Life on the Stage: My Personal Experiences and Recollections

If this simple tale is to be told at all, it may as well begin at the beginning and in the good old-fashioned and best of all ways--thus: Once upon a time in the Canadian city o...

Many of us have had experience of this nameless something whose efforts are but rarely heeded. The something that one morning suddenly fills the mind with thoughts of some frien...

A friend of mine, who hailed from Cincinnati and who wished to serve me, had said: "One thing I think I can do for you, friend Clara, I can save you the weariness and annoyance...

The following morning we were called to the theatre at eleven o'clock to have the play cut "judiciously," as old actors used to say. It was very loosely constructed, and, beside...

Mr. E. L. Davenport, his Interference, his Lecture on Stage Business, his Error of Memory or too Powerful Imagination--Why I Remain a Dramatic Old Slipper--Contemptuous Words Ar...

Up-stairs I found a bare stage, as is often the case for a first mere reading of parts, and most of the company sitting on camp-stools, chatting and laughing. Already M. Benot h...

The other day, in recalling to Mr. Palmer a long list of such successful productions of his as "Led Astray," "The Two Orphans," "Camille," "Miss Multon," "The Danicheffs," "The...

Blanche gave me her usual kind greeting, and added the words: "Say, if I hadn't given you the chance, you couldn't have been a big gun to-day. You know Mr. Ellsler won't dare to...

From the time when, as a ballet-girl, I was called forward and given the part of _Marie_ in "The Marble Heart," a play Mr. Barrett was starring in, to the then distant day of th...

After years of weary waiting, years of patient work, I had reached the position of juvenile leads _de jure_, but of general lack _de facto_, and then, lacking as my character wa...

The people who have known happiness without the alloying _if_ or _but_ are few and far between. "Yes, of course we are happy--but," "I should be perfectly and completely happy--...

The original Fifth Avenue Theatre was a tiny affair, with but small accommodation for the public and none at all for the actor, unless he burrowed for it beneath the building; a...

I had got safely through my first dreaded vacation. I had had two wonderful weeks at the seaside, where, with Mr. and Mrs. James Lewis and George Parkes, I had boarded with Mrs....

There were few stars with whom I took greater pleasure in acting than with Mr. Lawrence Barrett. I sometimes wonder if even now this profession really knows what great reason it...

From the time I found the miniature and by accident fed Mr. Kean's innocent vanity in his father's likeness to Byron, he made much of me. Evening after evening, in Columbus, he...

Mr. Worthington passed out of my life after he had done me the service he set out to do. It had been an odd notion to step down from his carriage, as it were, and point out to a...

Just previous to my coming East I met, for the first time, Mr. John E. Owens. He was considered a wealthy man, and was at the height of his popularity as a comedian. He was odd,...

And heaven knows I "rough-hewed" the "Camille" proposition to the best of my power. I came hurrying back to New York, specially to act at the mighty benefit, given for the starv...

I am Engaged to Star part of the Season--Mr. Daly Breaks his Contract--I Leave him and under Threat of Injunction--I meet Mr. Palmer and make Contract and appear at the Union Sq...

Before one has "arrived," it is astonishing how precious the simplest word of encouragement or of praise becomes, if given by one who has "arrived." Not long ago a lady came up...

Before I came under the management of Mr. Daly, I may say I never really knew what stage-management meant. He was a young man then; he had had, I believe, his own theatre but on...

Trouble about Obnoxious Lines in "Madeline Morel"--Mr. Daly's Manipulation of Father X: In Spite of our Anxiety the Audience accepts the Situation and the Play--Mr. Daly gives m...

I hear many tales of the insolence of stars--of their overbearing manners, and their injustice to "little people," as the term goes; but personally I have seen almost nothing of...

To be discarded by the public, that is the _bete noire_, the unconquerable dread and terror of the actor. To fail in the great struggle for supremacy is nothing compared to the...

I went up to the stage; I was to be discovered lying on a lounge. Miss Davenport, magnificently handsome in person and gown, beside me; the others at the gambling-table. As she...

Very shamefacedly I apologized for not falling at the proper time, and as I hurriedly promised to do so the next night, to my surprise Mr. Daly stopped me with a quick: "No! no!...

CHAPTER THIRTIETH--New York City is Suggested to Me by Mr. Worthington and Mr. Johnson--Mr. Ellsler's Mild Assistance--I Journey to New York, and Return to Cincinnati with Signe...

on Stage Business, his Error of Memory or too Powerful Imagination--Why I remain a Dramatic Old Slipper--Contemptuous Words arouse in me a Dogged Determination to become a Leadi...