The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1933-08-29

Major CdIUpDeu WHITES do 1OllOWo.
Henrietta Crosman opened in
Mistress Nell" at the Bijou theater
on Tuesday night, Oct. Z, 1900. 1t
was raining cats and dogs and the
gross receipts were exactly SGT. But
before the play was over, that small
audience which had expected to be
bored stood on their seats and
waved their hats in the air and
shouted Bravo"
We sat up all night waiting for
the morning papers to see what the
critics said and I have never seen
such extravagant praise for play
or an actress. Henrietta Crosman
was made.
There was a matinee scheduled
for the next afternoon, but her
success swas too much for Miss
Crosman. She collapsed and the
matinee was abandoned.
Business at the Bijou jumped i'm
mediately to capacity and Henrietta
Crosman was the talk of the town.
We stayed at the Bijou three weeks
and then moved to the Savoy on
Gath street, which was then music
hall
The story Of how the syndicate
forced us out of the Savoy after
several months of capacity business
is too long to be told here. But one
Saturday night we closed the Savoy
and dismissed a capacity house.
Then we went on the road for a
few weeks playing to capacity, but
we're soon back in New York again
at Wallack's theater at Broadway
and Thirtieth street where We fin
ished out the season.
In the thirty years since Mistress
Nell" we have produced many plays,
and Miss Crosman has appeared in
many parts, but there are few
that we like to look back upon with
especial pride and satisfaction; not
because of the money they made,
but because of their beauty and
Henrietta Crosman's joyous per-
formanceS.
LAS You Like 1t" at the old Re-
public theater which still holds the
record for the run of a Shakes
perean comedy, and in which
Miss Crosman was hailed as our
greatest Rosalind.
Our association with David Bel
asco in the production of Sweet
Kitty Bellaire," one of Miss Cros-
mans most gorgeous performances.
The Christian Pilgrim" at the
Liberty theater which cost a for
tune to produce and left us stone
broke after its failure.
Bernard Shaws Getting Mar
ried" at the Booth theater in which
Miss Crosman starred with William
FaverSham.
And lastly, her appearances in
the three productions of the Merry
Wives of Windsor" first with Tom
Wise and Viola Allen at the Criter-
ion; then with Beerbohm Tree at
the New Amsterdam, and more re-
Gently as a co-star with Mrs. Fiske
and Otis Skinner at the Knicker-
booker.
And now in the autumn of life,
Henrietta CroSman makes her de-
but on the screen. She has signed
a three-year contract with Fox and
has Just finished her first picture,
Pilgrimage"
1t is not part should ever have
thought of casting Miss Crosman
for on the stage and her success
in it shows her consummate art.
Out in Hollywood, where probably
not one in hundred ever heard
of Henrietta Crosman, they seem
surprised at the result, but I am
not. I've seen Pilgrimage" and
know that new and great star
is about to rise over the horizon
of the silver screen.
You see, we've had our ups and
downs plenty of them. Together
we have taken the good with the
bad, the rough with the smooth.
But through all our years of mar
ried life we have stuck together,
respecting one another, giving and
taking as the tide turned, and with