Palatka daily news. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1919-1994, 1922-09-07


"Lots"-He Always Wore His Hon.
ors conspicuousIy and You Couldn't
Blame Him for They Frequently
Covered the Lack of Clean Shirt.
He was of proud and naughty mien,
with nose red and Dubious at the
end He stalked, in Booths best
Richard Ill manner, up to Pop" Cald-
well, seneschal of the inner works Of
The Music Box in Forty-fifth street,
says the New York Times, and an,
nOunced in sonorOus, resonant tones:
Il would have speech with Mr. Col
lier."
Hands on hips. head thrown back,
one foot and leg advanced, he glow
cred at Pop" like a hungry ogre de-
prived of a snack. He wore full
skirted, bellying Prince Albert frock
coat, green and shiny with age, dap
pied with glistening spots and with
buttons missing here and there. Stick
ing through one sleeve was an elbow
resembling the breastbOne of lean
turkey His frayed trousers bottoms
seemed to be racing each other to see
whi2h first would get over the tops
of split shoes whose uppers gaped
above cracked sUles. An ancient silk
hat, moth-eaten and weatherbeaten.
careened like scuttled ship atop a
shock Of black hair, showing rusty
brown Etreaks where the dye had
worn off. whose ends draped a grimy
celluloid collar. Attached to its front
was a shredded neckclOth spot mOttled
like the coat.
Rising from the collar was a lean.
stringy neck and face of tight-drawn
skin. old and scanned. But the eyes
were full of fire, and all of Shake
peares tragic protagOnists were EN-
Bodied in the grandiloquent pose
Othello, Hamlet, Lear, Macbeth, Rich
ard III, Shylocl5.
Pop" left him there and went to
William Golfers dressing room.
There's a ham outside for you, Mr..
Collier" he said
bOll IL anu DIluS II III ICpIIVN WI
lier
ITS already picked" returned
Pop" Take look"
Collier descended few steps and
looked around jog.
"Pop,' that's a nifty" he whis-
pered. Send it to Solly Ward. Here.
give him this and shoe him off" He
slipped a bill into Pops" hand.
The Last of the Breed.
Must be one of the last of the
breed of ham actors or hamfatters,"
explained "Pop" as the rumble of an
eNpostulating voice iOated up the
stairs, mingled with Pops" staccatO
"Nuthin' more dom, git along"
Ten years ago this time of year
they were thicker on Broadway than
taxicabs are now. Origin Of the term
ham actor or 'hamfatter'? I've heard
several versions The most likely two
are those which ascribe the birth of
the title to the fact that actors OF the
type meant always played, or were try
Ing to play, Hamlet, and when too low
in funds to get cold cream with which
to remove their makeup used essence
of cooked pig.
when the Rialto was the Rialto,
when every corner was a listening
post for group of actors attendant
on the triumphant recital of some
just-in-fr 'front.' he-road trouper, the ham
fatter' was in his glory. He was al
ways an actor, always in character,
always strutting and striding and
straddling. If he always wore his
Iaurels conspicuously you couldn't
blame him. for they frequently covered
the lack of a clean shirt. He gave
continuous performance along
Broadway from Weber and Fields
Music hall at Twenty-ninth street to
HammerStein's furthest north Victoria
at FOrty-second.
broadway was his summer resort
and his were long summers, from June
to September. New York had no sum-
mer theater season in his heyday. He
came back from trouping, from all the
points of the compass, with nothing
saved except the clothes he stood in
and unbreakable faith-his seeming
conceit, l believe, at bottom was faith
in his own abilities and the big en-
gagement that was coming in the fall,
Wore Winter Clothes in July.
He sweated beneath winter clothes
in the July sun and held his conclaves
on the theater and plays of the future
beneath the shade of store awnings
! until the proprietors, not looking on
HIM as a trade-pulling attraction,
drove him away. He discovered, long
ago. that the stage and actors were
degenerating and his fOrebodings were
lust as gloomy as those of our young
intellectuals of criticism are today.
Summer furs were not fashionable
then, but many a leading lady wore
them if she could afford to keep them
in her own hands. His wardrobe was
the hamfatters' bank account his
LIQUID asset and the pawnbroker
kept it beyond reach of moths for
him. All through the summer months
the royal robes of kings and queens
and the court costumes of dynasties
lay in dark recesses, issuing forth in
the fall when the fortunate actor got
advance on the first weeks salary of
IN engagement.
''T-he. ham had no bachelor apart
,,,ap+ M botal rOOm such as Is