Evening star., 1939-12-17
Fifty Years Ago
In The Star

Fifty years ago Joseph Jefferson was
Americas leading actor He was for
many years great
Interview With favorite in Washing
Joe Jefferson ton, having played in
this city for many sea-
sons. In The Star of December IA, 1889,
is printed an interview with him, signed
with the initials &C. w. c." which then
appeared frequently in this paper. 1t
was, IN part, as follows:
Comedy is very pleasant line of
business. said Joseph Jefferson, the nes-
tor of American comedians as he sat
with me one night last week at the Arch
Street Theater. Philadelphia, in his
dressing room while filling an engage
ment at that house. Audiences like to
laugh he continued, and it is usually
very easy to make them do so. In fact,
a comedians greatest annoyance is that
his auditors will persist in thinking that
everything he says or does is funny and
in laughing at it, just as English society
used to laugh when the late Sidney Smith
asked some one to pass the mustard.
"Tn that scene of Rip Van Wrinkle in
which poor Rip, after returning from his
long sleep, reveals himself to his daugh-
ter Meenie. whieh to my thinking is in
describably pathetic. have heard peo-
pie laugh as though it were the funniest
thing in the whole play. . A comedian
should always derive his humor from the
character he is playing and not from
himself. If his humor is developed from
himself it is always the same; if from
his characters it will always be in keep
ing with the spirit of each Thus the
humor of Rip Van Wrinkle and that of
Caleb Plummer are widely different Yet
in the hands of a comedian who develops
his own humor and not that of his part,
both characters would be presented in
precisely the same humorous aspect. Of
all modern humor think that of Charles
Dickens the best and most lasting. 1t
will never lose its charm. Like Shake
speare, he wrote for all time.
zone Of the greatest needs of the
American stage at the present time is
young. talented and attractive women
such women, for example, as Mary
Anderson and Annie Pixley. I shall
never forget the first time I ever saw
the former. 1t was in one of the parlors
of the Fifth Avenue Hotel She had
just returned from the theater on cold
winter night and as she came into the
room with her eyes sparkling and her
cheeks all aglow, her beauty greatly
heightened by white nubia scarf thrown
about her head, I thought her the very
embodiment of womanly loveliness and
purity.
"'Annie Pixley first saw while play
ing in California. There was stock
company attached to the theater at
which was about to commence an en-
gagement In San Francisco, and I was
not quite satisfied with the lady who was
cast for Gretchen in rip Van Wrinkle"
While was anxiously wondering whom
could obtain to replace her chanced
to see Miss Pixley play a part in "The
Danites" and was at once convinced that
she possessed great ability. At my sug-
gestion she was engaged to support me
and during my San Francisco engage
ment she played not only Gretchen, but
also Lydia Languish in "The Rivals" and
Cicely Homespun In "The Errant-Law"
surprisingly well. advised her to visit
the East, and subsequently meeting the
late John E. McDonough who was in
search for some one for the role of
Miss, recommend Miss Pixley in
the highest terms. He engaged her and
the result was, as everybody knows. that
she became successful star.
"T have often been asked what effect
the constant repetition Of one part has
on an actor. There is one curious effect
1t has and that is that after playing one
part for great length Of time an actor
Is apt to forget his lines and take up
wrong cues. A story is told Of an Eng
lish actor, who. after playing one part
for very long time, forgot his lines one
night. "1t's very strange" said the stage
manager, that you are not perfect in
that part by this time. You have been
playing 1t for 200 nightsl" "Well," said
the actor, do you expect me to remember
1t forever?" think one part cannot be
played too often If the actor does not
lose his interest In it. It is Just rs it is
with our age. We are old according to
our feelinSs, not our years."