Part 26

[177] “During a rehearsal her poodle entered the theatre and calmly and unconsciously crossed the stage, keeping at a respectful distance from her, however, only condescending to notice her mistress with a side glance. This was so contrary to her customary dashing and bounding approach, that Mrs. Fiske stopped the rehearsal and called to Fifi to come to her. But not Fifi; she merely glanced and continued her dignified and stately promenade across the stage. Persistently and with authority Mrs. Fiske ordered the queenly Fifi to approach. Not for Hecuba--no approach, only a pause. Mohammed must go to the mountain, and Mrs. Fiske did the approaching. Did Fifi grin, or what did the slight gleam of white teeth portend? It was merely the flash of lightning, for the thunder came soon after in a low growl of defiance. Never had such a thing happened before. This impromptu play was good, with Mrs. Fiske at her best, and the audience of actors stood by immensely interested. With tragic emphasis Mrs. Fiske stamped her foot and, pointing in the direction of her dressing room, ordered the black woolly beast to begone and quit her sight, to let the dressing room hide her, and a few things like that, and added something about Fifi’s bones being marrowless and her blood cold, and about the absence of speculation in her eyes which she did glare with. Just then Mr. Gilmore remarked: ‘That’s not Fifi--that’s my dog Genie.’ Laughter--quick curtain.”--Griffith.

[178] “When a series of one-night stands was being played--and she has a perfectly frantic fondness for them--it was our custom to charter a Pullman, as she lived in the car instead of in hotels.... This she most urgently requested to have placed ‘_not_ at the end of the train.’ The rear-end collision had mortal terrors for her.... The same nervous fear applied to non-fireproof hotels, in any of which Mrs. Fiske will not go above the second story.... Mrs. Fiske appears never to weary of travel, and while she objects to starts ranging from five to ten o’clock A.M., an earlier or later leaving hour does not disturb her; in fact, she says she rarely falls asleep until near morning. We had a prohibition against ringing the berth bells before ten A.M., and also against any kind of alarm clock.... Very rarely Mrs. Fiske went to the dining car in the train, her dislike for making herself conspicuous being very marked. This modesty was exemplified in her fondness for veils, as she always wore at least one, and more generally two.... Her unceasing employment of time when on tour is in study. It is a never-ending labor, and one that evidently delights her. The preparation for things to come--perhaps a year or more ahead--is always in her mind.... During all my time [thirteen years] with Mrs. Fiske she never lost a single night from illness.”--Griffith.

[179] On Ninth Street, between Vine and Race.

[180] According to an interview with Mrs. Hess, printed in 1897 in the Cincinnati _Commercial Tribune_.

[181] She was also Myrene in _Pygmalion and Galatea_ and Stephen in _The Hunchback_.

[182] Miss Dow was for many years known as the aunt of Miss Marlowe. There was no actual relationship; but by legal agreement or otherwise Miss Marlowe was an “adopted niece” of the older woman. Miss Dow’s interest in her young charge was, naturally, not wholly altruistic. That is, there was a signed agreement by virtue of which Miss Dow was to share heavily in any earnings of Miss Marlowe for a term of years after the début, and was to have a voice in the management of her affairs. After the actress’ emergence in 1887 as Julia Marlowe, however, Miss Dow’s management continued for only a few years. There was even newspaper talk of Miss Marlowe’s having “thrown over” her guide and friend, after she began to meet success. Miss Dow became Mrs. Currier. Her training of Fanny Brough started her on a long career as a dramatic teacher, in which capacity she was active as recently as the autumn of 1915.

[183] Juliet in _Romeo and Juliet_, Julia in _The Hunchback_, Parthenia in _Ingomar_, Pauline in _The Lady of Lyons_ and Galatea in _Pygmalion and Galatea_.

[184] “Whole plays were rehearsed. The instructor served both as audience and prompter. She read all the parts save the heroine’s. Scenery and the position of the other players were indicated by tables and chairs. When _Romeo and Juliet_ was rehearsed, the back of a venerable haircloth sofa was the balcony rail. With her chin resting upon it and her gaze fixed tenderly upon a worn place in the carpet, she first recited Juliet’s impassioned good-night to her lover.”

