Evening star., 1921-07-17
SURPRISINGLY large number
OF our citizens have appeared
upon the stage" Perhaps al

editor complaining that the paper
was not delivered on time, or that. in
relating an occurrence that took
place In 1851 or thereabouts. the
writer did not know what he was
talking about. because a misr:,ieva"r
printer had turned comma upside
down or spelled Smyth as Smith or
Marie as Mary. will tell you. II used
10 be newspaper man once my
self. and he often speaks the truth
for II was only once that he was a
newspaper man. Whenever a man
county paper. telling that the May
flies or the June bugs were seriously
impeding the threshing and shucking
Of the watermelon crop In his neigh
borhood. he will. for eighty years
"oh. yes! / used to contribute to
the press" And it Is the same way
with the ladies. though generally
they say. "Ypu know, / have been
contributor to the magazines"
These are nearly always old ladies'
beg your pardon. elderly ladies-beg
sounds ungallant-let us write it.
ladies who are not so giddy as they
used to be. Ladies' do not harp SO
stressedly on that magazine line of
talk as once upon time. because
the newspapers run departments
which tell how to cut ten-yard
skirt out OF four and a. half yards
of goods. how to make dainty salad
for six persons out OF one ham bone
and a turnip and how to give tea
for IS cents which will bring
dollar and a. quarters worth Of In
vitations to other teas.
A man, after reaching the years OF
discretion, and some men do this II
they live long enough. does not as
readily confess that he was once an
paper man. Perhaps he has, secret
fear that the unfortunate fellow he
Is talking to may have seen him act
and knows that he never was an
actor. The Rambler: digging into
"the musty records Of the past. which
often means only that he sent mes
senger to bring him an armful of the
iles of the Star Of a remote time. hnds
that great many of the good men and
women Of Washington once, and even
oftener tried their talents in opera.
concert. tragedy or comedy. And ne
hopes to make himself solid with
them now by saying that many of
them were very promising. and might
have kept their promises. and that II
they had adopted the stage as pro-
fession"-which is a timeworn and
frazzled phrase they would have
made Rome howl just as they oftenl
did make Rockville, Hyattsville, Falls
Church and Mana ssas roar. But now.
ladies and gentlemen. having fambled
through this little introduction. let us
get down to brass tacks. but why
anybody ever gets down to brass
tacks. or any other kind of tacks.
do not know. Perhaps 1t is just an
other one OF the phrases which per-
sons of scant vocabulary or meager
resources in language and ideas use
to make those sounds which are
called conversations"
T Asst Sunday we communed together
II about the Lawrence Bapret: ORA
matte Club, which was. in fact. in
truth. an organization of fine young
people with brains. imagination. a
lively interest in dramatic and artis-
tic expression. and with ambition
good and strong enough to make
them work for ideals. That club sent
to the regular stage a set of fellows
who were a credit to old Washington.
Those who are with us now. and vtsi-
BILE, we honor. and those who may be
with US yet, but invisible. we hold IN
tender memory. ~,
there were othcr amateur. dramatic
clubs in Washington and mentioned
the Carroll Institute Dramatic Club
and another club the name of which
lurkcd in one Of the back and little.
course, you will deny that he has
such a thing. He said he thought 1t
was the Forrest Club or the Foresters
or something like that. He. was not
sure, and when he wrote Foresters
ho felt that he may have. confused
an oid-time dramatic club with a Sc
rret and somewhat bibulous associa-
tion in the old Columbia Athletic
Club called THE Foresters." Those
Foresters knelt longer at the shrine
pis, Thalia or the other muses. of the
arts, whose names the Rambler has
not now the time to look up IN the
encyclopedia. But let us not speak
Athletic club! In these dry days of
parched lips, 'tis a PROPAGATION to re-
call them golden foaming days!
The name of association for which
the Rambler. went a-fshing in his
memory was the Forrest pramatlc
pardon. tho moving spirit-in that
was Arthur Anderson, who was
youth we all. liked. man we much
esteemed and whose remembrance
her seat in this distracted globe. Ar
DSpartm ent sback in 1859, then he
went into amateur. thcatricals, then
he, went or. ..the regular stage, then
husiness guardian Of Bob Downing.
Henry Chanfrau-. and others. After
nearly a quarter of a century on the
road. and his health failing. thoughts
Of dear old Washington and home
went to work in the geological sur
vey. In 1914 he Aded. 1t does not
at.i'm SO long ago!
The Forrest Dramatic Club was in
corporated in the District in 1879, tEe
incorporators being s. NJ Marshall
Louis Babcock and Arthur p; Ander,
SON, Arthur being the president and
dramatic Instructor of the club. The
of tho club. or some OF them
who played in it from the date OF It's
incorporation in 1879 until IT dis-
handed in 1882, were Annie Taylor,
Leila. and Mollie Redd, Hattie Laza-
ller. Fannie Rice. Joseph NJ. Grady.
S. c. Griffin, John Clark, ). -. COVE,
Marie Benton, John Bontz, Mrs. John
Miller. Lottfe williams, Charles w.
Darr. Frederick L. Siddons. Rose and
Julia Wheeler, Clarence Waters. Fred
Renzler. Robert Dobbins, George Rice,
John Jewell, Mr.. Bedebeck and Ada
Colyin. There were several otner dear
Young fellows charged with dramatic
cInh:a membership role, were devoted
tn q and SO closely associated with 1t
that tn the Rambler is going to admit
them to membership now. One OF
these was Dave, Bangs. another was
Roh Downing and another was Will
CIarke. who wrote and perhaps work
ed on one of the Washington papers.
+*A X
COME of these old friends went out
. in. the world as actors and got
"a .ha hitter a nd the sweet