Classic Audiobook Collection - Among the Great Masters of the Drama by Walter Rowlands ~ Full Audiobook [biography]

Starting point is 00:00:00 Among the Great Masters of the Drama by Walter Rowlands Shakespeare Shakespeare On whose forehead climb The crowns of the world O eyes sublime With tears and laughter For all time

Starting point is 00:00:18 Elizabeth Barrett Browning To Shakespeare The intellect of the world Speaking in diverse accents applies with one accord his own words. How noble in reason. How infinite in faculty. An apprehension.

Starting point is 00:00:39 How like a God. Sidney Lee. Oblivion, which hides from us, so much we would fain know of Shakespeare, has covered up nearly all record of him as an actor. When he arrived in London after the journey from Stratford, which he probably made on foot. The future great dramatist was a young man,

Starting point is 00:01:04 perhaps just of age, with small means and but one friend, so far as known to us in the city. This was Richard Field, a native of Stratford, who had become a printer in London, and some years afterward, in 1593, published Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis.

Starting point is 00:01:25 We are not informed what assistance if any, the poet received from his fellow townsmen. Although a theory which has gained but few converts has been broached that he worked at the printer's trade in London for some time before becoming an actor. It is not unlikely that, during his first years in the metropolis, he earned his bred by very mean employments. Even, as an old tradition says,

Starting point is 00:01:54 by holding horses at the door of the theater. Another tradition asserts that his earliest employment inside the walls of the playhouse was his callboy, from which position he ascended to the playing of some small parts. Rolf says, William Shakespeare, when once in the theater, was where his talents could not fail to be speedily recognized, and where his progress in the work for which he was born and fitted was assured. At which of the only two theaters, the theater or the curtain, then existing in London, Shakespeare thus found occupation we do not know.

Starting point is 00:02:37 It is inferred by Sidney Lee that of the several companies of licensed actors in London at that time, he originally joined the most influential one, which had been under the nominal patronage of the Earl of Lester, and was afterward the Lord Chamberlain's company. Documentary evidence proves that he was a member of it in December, 1594. In May 1603, he was one of its leaders. Four of its chief members, Richard Burbage, the greatest tragic actor of the day, John Hemming, Henry Condell, and Augustine Phillips,

Starting point is 00:03:18 were among Shakespeare's lifelong friends. Under this company's auspices, moreover, Shakespeare's plays first saw the light. When Shakespeare became a member of the company, it was doubtless performing at the theater. The playhouse in Shoreditch, which James Burbage, the father of the great actor, Richard Burbage, had constructed in 1576. It abutted on the Finsbury fields and stood outside the city's boundaries. The only other London Playhouse then in existence, the Curtain, in Moore Fields, was near at hand. The other theaters identified with Shakespeare's career, Arthur Rose, opened on the bankside, Southwark, in 1592, doubtless the earliest scene of Shakespeare's pronounced successes alike is actor and dramatist. another new playhouse at Newington Butts and the famous Globe in Southwork, built by Richard Burbage in 1599.

Starting point is 00:04:22 From that time, the last-name theater was largely occupied by Shakespeare's company, and an important share of its profits fell to him. From its opening until his retirement, the Globe appears to have been the only playhouse with which the poet was professionally associated, the Black Friars Theatre not being occupied by his company until nearly the last of his acting days. There seems to be no doubt that Shakespeare accompanied the troop with which he was connected on their provincial tours.

Starting point is 00:04:57 His annual income as an actor is thought to have been not less than a hundred pound, probably more, but his work as a dramatist was far less remunerative, yielding perhaps 20 pound a year up to 1599. As to the parts he played, our information is but meager. Those performances are praised. At Christmas, 1594, he joined the chief comedian of the day, William Kemp and Richard Burbage,

Starting point is 00:05:29 in acting at Greenwich Palace before Queen Elizabeth. But we know not in what plays or parts. Shakespeare's name stands first on the list of those who took part in the original performances of Ben Johnson's Every Man in His Humor, 1598, but the record is silent as to the character allotted him. The ghost in Hamlet is said to have been his finest assumption, and there is a tradition that he played the part of Adam in As You Like It, this being based upon the statement of one of his younger brothers, presumably Gilbert, who had often seen him act in London, Mr. Bouton's charming picture of the young poet reading a sonnet to Anne Hathaway,

Starting point is 00:06:17 amid the may blossoms tinting avon's banks. When daisies pied and violets blue, and lady smocks all silver-white, and cuckoo-buds of yellow hue, do paint the meadows with delight, is copied herein by the kind permission of its owner, Mr. E.P. Bacon of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Though he was born in England near Norwich in 1834, America has some right to claim Mr. Bouten-Hurs by virtue of his breeding, as his parents brought him to this country when he was but an infant, and here he stayed until 1859,

Starting point is 00:06:56 with the exception of a few months spent in England when he was about 20. In the year just named, the young artist went to Paris and studied art for a year or two, finally removing to London where he has since lived. His brush has placed before us many delightful works, episodes in Puritan life in New England, who does not know his return of the Mayflower, or among the Dutch settlers of Manhattan, witness the counselors of Peter the Headstrong,

Starting point is 00:07:28 with numerous transcripts of peasant life in Brittany or Holland or Old England. The New York Public Library owns his Pilgrims Going to Church, and the Cochoran Gallery at Washington, his Edict of William the Tusty. He was elected a member of the National Academy of Design in 1871, and has been a royal academician since 1896. His Weeding the Pavement is in the Tate Gallery, London.

Starting point is 00:08:02 End of Chapter 1 Chapter 2 of Among the Great Masters of the Drama This is a Librivox recording All Librevox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer Please visit Librevox.org Recording by Avai in December 2019

Starting point is 00:08:27 Among the Great Masters of the Drama by Walter Rowlands. Molière. In the literature of France, His is the greatest name, and in the literature of the modern drama, the greatest after that of Shakespeare. Andrew Lang.

Starting point is 00:08:48 Numerous points of likeness are to be seen in the lives of Shakespeare and Moliere, and another is visible if we accept the theory that the marriage of the Bard of Avon and Sweet Anne Hathaway turned out but an unhappy one. Anne was some eight years older than Shakespeare, whose 19th birthday was still in the future when they were wed, while, on the other hand, fickle Armand Moliere could count but half her husband's age.

Starting point is 00:09:17 This disparity augured ill for their future, a future that was indeed a sad one for poor Moliere, who once said, when asked why in some countries the king became of age at 14 years but could not marry until 18, because it is more difficult to rule a wife than a kingdom. It was partly for relief from the disquieting influence of his coquettish wife, as well as for the benefit of his health, that Moliere, in 1667, at about the time of the prohibition of his tartuff, leased the cottage at Oteau. Oteau was then a tranquil village,

Starting point is 00:09:57 far away from the town's turmoil, and brought near enough for its dwellers by the silent. and swift river. Now it is a bustling suburb of the city, and the site of Molière's cottage and grounds is covered by a block of commonplace modern dwellings. Here in this pleasant retreat, the great dramatist enjoyed some ease with his friends, as seen in Melang's canvas. It is summertime and the wide glass doors of the dining room are open to the garden. Moliere has assembled together a quartet of brilliant literateurs, La Fontaine, the famous fabulist, Boisle, critic and satirist,

Starting point is 00:10:40 Racine, poet and dramatist, and lastly, Chappelle, poet and wit, who is credited with the authorship of some sparkling lines in the dramas of both Moliere and Racine. The author of Le Miseroprope is seated at the extreme right, and all are listening to Chappelle, who is reading with animation from a manuscript. Judging from the faces of his hearers, it can hardly be one of his own effusions, as gaiety and badinage are the characteristics of his pleasant verse. Both dinner and dessert have been discussed, and the servant, La Foray, the one to whom

Starting point is 00:11:21 Molière was wont to first read his comedies, is bringing in the coffee. An amusing story is told of a noted frolic which once took place at Moliere's villa. Van Lawn says, Chapelle, La Fontaine, Lully, Director of the Royal Academy of Music, Boilou, Minard, the artist, and Courneille, came one evening to a toye to make merry with their friend.

Starting point is 00:11:47 Molière was obliged to excuse himself on the ground of ill health, but he requested Chappelle to do the honours of his house. The guests sat down, and presently, warmed with wine, they fell to talking of religion, futurity, the vanity of human life, and such other lofty and inexhaustible topics as I want to occupy the

Starting point is 00:12:09 vainous moments of intellectual men. Chappelle led the conversation and indulged in a long tirade against the folly of most things counted wise. At length, one of them suggested the idea of suicide, and proposed that they should all go and drown themselves in the river. This splendid notion was received with acclamation, the tipsy philohm, Horried down to the bank and seized upon a boat in order to get into the middle of the stream. Meanwhile, Baron, Morge's favorite pupil, who lived in the house with him and who had been present at the deep porch, aroused his master, and sent off the servants in quest of the would-be suicides.

Starting point is 00:12:52 The latter were already in the water when assistants arrived, and they were pulled out. But resenting such an impertinence, they drew their swords on their delivery. and pursued them to Molière's house. The poet displayed complete presence of mind and pretended to approve of the plan which had been formed, but he professed to be much annoyed that they should have thought of drowning themselves without him. They admitted their error and invited him to come back with them

Starting point is 00:13:21 and finish the business. Nay, said Moliere, that would be very clumsy, so glorious a deed should not be done at night and in darkness. early tomorrow, when we have all slept well, we will go, fasting and in public, and throw ourselves in. To this all assented, and Chappelle proposed that in the meantime they should finish the wine that had been left. It need not be added that the next day found them in a different mood. The anecdote illustrates Molière's ability as an actor, and is emphasized by the words of Coqueline, sage critic as well as great comedies. in his Molière and Shakespeare.

Starting point is 00:14:03 Cochelin asserts, There is no doubt that his, Moliere's, vocation as an actor, was his master passion. He did not leave the paternal roof for the purpose of writing plays, but for the purpose of acting them. And we know that these were not comedies.

Starting point is 00:14:21 The illustrious theatre had in stock at first nothing but tragedies. When he wrote Let Tourdi, his first work, Molière had been an actor for nine years and for 15 when he wrote the precious ridicule. Never could his great success as an author tempt him to leave the boards. He not only continued to act in his own place, but he acted in the place of others and did not consider this as lost time. He acted, as we have

Starting point is 00:14:50 said, although cuffing and spitting blood, and to Buala, who advised him to leave the stage, he replied, It is for my honor that I remember. So much did he love his profession which was killing him. But then he excelled in it. His contemporaries are unanimous on this point. He was extraordinary. Better actor even than author, one of them goes so far as to say. We can imagine what joy it must have been to see him in his great parts.

Starting point is 00:15:21 Scannarelle, Orgon, Alcest, Harpagon. Molière, reading a new play to his company, has served Monsieur Melang, the painter of the dinner at Oteu, as the subject of a later picture. The artist, born at Paris in 1840, and taught his art by his father, who was actor, painter and sculptor, and Leon Congnier, won for himself years ago an assured place among French painters of historic anecdote. He has painted Edward Jenner, the discoverer of vaccination, Hosh in 1789. Katina after the Battle of Marseilles, General Domnil at Vonsen, Joan of Arc and Bodrichour, La Tour de Verne and Jean-Bart at Versailles.

Starting point is 00:16:11 End of Chapter 2 Chapter 3 of Among the Great Masters of the Drama. This is a Librivox recording. All Librivox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit librivox.org Among the great masters of the drama by Walter Rowland Voltaire

Starting point is 00:16:44 Every form of composition must be judged in its own order and the order in which Voltaire chose to work was the French classic. It is no infidelity to the glorious and incomparable genius of Shakespeare to admit that there is in these limits of construction, concentration and regularity, and in these two contemned Alexandrine's a just and swelling cadence that confer a high degree of pleasure of the highest kind. John Morley

Starting point is 00:17:20 Like the two great men of whom I have written in the foregoing chapters, Voltaire was both dramatist and actor. We know that he enacted, with great acceptance, the part of Cicero, in his own tragedy of Rome Sauvet, at Paris in 1749, before an audience which included many notables, Dallembert, Diderot, Marmontel, and other distinguished writers, and again later, before the court of Berlin, where, with princes and princesses as fellow actors, He also assumed the character of Lucinian, the aged Christian martyr in Zaire. Yes, says Carlyle, and was manager and general stage king and contriver, being expert at this, if at anything. Excellent in acting, say the witnesses, superlative for certain, as preceptor of the art. Some rather neat bits of stage business, so to say, may be discerned in voltaire's conduct during the famous episode of his detention at frankfort by order of frederick the great subsequent to the poet's last interview with that monarch at potsdam in the march of seventeen fifty three let us hear carlyle again the essence of the story is briefly this voltaire by his fine deportment imparting with frederick had been allowed to retain his decorations his letter of agreement his royal book of poesies

Starting point is 00:19:06 one of those twelve copies printed o donjon de chateau in happier times and in short to go his ways as a friend not as a runaway or one dismissed. But now, by his late procedures at Leipzig and firings out of potholes in that manner, he had awakened Friedrich's indignation again. Friedrich's regret, allowing him to take those articles with him, and produced a resolution in Friedrich to have them back. They are not generally articles of much moment, but as marks of friendship, they are now all falsities. one of the articles might be of frightful importance, that book of poesies. Thrice private, Euvre de Poisee, in which are satirical spirits affecting more than one crowned head, one shutters to think what fires a spiteful Voltaire might cause by publishing these.

Starting point is 00:20:10 This was Frederick's idea, and by no means a chimerical one, as the fact proved. said ovra being actually reprinted upon him at paris afterwards not by voltaire in the crisis of the seven years war to put him out with his uncle of england whom he quizzed in passages we will have these articles back thinks frederick that overer most especially no difficulty wait for him at frankfort as he passes home demand them from him there and has directly on those new firings through port-holes at Leipzig, bidden Friedersdorf, take measures accordingly. Freedersdorf did so. Early in April and onward had his official person waiting at Frankfurt, one Freytag, our Prussian resident there, very celebrated ever since,

Starting point is 00:21:13 vigilant in the extreme for Voltaire's arrival, and who did not miss that event. Voltaire, arriving at last, May the 31st, did, with Freitag's hand laid gently on his sleeve, at once give up what of the articles he had about him. The Euvre, unluckily, not one of them, and agreed to be under mild arrest, parole d'Hourne in the Leondor Hotel here, till said Euvre should come up.