[185] On the twentieth. How old was Julia Marlowe on this important day of her life? The date of her birth has been variously given, and authority might be found for any year between 1864 and 1870. As a matter of fact, the Register of Baptisms of the Parish of Caldbeck shows that she was baptized September 23, 1866. Thus she was at least twenty-one at the time of her début, though she was popularly supposed to be about eighteen.

[186] Besides other things, Colonel Ingersoll said: “To retain the freshness that is her greatest charm she will have to ... pay no attention to the critics. Her talent needs no guide save that afforded by her experience and her own mentality.” One Alfred Ayres, writing to the editor of the New York _Dramatic Mirror_, voiced the protest that was felt in many quarters against Colonel Ingersoll’s kindly meant over-enthusiasm: “What nonsense clever men do sometimes talk, when they talk about things they know little or nothing about!... There is not a novice in America more in need of guidance than is Miss Julia Marlowe. To let her go her own way would be to let her go to ruin. She is already on the high-road to becoming merely coy, coddling, and goody-goody.” Colonel Ingersoll became Miss Marlowe’s personal friend. At least one summer she spent with his family.

[187] Beginning with her New York début in 1887, Julia Marlowe’s first appearances in her various parts were as follows: Parthenia in _Ingomar_, Juliet in _Romeo and Juliet_, Viola in _Twelfth Night_, 1887; Julia in _The Hunchback_, Pauline in _The Lady of Lyons_, 1888; Rosalind in _As You Like It_, Galatea in _Pygmalion and Galatea_, 1889; Beatrice in _Much Ado About Nothing_, 1890; Imogen in _Cymbeline_, Charles Hart in _Rogues and Vagabonds_, 1891; Constance in _The Love Chase_, 1893; Letitia Hardy in _The Belle’s Stratagem_, Chatterton in _Chatterton_, Lady Teazle in _The School for Scandal_, 1894; Colombe in _Colombe’s Birthday_, Prince Hal in _Henry IV_, Kate Hardcastle in _She Stoops to Conquer_, 1895; Lydia Languish in _The Rivals_ (supplementary spring season, with “all-star cast”), Romola in _Romola_, 1896; Mary in _For Bonnie Prince Charlie_, The Countess in _The Countess Valeska_, 1897; Colinette in _Colinette_, Barbara in _Barbara Frietchie_, 1899; Mary Tudor in _When Knighthood Was in Flower_, 1901; Fiametta in _The Queen Fiametta_, Charlotte Oliver in _The Cavalier_, 1902; Lady Barchester in _Fools of Nature_, 1903; Ophelia in _Hamlet_, 1904; Katherine in _The Taming of the Shrew_, Portia in _The Merchant of Venice_, 1905; Salome in _John the Baptist_, Jeanne in _Jeanne d’Arc_, Rautendelein in _The Sunken Bell_, 1906; Madonna Gloria in _Gloria_, Yvette in _The Goddess of Reason_, 1908; Cleopatra in _Antony and Cleopatra_, 1909; Lady Macbeth in _Macbeth_, 1910.

[188] For Henry IV Mr. and Mrs. Taber had to learn to wear armor. They used genuine armor, and to accustom themselves to it they wore it for hours each day in their apartments.

[189] Frank Howe, of the Walnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia.

[190] She obtained a divorce in January, 1900. Four years later Taber died, of tuberculosis, “at a refuge in the Adirondack Mountains, provided for him,--for he had been rendered practically destitute by illness--through the goodness of his former wife.” (Winter.)

[191] In the season of 1895–96 during the “Mr. and Mrs. Taber” period, they had played with some success at Wallack’s, practically her first down-town engagement since the début in 1887. It was during this engagement that William Dean Howells wrote enthusiastic praise of her Juliet.

[192] This memorable alliance first went into effect in Chicago, September 19, 1904, at the Illinois Theatre. It continued for three seasons, after which, during the seasons of 1907–8 and 1908–9, each again headed separate companies. In 1909 they rejoined forces, and continued to act together until the spring of 1914, when Miss Marlowe was taken sick, and Mr. Sothern continued alone. At this time it was announced that Miss Marlowe had retired from the stage for good. There was subsequently some talk of a farewell tour, but Miss Marlowe’s retirement was definitely confirmed in the summer of 1915. As everyone knows, the two stars became man and wife. The marriage occurred in London, in 1911.

