to make up the very nation.
Trade to these fashionable novices is an Inn
pulse; keeping shop is a stunt; the entire
stock is "tryout," and who knows but what
the sequel is a worry.
The New York herald., 1921-12-25

TO a glaring workaday world is unimagin-
able The brutality of il sinks in and grinds
like the Japanese dagger. Who shall say
what were their arguments and with what
struggle these were pushed aside? Or how
they came-and even with a certain gra-
ciousness-to accent such bitter fate
trade? Then why did they decide in favor
of buying and selling-upon money changing
and haggling? This that had been for long
the symbol of all that was ordinary.
1t is conceivable that being master in
stead of slave-or employee--has much TO
do with the decision. A shop meant man
agement. and here the women of the leisured
classes are all at home. With accustomed
dignity they are accepting the situation
whether or not it has come up to their ideal
They are overfowing with enthusiasm, and
they forge ahead as If the daily turnover
were the one vital thing left in life. as indeed
il may be. They mean TO succeed Theirs is
the conquering spirit. These mere begin
ners in their little shops are of the govern
ing classes-ancient stock. From long line
of the restrained and silent-the English.
The world has not been let into their secret
nor will 1t be-but the world has eyes.
This is not pathetic tale but n statement
Of facts and acts which these very people
were to face and to perform after the great
war had shattered the structure OF social
life for this generation at any rate
And is the present position of the peer
age one Of actual poverty? What is pow
crty? Great numbers of them are known
TO be losing and spending heavily through
excessive taxation all along the route Some
are feeling this more than others; some arc
decidedly poor; some are becoming penni-
less. Nevertheless, many Of them have not
yet begun 10 count postage stamps The
majority still think in sufficient guineas to
almost maintain the homes they've been
accustomed TO. It may be quite as bad to
be without a guinea as without penny.
POSTWAR Prices Stun
Even Purchaser Peer
Articles de luxe when offered for sale to
the rich and on a purely friendly basis take
on tremendous value Their exclusiveness
added to the degree OF friendship plus the
assumed wealth of the purchaser, brings
prices up by leaps and bounds The temer-
ity that can add on pounds where even pence
spell profit is part of that chill society train
ing that fits a woman for emergencies; this
is an attainment. but It points at times to
success and at other times to impending
The New York herald., 1921-12-25
Has His First Weeks Salary
All Except One Lonely Cent

"And don't let anybody persuade you" he
said to the reporter with a twinkle back of
those spectacles which are the strongest
suggestion of his age than any view or TINS
smiling fresh faced half centenarian pro
vides chat the actor is not provident.
have to this day the first weeks salary that
I ever drew.
"My father gave it to me in five dollar
gold piece and the other five dollars in every
denomination of money from one cent piece
up And | have every cent of II to-day but
one The one cent piece was in some In
conceivable way lost. How 1t happened to
this day don't know. ] cannot explain any
more how ! happened to misplace that piece
than how I contrved to hold on to the $9.99
''I will admit 1t was pretty hard sometimes.
1t took on more than one occasion lots OF
lf-control not to spend the money. 1t woulo
have helped lot on several occasions. But
/ still have that first salary of S1O minus the
one cent. So don't say that actors are not
provident"
E. L. Davenport and his wife left descend
ants to carry on their fame.
Harry's sister Fanny Davenport stood
for a long time at the head of her pro-
fession, acting as the star in some of the
most successful of the Sardou dramas.
Edgar was a popular leading man until his
death a few years ago.
Blanche Davenport became a singer and as
Mrs William Seymour retired from the stage
soon after her marriage. Harry Davenport
and Mrs. Seymour have children that keep
in the family path.
The New York herald., 1921-12-25
BY NIL. YORKE.

Special Correspondence to THE NEW YORK
HERALD
Copyright. 1921, By THE New YORK HERALD
New York Herald<G,ureau
Inudan
The New York herald., 1921-12-25
Stock of the Beautiful
For the Woman Beautiful

Most of the articles on sale are de luxe
a very precious collection of things beautiful
for the house beautiful and the woman beau.
tiful. They have been evolved or imported
with an eye to an almost certain customer
or shall 1t be client? And they are priced
accordingly The still rich seem never to
require commodities, and, happily, not all Of
the titled are down to the last ha'penny
Personal friends. at any rate, can be counted
on as purchasers-who else could buy? This
is the impression one gets in these esta blish-
ments. And certainly that solid English pub
lie (Which is the upper middle class) with
it's unbreakable backbone--its more than
vertebra-could not be moved to the pur-
chase OF such unconscionable frivols.
And 80 the peerage keeps shop for the
peerage. But will the end be ironic? Will
the peerage be driven eventually to welcome
In the profitcer? For proflteer could be
educated TO purchase this sort of stuff II
once convinced that such an act was one
resembling those of the ruling class. He has
not, however. been asked In yet. Instead
here Is altruism-a dear, sweet, unbusiness-
like business venture; an anachronism,
spun glass house In dream street ready to
fall beneath the first competitors blow. The
grave danger to the owner Of the very select
small shop Is the minority Of purchasers
compared to that vast purchasing power
the well to do middle class.
No outsider can know how the lesured
classes (whom many prefer to call the idle
rich) felt at the first prospect of working
for a living. To women particularly who
have been sheltered and protected the
change from security and desired obsourity
The New York herald., 1921-12-25
chiIdren's III. M. S. Pinafore' Company
Met With Success at WaIIack's