Starting point is 00:21:46 under Freyder's Dorf guidance all this and what follows. Kringfrederich, after the general order given, had nothing more to do with it and was gone upon his reviews. In the course of two weeks or more, the Ewer de Poise did come. Voltaire was impatient to go, and he might perhaps have at once gone, had Freitag been clearly instructive. so as to know the essential from the unessential here but he was not poor subaltern fratag had to say on voltaire's urgencies i will at once report to berlin if the answer be as we hope or right you are at that moment at liberty this a thing unexpected astonishing to voltaire the thing demanding patience silence in three days more with silence, as it turns out, it would have been all beautifully over, but he was not strong in those qualities. Voltaire's arrest hitherto had been merely on his word of honour. I promise on my honour

Starting point is 00:23:03 not to go beyond the garden of this inn, but he now, without warning anybody, privately revoked said word of honour, and Collini and he next morning, having laid their plan striving to think it fair in the circumstances walk out from the leon door voltaire in black velvet coat with their valuables effects la prussel and money-box included leaving madame denis to wait the disimprisonment of ervra de posey and wind up the general business walk out very gingerly duck into a hackney-coach an attempt to escape by the Mainz Gate. Frightag's spy runs breathless with the news, never was a fridaytag in such taking. Terrified Freitag had to throw on his coat,

Starting point is 00:24:00 order out three men to gallop by various routes, jump into some excellency's coach, kind excellency lent it, which is luckily standing yoked nearby, and shoot with the velocity of life and death towards Mainz Gate. Voltaire, whom the well-affected orders, suspecting something had rather been retarding, is still there, arrested in the king's name, and there is such a scene. For Freytag too is now raging, ignited by such percussion of the terrors, and speaks not like what they call a learned sergeant, but like a drill sergeant in the heat of battle. Voltaire's tongue also and Collinies,

Starting point is 00:24:47 Your excellence never heard such brazen-faced lies thrown on a man That I had offered for a thousand thallers to let them go. That I had. In short, the thing had caught fire, broken into flaming chaos, come again. Freytag, to give one snatch from Kalini's side, Got into the carriage along with us and led us by this way across the, mob of people to Schmitz to see what was to be done with us. Centuries were put at the gate to keep out the mob. We were led into a kind of counting room. Clark maid and man-servants are about.

Starting point is 00:25:27 Madam Schmidt passes before Baltair with a disdainful hair. To listen to Freytag recounting, in the tone not of a learned sergeant what the matter is. They seize our effects, under violent protest worse than vain. Voltaire demands to have at least his snuff box cannot do without snuff, they answer, it is usual to take everything. Not for two hours had they done with their writings and arrangings. Our portfolios and cassette money box were thrown into an empty trunk. What else could they be thrown into? Which was locked with a padlock and sealed with a paper, Voltaire's arms on the one end and Schmidt's cipher on the other. Dorn, Freytag's clerk was bidden lead us away.

Starting point is 00:26:19 Sign of the Boak, or Billy Goat, there henceforth Leon Dor refusing to be concerned with us further. Twelve soldiers, Madame Deny with curtains of bayonets, and other well-known fragrances. The 7th of July, Voltaire did actually go, and then, in an extreme hurry, by his own blame again these final passages we touch only in the lump voltaire's own narrative of these being so copious flamingly impressive and still known to everybody how much better for voltaire and us had nobody ever known it had it never been written had the poor hubbub no better than a chance street riot all of it after amusing old frankfort for a while been left to drop into the gusses forever. To Voltaire and various others, me and my poor readers included,

Starting point is 00:27:17 that was the desirable thing. Had there but been among one's resources a little patience and practical candour instead of all the vituperative eloquence and power of tragic comic description, nay, in that case, this wretched street riot hubbub needs not have been at all.

Starting point is 00:27:37 Truly, Monsieur de Voltaire had a talent for speech, but lamentably wanted that of silence. John Morley remarks that it would need the singer of the Battle of the Frogs and Mice to do justice to this five weeks' tragic comedy. But Mie Giridé, has well imagined for us one aspect of it, the arrest.

Starting point is 00:28:00 Jewell Girardet, born in Paris in 1856, and one of a family of artists, has been the recipient of numerous honours, Among his best works may be named episode in the siege of Saragossa, the rout of Cholet 1793, the defeated army of General Eskir passing the Loire, and trying on the crown, the last name picture representing an episode

Starting point is 00:28:27 in the life of Napoleon and Josephine. End of Chapter 3 Chapter 4 of Among the Great Masters of the Drama. This is a Libre Vox recording. all Librivox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Librivox.org. Recording by Sonia Among the great masters of the drama by Walter Rowlands.

Starting point is 00:29:00 Adrian Le Couvreur We saw in her not the actress, but the personage represented. Collie A woman who brought to the work of her life an assemblage of gifts, as rare as the poetry they serve to illustrate. frederick hawkins without doubt one of the causes of voltaire's hostility to the church can be found in that church's treatment of adrian le cuvreurre in denying her christian that the corpse of an actress of genius for years the idol of paris one of his warmest friends and the creator of jo casta in his eudip should because of her profession be consigned to unconsecrated ground aroused that vehement indignation which voltaire to his lasting credit, always displayed against injustice. Contrasting the hurried and forlorn obsequies

Starting point is 00:29:51 of Adrianne with the stately funeral of the English actress Anne Oldfield, who dying the same year was interred in Westminster Abbey, Voltaire breaks forth thus. O London! Happy land, where no art is despised, where every kind of success has its glory, where the conqueror of Tala, son of victory, the sublime Dryden, the wise Edison, the charming Oldfield and the immortal Newton all have their place in the Temple of Glory. In another less material but lasting Temple of Glory, however, set a part for honoring those whose talents have graced the stage, the memory of Adrienne Le Couvreux is preserved as that of a great actress, one of the chief ornaments of the French Theatre. Born in 1692, Nier-Rans, this daughter

Starting point is 00:30:39 of a headmaker of Paris was, at an early age, distinguished as a reciter of poetry, and, and at fifteen became connected with a troop of young amateurs. Her performances attracted so much attention that steps were taken to fully educate and develop her remarkable histrionic gifts. She made her debut in the provinces and did not appear in Paris until 1717, when she performed Electra in Creubillon's tragedy of that name at the Comedie Francaise. Her career after this was a succession of successes, especially in the leading parts of the tragedies of Racine and Cornet.

Starting point is 00:31:15 It is as Cornelia in Cornet's tragedy of the death of Pompey that Quapel has painted her in the picture here reproduced. Adrianne's name inevitably recalls that of her lover Maurice de Sax, the soldier's son of Augustus the Strong, and the lovely Aurora von Koenig's mark, whose association with the actress has been made familiar to the world by Scribe's popular play, entitled Adrian Le Cuvre, first produced at the theatre where she reigned in 1849.

Starting point is 00:31:43 Although the death of Adrienne was not caused by poison sent to the actress by her rival, the Princess de Bouillon, as told in Scribe's drama, it was nevertheless a sudden and a sad one. Dying at 37, the great tragedienne knew that Sax, on whom she had bestowed literally a fortune to aid him in prosecuting his claim to the Duchy of Courland, was false to her. She died in Voltaire's arms, with her eyes fixed, it is said, on the bust of Sax. In Scribe's play, it is Maurice the Sacks and the faithful old manager, Michonet, who witness alone the passing from Earth of poor Adirien.

Starting point is 00:32:21 The last scene of the last act is here quoted. Scene 5 Maurice Adrian Mishone Mishone Is it true what they tell me? Is Adrian in danger? Maurice, Adrienne is dying. Mishonet.

Starting point is 00:32:39 No, no, she still breathed. All hope is. is not yet lost. Maurice. She opens her eyes. Adrian. Oh, what suffering. Who is near me? Maurice, and you also, Michonne. As soon as I suffer, you come. It is no longer my head but my chest that is burning. It is like a fire, like a devouring fire that consumes me. Mishone. All this proves. Do you not see as I do the traces of Poison, a quick and terrible poison. Maurice, what, you have suspicions?

Starting point is 00:33:19 Michonet. I suspect all the world, and this rival, this grand lady. Maurice, hold, hold. Adrianne. Oh, the pain increases. You who love me so, save me, save me. I do not wish to die. A little while ago I could have begged for.

Starting point is 00:33:42 for death, I was so unhappy. But now I do not wish to die. He loves me. He has called me his wife. Mishone. His wife? Adrian. Oh, my God, listen to me.

Starting point is 00:33:57 Let me live. A few days, a few days near him. I am so young and life looks so beautiful to me now. Maurice, this is frightful. Adrian. Life. Life, vain efforts, vain prayers. My days are numbered.

Starting point is 00:34:17 I feel the power of existence escaping. Do not leave me, Maurice. Very soon my eyes will see you no longer. My hand will not be able to press yours. Maurice. Adrian. Adrienne! Adrienne!

Starting point is 00:34:35 Oh, triumphs of the theatre! My heart beats no more with your ardent emotions. and you, studies of the art I loved so much, nothing will remain of you after I am gone. Nothing lives of us after our death, nothing but the memory. You will not forget me. Adieu, Maurice, adieu, my two friends.

Starting point is 00:35:01 Michonet, dead, dead! Maurice, oh noble and generous girl, if ever the least glory shall be my lot, it is to you I will render homage, and ever united, even after death, the name of Maurice the Sox shall never be separated from that of Adrianne. Charles Antoine Cappell, one of the family of artists, was born in Paris in 1694 and died there in 1752. Although he painted subjects from history and from more familiar scenes, his best works were his portraits.

Starting point is 00:35:40 Chapter 5 of Among the Great Masters of the Drama. This is a Librivox recording. All Librivox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Librivox.org. Recording by Catherine Phipps. Among the Great Masters of the Drama by Walter Rowlands. Garrick If powers of acting vast and unconfined,

Starting point is 00:36:12 if fewest faults with greatest beauties join, if strong expression and strange powers which lie within the magic circle of the eye, if feelings which few hearts like his can know, and which no face so well as his can show, deserve the preference, Garik, take the chair, nor quit it till thou place an equal there. Churchill. Hogarth painted his good friend Garrick on several occasions, his best-known picture of the actor, a large canvas produced in

Starting point is 00:36:45 1746, represents him as Richard III. The portrait here given of Garrick and his wife shows him as a writer and was painted in 1757, about eight years after their marriage, and an equal time before the death of Hogarth, for whose monument in Chisagurchyard, Garrick composed the epitaph. In this picture, the manuscript of his prologue to Foote's comedy of taste

Starting point is 00:37:11 lies before Garrick, who is attired in a blue coat, embroidered with gold and a rose in his buttonhole. He appears to be speaking aloud, as if reciting the prologue on the stage, and is unconscious of the cautious approach of his wife, who reaches out her hand to take the pen from him. She wears a pink dress with a white fichu and lace sleeves, flowers in her unpounded hair,

Starting point is 00:37:38 and on her left wrist a pearl bracelet, which bears set in diamonds, a miniature portrait of a lady. probably that of the Empress Maria Theresa, who had been her friend in Vienna, where, under the name of Eva Maria Violette, she was a celebrated dancer. Mademoiselle Violet came to London

Starting point is 00:37:58 when she was about 20 years old, and by her dancing at the haymarket instantly won success, and became the reigning queen of the art in England. Several romantic stories are told as to her origin and early life, but the real facts are unknown. At all events, she was befriended in England by the Earl and Countess of Burlington,

Starting point is 00:38:20 who made her a handsome settlement on her marriage with Garrick, which took place in 1749, and turned out most happily. From the time of their union until the actor's death, a period of nearly 30 years, they were never apart 24 hours, and for many years after Garrick's demise, his widow would not allow the room in which he died to be opened. Many tributes to her charms of mind and person are extant. Garek's verse asserts, "'Tis not, my friend, her speaking face.

Starting point is 00:38:54 Her shape her youth, her winning grace, "'have reached my heart, the fair one's mind, "'quick as her eyes, yet soft and kind. "'A gaiety with innocence, "'a soft address with manly sense, "'ravishing manners void of art, "'a cheerful firm, yet feeling heart.

Starting point is 00:39:15 Beauty the charms or public gaze and humble amid pomp and praise. She was called the most agreeable woman in England, and Horace Walpole, not easily pleased, said, Her behaviour is all sense and all sweetness. Stern protested that when he saw her walking in the garden of the twillery,

Starting point is 00:39:37 she could annihilate all the beauties of Paris in a single turn. Garick died in 1779 and was buried in Westminster Abbey, being the last actor there interred. The mourners including such men as Burke, Gibbon, Dr. Johnson, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Sheridan, and Charles James Fox. To the same place followed in 1822, his wife, who had survived him 43 years and lies beside him. She is described as a little bowed down old woman who went about leaning on a gold-headed cane, dressed in deep widows mourning, and always talking of her dear Davy. Knight says, her own death was curious. She was on the point of going to see some alterations made by Elliston and Drury Lane, and Chit somewhat testily, the maid-servant who handed her a cup.

Starting point is 00:40:30 Put it down, hussy. Do you think I cannot help myself? she said, tasted the tea, and expired. Some of goldsmith's inimitable lines on Garrick refer to the great actor's vanity. Of praise a mere glutton, he swallowed what came, and the puff of a dunce, he mistook it for fame. This failing must have been strong in Garrick when he found his figure in Hogarth's picture, lacking in dignity, and said so, whereupon the quick-tempered little painter is said to have drawn his brush across the face. whether this be true or not, and it appears authentic, it is certain that the portrait remained in Hogarth's hands until his death when his widow sent it to Garrick.

Starting point is 00:41:17 At the sale of Mrs. Garrick's effects in 1823, it was sold for 75 pounds 11 shillings to Mr. E.W. Locker of Greenwich Hospital. His descendant, Frederick Locker, the London poet, says in My Confidences, This picture is so lifelike that as little children we were afraid of it, so much so that my mother persuaded my father to sell it to George the Fourth. It is now in the Royal Collection at Windsor.

Starting point is 00:41:46 Few actors, if any, have served as often as Garrick for a painter's subject, both in character and out of it. Reynolds painted him more than once, notably in the splendid Garrick between tragedy and comedy, and the names of the other artists who limbed him include Gainsborough, Zophony, Pine, Hudson, Warlidge, Leotard, Kosci, Pond, Haman and Dance. Sala says,

Starting point is 00:42:14 Among the Hogarth anecdotes, few are so well known as that giving Garrett the credit for having sake for a posthumous portrait of fielding, and by his extraordinary powers of facial mimicry, making up a capital model of his deceased friend. when this was told in Paris by de laplace during a visit made by Garrick some incredulity was expressed. To convince the most skeptical, the actor once more personated fielding in a manner that won instant recognition. If this be true, Garrick must have surpassed as a mime that famous harlequin, who used to imitate a man eating fruit,

Starting point is 00:42:53 and from whose mere gestures and grimaces, you could at once tell the fruit he was. pretending to eat. Now he was pulling currents from the stalk, now sucking an orange, now biting an unright pear, now swallowing a cherry, and now exhausting a gooseberry. Then there is the account of Garrick sitting to Hogarth for his own picture, and mischievously giving so many varied casts of expression to his countenance that the painter at last threw down his brush in a pet and declared he could do no more. End of Chapter 5. Chapter 6 of Among the Great Masters of the Drama.