[193] Mr. Walkley wrote in _The Times_ an eloquent tribute to her Viola, which he found “bewitching.” “In the purely sensuous element in Shakespeare, in the poet’s picture of frankly joyous and full-blooded womanhood, the actress is in her element, mistress of her part, revelling in it and swaying the audience by an irresistible charm. She aims at no startling ‘effects’; she seems to be simply herself--herself, that is, glorified by the romance of the part--enjoying the moment for the moment’s sake, and so making the moment a sheer enjoyment for the spectator. That is now clearly shown which in her earlier parts could only be divined--that here is a genuine individuality, a temperament of real force and peculiar charm. High-arched brows over wide-open, eloquent eyes; a most expressive mouth, now roguish with mischief, now trembling with passion; a voice with a strange croon in it, with sudden breaks and sobs--these, of course, are purely physical qualifications which an actress might have and yet not greatly move us. But behind these things in Miss Marlowe there is evidently an alert intelligence, a rare sense of humor and a nervous energy which make, with her more external qualities, a combination really fine. She beguiled not only Olivia, but the whole house to admiration. Here, then, is one of Shakespeare’s true women.”

[194] Elizabeth McCracken.

[195] One can doubt the _entire_ truth of this statement without denying the larger truths lying in her general statement.

[196] James Kiskadden died when Maude was ten years old.

[197] In San Francisco.

[198] Acton Davies--_Maude Adams_.

[199] Part of the time, at least, Mrs. Adams substituted herself for Maude when the time for this plunge arrived.

[200] “Yes, I confess it,” she has declared, “I was in the ballet for six brief months. There is much to be learned there, and some the ballet’s teachings may be advantageously applied to the art of acting. Studied forms of dancing are not, perhaps, an essential part of a player’s outfit, but they have a certain related value not to be lightly esteemed.”--Perriton Maxwell.

[201] Perriton Maxwell. Her parts in Mr. Sothern’s company were: Louisa in _The Highest Bidder_, and Jessie Deane in _Lord Chumley_.

[202] Produced at Palmer’s Theatre, New York, October 3, 1892. It was a French play, adapted by Clyde Fitch.

[203] Her parts were: Suzanne in _The Masked Ball_, 1892; Miriam in _The Butterflies_, 1894; Jessie Keber in _The Bauble Shop_, 1894; Marion in _That Imprudent Young Couple_, 1895; Dora in _Christopher, Jr._, 1895; Adeline Dennant in _The Squire of Dames_, 1896; Dorothy Cruikshank in _Rosemary_, August, 1896. On December 9, 1896, she played Mary Verner in _Too Happy by Half_.

[204] The plays and parts of Maude Adams’ “stardom” are as follows: Lady Babbie in _The Little Minister_, 1897; Mrs. Hilary in _Mrs. Hilary Regrets_ (special performance, with John Drew), 1897; Juliet in _Romeo and Juliet_ (supplementary spring season), 1899; Duke of Reichstadt in _L’Aiglon_, 1900; Phœbe Throssell in _Quality Street_, 1901; Pepita in _The Pretty Sister of José_, 1903; Amanda Affleck in _’Op O’ Me Thumb_ (in one act), 1905; _Peter Pan_, 1905; Viola in _Twelfth Night_ (at Harvard), 1908; Chicot in _The Jesters_, 1908; Maggie Wylie in _What Every Woman Knows_, 1908; Joan of Arc in _The Maid of Orleans_ (at Harvard), 1909; Rosalind in _As You Like it_ (University of California), 1910; _Chanticler_, 1911; Leonora in _The Legend of Leonora_, 1913. This list does not include revivals.

[205] _The Wallet of Time_, vol. II.

[206] “Children, corsets and cigars were named after her;--as a matter of fact I know one ten-year-old child who has thirteen dolls, and every one of them bears the same identical name, Maude Adams.”--Acton Davies.

[207] Prepared by Louis N. Parker and Edward Rose.

[208] “She was at her best in the scene of supplication and childlike blandishment with the old Austrian Emperor. The vein of Miss Adams is domestic and romantic--not tragic. She carried the second act of the play with sustained vivacity and gratifying skill. Possessed of a gentle personality and capable of a piquant behavior, Miss Adams was a sprightly and bonnie lass in _The Little Minister_, and that performance furnished the measure of her ability. As Reichstadt she gave an intelligent performance, on a commonplace level.”--William Winter, _The Wallet of Time_.