George Denman, who was a popular
comedian in comic opera, sang the Admiral
at the night performances in Philadelphia"
Mr.. Davenport said as he smiled at the
remniscence, "and I tried to initiate him in
my childish way. We all were children in
that play. Some of the companies were made
up of so-called Juveniles who were by no
means entitled to that name. We really
were young, though. That was in the late
70s. I could really boast Of being a metro
politan actor then, for the company came to
the old Walacks at Thirteenth street and
played successful engagement therein
the afternoon of course"
After a while the juvenile days were over
and Mr.. Davenport was old enough to play
youth of seventeen pausbly even if he
we're younger. SO he got a part in Hazel
Kirke"-the country boy created originally
by Joseph Frankau--and with his brother
Edgar, who played the hero. started long
tour In a third company Of Steele Mackaye's
famous old play. Some of the young actors
In this troup were so good that after while
they were elevated to membership in other
companies from the Madison Square that
were acting this same piece. Among these
we're the two Davenport boys who had such
a famous father and assuredly ought to be
able to act
Lots OF things happened in the years that
intervened until this winter. Then there was
wonderful performance of a clergyman in
THANK You" that set everybody to talking
about the actor who added such fine por-
trait to the limited gallery that really pic
lures life and humanity on the stage.
OF course it was the same Harry Daven-
port who has acted in "Lightnin'" and
Three Wise Fools" but there had been no
such opportunity in those plays. Many sea-
sons of many kinds of experiences produced
the mellow skill that could realize such a
type of man in the theater.
There were all sorts of preparation for the
actor Comic opera, musical plays, the
cinema as actor and director--all these en-
ployments added their share to his COM
plete control of the powers that an actor
ought to possess.
II was a theater director for several years
in Philadelphia after the retirement of
George Holland. who had such a successful
stock company for some years at my fathers
theatre" Mr.. Davenport said when narrating
The New York herald., 1921-12-25
Youngest Member Of
Famous Theatrical
Family Tells of His
Days as a Juvenile,
His Development in
Histrionic Art and
Future of the Drama a
By LAWRENCE REAMER.

- VEN with the bone spectacles i. seems
r. impossible. They are, of course, no
longer a sign of age. They are
rather the ostentatious symbol of the intel
H0entsia. If they are on the bridge of a
tenderly feminine nose they may intima :
spirit of revolt. They assuredly do
when fringe of bobbed hair falls menac-
ingly over the brow above them.
But this is a masculine nose and more
over, a classic one, even If it is somewhat
reduced from the scale that the most rigid
standard would impose. 1t is part of the
general Davenport profile, which always de-
ferred to the fashion of antiquity whether
it were famous not.
Fanny of the ilk was among the best
known actresses of her day. She would
have been noted beauty in any day from
Helen of Troys down.
This is Harry, youngest of the family,
that was of the theater purple in this coun-
try.
II have really been for fifty years on the
stage he tells the reporter for THE NEW
YORK HERALD. This winter am celebrat-
ing the first half century of my career as
actor
His figure is so slim and the skin so fresh
and clear Where is the joker?
The New York herald., 1921-12-25

correspondence
HERALD.
Copyright 1921, By THE New YORK HERALD
New York HeraIdzs,ureau,
London. Dec IL.
THERE is a feature OF peculiar interest
in the London world of little busi-
nesses--of one woman shops-re-
Gently invaded by matrons, young and older.
among the financially reduced aristocracy
of England. These novces have actually
assembled their stocks with the avowed in
tention to cater among themselves-among
their own small clique This is a unique
idea in business. 1t il, doubtless, more en-
tertaining to thus play at shopkeeping than
it would be actually to serve the masses; that
disagreeable element. common contact, is
eliminated; but what Of the outcome-can it
possibly pay?
This scheme is known, to put il crudely
as taking in each others washing; and
the idea is usually referred to in joke as
mad utopian method to be resorted to when
all else fails. Surely the situation is not so
bad as this? Times are hard and business
dull as ditch water but the end is not in
sight--these women have only just begun
This method suggests curious game with
out starting point or base.
Little London Shops
RUN by and for the Titled
Something like this was to have been ex-
pected. that Is IL 1t had ever been antici-
pated, seriously, that titled folk would stoop
to the buying and selling of goods These
women nevertheless have fallen naturally
into their own groove; this is the result of
living the isolated life; they have been shut
away behind hedges from the rest of the
English people, they have scarcely known
their own London and they have not wan
dered far from the borders OF their own
estates. Where would they go in an emer-
gency except in the same old track--the
same rut?
A chasm yawns between the taste Of the
elect and the taste of the multitude (These
class distinctions are made for purposes Of
argument and are based on those accepted
long ago in England)
II is this very failure TO grasp the wants
OF the other half that narrows down the
clientele-that drives the elect back upon
themselves in this grave moment Were
they TO get together a stock such as would
please the passerby (who might be upper
middle class lower middle class or working
class--with nnumerable lesser dstinctionsl
this stock would seem. according to the
unique and elegant and cultured taste OF the
peerage, like making game Of their own VEN
ture. And this n quite understandable. AL
The New York herald., 1921-12-25