Starting point is 00:43:39 This is a Libra Fox recording. All Libra Fox recordings are in the public domain. For more information, or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org. Among the Great Masters of the Drama by Walter Rollins. Chapter 6. Pegg Wolfington. In every scene of comic humor known,

Starting point is 00:43:58 in sprightly sallie's wit was all thy own thy ears were ever open to distress thy ready hand was ever stretched to bliss she never disappointed an audience through three winters in dublin and yet i have often seen her on the stage when she ought to have been in bed victor's history of the theatres of london and dublin although little davy was always a true and loving husband to his spouse He is credited with having played the hero in many love scenes prior to his marriage. The heroines of these dramas were, in especial, the famous actresses, Mrs. Clive, Mrs. Sibber, and Pegg Wolfington. For the last name, it is certain that Garrick felt a genuine passion, which was warmly responded to by the fascinating Irish girl, to whom he addressed this song, entitled Pretty Peggy. once more i'll tune my vocal shell to hills and dales my passion tell a flame which time can never quell that burns for lovely peggy yet greater bards the leer should hit for prey what subject is more fit than to record the radiant wit and bloom of lovely peggy the sun first rising in the morn that paints the dew bespangled thorn doth not so much the day adorn as does my lovely peggy and when in thetis lap to rest he streaks with gold the ruddy west he's not so beauteous as undressed appears my lovely peggy

Starting point is 00:45:40 where she arrayed in rustic weed with her the bleeding flocks i'd feed and pipe upon my oaten reed to please my lovely peggy with her a cottage would delight all pleases when she's in my sight and when she's gone tis endless night all all's dark without my peggy when zephy on the violet blows or breaths upon the damask rose he does not half the sweets disclose that does my lovely peggy i stole a kiss the other day and trust me naught but truth i say the fragrant breath of blooming may was not so sweet as peggy while bees from flowers to flowers rove and linnet's warble through the grove or stately swans the water's love so long shall i love peggy and when death with his pointed dart shall strike the blow that rends my heart my words shall be when i depart adieu my lovely peggy these lines were written a year or two after charming mistress wolfington's first appearance in london concerning that critical period augustine daily wrote in his valuable monograph on peg wolfington wuffington found herself in the metropolis when she arrived after her hurried departure from dublin without an engagement it is reasonable to suppose that she believed her reputation and popularity in the irish capital had preceded her and that she would not experience any very great difficulty in renewing her relations with the theatre she first applied to john rich the manager of covent garden at that time the season saw a public favor rocking between covent garden and drury lane had sent the ladder to the ground and had lifted its rival house to the airy eminence rich at this period had grown to be quite an important creature his great good luck in the production of gay's beggars opera which had made as the wits of the day said rich gay and gay rich had possibly over-elated the fortunate man

Starting point is 00:47:58 and it is said that at this juncture of his career he was at home to nobody under a baronet ignorant or indifferent to all this and quite self-confident of her own worth wuffington boldly went to rich's office and asked to see him stage porters in those days were quite as obdurate as in our own and faithful guardians at the stage door in the eighteenth century were quite as insusceptible to bribes or beauty as they are in the 19th. Wolfington made 18 visits to Covent Garden before Rich received her. Charles Reed, in his admirable novel, Pegg Wolfington, did not inflict quite so many rebuffs on poor Peggy. He makes her to say to triplet, managers, sir, are like eastern monarchs, Inaccessible but two, slaves and sultana.

Starting point is 00:48:58 Do you know I called on Mr. Rich 15 times before I could see him? It was years ago, and he has paid me a hundred pounds for each of those little visits. A writer in the Dublin Review has pictured very graphically this first meeting. The great manager, as Wilfington first saw him, was lolling and ungraceful ease on a sofa,

Starting point is 00:49:21 holding a play in one hand, and in the other a teacup from which he sipped frequently, Around about him were seven and twenty cats of all sizes, colors and kinds, Tom's and Tabby's, old cats and kittens, tortoiseshells, maltese, brindles, white, black, and yellow cats of every description. Some were frisking over the floor, others asleep on the rug. One was licking the buttered toast on his breakfast plate.

Starting point is 00:49:51 Another was engaged in drinking the cream for his tea. Two cats lay on his knee. One was asleep on his shoulder, and another set demurely on his head. Pegg Wolfington was astounded at the sight. Rich, to her mind, had for years been the greatest man in the world. The menagerie of Grimalkins, amid which he lay so carelessly, was so different an environment from her conception of the study of the Covent Garden Theater manager that she was embarrassed into silence.

Starting point is 00:50:25 Rich, in his turn, was equally confused by the beauty of his visitor, and lay staring at her for a long time before he recollected his courtesy and offered her a chair. Standing before him was a woman whom he afterward declared to be the loveliest creature he had ever seen. She was taller than the ordinary standard of height, faultless in form, dignified even to majesty, yet with all, winsome and bequant. her dark hair unstained by powder fell in luxuriant wealth over her neck and shoulders it was a fortunate thing for my wife said rich in afterward recounting the scene to sir joshua reynolds that i was not of a susceptible temperament had it been otherwise i should have found it difficult to retain my equanimity enough to arrange business negotiations with the amalgamated circe and arnida who dazzled my eyes a more fascinating daughter of eve never presented herself to a manager in search of rare commodities she was as majestic as juno as lovely as venus and as fresh and charming as ebby the result of the interview was that rich offered her an engagement and she made her first appearance on the metropolitan stage november six seventeen forty as sylvia in far squar's recruiting officer one of her happiest assumptions from that night for as long a time as she remained on the boards she reigned supreme in comedy on may three seventeen fifty seven at covent garden theatre

Starting point is 00:52:11 while speaking the epilogue to as you like it in which she played rosalind she was stricken with paralysis and quitted forever the stage on which she had won so many triumphs. She died on March 28, 1760, aged only 41. End of Chapter 6. Chapter 7 of Among the Great Masters of the Drama. This is a Librivox recording. All Librivox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Librivox.org. Recording by Catherine Phipps. Among the Great Masters of the Drama by Walter Roald. Orleans. Mrs. Abington. In now the muse on high her banner rears, Talia calls, and Abington appears. Yes, Abington, too long we've been without her, with all the school of Garrick still about her. Coleman. Of all the intractable leading ladies who acted under Garrick's management,

Starting point is 00:53:24 the capricious Mrs. Abington plagued him the most. John Thomas Smith says, she was not unlike the miller's mare forever looking for a white stone to shy at but however trying she might be to her manager she was a favourite both on and off the stage and although a very doubtful extraction and breeding became a polished woman of fashion as well as the first comic actress of her day in appearance a bird of paradise and a behemoth would not differ much more than mrs abington and dr johnson yet they were good for her for her for a bird of paradise and a behemoth would not differ much more than mrs abington and dr johnson yet they were good for friends, and the gruff but great philosopher was, like her, fond of fashionable folk. Boswell, writing under date of 1775, says, On Monday, March 27th, I breakfasted with him, Johnson, at Mr. Strahans. He told us that he was engaged to go that evening to Mrs. Abington's benefit. She was visiting some ladies whom I was visiting, and begged that I would come to her benefit,

Starting point is 00:54:28 I told her I could not hear, but she insisted so much on my coming that it would have been brutal to have refused her. This was a speech quite characteristical. He loved to bring forward his having been in the gay circles of life, and he was, perhaps, a little vein of the solicitations of this elegant and fashionable actress. He told us the play was to be the hypocrite, altered from Gibber's non-jureur. I met him at Drew. relaying playhouse in the evening. Sir Joshua Reynolds, at Mrs. Abington's request, had promised to bring a body of wits to her benefit, and, having secured 40 places in the front boxes,

Starting point is 00:55:12 had done me the honour to put me in the group. Johnson sat on the seat directly behind me, and as he could neither see nor hear at such a distance from the stage, he was wrapped up in grave abstraction, and seemed quite a cloud amidst all the sunshine of glitter and gaiety. I wondered at his patience in sitting out a play of five acts and a farce of two. He said very little. A few days later, Boswell records, I supped with him and some friends at a tavern. One of the company attempted, with too much

Starting point is 00:55:47 forwardness, to rally him on his late appearance at the theatre, but had reason to repent of his temerity. Why, sir, did you go to Mrs. Abington's benefit? Did you see? No, sir. Did you hear? No, sir. Why then, sir, did you go? Because, sir, she is a favourite of the public, and when the public cares the thousandth part for you that it does for her, I will go to your benefit, too. A very different man from Johnson, Horace Walpole, also admired Mrs. Abington, as can be seen from the following gallant invitation which he sent to her. strawberry hill june eleven seventeen eighty madame you may certainly always command me and my house my common custom is to give a ticket for only four persons at a time but it would be very insolent in me when all laws are set at nought to pretend to prescribe rules at such times there is a shadow of authority in setting the laws aside by the legislature itself and though i have no army to support their place, I declare Mrs. Avington may march through all my dominions at the head of as large

Starting point is 00:57:01 a troop as she pleases. I do not say, as she can muster and command, for then I am sure my house would not hold them. The day, too, is at her own choice, and the master is her very obedient, humble servant, Horace Walpole. Walpole thought Lady Teasel, which part she created to be Mrs. Abington's best effort. Reynolds painted her in this character, again as the comic muse, as Roxalana in the Sultan, this portrait he presented to Mrs. Avington, and as Miss Prue in Congreve's Love for Love, which latter picture is reproduced here. It shows Miss Prue in the scene where the rough sailor, Ben, makes love to her according to his father's commands. Come, mistress, will you please to sit down?

Starting point is 00:57:55 For when you stand astern at that and wish you'll never grapple together, Come, I'll haul a chair. There, and you please to sit, I'll sit by you. You need not sit so near one. If you have anything to say, I can hear you farther off. I aren't deaf. Why, that's true, as you say, nor I aren't dumb. I can be heard as far as another. I'll heave off to please you.

Starting point is 00:58:26 Sits farther off. And we were a league of thunder, I'd undertake to hold discourse with you, and twere not a main high wind indeed, and full in my teeth. Look, you, forsooth, I am, as it were, bound for the land of matrimony. Tis a voyage, you see, that was none of my seeking. I was commanded by father, and if you like of it, mayhap I may steer into your harbor. How you say, mistress? The short of the thing is that if you like me and I like you, we may chance to swing in a hammock together. I don't know what to say to you, nor I don't care to speak with you at all.

Starting point is 00:59:11 No, I'm sorry for that, but pray. Why are you so scornful? As long as one must not speak one's mind, one had better not speak at all, I think, and truly I won't tell a lie for the matter. Nay, you say true in that, tis but a folly to lie, for to speak one thing,

Starting point is 00:59:34 and to think just the contrary way, is, as it were, to look one way and row another. Now, for my part, you see, I'm for carrying things above board I'm not for keeping anything under hatches so that if you bent as willing as I say so at God's name

Starting point is 00:59:54 there's no harm done mayhap you've been shame-faced some maidens though they love a man well enough yet they don't care to tell on Solstice's face or if that's the case why silence gives consent but I'm sure it is not so for I'll speak sooner than you

Starting point is 01:00:14 you should believe that, and I'll speak truth, though one should always tell a lie to a man, and I don't care. Let my father do what he will. I'm too big to be whipped, so I'll tell you plainly, I don't like you, nor love you at all, nor never will, that's more. So, there's your answer for you, and don't trouble me no more, you ugly thing. End of Chapter 7. Chapter 8 of Among the Great Masters of the Drama. This is a Libravox recording. Libravox recordings are on the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org. Recording by Wes Freeman Among the great masters of the drama by Walter Rowlands. Mrs. Siddens

Starting point is 01:01:06 What Mrs. Siddens may have been when she had the advantages of youth and form, I cannot say, but it appears to me that her performance at present leaves room to wish for nothing more. Washington Irving, 1805. She was tragedy personified. William Haslett. Instead of gazing upon Mrs. Siddens as painted, in or out of character, by Gainesborough, Sir Thomas Lawrence, Harlow, or Beachy, and passing by even Sir Joshua's magnificent picture of her as the muse of tragedy, let us look at an unfamiliar but interesting group

Starting point is 01:01:44 of Mrs. Siddens and her niece, Fannie Kimball, by Briggs, a royal academician, who once enjoyed much repute as a portrait painter. This picture is the property of the Boston Athenium, to which institution it was given by Fanny Kimball herself many years ago. The charming actress who died in 1893, an old lady of 83, spent many years of her life in America, having first appeared in the United States

Starting point is 01:02:11 at the Park Theater in New York as Bianca in 1832. She married a southerner, Mr. Pierce Butler, in 1834, but the union turned out unhappily and was put an end to by divorce. At a later time, she gained additional fame by her readings from Shakespeare, and her dramatic talent was supplemented by a poetic gift. She not only produced verses of merit, but two or three plays, and wrote several delightful volumes of reminiscences, filled with anecdotes of the numberless celebrities she had met. Many eminent Americans were her friends, long as well. longfellow among them, and his fine sonnet, written in 1849, in admiration of her readings,

Starting point is 01:02:56 may be quoted here. O precious evenings all too swiftly sped, leaving us airs to amplest heritages, of all the best thoughts of the greatest sages, and giving tongues unto the silent dead. How our hearts glowed and trembled as she read, interpreting by tones the wondrous pages of the great poet who forruns the ages, anticipating all that shall be said. O happy reader, having for thy text the magic book, whose sibling leaves have caught the rarest essence of all human thought. Oh, happy poet, by no critic vexed, how must thy listening spirit now rejoice to be interpreted by such a voice?

Starting point is 01:03:40 From Fanny Kimball's records of a girlhood are taken the following references to her famous aunt, When Fanny was a child, Mrs. Siddens, she says, at that time lived next door to us. She came in one day when I had committed some of my daily offenses against manners or morals, and I was led, nothing daunted, into her awful presence to be admonished by her. Melpamene took me upon her lap, and, bending upon me, her controlling frown, discourse to me of my evil ways in those accents which curdled the blood of the poor shopman, of whom she demanded, if the printed calico she purchased of him, wood-wash.

Starting point is 01:04:22 The tragic tones, pausing in the midst of the impressed and impressive silence of the assembled family, I tinkled forth, What beautiful eyes you have! All my small faculties having been absorbed in the steadfast upward gaze I fixed upon those magnificent orbs. Mrs. Siddens set me down, with a smothered laugh, and I trotted off, apparently uninjured by my great aunt's solemn moral suasion. This sprightly juvenile was but little older

Starting point is 01:04:52 when her parents removed a Covent Garden chambers. It was while, she says, we were living here that Mrs. Siddens returned to the stage for one night and acted Lady Randolph for my father's benefit. Of course I heard much discourse about this, to us, important and exciting event, and used all my small powers of persuasion to be taken to. see her. My father, who loved me very much and spoiled me not a little, carried me early in the

Starting point is 01:05:21 afternoon into the marketplace, and showed me the dense mass of people which filled the whole piazza, impatient expectation of admission to the still unopened doors. This was by way of proving to me how impossible it was to grant my request. However that might then appear, it was granted, for I was in the theater at the beginning of the performance, but I can now now, that might be able to see to see how But I can now remember nothing of it but the appearance of a solemn female figure in black and the tremendous roar of public greeting which welcomed her, and must, I suppose, have terrified my childish senses by the impression I still retain of it. And this is the only occasion on which I saw my aunt in public.

Starting point is 01:06:04 On June 8, 1831, Fanny Kimball, then 21, and an accepted star, having won immense success at her debut as Juliet at Covent Garden in 1829, thus records the death of Mrs. Siddens. While I was writing to H, my mother came in and told me that Mrs. Siddens was dead. I was not surprised. She has been ill and gradually failing for so long. I could not be much grieved for myself, for of course I had had but little intercourse with her, though she was always very kind to me when I saw her. She died at 8 o'clock this morning, peaceably, and without suffering, and in full consciousness.

Starting point is 01:06:45 I wonder if she is gone where Milton and Shakespeare are, to whose worship she was priestess all her life, whose thoughts were her familiar thoughts, whose words were her familiar words. At least three of Mrs. Siddens' great parts, Constance, Lady Macbeth, and Queen Catherine, were also acted by Fanny Kimball, speaking of her aunt and herself in the the last-named character, she wrote, My performance of Queen Catherine was not condemned as an absolute failure, only because the public in general didn't care about it, and the friends and well-wishers of the theatre were determined not to considerate one.