[209] William Winter. His appreciation of some qualities of the impersonation did not prevent his saying: “Pepita, as impersonated by Miss Adams, was a tenuous damsel, of peevish aspect, who closed her teeth and spoke through them, producing, at times, a strange, nasal sound, as of a sheep bleating.”

[210] “At the moment when Maggie destroys Shand’s written promise of marriage and again at the moment when she gazes on the beauty who has bewitched her husband, Miss Adams attained to the loftiest height she has reached, in the expression of feeling.”--_The Wallet of Time._

[211] And indicates also, in the same people, a lamentably restricted judgment of the artistic side of what they see on the stage.

[212] Frederic Dean has given one or two cases of her bounty: “There used to be an old doorkeeper at the stage entrance of the Empire Theatre. One day he was taken sick and his place was filled by another. Miss Adams learned that the old chap had lost his position and made a hurried search for him, tracing him, at last, to an East Side tenement. It was long after midnight when she found him. He was very ill and was being taken care of by his faithful wife as best she could. Doctors and nurses were immediately summoned and every possible comfort provided; and the next morning, and the next, and the next came Lady Bountiful--and every day, until the sufferer died a month later.

“For sixteen years Robert Eberle was in Charles Frohman’s employ as business manager. One year, late in the season, he was taken ill and left in a hospital in South Bend, Indiana. Miss Adams was playing in the West at the time, and hearing of Mr. Eberle’s illness--though several hundred miles from the hospital--left her company on Saturday night, went to South Bend, spent Sunday at the sick man’s bedside, and, leaving orders for the best of medical treatment, returned to her work just in time to dress for her part on Monday night.”

[213] Ethel Barrymore was born at Philadelphia, August 15, 1879. Her mother was the actress, Georgie Drew-Barrymore.

[214] Margaret Anglin was born at Ottawa, April 2, 1876. Her father was Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons, and her brother was Chief Justice.

[215] Alla Nazimova was born at Yalta, Crimea, Russia, June 4, 1879.

[216] Edith Wynne Matthison was born at Birmingham, England.

[217] Grace George was born at New York City, December 25, 1879.

[218] Following the American production, Miss George played _Divorçons_ in London.

[219] Laura Hope Crews was born at San Francisco.

[220] Besides Miss Russell, Miss O’Neil, Miss Stahl and Miss Crosman, these are some of the American actresses of the closing years of the nineteenth century and the early years of the twentieth century, who merit more notice than can be given them here, but whose achievements are recorded in the books named in the bibliography: Viola Allen, Julia Arthur, Blanche Bates, Amelia Bingham, Clara Bloodgood, Mrs. Leslie Carter, Rose Coghlan, Ida Conquest, Maxine Elliott, Virginia Harned, Isabel Irving, May Irwin, Mary Mannering, Clara Morris, Eleanor Robson, Effie Shannon, Mary Shaw and Blanche Walsh. Some in this list, like Miss Irwin, Miss Coghlan and Miss Shannon, are, happily, still active. And Miss Arthur announces her return to the stage.

[221] Rutland to Nethersole.

[222] 1629.

[223] Women acted in Italy as early as 1560, and actresses appeared in France probably not much later. The earliest French actress of whom there is definite record is Marie Vernier, who acted in Paris, in her husband’s company, in 1599. In Spain the practice of substituting boys and men in women’s parts seems never to have obtained. Going back to antiquity, it is to be noted that while the Greeks never tolerated actresses on their stage, in Rome occasional women players were by no means unknown.

[224] In the interim D’Avenant had ingeniously circumvented the restrictions placed by Cromwell’s government on the theatres, by devising a species of opera. They were really plays, in the grand style, modeled after Italian pieces, and with a musical accompaniment to take the curse off. In one of these, _The Siege of Rhodes_, performed in 1656, two women, Mrs. Edward Coleman and another, played Ianthe and Roxalana.

[225] Thomas Jordan’s prologue shows that the “boys” were now sometimes dangerously near middle age:

“Our ‘women’ are defective, and so sized, You’d think they were some of the guard disguised; For, to speak truth, men act, that are between Forty and fifty, wenches of fifteen; With bone so large, and nerve so incompliant, When you call DESDEMONA, enter GIANT.”