\ VEN with the bone spectacles IL seems
impossible. They are, of course, no
longer a sign of age They are
The New York herald., 1921-12-25
Real Child of the Stage:
Began His Career at Five

ITO be sure" says the actor with a smile
II was only when acted in Philadelphia
the first time There is the program with
me as Ddmon's child On that same pro-
gram, too, is the family of my wife. 1 was
theater child My family were actors
Anybody who knows our theater remem-
bers what part e. l.. Davenport played
IN its life then. So it was the most natural
thing in the world that I should begin to
act so soon as was old enough Once /
started 1t was just as natural that 1 should
keep 1t up. Damon and Pythias' was a
popular play in those days and i played
often the part in which made my debut.
Whenever an actor came along with a
play that required children II was my time
10 appear. So played often in Jack Cade
with my father and with John Mccullough,
and even more frequently in Rip Van
Winkle.' l have always heard that when
Joseph Jefferson went to London he had
Dion Boucicault rewrite his version of this
play since he was afraid that the rather
crude drama ne had been acting here would
need some changes for the English public
Boucicault then put in the children That
was lucky thing for the theater kiddies
here, as no end of them made their bow to
the public as the youngsters in that piece"
There came a brief interim when Mr..
Davenport might not have acted at all had
not such an operate success swept over this
country that it was impossible for the public
TO get enough of it. He was too old to play
children any longer and too young for the
youths of the drama of his day.
But along came III. NJ S. Pinafore" There
was no giving the public too much of II.
Adult performers appearing at night, church
choir singers exhibiting their fine voices and
their amateurish acting, even children in
the afternoons, had tn organize Juvenile
troups.
Harry Davenport thus became Juvenile"
opera singer and at the age of thirteen ap-
peared Sir Joseph Porter in a childrens
company organized by John Ford of Balti-
more, a famous impresario of his time and
of that Southern city. One of his grand
daughters-in-law, Blanche Chapman, is at
the Gaietv Theater now in nCnlden DAYS
South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1921-06-12


huhd OAK TREE KnOw
n in
recent s IN IS
possible
El Imparcial. (San Juan, P.R.) 1918-197?, 1921-10-27

quinientos por quinientos de ultra nor
te-americanismo. TambiGn la tirbre ha-
ce su aparici0n eli cstos pacicntcs. al
extreme dc 'iagotarloS' ante la OPT
min pGblica, quien los juzga de hom-
bres lapas, por aquell0 de que la lapa
es m parasitic que vive sicmpre pega-
do. Es sorpreidcnte. el que esta cnfcr-
medad solo ataque los polfticos con-
servadores.
Mas como las plagas son peligrosaS.
sera conveniente. que el rcfrrido CO.
mite dc salud ptblica. ordenasc Il los
pol1ticos radicales que cuando salgan
a la calle. 10 hagan cnvueltos en- mos
quiteros, debidamente tupidoS, de ma
nera que los mosquitoes con1uctorcs
de esta ficbre no los ataquen. pue-
dan mantcnerSe librcs de una enfer-
medad que al paso que va, poSiblcmen
te acabara con el partido mas fuertc
de nuestra isla. que al parccer. cSti
partido Ell dos. por Obra v gracia de
la playa cOnOcida por "REILISWO".
Yo me allegro que IL Ultima hora. cl
comite de salud publica, haya cogido
a su cargo los pobrecitos politicoS.
Ellos son neccsarios Il la patria, quien
los desea fucrtes, Y sobre todo, sanoS
de cuerpo v dc mente. para mcjor ren-
dici6n de patriotismo, que al paso que
van las plagas nos qucdarcmos sin
niuguno.
Por mi parte. yo envio mis- calurosos
parabienes a Csc comit6. V les sugier0
a esos hombres, que So inmuniceH para
que no sean atacados por las plagas
que pululan por nucstro ambiente po.
lftico...
UNiCOLI.
Octubre de 1921.
El Imparcial. (San Juan, P.R.) 1918-197?, 1921-10-27
Ell vEsUBIO

Partisipe q mi numerosa clientele
que nuevamente me encuentro al fren
Ee de- este acreditado Restaurant. don.
De encoDtrar&n un esmerado servicio
laacafta. Sc admiten abonados ,
nunea faitan los sabrosos 'Spaguetti'
--viceRte Rinaldi, Allen 20. San Juan
felSfono SOS.