Starting point is 01:07:24 But as I myself remember it, it deserved to be called nothing else. It was a schoolgirl's performance, tame, feeble, and ineffective, entirely wanting in the weight and dignity indispensable for the part, and must sorely have tried the patience and forbearance of such of my spectators as were fortunate and unfortunate enough to remember my aunt, one of whom, her enthusiastic admirer and my excellent friend, Mr. Harness, said that seeing me in that dress was like looking at Mrs. Siddens through the diminishing end of an opera-glass. I should think my acting of the part must have borne much the same proportion to hers. I was dressed for the trial scene and imitation of the famous picture by Harlow, and, of course, must have recalled, in the most provoking and absurd manner,

Starting point is 01:08:15 the great actress whom I resembled so little and so much. In truth, I could hardly sustain the weight of velvet and ermine in which I was robed, and to which my small girlish figure was as little adapted as my dramatic powers were to the matronly dignity of the character. I cannot but think that, if I was a little bit think that, if I was a little bit more than, I was a little think that, if I might have dressed the part as Queen Catherine really dressed herself, and been allowed to look as like as I could to the little, dark, hard-favored woman Holbein painted, it would have been better than to challenge such a physical, as well as dramatic comparison

Starting point is 01:08:48 by the imitation of my aunt's costume in the part. Englishmen of her day will never believe that Catherine of Aragon could have looked otherwise than Mrs. Siddens did in Shakespeare's play of Henry VIII. But nothing could in truth be more unlike the historical woman than the tall, large, bare-armed, white-necked, juno-eyed, ermine-robed ideal of queenship of the English stage. The quintessence of religious, conscientious bigotry, and royal Spanish pride, is given both in the portraits of contemporary painters and in Shakespeare's delineation of her. The splendid magnificence of my aunt's person and dress, as delineated. in Harlow's picture has no affinity whatever to the real woman's figure or costume or character.

Starting point is 01:09:37 Henry Perrinette Briggs, born at Walworth in 1793, was educated in the schools of the Royal Academy, of which body he was elected an academician in 1832. He painted some historical works, together with several scenes from Shakespeare, but his talent in portraiture became so much in demand that he devoted himself to that branch of art. His picture of Lord Eldon is said to be one of his best portraits. He died in London in 1844. End of chapter 8. Chapter 9 of among the great masters of the drama. This is a Librivox recording. All Librevox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Librevox.org. Recording by Catherine Phipps. Among the Great Masters of the Drama by Walter Rowlands.

Starting point is 01:10:38 Kemble. Time may again revive, but neary clips the charm when Cato spoke in him alive, or Hotspur kindled Worm. Campbell. That remarkable family, the Kemble's, supplied the British stage with numerous actors and actresses of varying degrees of merit, from that wonderful woman, the great Siddens, to Stephen Kemble, who could play Falstaff, without stuffing. John Philip, the greatest among the male Kimball's only, was, in his own opinion,

Starting point is 01:11:12 apparently, and that of his famous sister and his brother Charles, the foremost actor of them all. Less prejudiced judges have assigned him a place which, though high indeed, is next below Mrs. Siddens. Of all the classic parts which he so well portrayed, Coriolanus was perhaps his best, yet that fine actor Charles Young spoke of Mrs. Siddon's Volumnia as overshadowing Campbell. It is with feelings of pity that we read of Campbell, a noble representative of Shakespeare's noble Romans,

Starting point is 01:11:46 being condemned to utter the claptrap speeches of Roller in Sheridan's Pizero, produced at Drory Lane in 1799. The part, however, became one of his most effective ones, and the play was a tremendous success. The cast included Mrs. Siddens, Mrs. Jordan and Charles Kemble, and the piece was performed 31 nights, an extraordinary run for those days. 30,000 copies of it were sold, and the profits of the first season alone were said to be £15,000. Henry Crabb Robinson wrote to his brother,

Starting point is 01:12:23 I suppose the fame of Pizarro has already reached you. It is unquestionably the most excellent play I ever saw for variety of attractions. The scenery and decorations are splendid and magnificent without being tawdry or puerile, and these ornaments are made to heighten, not supersede real dramatic merit. The tragedy possesses scenes of the most tender and pathetic kind, and others highly heroic. Kemble plays the Peruvian chieftain in his very best style, the lover of Cora, he voluntarily yields her to Alonzo, and, when they are married, devotes his life to their happiness. Brave, generous and pious,

Starting point is 01:13:05 he is a kind of demigod. And you know with what skilled Kemble can assume the god and try to shake the spheres, the incidents are in themselves so highly interesting and extraordinary that far less superiority of acting and pomp of machinery would have given ordinary effect to the piece.

Starting point is 01:13:22 But when united with the utmost efforts of the painter and machinist, they produce a drama absolutely without, parallel. Well, you were a little richer, I should recommend a journey to London on purpose to see it. Percy Fitzgerald, in his Lives of the Sheridan's, gives an account of the opening night of Pizero, which actually arrived before the dilatory author had completed the play. Fitchgerald writes, In the case of Pizero, his indolence were so great that some of the players received their parts only the day before, and Mrs Jordan obtained her song on the night of performance.

Starting point is 01:14:03 A friend carried Sheridan off to an inn and Bagshot, where he put together Roller's famous speech, adapting to it some of his old thunder, even on the very evening that it was first performed, the concluding portion remained unfinished. Sheridan wrote it at the Shakespeare tavern in Covent Garden, not half an hour before the curtain drew up, and the play commenced.

Starting point is 01:14:26 The actors received and learned them before the ink was dry with which they were written. At the time the house was overflowing on the first night's performance, all that was written of the play was actually rehearsing and incredible as it may appear. Until the end of the fourth act, neither Mrs Siddens nor Charles Campbell nor Barrymore had all their speeches for the fifth.

Starting point is 01:14:47 Mr Sheridan was upstairs in the prompter's room where he was writing the last part of the play, while the earlier parts were acting, and every ten minutes he brought down as much of the dialogue, as he had done piecemeal into the green room, abusing himself and his negligence, and making a thousand winning and soothing apologies for having kept the performers so long in such painful suspense.

Starting point is 01:15:11 One remarkable trait in Sheridan's character was his penetrating knowledge of the human mind, for no man was more careful in his carelessness. He was quite aware of his power over his performers and of the veneration in which they held his great talents. had he not been so he would not have ventured to keep them mrs sidons particularly in the dreadful anxiety which they were suffering the whole of the evening mrs siddens told me that she was in an agony of fright but sheridan perfectly knew that mrs sidons cemble and barrymore were quicker in study than any other performers concerned and that he could trust them to be perfect in what they had to say even at half an hour's notice and the event proved that he was right. The play was received with the greatest approbation

Starting point is 01:16:02 and, though brought out so late in the season, was played 31 nights, and for years afterward proved a mine of wealth to the Drury Lane Treasury, and indeed, to all the theatres in the United Kingdom. Campbell took leave of the stage in Currieolanus on June 23, 1817. Lord William Lennox, who was present, says,

Starting point is 01:16:26 as a boy at Westminster, I had seen this great actor in almost all his part, but never to my mind did he equal his performance of the noble Roman when taking leave of the stage. Four days later, Campbell was given a farewell dinner at the Freemasons Tavern when Young recited Campbell's valedictory stanzas, from which are taken the lines at the head of this chapter. Lord Holland presided at the banquet, where literature was represented by Campbell, Moore and Crab, the stage by Talma and McCready, and art by Hayden, Turner and Lawrence. The last named, painted Kemble in several characters, as Hamlet, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1801, and now in the National Portrait Gallery, as Cato, as Corallinus, and as Roller here reproduced.

Starting point is 01:17:21 The head of Roller is that of Kemble, but the body was painted from Jackson. Axon, the celebrated pugilist. End of chapter nine. Chapter 10 of Among the Great Masters of the Drama. This is a Libravox recording. All Libravox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org.

Starting point is 01:17:55 Among the Great Masters of the Drama by Walter Rowlands. Misres Jordan There was one comic actress who was nature herself in one of her most genial forms. This was Mrs. Jordan, Lee Hunt. Although this fascinating Irish woman essayed some tragic parts in supporting Mrs. Siddens, and appeared as the original cora in Sheridan's tragedy of Pizzaro, it was in comedy that her real strength lay. As a comic actress, she must be classed with Woffington, Kitty Clive, and Mrs. Abington.

Starting point is 01:18:30 Rosalind and Viola were called two of her finest assumptions. Peter Pindar wrote, Had Shakespeare's self at Drury Ben, while Jordan played each varied scene, he would have started from his seat and cried. That's Rosalind Complete. William Robson, the old playgoer, declared that there never was, there never will be, there never can be her equal in the part.

Starting point is 01:18:59 Sir Joshua Reynolds called her Viola tender and exquisite, and Charles Lamb, who dubbed her Shakespeare's woman, said of it, she used no rhetoric in her passion, or it was nature's own rhetoric, most legitimate then, when it seemed altogether without rule or law. Second only, if second, to Pegg Woffington in the part of Sir Harry Wilder, she was unrivaled as a tomboy or a hoyden. Genist, in his history of the stage, asserts that Mrs. Clive is no doubt played Nell as well as Mrs. Jordan. It was hardly possible for her to have played the part better. Mrs. Jordan's country girl, romp, Miss Hoyden, and all characters of that description were exquisite. In breeches parts, no actress can be put in competition with her but Miss Swaffington, and to Mrs. Woffington, she was superior to her in beauty. Her first appearance at Drew Lee Lane was on the 18th of October 1785 in the part of Peggy in the Country Girl,

Starting point is 01:20:06 a play which Garrick had altered from Whitechalie's country wife, and in which she made an enormous success. Bowden, her friend and biographer, says, Perhaps no actress ever excited so much laughter, how exactly had this child of nature calculated her efficacy that no and things, attention on her part was ever missed, and, from first to last, the audience responded uniformly in an astonishment of delight. But her fertility as an actress was at its height in the letter scene, perhaps the most perfect of all her efforts, and the best je de theatre, known without mechanism. The very pen and ink were made to express the rustic petulance of the writer of the first epistle,

Starting point is 01:20:54 and the eager delight that composed the second, which was to be dispatched instead of it to her lover. Mrs. Tickle wrote to her sister, Mrs. Sheridan, I went last night to see our new country girl, and I can assure you, if you have any reliance on my judgment, she has more genius in her little finger than Miss Brunton in her whole body. But to this little actress, for little she is, and yet not insignificant in her figure, which, though short, has a certain roundness and embond point, which is very graceful. Her voice is harmony itself in level, quite speaking. We had an opportunity of judging this in a few lines she spoke in the way of epilogue,

Starting point is 01:21:40 like Rosalind. And it has certain little breaks and indescribable tones, which in simple arcness have a wonderful effect, and I think, without exception, even of Mrs. Siddens, She has the most distinct delivery of any actor or actress I ever heard. Her face I could not see, owing to the amazing bunch of hair she had pulled over her forehead, but they tell me it is expressive, but not very pretty. Her action is odd, a little au tre, probably affected for the characters. When Mrs. Jordan gained this extraordinary triumph, she was in her 23rd year.

Starting point is 01:22:21 Haslitt called her a child of nature, whose voice. was accordial to the heart, to hear whose laugh was nectar, whose talk was far above singing, and whose singing was like the twanging of a cupid's bow. Hayden speaks of her as touching and fascinating. Byron declared she was superb. Matthews talks of her as an extraordinary and exquisite being, distinct from any other being in the world, as she was superior to all her contemporaries in her particular line. said she was irresistible. It may seem ridiculous, he once remarked to Bowden, but I could have taken her in my arms and cherished her, though it was in the open street

Starting point is 01:23:05 without blushing. Such an expression from the frigid lips of Kemble was a compliment that spoke volumes in her praise. The critical Macrude, who had played Don Felix to Mrs. Jordan's violante in the wonder, permitted himself to speak of her with enthusiasm. His His words are, if Mrs. Siddens appeared personification of the tragic muse, certainly all the attributes of Thalia were most joyously combined in Mrs. Jordan. Her voice was one of the most melodious I ever heard, which she could vary by certain vast tones that would have disturbed the gravity of a hermit, and who that once heard that laugh of hers could ever forget it.

Starting point is 01:23:48 The words of Millman would have applied well to her. Oh, the words laughed on her lips. Mrs. Nesbitt, the charming actress of a later day, had a fascinating power in the sweetly ringing tones of her hearty mirth, but Mrs. Jordan's laugh was so rich, so apparently irrepressible, so deliciously self-enjoying, as to be at all times irresistible. Its contagious power would have broken down the conventional serenity of Lord Chesterfield himself. Romney painted Mrs. Jordan several times, both as in private life and in one or two of the characters with which she had charmed her audiences. And there is also an admirable picture of her by Hopner as Hippolyta,

Starting point is 01:24:36 in cibbers she would and she would not. End of Chapter 10. Recording by Aaron Stone. Chapter 11 of Among the Great Masters of the Drama, this is a Librevox recording. All Librevox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Librivox.org. Recording by Sonia Among the great masters of the drama by Walter Rowlands. Talma

Starting point is 01:25:09 The genius of Talma rose above all the conventionality of schools. To my judgment, he was the most finished artist of his time. McCready Incomparably the best actor I ever saw. Carlisle Talma, who has a lot of you have, had lived much in England in his youth, and at a later time acted there with success, was a friend

Starting point is 01:25:32 of Campbell's, and was present at the farewell banquet to the tragedian, when Talma's health being drank, he returned thanks in very good English. A few weeks before this occasion, a noted Bostonian, George Tickner, had seen Talma on the Paris stage, and had set down his impressions of the performance in his diary, from which we draw the following account. This evening I have been for the first time to the French theatre, and I hastened to note my feelings and impressions that I may have them in their freshness. It was rather an uncommon occasion, the benefit of Mademoiselle Saint-Valle, now 65-year-old, who has not played before, for 30 years. And Talma and Mademoiselle Maas both played. The piece was Ifigeni Antoride by Guimonde Latouche, which has been on the stage sixty years, but I cannot find its merits above me.

Starting point is 01:26:27 mediocrity. Ifigeny was performed by Mademoiselle Saint-Valle, who is old and ugly. She was applauded through the first act with decisive good nature, and in many parts deserved it. But in the second act, when Talma came out as Orestes, she was at once forgotten, and he well deserved that in his presence no other should be remembered. The piece and his part, like almost everything of the kind in the French drama, was conceived in the style of the court of Louis XIV's. But Talma in his dress, in every movement, every look was a Greek.

Starting point is 01:27:02 To have arrived at such perfection, he must have studied antiquity as no modern actor has done, and the proofs of this were very obvious. His dress was perfect, his gestures and attitudes reminded one of ancient statues, and when in imagination pursued by the furies he becomes frenzied, changes color, trembles and falls, pale and powerless before the implacable avengers, it is impossible to doubt that he has studied and felt the scene in Euripides and the praises of Longines. His study of the ancient statues struck me in the passage when in his second insanity he cries out in agony. Vois du d'avreau serpens, de son francs elance, and to their long replete cindre and te pressé.

Starting point is 01:27:47 He started back into the posture of Laocone with great effect. Like Demosthenes, he has had difficulties to overcome, and even now, at times he cannot concede an unpleasant lisp, but I have never seen acting in many respects like his. Cook had a more vehement and lofty genius, and Keene has sometimes, perhaps flashes of eccentric talent, but in an equal elevation of mind and indignity and force, Talma, I think, left them all far behind. As at an earlier date, Garrick played Hamlet and Macbeth in the long waistcoat, knee-bitches and shoe-buckles of his own time, so the heroes of Greece and Rome were to be seen on the French stage of Talmas' day, attired like the courtiers of Louis the 14th.