“Old Chetwood tells a story which amply illustrates the absurdity of the ‘men-actresses.’ King Charles II, he says, coming to the theatre to see _Hamlet_ and being kept waiting for some time, sent the Earl of Rochester behind to see what was causing the delay. He returned with the information that ‘the Queen was not quite shaved.’ ‘Odsfish!’ said the King. ‘I beg her Majesty’s pardon. We’ll wait till her barber has done with her.’”--Lowe’s _Betterton_.

[226] As seems clear, for instance, from Hamlet’s unusual consideration of them. The often-quoted law enacted in the reigns of Elizabeth and James seems, however, to have been directed not against the established city companies, but against the wandering country players. It reads, quaintly enough: “All bear-wards, common players of interludes, counterfeit Egyptians, etc., shall be taken, adjudged, and deemed Rogues and Vagabonds and Sturdy Beggars, and shall sustain all pain and punishment as by this act is in that behalf appointed.” For a résumé of the phases of the actor’s lack of social position see John Fyvie’s “Comedy Queens of the Eighteenth Century.”

[227] “Of course, in the theatrical profession, as in every other, there have always been exceptional individuals whose characters and abilities (especially if they managed to acquire a little wealth) have raised them into the highest society of their time. But in the case of actors it was always quite apparent that they were only there in sufferance, and were tolerated because they were amusing. It was thought a stinging satire, for example, when ‘Junius,’ incidentally addressing Garrick, wrote: ‘Now mark me, _vagabond_; keep to your pantomimes or be assured you shall hear of it.’”

[228] “Goldsmith having said, that Garrick’s compliment to the Queen, which he introduced into the play of _The Chances_, which he had altered and revised this year, was mean and gross flattery; Johnson: ‘... as to meanness (rising into warmth), how is it mean in a player--a showman--a fellow who exhibits himself for a shilling, to flatter his queen?’ (1773).

“He (Foote) mentioned, that an Irish gentleman said to Johnson, ‘Sir, you have not seen the best French players.’ Johnson: ‘Players, Sir! I look on them as no better than creatures set upon tables and joint-stools to make faces and produce laughter, like dancing dogs.’--‘But, Sir, you will allow that some players are better than others?’ Johnson: ‘Yes, Sir, as some dogs dance better than others.’ (1775).

“I wondered (said Johnson) to find Richardson displeased that I ‘did not treat Cibber with more _respect_. Now, Sir, to talk of _respect_ for a _player_’ (smiling disdainfully). Boswell: ‘There, Sir, you are always heretical; you never will allow merit to a player.’ Johnson: ‘Merit, Sir, what merit? Do you respect a rope-dancer, or a ballad-singer?’ Boswell: ‘No, Sir; but we respect a great player, as a man who can conceive lofty sentiments, and can express them gracefully.’ Johnson: ‘What, Sir, a fellow who claps a hump on his back, and a lump on his leg, and cries, “I am Richard the Third”?’” (1777).--Boswell’s “Life of Johnson.”

[229] And even of Bracegirdle, the incomparably virtuous, certain doubts exist. Mountford is thought by some to have been a favored lover; and later Congreve, the poet, was accounted the actor’s successor.

Transcriber’s Notes

Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed.

Simple typographical errors were corrected; occasional unbalanced quotation marks retained.

Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained; occurrences of inconsistent hyphenation have not been changed. In particular, “to-day”, “today”, and similar words were printed both ways. When hyphenated versions of those words appeared at the ends of lines, the hyphens were retained.

Index not checked for proper alphabetization or correct page references. All references to pages in the Preface were incorrect.

Page 33, Footnote 34: Uses both “Tisbe” and “Tisbé”.

Page 172, Footnote 107: “I am unable to bring me a present” probably is a misprint for “bring you a present”.

Page 198, Footnote 125: “Sogno” was misprinted as “Songo”; changed here.

The Index refers to footnotes by the pages on which they originally appeared. In versions of this eBook that use hyperlinks, those references remain page-oriented; they do not link to specific footnotes.

Footnotes originally appeared at the bottoms of pages and were numbered within chapters. In this eBook, they have been moved to the end, following the Index, and renumbered in a single sequence.

End of Project Gutenberg's Heroines of the Modern Stage, by Forrest, Izard