Starting point is 01:28:31 The study of the antique, which his friendship with the artist David has led Talma to make, convinced him of the absurdity of this custom, and in 1789, when he was elected a societaire in the Comédie Francaise, he attempted a reform. Brutus was to be given, and Talma, then the youngest member of the company, had been cast for the part of a tribune. So David and Talma conspired together, and the little plot succeeded well enough, with the public at least, to whom a Roman tribune in a real toga and with bare arms and legs, was a delightful novelty. With the other members of the company, however, it was quite a different thing. Jealous of new ideas, imbued with the traditions of their theatre,

Starting point is 01:29:14 they were indignant at this innovation. The actresses in particular were shocked at the unseemly display of arms and legs. Gracious heavens! exclaimed Mademoiselle Comta with a little scream, as Talma emerged from his dressing-room, ready to go. How hideous he is! For all the world like one of those old statues! And a few minutes afterward, Madame Vestris, who happened to be on the stage in the same scene,

Starting point is 01:29:40 took an opportunity of saying to him in an undertone, Why, Talma, your arms are bare. Yes, he replied, like the Romans. Why, Tama, you have no trousers on? No, the Romans did not wear them. Caution, ejaculated poor Madame Vestris, and her feelings overpowering her, she had to go off the stage.

Starting point is 01:30:01 Even the revolution in the air, as it was in 1789, it took some little time to habituate Parisian players and playgoers to so radical a change. The next actor, one of the old school, who filled a similar part, made great difficulties about donning the to-gou-gou-

Starting point is 01:30:17 He was induced to do so eventually, but only on the condition that two pockets should be led into the back of the garment, one of these being for his handkerchief, the other for his snuff-box. No actor ever studied character with more care than did Talma, who lived but for his profession, and was his own most severe critic. Alexander Di Ma, who always mourned the fact that his acquaintance with Talma began only in the last year of the great actor's life, bears testimony to his absorption in his art, while suffering from the melody which finally killed him. He said, a fortnight before his death, as he seemed to have improved, and as this improvement gave rise to hopes that he might soon appear again at the Theatre Francais, Adolve and I paid him a visit. Talma was in his bath, studying the Tiberius of Lucien Arnaud,

Starting point is 01:31:07 in which he expected to make his re-entry. Condemned by an inward complaint, literally to die of hunger, he had become very meager. but in this very meagerness he felt a satisfaction and an omen of success. Eh, my sons, said he cheerfully drawing down his flabby cheeks with his hands, what a truthful air this will give to the role of the age Tiberius. Talmar met Bonaparte in 1792, when the young officer of artillery was out of favor, employment and money, and did him some service which was not forgotten in after years.

Starting point is 01:31:41 Napoleon's well-known message to the actor in 1808 Come and act at Airford You shall play before a pitful of kings indicates the favour with which the emperor regarded him It was said that Talma taught Napoleon to dress and walk And play the emperor, but he always denied this Asserting that Napoleon was by nature and training The greater actor of the two

Starting point is 01:32:03 The emperor's criticism of the actor's representation of Caesar In La Mour de Pompey is suggestive He said to Talma, You use your arms too much. Rulers of empires are not so lavish of movement. They know that a gesture from them is an order, and that a glance means death. And again of Nero in Britannicus.

Starting point is 01:32:25 You should gesticulate less, and remember that when persons of high position are agitated by passion or preoccupied by weighty thoughts, their tone no doubt is slightly raised, but their speech no less remains natural. you and I, for example, are at this moment making history, and yet we are conversing in quite an ordinary way. End of Chapter 11 Chapter 12 of Among the Great Masters of the Drama

Starting point is 01:32:58 This is a Libravox recording. All Libravox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org. Recording by Larry Wilson among the great masters of the drama by Walter Rowland's Liston His humor on and off the stage was irresistible J. R. Planchet Liston's greatest success was in the character of Paul Pry

Starting point is 01:33:28 in Poole's comedy of that's name, first performed at the Haymarket in 1825. When the part was given to him, he objected to it on the ground that it had no connection with the main plot of the piece and appeared at rehearsal imperfect in his lines and undecided as to the costume. Just then a workman came on the stage, wearing a pair of Cossack trousers, which the day, being wet, he had tucked into his Wellington boots,

Starting point is 01:33:55 and the actor at once adopted these features in dressing the part. Our illustration of Paul Pry, from a painting by Clint, shows a scene from the second act in a room in Colonel Hardy's house. On the left is Eliza, played by Miss Glover, next Phoebe, Madame Vestri, then Colonel Hardy, Williams, and Paul Pry, Liston. Harry Stanley, Eliza's lover, has just been secreted in her room when Colonel Hardy enters, armed with abrasive pistols in search of the intruder, and insists upon hearing the truth from Phoebe, who says,

Starting point is 01:34:28 You are so passionate, sir, that even if I knew, cries of follow, follow, and annoys of barking dogs, Pry, without window. Would you murder me, you hard-hearted monster? Hardy. They have him, they have him. Pry, with one foot on the window and speaking off. Don't fire! I'm a friend of the family, I tell you.

Starting point is 01:34:52 Oh, if I do but escape with my life. Hardy points pistol at Pry. Phoebe. Then we are saved again. Pry tumbles in. Hardy. So this is the second time I have you. you. Now what rigmarole story can you invent? Pry.

Starting point is 01:35:13 Let me go. There's a mistake. I'm not the man. I'm your friend. I was coming this way, intending just to drop in when—' Hardy, my friend indeed, places pistols on table. How dare any friend of mine drop in at the first-floor window? Pry, if you doubt my friendship. See what I have suffered in your service. Turns about and shows his clothes torn. Hardy. Explain yourself. Pry, I have been hunted like a stag, and nearly sacrificed like a heathen to the fury of Jupiter and Bacchus, and all owing to a mistake.

Starting point is 01:35:58 I saw a strange man climb over your wall, and being naturally anxious to know what he could want, I followed him. gave the alarm, and, Phoebe, why, this is the same story he told us this morning, sir. Hardy. And so it is. Why, this is the same story you told me this morning. Harkey, sir, if you find no better excuse for your extraordinary conduct, I shall forget you are my neighbor, act in my quality of magistrate, and commit you for the trespass. I find you entering my house in a very suspicious manner. Pry.

Starting point is 01:36:38 Well, if ever I do a good-natured turn again, let me tell you, Colonel, that you are treating me like a phoenix, a thing I am not used to. Hardy, what do you mean by treating you like a phoenix? Pry. Tossing me out of the frying-pan into the fire. What I tell you is true. I gave the alarm, but the fellow was so nimble that he escaped.

Starting point is 01:37:07 While your servant see me run as if I had been running for a wager, Miss took me for the man, set the dogs after me, and in short I am well off to have escaped with my life. Hardy, If this be true, what has become of the other? The gates are closed and— Pry. He's safe enough, I'll answer for it,

Starting point is 01:37:31 though i could not overtake him i never lost sight of him observing a signal made by phoebe oh that explains the mystery some swaying of mrs hardy what has become of him i say i'll not be trifled with you are the only trespasser i discover and you i will commit unless pry oh if that's the case you need not nod and wink at me ladies the matter is growing serious, and I have already suffered sufficiently. He's here, Colonel. I saw him get in at the window. Phoebe. Oh, the wretch. A likely story. A man get in at the window, and we not see him. Why, we have not been out of the room this half hour, have we missed? Hardy. Do you hear that? A likely story, indeed. If you saw him, describe him. Pry.

Starting point is 01:38:32 Describe him? How can I describe him? I tell you he was running like a greyhound. He didn't wait for me to take his portrait. He got up at the window, and I'll swear he didn't get down again. So here he must be. Walks up and round the stage and looks under sofa and table. Phoebe.

Starting point is 01:38:52 It is a pity, Mr. Pry. You have no business of your own to employ you. Ah, that's right. Look about here. You had better search for him, and my young, lady's reticule. Snatch his reticule from Eliza. Pry. Stand aside, Mrs. Phoebe, and let me.

Starting point is 01:39:09 Phoebe, why, you, abominable person, that is Miss Eliza's room. How dare you open the door? Throwing him round by collar. Hardy, you abominable person, how dare you open my daughter's room? Throwing him round by collar. Pry, if there's no one concealed there, why object? hearty true if there's no one concealed there why object phoebe i wonder sir you allow of such an insinuation places herself at the door no one shall enter this room we stand here upon our honour and if you suspect my young ladies what is to become of mine i should like to know pry can't possibly say but i would advise you to look after it for i protest there he is

Starting point is 01:40:01 Hardy, endeavoring to suppress his anger. Sir, you are impertinent. It cannot be, and I desire you will quit my house. Simon, goes to the door. Enter Simon. Simon, open the door for Mr. Pry. Phoebe, Simon, you are to open the door for Mr. Pry. Pry.

Starting point is 01:40:26 Oh, I dare say, Simon hears. I wish you a very good morning. i expected to be asked to dinner for this at least this is most mysterious i say simon exit whispering to simon liston was much addicted to playing practical jokes and making puns at one time when hamlet was the play and mrs stephen kimball was just going on the stage as ophelia in her madness he handed her instead of the usual basket filled with flowers and straws one containing carrots turnips onions and and other savory but unromantic vegetables. And thus equipped, as it was too late to go back, the unfortunate actress was compelled to finish the scene. He once asked Matthews to play for his benefit.

Starting point is 01:41:15 Matthews, having to act elsewhere that night, excused himself, saying, I would if I could, but I can't split myself in halves. I don't know that, retorted Liston. I have often seen you play in two pieces. George Clint, miniature painter, engraver and portrait painter, was born in London in 1770, and died there in 1854. Several of his paintings, including the one given here, are in the South Kensington Museum, and a number belonged to the Garrick Club. Almost all of these are of theatrical subjects, in the representation of which Clint was most successful.

Starting point is 01:41:52 Keene, Mundan, Faron, Fawcett, Charles Kimball, and Matthews, with many others were thus painted by him. End of Chapter 12 Chapter 13 of Among the Great Masters of the Drama This is a Libravox recording. All Libravox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org. Recording by Wes Freeman Mademoiselle Mars The finest comic actress in existence

Starting point is 01:42:30 John Howard Payne, 1824 Among the many great parts associated with the genius of Mademoiselle Mars is that of Betty and Alexandra Duvalles La Junez de Henri Sont. It was at the Comédé des Francaise that she created Betty in June 1806 and during the same month the piece was played before the Emperor. then resting between Austerlitz and Jena at St. Cloud. Duval's comedy originally bore the name of Charles D'Eau. It has for its subject one of the adventures of that merry monarch,

Starting point is 01:43:06 but the censor, dreading possible political illusions, Charles being a restored monarch, objected and caused its title to be changed to La Junest de Henri Saint. This connection of the play with the king who died 200 years before Charles was born, in view of the fact that no other alteration, was made, of course, resulted in some absurd anachronisms, as, for instance, retaining the part of Rochester, Charles's Boone Companion. In 1823, John Howard Payne, aided by Washington Irving, made an adaptation of Duval's piece, restoring its original title, and brought it out in London

Starting point is 01:43:44 the following year, with Charles Kimball in the character of Charles II. Fawcett is Captain Copp, and Maria Tree is Mary Cobb. Cope, the Betty of the original, is in Paine's comedy the niece of an old sea captain who keeps a tavern in whopping, whether Charles and Rochester repair her for a frolic. Rochester, however, has promised Lady Clara in return for her hand in marriage to reform his wild ways, and also to use his influence with the king to induce him to follow suit. The enterprise succeeds, and the play ends with Mary's betrothal to Edward, one of the king's pages, who has wooed her in the guise of a music master.

Starting point is 01:44:25 Charles II, which was produced at Covent Garden, made a great success. Not long after the time when Mademoiselle Marse acted Betty before Napoleon, a couple of comedies written expressly for the occasion, with music by Spontini, were to be performed at Malmaison in honor of the Fate Day of the Empress Josephine. The distinguished amateurs to whom the various parts were entrusted included the Princess Pauline, and Caroline Bonaparte, the wives of Marshal's Ney and Juno and Juno himself. Madame Juno, in her memoirs, acknowledges the aid she received on this occasion from Mademoiselle Mars. My part, she says, was in the piece of Monsieur de Lanchon, which was by far the prettiest.

Starting point is 01:45:13 My dramatic skill was at best but indifferent, and this character quite unsuited to it. I was quite certain of failing in my performance, a circumstance probably very desirable to others, but quite the reverse to myself. I therefore requested Mademoiselle Mars, if she had a few minutes to spare, would have the goodness to hear me rehearse, and by the more than urbanity with which she complied, rehearsing with me unweariedly every morning during the fortnight that elapsed before the appointed fate, I had an opportunity, of which I perhaps stupidly availed myself far more effectually than of her lessons, of admiring the play of her pliant and charming features,

Starting point is 01:45:53 her expressive smile conveying some idea of while it disclosed her pearly teeth, and those beaming eyes, which, in accordance with the smile, revealed the coming sentiment before it could find utterance. Hearing her thus in a private room, divested of all that delusive attraction which the lights, the public plaudits, the whole witchery of the scene cast around an actress on the stage, I mentally exclaimed, This is the greatest actress in the world.

Starting point is 01:46:20 She is pursuing her natural vocation. Here is no appearance of acting. It must therefore be the perfection of the art. From that moment I became a declared and enthusiastic admirer of Mademoiselle Morris and considered it a real public misfortune that she refused to receive pupils. In these interviews I had equal reason

Starting point is 01:46:41 to appreciate the tone of her conversation, her excellent judgment and her good taste. I found in Mademoiselle Mars everything that could constitute a woman form to shine and please in the very best society. Fanny Kimball paid the following tribute to Mademoiselle Mars. To my great regret and loss, I saw Mademoiselle Marce only in two parts, when, in the autumn of her beauty and powers, she played a short engagement in London. The grace, the charm, the loveliness, which she retained far away, and to middle age, were, even in their decline, enough to justify all that her admirers said of her

Starting point is 01:47:19 early, incomparable fascination. Her figure had grown large and her face become round, and lost their fine outline in proportion, but the exquisite taste of her dress and graceful dignity of her deportment, and sweet radiance of her expressive countenance, were still indescribably charming, and the voice, unrivaled in its fresh, melodious brilliancy, and the pure and perfect enunciation, were unimpaired and sounded like the clear liquid utterance of a young girl of sixteen her seliman and her elmere i never had the good fortune to see but can imagine from her performance of the heroine in casimir de la vignes capital play of le col de vallard have deserved her unrivalled reputation in those parts dr guineau de mcy who knew her very well and used to see her very frequently in her later years of retirement from the stage told me that he had often heard her read among other things the whole play of la tartuffe and that the coarse flippancy of the honest-hearted dorine and the stupid stolidity of the dupe and the vulgar gross sensual hypocrisy of the tartuff with the same incomparable truth and effect as her own famous part of the heroine of the piece elmere on one of the very last occasions of her appearing before her own parisian audience when she had passed a limit at which it was possible for a woman of her advanced age to assume the appearance of youth

Starting point is 01:48:49 the part she was playing requiring that she should explain, Jé soe june, Je sui-souli. A loud solitary hiss, protested against the assertion with bitter significance. After an instant's consternation, which held both the actors and audience silent, she added, with the exquisite grace and dignity which survived the youth and beauty, to which she could no longer even pretend, "'Jesui, mademoiselle Marse!' And the whole house broke out in acclamations,

Starting point is 01:49:18 and rang with the applause due to what the incomparable artist still was, in the memory of all that she had been. As a final testimony to the merits of this exquisite comedian, I quote from Madame Juno's memoirs, an interesting anecdote which brings together the great queen of French tragedy, Ipolit Cléhon and Mademoiselle Marse. I saw her occasionally. She was fond of me, but Talma and Mademoiselle Marce

Starting point is 01:49:45 caused perpetual disputes between us. I was angry. because, as she did not see their performance, she could not appreciate all the talent of these two beings, endowed from above with dramatic genius. Talma might be criticized, but Mademoiselle Marse was even then a diamond of the first water, without spot or defect. At length I was one day much surprised to find my old friend quite softened toward my favorite actress, and never could attribute the sudden change to any other cause than her having seen Mademoiselle Marse in one of her characters.

Starting point is 01:50:17 She did not admit it, but I am almost certain of the fact. I had spoken so much of her that it was scarcely possible she should not wish to see her to judge for herself. In the pupil, Mademoiselle Morris, in the simple action of letting fall a nosegay, unveils at once the secret of a young heart. This fact, so striking to the feelings, is at the same time one which could not be described,

Starting point is 01:50:43 and yet Mademoiselle Claronne spoke to me of this action as if she had seen it. nor do I think that she would have imbibed from any other source opinions sufficiently strong to overcome her prejudices, though I know that an old Monsieur Antoine, a friend of Lucienne, gave her frequent accounts of all that passed at the Comtes de Francé. I have, however, no doubt that she had been carried thither herself in a sedan chair, and had seen and admired our charming actress. End of Chapter 13 Chapter 14 of Among the Great Masters of the Drama This is a Libravox recording All Libravox recordings are in the public domain

Starting point is 01:51:33 For more information Or to volunteer Please visit Libravox.org Recording by Nemo Among the Great Masters of the Drama by Walter Rowlands Keane Just returned from seeing Keane and Richard

Starting point is 01:51:54 By Jove, he is a soul Life, nature, truth Without exaggeration or diminution Campbell's Hamlet is perfect But Hamlet is not nature Richard is a man And Keen is Richard Byron to Moore

Starting point is 01:52:15 1814 The part of Richard III seems to have been associated with Keene from his earliest days. Mrs. Charles Kemble was wont to relate the following anecdote about him. One morning, before the rehearsal commenced, I was crossing the stage when my attention was attracted to the sounds of loud applause issuing from the direction of the green room. I inquired the cause and was told that it was only little Keene reciting, Richard III in the Green Room. My informant said that he was very clever.

Starting point is 01:52:54 I went into the green room and saw the little fellow facing an admiring group and reciting lustily. I listened, and in my opinion, he was very clever. Speaking of a time not much later, Hawkins, one of his biographer, says, of all the Shakespearean characters which Edmund studied at this time, no one appears to have a very cleverer. engage so large a share of his attention as Richard III. Upon the very spirit and essence of this character, his already strong, conceptive power fastened from the very first with swift, sure, and unerring instinct.

Starting point is 01:53:35 And, if we receive the testimony of Miss Tidswell, there is no doubt that even at 13 years of age, he had arrived at a fine comprehension and brilliant realization, who, the crook-back king. His rehearsals were almost unintermittent. At one time, he might have been found practicing the courtship scene in a garret in the house of a bookseller named Rouch, situate in a court running from Bridges Street to Drury Lane, Lady Anne being represented by a Scotch lassie, who subsequently acquired some distinction as the successor to Mrs. Davenport in the line of characters, which belong to the latter. At a theater in Scotland, Mrs. Robertson.

Starting point is 01:54:24 At another, we find him rehearsing the combat scene in Mrs. Price's back parlor in Green Street to the Richmond of Master Ray, the son of the matron at St. George's Hospital, the Mantua Maker's Yard measures serving for the swords of the furious antagonist on the agitated field of Bosworth. When about 15 years old, King, while traveling with Richardson's company, was honored by a command

Starting point is 01:54:53 to recite before George III at Windsor, and his rendering of portions of Richard III and others of Shakespeare's plays was much approved by His Majesty. Ten years later, after experiencing an even greater number of ups and downs, than generally fell to the lot of a strolling player in the early years of the 19th century, at times very near starvation, ended others playing Richard and Harlequin on the same night. For the princely salary of 25 shillings a week, Harlequin, usually meeting with most acceptance. Keane found himself in the spring of 1813 in Guernsey. He was now 25 years of age. On his first appearance in the Island, he played Hamlet, which performance was harshly criticized by the local journal.

Starting point is 01:55:50 The effect of the stricter upon the unruly and indiscriminating rabble, which usually grace the interior of the Guernsey Theater, may be readily conceived. Too courageous to bow before the inevitable tempest, Keane made his appearance in Richard the third. Shouts of derisive laughter, followed by his storm of Sibylation, broke from all parts of the house as he came on the stage. For a time his patience was proof against an opposition which he hoped to subdue by the merits of his acting. But as no sign of abatement appeared, he boldly advanced to the front and with an eye that seemed to admit bright and deadly flashes, applied to them

Starting point is 01:56:36 with tremendous emphasis the words of his part. Unmannered dogs, stand gee when I command. For a moment the audience were taken aback by this unexpected resistance. All became as noiseless as the gathering storm before the tempest and the clamor only revived when a stalwart fellow in his shirt sleeves yelled out from the back of the pit a demand for an apology. apology, cried the little man, in his form dilated with excitement. Take it from this remark.

Starting point is 01:57:13 The only proof of intelligence you have yet given is in the proper application of the words I have just uttered. The uproar, which succeeded this retort, rendered the interference of the manager imperative. Keene was hurried off the stage, and the part given to an outsider, immeasurably less talent, than his predecessor, but who stood high in favor with the discerning and enlightened audience in front. But, despite such happenings as this, the time was near at hand when the genius of Edmund Keene was to be recognized in full. In the following November, he was engaged by Arnold, the manager of Drury Lane, who had seen him play Octavian in the Mountaineers at Dorchester. Appearing first to Drury Lane on January 22, 1814 in Shylock, with the greatest success, Keene was now called upon to dissolve the association of Garrick's name

Starting point is 01:58:16 with the interpretation of Richard III. In this object, according to Honest John Bannister, who somewhat reluctantly admitted that in the brilliance of Keene's Richard, he almost forgot his old master David, he was completely successful. and the masterly manner in which he represented the last of the Plantagenets achieved a triumph second only to that which he subsequently won in Othello and Lear. Mrs. Richard Trench wrote in her correspondence, He gave probability to the drama by throwing the favorable light of Richard's higher qualities on the character,

Starting point is 01:58:57 particularly in the scene with Lady Anne. Hawkins speaks of, seen with Lady Anne, the nauseousness of which had been much increased by Cambon Cook. The former whined it in a way not at all attracted to the ear. The latter was harsh, coarse, and unkingly, not so keen. An enchanting smile played upon his lips. A courteous humility bowed his head. His voice, the horse with cold, was yet modulated to a tone,

Starting point is 01:59:31 which no common female mind ever did or ever could resist. Gentle yet self-respected, insinuating, yet determined, humble, yet overawing. He presented an exterior by which the mere human senses must, from their very constitution, be subjected and enthralled. Cook and this scene was anxious, hurried and uncertain. But Keen's love-making was confident, easy and unaffected, earnest and expressive, and managed with such exquisite skill, that a close observer might have distinguished it from real tenderness, however well calculated to have imposed on the credulity of Lady Anne. Haslett said,

Starting point is 02:00:20 It was an admirable exhibition of smooth and smiling villainy, and George Henry Lewis, who did not see Kean until years later wrote, Who can ever forget the exquisite grace with which he leaned against the side scene while Anne was railing at him, and the chuckling mirth of his poor fool, what pain she takes to damn herself? It was thoroughly feline, terrible yet beautiful. Keane played Richard 25 times during his first season at Drury Lane,

Starting point is 02:00:56 Shilock 15 times End of chapter 14 Chapter 15 of Among the Great Masters of the Drama This is the Librevox recording All Librevox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer

Starting point is 02:01:20 Please visit Librivox.org Recording by Sonia Among the Great Masters of the Drama By Walter Rowlands McReilly Farewell MacRowell ready, since this night we part, go, take thine honours home, rank with the best, Garrick, and Statelya Campbell, and the rest, who made a nation purer through their art.

Starting point is 02:01:48 Tenn was present that McRaddy's debut on the London stage, which took place at Covent Garden in September 1816, the play being the distressed mother. In this, MacReady performed Orestes, and Keane, honestly avowed that he had never seen such a complete representation of the character. One of McReady's finest impersonations, perhaps his best, was Werner, in Byron's tragedy of that name, brought out in 1830. This work, written in Italy and published in 1822, is taken entirely from a story entitled, The German's Tale, which forms one of Lee's Canterbury Tales. The main idea of this gloomy work is the horror of an erring father, who detected in wrong by his son, has defended his sin, and thus weakened the son's notions of right on finding that the latter

Starting point is 02:02:41 has committed the crime of murder. The veteran playwright and poet, Westland Marston, gives us, among his recollections of actors, an excellent summary of McRaddy's acting as Werner. He says, amiable censors have not been wanting to allege that his success in Werner was chiefly due to the resemblance between the hero of the drama and himself in point of morbid pride and sensitiveness. This theory, however, by no means accounts for the impressive melancholy which he wore when Werner's honors were restored, or above all, for that display of a father's love and agony in the fifth act, which must be ranked among his supreme effects. But to whatever cause his exhibition of pride and bitter querulous impatience in the first act with you, it is hard to conceive of their being more intense and incisive. The rising of the curtain discovered the fugitive nobleman, indignant at his cruel fate,

Starting point is 02:03:40 stalking to and fro like some captured wild animal in his cage. The gaunt look of recent sickness was in his face. The fretful irritability which it causes repeatedly broke forth, spite of his affection for his wife, in his tones and gestures, while through the veil of poverty, disease, and mental suffering gleamed the forlorn haughtiness of bearing which bespoke his ineridable pride of birth. The quick apprehensions and suspicions which spring from nerves wasted alike with disease and grief were admirably conveyed, first by his alarm when he hears the knocking of the intendant, and again by the air of feline weariness and distrust with which he scanned

Starting point is 02:04:24 Gabor on his entrance and subsequently. At length Stralenheim enters, who seeks to usurp Werner's domain, and for that evil end to secure his person. Werner at once recognizes him, and the former has at length a dim suspicion that the man before him is his intended victim. When at length Stralenheim turns to him, after conversing with the intendant and Gabor, the furtive and apprehensive gaze with which McRedy had watched his oppressor, gave way to irrepressible hatred. Nothing could be more curtly repellent than his tones in answer to Strahanheim's questions. "'Strallenheim, have you been here long?' Werner, with abrupt surprise.

Starting point is 02:05:10 "'Long?' "'Strallenheim. "'I sought an answer, not an answer.' echo. Verna, rapidly and morosely, you may seek both from the walls. I am not used to answer those whom I know not. A little later, when Stalingheim observes, your language is above your station. Verner's answer, is it? Contained the transition from ironical humility to scorn and loathing, which it was surprising so brief a phrase could express. Not less striking when he feared his passion might betray him was the sudden change in the words that follow to rude and

Starting point is 02:05:50 caustic indifference. Tis well that it is not beneath it, as sometimes happens to the better clad. In the second act, it will be remembered that Werner, made desperate by the plain suspicions of Stalingheim, who has power to arrest and imprison him, commits a robbery on his foe in the dead of night, to gain the means of escape. Subsequently, Werner and his wife, wife are discovered by their long-lost son, Ulrich. The joy of the parents has scarcely found utterance when Ulrich tells them that he had, on the previous day, saved the life of Stralenheim, and that he is now in quest of the villain who had robbed him. To give any conception of Macready's acting at this point, I must quote the dialogue. Verner, agitatedly,

Starting point is 02:06:37 Who taught you to mouth that name of villain? Euleric. What more noble name belongs to? two common thieves. Verna, who taught you thus to brand an unknown being with an infernal stigma? Eulrick, my own feelings taught me to name a ruffian from his deeds. Werner, who taught you, long-sought and ill-found boy, that it would be safe for my own son to insult me? Uelrich, I named a villain. What is there in common with such a being and my father? Verna.

Starting point is 02:07:15 Everything. That ruffian is thy father. Josephine. Oh, my son, believe him not, and yet, her voice falters. Eulrick, starts, looks earnestly at Werner, and then says slowly, And you avow it? Werner.

Starting point is 02:07:37 Eulrich, before you dare despise your father, learn to divine and judge his actions. Young, rash, new to life, and reared in luxury's lap, Is it for you to measure passion's force, or miseries temptation? Wait, not long, it cometh like the night and quickly. Wait, wait till, like me, your hopes are blighted, Till sorrow and shame are handmaids of your cabin, Femin and poverty, your guests at table, despair your bed-fellow,

Starting point is 02:08:11 then rise, but not from sleep, and judge, should that day ever arrive, should you see then the serpent, who hath coiled himself around all that is dear and noble of you and yours, lies slumbering in your path, with but his folds between your steps and happiness, when he, who lives but to tear from you, name, lands, life itself, lies at your mercy. chance your conductor, midnight for your mantle, the bare knife in your hand, and earth asleep, even to your deadliest foe, and he, as twere, inviting death by looking like it, while his death alone can save you. Thank you, God, if then, like me, content with petty plunder, you turn aside. I did so. From the cry of remorse,

Starting point is 02:09:11 with which the above passage opens even to its close what a complexity of emotion struggling and at the same time blending with each other did make ready portray the strife between wrathful pride and agony at having to confess and extenuate his guilt to his idolized and just regained sun the increasing and at last breathless rapidity with which he piled up the circumstances of his desperate temptation and venial sin till finally pride, self-abasement and self-indication was swallowed up and swept away by a master touch of paternal love and anguish, as shaken, convulsed, with extended arms and bowed head, he appealed to Eulrick with the words, I did so. All these, with their harrowing pathos and subduing power, live in my memory, as if they were of yesterday. More than forty years have not weakened their effect. The bald tale in the third act of Stalmheim's murder by an unknown hand, of Werner's dread, lest he should be suspected of the crime, and of his escape from the spot, supply little that is of dramatic interest. The fourth act also, which shows Werner restored to his estates and to his title of Count Siegendorf, move slowly and eventlessly.

Starting point is 02:10:33 The fifth act, however, brings the great situation of the tragedy when Gabor, suspected by Werner of being the murderer-stained. Stralenheim asserts that Eulrick is the guilty one. Eulricks confesses the deed and defends it, saying to his father, If you condemn me, yet remember who has taught me once too often to listen to him? Who proclaimed to me that there were crimes made venial by the occasion? Marston says, the greatness of McReady's acting here reached its climax. McLeise's picture of MacReady's.

Starting point is 02:11:11 as Werner, depicts him in the beginning of the first act. The painter, born in Ireland in 1811, went to London at the age of 16 and studied in the Royal Academy Schools. He was but two years older when his Malvolio was hung on the walls of the Academy, of which body he was made a full member in 1840. Dying in 1870, after declining the presidency of the Royal Academy, he left behind him many important works, notably the great frescoes of the death of Nelson, and the meeting of Wellington and Blucher after Waterloo in the houses of Parliament. His paintings of the banquet scene in Macbeth and the play scene in Hamlet are famous. End of Chapter 15.

Starting point is 02:12:02 Chapter 16 of Among the Great Masters of the Drama. This is a Libravox recording. All Libravox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org. Among the great masters of the drama by Walter Rowlands. Chapter 16, Dejaze. Quote, by those who have seen her,

Starting point is 02:12:33 not one trait in her matchless representations will ever be forgotten, End quote. Gossip of the Century. Has any equally famous actress a record as extraordinary as that of Madame de Jaze, who, making her first appearance on the boards at the age of five, did not leave them for 70 years? Born in 1797 or 1798, authorities differ. She retired from the stage in 1874, but being as generous as she was gifted, returned to it for one night in October 1875 to aid in a benefit given to a needy actor and died on the first day of December in that year. An able American critic, Edward H. House, wrote of her in 1867. I, of course, had not the opportunity of seeing Des Jaze in her best days, but I am told, and indeed

Starting point is 02:13:47 it is evident, that she preserves the chief characteristics of her style to the present time. What that style is, it is by no means easy to describe. She is undoubtedly a Subrette, but to those who are familiar only with the American or English stage, the term Subrette is synonymous with that of Singing Chambermaid and suggests nothing beyond the boisterousness, the profusion and the riotous excesses of Asheses of Ashter, and manner which are good-humoredly accepted by our easy public, but which are at best very low methods of theatrical expression, although in exceptional cases like that of Mrs. John Wood, they may be made effective and profitable. The French Subrette is a very different and a very

Starting point is 02:14:51 superior being under any circumstances, but it was Desjaze who first conceived the idea of elevating her considerably above the French standard, as she found it 50 years ago. At the outset of her career, it was evident that she had resolved to relieve at least her own roles from their weight of heavy humor, and to decorate them with all the delicacy and lightness which they could properly receive. She was so successful in this endeavor with characters already accepted by and familiar to the public that in a short time she had persuaded many of the best authors of the day to remodel their works to harmonize with her new interpretations, and presently, to write with exclusive view to the development of the new and captivating style she had established.

Starting point is 02:15:56 From that moment, the Dejaise Soubrette was a line of character, Sue Generous. Thoroughly French, in the best artistic sense, its imitation has hardly been attempted by actresses of other countries. In fact, to make it successful, the best natural French qualities of spirit, grace, and refinement are indispensable. The person who, in England, can most nearly approach the Dejaze standard is probably Miss Marie Wilton, although she usually finds it convenient to confine herself to a lower level. Some delightful indications of ability in the same direction were given here years ago by Miss Agnes Robertson at the beginning of her American career. But she was addicted to occasional bursts of sentiment, an element which does not enter largely into the Desjaze composition. Perhaps, after all, the pleasantest illustrations of the French artist,

Starting point is 02:17:12 manner have been given, unconsciously, of course, by Mrs. John Drew in her naive representations of young men and lads, a line which this lady appears now to have abandoned. The esteem in which Dejaise is held by the Parisians long ago ceased to be based on artistic considerations alone. It is impossible to overstate the personal fondness with which she is regarded by the habitue of her theater, and indeed by the public generally. Much of the tenderness shown her is perhaps due to her age. She is well past 70, and shows few signs of being burdened by her years, and more undoubtedly to the reputation which has had been. has accompanied her through life of her amiability, her benevolence, and her strict professional integrity. Her friends declare that throughout her 50 or 60 years of public service,

Starting point is 02:18:24 she has gained nothing but the affection of those who surrounded her, and they add, indeed, that this is true in a literal sense owing to her profuse charities in youth, and her inability to resist, even now, the appeals which are too frequently urged for her sympathy and aid. Whatever may be the causes, it is certain that no one else upon the Paris stage is petted and caressed as she is. Anybody who has observed the fervor with which, during the last few years, every appearance of that fine old actor, Mr. Holland, has been greeted by New York audiences,

Starting point is 02:19:13 may understand the spirit in which Desjose's welcomes are offered. But to the extent of their heartiness, even Mr. Holland's receptions afford no parallel. She is the oldest member of her craft, and has been the best in her own line. In some respects, moreover, she actually remains the best. It is pleasant to review the incidents of a career so uninterrupted in brilliancy and popularity, and which has never been disturbed from beginning to end,

Starting point is 02:19:51 by any circumstance whose recollection either the public or the artist would wish to obliterate. It was about ten years ago that I first saw De Jaze, and she was then somewhat beyond the age of 60. It was the first night of her resumption of Jean-T. Bernard and half the foet were filled with the best-known representatives of literature and art. Most eager among these, I remember, was Victorion Sardou. who at that time lost no opportunity of testifying his gratitude to the friend, who had exerted herself so assiduously in assisting him to the position he had recently gained. On the evening in question, Desjaze's reception was an event to be remembered. Her first step upon the scene was the signal for loud outcries of welcome,

Starting point is 02:20:59 not only from orchestra and parterre, but also from the more decorous boxes, whence proceeded shrill feminine tones, agreeably diversifying the chorus. Hats and handkerchiefs were waved, and for five minutes the business of the stage was suspended in order that the audience might have its jubilee out. And when quiet at last, returned, it was curious to observe how the house continued to beam with silent, though not less expressive, delight at the reappearance of the dear old favorite. On all sides, little phrases of compliment and endearment were murmured. What grace, younger than ever!

Starting point is 02:21:54 Well done, petite, a la Malignia! Pleasantly conscious of the favor lavished upon her, she glided through the representation with truly astonishing elasticity and buoyancy. Her attitudes and movements were literally like those of a young girl. Her face, closely viewed, betrayed advancing age, but by no means to the extent that would have been expected. Her eyes flashed as brilliantly as those of her youngest supporters upon the stage, and I am sure that few of them could rival her lithe and supple form. Altogether, her appearance was that of a woman of about 35. It is difficult to believe that her acting could ever have been more thoroughly artistic.

Starting point is 02:22:54 The timid flirtations of Bernard, his innocent wickedness, his immature attempts at gallantry, the affected bravery of his soldier life, the jaunty endeavors to prove himself a man of the world, and the mischievous persistence of his last love suit were all expressed with inimitable grace and humor. The faculty of inventing impromptu by-play, always one of her best gifts, was everywhere conspicuous, and was recognized at each new point by bursts of laughter and applause. Of course, it was inevitable that at certain moments some evidence of times changes should assert itself, but even these were made the occasion for demonstrations of encouragement and goodwill. When about to sing a rather difficult song, she would advance to the romp, nods saucily as if to say,

Starting point is 02:24:04 You think I can't do it, but you shall see. Then, pluckily assail her bravura's comically tripping among the torturous cadenzas, and at the end receive her applause with an odd little air of pride, indicating entire indifference as to the lost notes, or perhaps a satisfied conviction that everything had gone better than she had expected, or the public deserved. I really believe the audience cried brava quite as heartily in jocose acknowledgement of her pretty vanities, as in appreciation of her innumerable charms and graces.

Starting point is 02:24:52 I have since lost few opportunities of witnessing Dejaze's performances, and within my own recollection, I find no change in her. Her exact age is nowhere recorded, but judging from the date of her first appearance, she must now be about 75. Fancy that, young comedians of England and America, who fade away and retire, either into obscurity or a new line of business, at half her age. And still the same jocund spirit, the same combined daintiness and breadth of style, the same exuberant versatility as at the commencement of her history, De Jaze played youthful male parts even better than she did feminine ones. Bonaparte, when a student at Brienne, the Duke de Reichstadt, Louis XIV, the youthful Richelieu, the Marquis de Lozanne, and the Young Voltaire are some of the characters in which she gained uncounted plaudits.

Starting point is 02:26:12 One of her best performances was the Prans de Conti in Sardous Les Preé-S-Chervet. The plot of the play is a slight one, merely consisting of a series of schoolboy escapades by the young nobleman, who sets the whole village in an uproar by his freaks and gallantries. One of these scenes where the prince has snatched, the kiss from the village coquette, Frequette, and, being indignantly repulsed, craves forgiveness, forms the subject of our illustration. End of Chapter 16. Chapter 17 of Among the Great Masters of the Drama.

Starting point is 02:27:09 This is a Librivox recording. All Librivox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Librivox. Recording by Catherine Phipps. Among the Great Masters of the Drama by Walter Rowlands. Forest. The first and greatest of American tragedians. Lawrence Barrett.

Starting point is 02:27:32 The life of Edwin Forrest has furnished material for three biographies, one by Alger, one by Reese, and one by Lawrence Barrett. Of later date than any of these is an interesting volume written by Gabriel Harrison, who died in 1902, aged 84. For many years an actor and manager, Harrison had supported Charles Keene, the elder Wallach and Forrest, and also possessed artistic and literary ability,

Starting point is 02:28:00 having written and published several works. From his book on Forrest is taken the following account of the great actor's rendition of Virginius. None that ever saw Forrest as Virginius could forget his entrance before the tribune, bearing Virginia upon his arm, his firm step, showing the calm resolution within his heart, his manner of holding her close up to his side, one arm around her slender waist, and the other hand

Starting point is 02:28:30 grasping her hand. It was the thousand tendrils of paternal love reaching everywhere toward his child, like the ivy with its myriad clinging to the object it would hold on to. Who could forget the Roman dignity of his figure? Who could forget the silence that pervaded the theatre, the motionless actors on the stage, waiting to be thrilled by his artistic work? The silence was profound. It was like the silence that pervades that sphere where noises cannot exist. It was the ominous prelude to the action of something great. Never did an audience before wait so long and patiently. for the actor to say his words.

Starting point is 02:29:15 When Virginia's first addressed the tribune, Does no one speak? I am defendant here. Is silence my opponent? Fit opponent to plead a cause to foul for speech? The clear, pure tones of his voice were like vibrations struck from perfect chords by an orpheus and found an echo in the hearts of his audience.

Starting point is 02:29:39 Each, now, in turn, anxiously listened for the words of the shrinking and abashed Claudius. How intense and graphic was Mr. Forrest's by-play, when he finds that nothing but the death of his daughter, by his own hand, could save her from the pollution of the heartless December. For a moment, despair and perplexity were upon his face. But when he discovered the knife upon the butcher's stall, his facial expression, electrical as the lightning that he looms the murky clouds,

Starting point is 02:30:10 pictured the outline of the true intensity of the, the fearful storm. The poet cannot express with words what the tragedian expressed in a single look, the consolation in the thought of his child's death rather than her dishonour by Claudius. The smile that followed as he looked into Virginia's face was full of pathos as he moved toward the butcher's stall to reach the knife. He's patting her on the shoulder as he changed her position from his right to his left arm, that he might reach the knife, the taking of the knife, the hiding of it under the folds of his toga, the fondness he expressed in his words, my dear daughter, and his quickened fervent kisses upon her upturned lips, striving to press them

Starting point is 02:30:58 into her very soul, the gush of tears that wet his words. There is one only way to save thine honour, tis this, and quick as the motion of the human arm could do it, the knife was pressed into a her heart. The storm had broken. Its lightning had reethed its searing folds around the instrument of death. The blood streamed from the fatal blade. The daughter's blood stained the father's hand. And then the thunder tones of his mighty voice crashed through the theatre in exclamations. Lo, Apius, with this innocent blood, I do devote thee to the infernal gods. Make way there. if they dare this desperate weapon that is wet with my daughter's blood let them thus thus it rushes amongst them away away there away the reckless manner in which he rushed through the guards of lictors the shrieks of servia when she saw virginia fall to the stage the groups of friends that gathered around the prostrate virgin the bloody knife on high flashing from right to left as virginius cut his way through the

Starting point is 02:32:10 ranks of soldiers, formed a picture of dramatic terror that thrilled the audience and excited them to wild shouting and waving of handkerchiefs. Round after round of applause followed the descent of the curtain and repeatedly was the act of force to acknowledge the overwhelming approbation of the crowded house. No less perfect was his portrayal of the delirious scene in the fifth act. his demented look, the calling of his, Virginia, Virginia. It was a call dictated by a dethroned mind, a sound that seemed to come from a mysterious vault. There was a half-wakefulness in it, like the utterance of thoughts in dreams. It had the touch of pity and was manifold in its meaning.

Starting point is 02:32:57 It was a reverting form of sound that turned back to the place where it came from and fell dead where it was born. Then came the awful picture as he kneeled over the strangled body of Apius Claudius. The sigh he gave that burst the spell that bound him, as Isilius placed within his hands the urn that contained the ashes of his daughter. The folding of the sacred chalice to his heart, the relaxation of his limbs, and falling to the stage exhausted. All were of one masterpiece.

Starting point is 02:33:33 End of Chapter 7. Chapter 18 of Among the Great Masters of the Drama. This is a Libra Box recording. All Libra Box recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibraVox.org. Among the Great Masters of the Drama by Walter Rowlands. Chapter 18. William Warren

Starting point is 02:34:01 He played many parts in his time, but he played none better than that of William Warren. W.T.W. It is a coincidence which may be noted that our greatest tragedian and our greatest comedian both made their first appearance in Philadelphia and in the same character, Young, Norville, in Holmes' tragedy of Douglas. Forrest's debut, being in 1820 and Warren's in 1832. More than 50 years after, in 1883, William Warren played his last part. This was at the Boston Museum. when he appeared as old Eccles in caste. Over 30 years have gone by since the writer first had the delight of seeing William Moran act in comedy. The place was, of course, the Boston Museum. The piece was the serious family, and Warren played Adminadab sleek.

Starting point is 02:35:00 His inimitable, unctuous manner in this part is as unforgotten as the pathos of his Jacques, The Centenarian of 100 years old, a play produced at the museum the same year. From that time until his retirement, I saw him in many other parts, both grave and gay, notably as Captain Kettle and Mr. McCobber, but was unluckily prevented from witnessing any of his unsurpassed impersonations in the older standard comedies. Our illustration shows Warren as Herr Weigle, the old shoemaker, and my son, a work adapted from El Arrange's Mine Leopold. One of Boston's ablest dramatic critics, the lamented George Bryant Woods, wrote the following admirable estimate of Warren's art. We cannot go into minute analysis of the elements of this great comedian skill, where we call

Starting point is 02:36:07 upon to name the foremost attributes of his power. We should select his forbearance, his dignity, the delicacy of his humor, the sympathy and magnetism of his pathos, and above all the faithfulness to detail and to duty which mark all that he does. Never does he take advantage of his fame, or of the fondness of his audience to put himself forward when some necessary question of the play is to be concerned. yet never does he lapse into tameness or inattention, though he be lost in the background or hidden in a multitude. No minor actor ever need complain that an opportunity of his own was sacrificed to one of Mr. Warren's points. No author could ever claim that a part or a plot was marred by anything lacking or anything overdone on his part.

Starting point is 02:37:04 To pass for a moment into detail, in illustration of some of the qualities we have noted, Sir Peter Teesel is a comic character, but there is a moment of pure tragedy in it when the testy, noble old gentleman, discovers his wife hidden behind the screen in the library of Joseph's surface. How grandly Mr. Warren interprets the depth of emotion in the soul, which is stirred at that instant. There never was a keener appreciation of humor than belongs to Mr. Warren. But Sir Harcourt, Courtly, is not a humorous man, and it is worth long and repeated study to see how seriously he goes through the play in that part. How far he is from apparent consciousness of any of the fun going on about him, how saturated

Starting point is 02:37:58 with the supreme consciousness of his own superiority, which belongs to the character. There have been very few actors who, who could impart so much meaning to one or two words, and this with never an indulgence in exaggeration for effect, with the severest and driest of simplicity. In the first scene of Sarduz's comedy of Ferdinand, one of the lady frequenters of a gay gaming house in Paris, commenting upon the scandalous behavior of an acquaintance. Remarks, parenthetically, now, I don't don't set up for a prude certainly not says the courteous advocate to whom she is speaking it is the slightest thing in the world a parenthesis within a parenthesis but in the utterance of those two words there is a gleam of genius as brilliant but as indescribable as a flash of heat lightning take again as a concluding example mr warren's performance of jessie ruyl in old heads and young hearts how admirable

Starting point is 02:39:07 yet how free from any suspicion of grotesqueness is the makeup from the innocent round venerable face with its halo of thin white hair to the threadbare elbow of the country minister's coat sleeve how touching how unforced is the simplicity of his bearing and conduct how the voice ripples and trembles with the emotion which comes alike from a gentle heart and a pulpit training how modern the actor refrains from pressing himself upon the attention while the tangled threads of the two ingenious plot are woven together how far beyond praise is the transition of the final situation from merriment through hysterical laughter to tears and with what matchless and impressive dignity a model for the thousand commonplace ministers of actual life is uttered the concluding address of the old clergyman to the audience eulogy is the not our trade, we aim ever in these sketches to give a discriminative view of the leading characteristics of the subjects we discuss. But in treating a genius like Mr. Warren's, so delicate, so brilliant, so true, combined with such artistic conscience, such freedom from conceit, such a respect for itself, forbidding a noble artifice to heighten its attraction, we care not to repress the enthusiasm with which our tribute finds words. These discriminating sentences were worthily supplemented by Henry A. Clapp, who said,

Starting point is 02:40:46 Mr. Warren's style, as a dramatic artist, is so broad and full as to be exceedingly hard to describe, devoid of eccentricities and extravagances. It lacks, like a perfectly proportioned building, those salient peculiarities which at once catch even the unobserved, i a deformed cripple can be much more easily depicted than an apollo to his professional work he has brought the true plastic temperament of the actor a rich native sense of humor the power of keen and delicate observation an absolute sense of proportion a strong educated intelligence varied culture and that devoted love for his art which has made on resting industry mere delight the flower of all these gifts and virtues is a style of acting which unites exceptional vividness, force, sensibility, and effectiveness with a fine reserve and an on-failing observance of the modesty of nature, an exquisitely exact adaptation of means to ends,

Starting point is 02:41:56 supplemented by precise knowledge of the need of every moment, is Mr. Warren's most distinguishing trait. But there is nothing mechanical in his practices, no observable interval between intent and result. On the contrary, his playing shows that perfect infusion of thought and act which makes analysis of his art impossible until his art has first wrought its due effect upon the feelings of the spectator. Next to the fine precision and justness which characterize Mr. Warren's style, The versatility of his power denotes his distinction as an artist. His range as a comedian is, as we have said above, simply unequalled. And to the interpretation of every variety of character,

Starting point is 02:42:46 he brings that exquisite sensibility and clearness of insight, that mobility of nature and fullness of understanding, which make his work vital, natural, and satisfying. For Pathos, his gift is killed. fiercely less remarkable than for humor. The touch showing at times, perhaps, not his greatest facility, but the method being always imaginative and the feeling pure and genuine. Nor is it upon the deep and broad lines only that Mr. Warren excels in the art of swift and subtle insinuation. In the display of mixed or conflicting emotions, he has no rival upon the R stage. One of the greatest,

Starting point is 02:43:29 if not the greatest artists in the line of makeup we ever had on our Boston stage was unquestionably William Warren. In this, as in the matter of costume, he was well-nigh perfect. Of the many parts he played in this city, something like 500, no two were made up alike. Each was a distinct and separate creation of his own. It would seem almost impossible that so much variety could be given to the human countenance, but by the mighty actor brought illusions perfect triumphs come, and in his illusions, Mr. Warren, was indeed the mighty actor.

Starting point is 02:44:11 End of Chapter 18. Chapter 19 of Among the Great Masters of the Drama. This is a Librevox recording. All Librevox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org. Recording by Aaron Stone Among the great masters of the drama by Walter Rowlands

Starting point is 02:44:42 Charlotte Cushman Salveira Gina Art and Song dismissed by thee shall miss thee long and keep thy memory green Our most illustrious queen R. H. Stoddard Of all the characters assumed by Charlotte Cushman

Starting point is 02:45:01 Hamlet and Romeo Rosalind and Beatrice Bianca and Mrs. Haller, Lady Macbeth and Queen Catherine, Nancy Sykes and Meg Marilias, the last named is probably the one with which her name will be most associated with in the public mind. Miss Emma Stebbins, Charlotte Cushman's intimate friend and biographer, gives the following account of the character. She says, It may not be inappropriate to recall some remembrances of the part which more than any other is identified with her name. and may be said to have been her own special creation, that of Meg Marilius.

Starting point is 02:45:40 I have sought in vain among the newspaper files of the period for the absolute date of her first performance of this character, but other evidence settles it as having been in the year 1840-41, during Brom's first and only engagement in New York and at the Park Theatre. Her own account of it may be mentioned that there is one very ancient newspaper cutting, which is, however, without name or date, in which the fact of her assumption of the part at a moment's notice is thus alluded to. Many years ago, Miss Charlotte Cushman was doing at the Park Theatre what in stage parlance is called General Utility Business, that is, the work of three ordinary performers, filling the gap when anyone is sick, playing one's part and the others on

Starting point is 02:46:27 occasion, never refusing to do whatever allotted to her. As may be supposed, one who held this position had as yet no position to be proud of. One night, Guy Manoring, a musical piece, was announced. It was produced by Mr. Brom, the great English tenor, who played Harry Betram. Mrs. Chippendale was cast for Meg Murilius, but during the day was taken ill, so this obscure utility actress, this Miss Cushman, was sent for and told to be ready in the part by the night. She might read it on the boards if she could not commit it. But the utility woman was not used to reading her parts. She learned it before nightfall and played it after nightfall.

Starting point is 02:47:10 She plated so as to be enthusiastically applauded. At this half-day's notice, the part was taken up which is now so famous among dramatic portraitures. It was in consequence of Mrs. Chippendale's illness that she was called upon the very day of the performance to assume the part. Study, dress, etc., had to be an inspiration of the moment. She had never especially noticed the part, as it had been heretofore performed. There was not probably much to attract her. But, as she stood at the side scene, book in hand, awaiting her moment of entrance, Her ear caught the dialogue going upon the stage between two of the gypsies,

Starting point is 02:47:51 in which one says to the other, alluding to her, Meg, why she is no longer what she was, she dotes, etc., evidently giving the impression that she is no longer to be feared or respected, that she is no longer in her right mind. With the words, a vivid flash of insight struck upon her brain, she saw and felt by the powerful dramatic instinct with which she was a moment. endowed the whole meaning and intention of the character, and no doubt from that moment it became what it never ceased to be, a powerful, original, and consistent conception in her mind.

Starting point is 02:48:29 She gave herself, with her usual concentrated energy of purpose, to this conception, and flashed at once upon the stage in the startling, weird, and terrible manner which we all so well remember. On this occasion, it's so astonished and confounded Mr. Brom, little accustomed heretofore to such manifestations, that he went to her after the play to express his surprise and his admiration. I had not thought that I had done anything remarkable, she says, and when the knock came at my dressing-room door, and I heard Brom's voice, my first thought was, now what have I done? He is surely displeased with me about something, for in those days I was only the utility

Starting point is 02:49:14 actress, and had no prestige of position to carry me through. Imagine my gratification when Mr. Brahms said, Miss Cushman, I have come to thank you for the most veritable sensation I have experienced for a long time. I give you my word, when I turned and saw you in that first scene, I felt a cold chill run all over me. Where have you learned to do anything like that? From this time the part of Meg grew and strengthened. Meg, behind the scenes, was quite as remarkable as before them. It was a study for an artist, and has been so to many,

Starting point is 02:49:52 to witness the process of preparation for this notable character, the makeup, as they call it in the parlance of the theatre, a regular, systematic, and thoroughly artistic performance, wrought out with the same instinctive knowledge which was so manifest in all she did. Miss Cushman, a distinguished lady artist, said to her, as she wonderingly watched the process whereby the weird hag grew out of the pleasant and genial lineaments of the actress.

Starting point is 02:50:22 How do you know where to put in those shadows and make those lines which so accurately give the effect of age? I don't know, was the answer. I only feel where they ought to come. The costume of Meg is another subject upon which much of the interest might be written, how it gradually grew, as all artistic things must, from the strangest materials. A bit picked up here, another there, seemingly a mass of incoherent rags and tatters, but full of method and meaning.

Starting point is 02:50:56 Every scrap of it put together with reference to antecedent experiences. The wind, the storm, the outdoor life of hardship, the tossing and tampering it had received through its long warnings, and which to an artist's eye is beyond price, seemingly a bundle of rags, and yet a royal garment, for the truly queenly character of the old gypsy ennobled every threat of it. How many of those who felt this quality in the wearer noticed how the battered headdress was arranged in vague and shadowy semblance to a crown. The gnarled and twisted branch she carried, suggesting the emblem of command, End of Chapter 19

Starting point is 02:51:42 Chapter 20 of Among the Great Masters of the Drama This is a Librevox recording All Librivox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer Please visit Librivox.org Recording by Sonia Among the Great Masters of the Drama by Walter Rowlands Rachel

Starting point is 02:52:07 We possess the most marvelous actress Although still only a child That this generation has seen on the stage This actress is Mademoiselle Rachel. Jules Jannes. Rachel, of whom the celebrated French critic wrote these words on her debut at the Theatre Franca in 1838, was a Jewess.

Starting point is 02:52:28 The despised but marvellous race from whence she sprang, has given Spinoza to philosophy, Heinrich Heine to literature, Mendelsohn, Meyerbeer and Rubinstein to music, As she de Fu, the Pereyres and the Rothschilds to finance, Beaconsfield to statesmanship, Sir Moses Montefiore and Baron Hirsch to philanthropy, Joseph Israel and Margantocolsky to art,

Starting point is 02:52:52 and Rachel and Sarah Bernard to the stage. Apart from her genius, Rachel owed most to her teacher, Sonson, teacher of elocution and professor at the Conservatoire, all her great parts having been studied under him. Sanson, of real talent as an author and actor, was a genius as a teacher. His pupils included Madame Plesis, Favar,

Starting point is 02:53:14 Madeline and Augustine Brouin, Rose-Cherry, Joacin, Stella Colla, and Amy Desclay. For the earlier generation he had been an active servant of the French stage. He had been the scholar of Fleury and the Elder Baptiste. He had acted with Mademoiselle Marse and Madame Dorval. More than all, he had heard from Talma's own lips the great tragedian's opinions on the art, of which he was such a renowned exponent. The youthful Rachel in her turn received and profited by these invaluable traditions, imparted to her with enthusiasm by Sanson, who was always justly proud of his illustrious pupil.

Starting point is 02:53:50 When her success was an accomplished fact, and enormous audiences greeted her nightly, Sanson never tired of recalling with pleasure the hours spent in teaching Rachel, whose perception and precision were alike remarkable. Of education she had received but very little, and it was necessary for her teacher to recount to her the history and character of the person she was to represent before beginning the regular lesson, in which her interest was indefatigable. From her first appearance at the Teatro Francais, until her retirement from the stage, Rachel never essayed a new part or revived an old one without the aid of her old master, Sanson.

Starting point is 02:54:28 Sometime in the early 50s, Salvin saw Rachel act several times in Rome, and in his autobiography, has recorded his impressions of that incomparable French actress, as he calls her. says she was the very quintessence of the art of rosius to render due praise to her qualities of mind as well as to those of face and form it would be necessary to coin new epithets in the italian tongue expression attitude the mobile restraint of her features grace dignity affection passion majesty all in her was nature itself her eyes like two black corbuncles and her magnificent raven hair added splendor to a face full of life and feeling. When she was silent, she seemed almost more eloquent than when she spoke. Her voice at once sympathetic,

Starting point is 02:55:19 harmonious, and full of variety, expressed the various passions with correct intonation and exemplary measure. Her motions were always statuesque, and never seemed studied. At the time of which Salvini speaks, his great career lay before him, with Rachel the opposite was the case. Her last appearance on any stage occurred during her American tour when ill and suffering she acted Adrienne Le Couvreur on December 17, 1855 at Charleston, South Carolina. Jerome, in his portrait of Rachel, now in the Museum of the Teatrore Francet, has portrayed her as the veritable spirit of those classic tragedies

Starting point is 02:55:59 in which her genius sawed to its zenith. Theophil Gautier wrote of the canvas in these words. The portrait of Rachel is at once a portrait and the personification. Tragedy is seen in the Tragedienne, the muse in the actress, who draped in crimson and orange, stands before a severe Doric portico. The sombre passions, the fatalities, the tragic furies, contract her pale visage. It is Rachel on her sinister side, fierce and violent. This powerful picture exhibited at the salon of 1861, does honor to the artist,

Starting point is 02:56:35 who born in 1824, has filled a long life with worthy work and depicted many great historic figures, Caesar, Cleopatra, Dante, Frederick the Great and Napoleon. Extraordinary honors have been given to Jerome, both as painter and sculptor. He is represented in the United States in many public and private galleries. End of Chapter 20 Chapter 21 of among the great masters of the drama. Libravox recording. All Libravox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org. Recording by Thesneem. Among the great masters of the drama by Walter Rowlands.

Starting point is 02:57:27 Risturi. She is the greatest female artist I have ever seen. Charlotte Cushman. In May, 1855, Risturi, who had just made her debut in person, Paris and scored a genuine triumph, witnessed Rachel's performance of Camille in Racine's La Horace's and praised the great tragedian without stint. Rachel, in turn, saw Ristairi act, but otherwise the two never met. An anonymous writer in Putnam's Monthly has made an interesting comparison of Rachel and Ristory, from which the following is selected. The presence of two artists, of such transcendent merits such as Rachel and Laristorre at the same time on the Parisian stage could not fail to divide the theatre-loving public into two rival camps, each party decrying the pretensions of the other,

Starting point is 02:58:23 and claiming the palm of superiority for its favourite. But these hostilities have been of short duration, for it was soon felt that the genius of the two great tragedians, equally unquestionable in point of fact was of character so opposite as to make it impossible to establish a comparison between them. Nature has been equally generous to both, though in a different way, and both possess, in an equal degree, the science, sentiment, and resources of their art. But the nature of their geniuses, being essentially different, they arrive through opposite methods at the production of opposite effect. Thus, even in the performance of the same part, Schiller's Mary Stewart, in which Rachel has also frequently appeared, the peculiar talent of each artist's impart so different a character

Starting point is 02:59:17 to the same impersonation that it is impossible to establish anything like a qualitative comparison between them. It is now generally admitted by critics and public that we cannot, by any received canons of art, decide which is the greater talent of the two. the preference accorded to one or the other being the result of personal idiosyncrasy and the tastes of the spectator rachel may be defined as an animated statue the most perfect incarnation ever seen of plastic art as it has come down to us in the immortal creations of the old greek sculptors the contour of a small low-browed head the pale oval of her face the symmetric proportions of her form are all all in the highest degree classical and statuistic. And she wears her tunic as naturally as though she had worn it from her childhood. Through persevering study, aided by the peculiarity of her mental structure, she has so thoroughly imbued herself with the traditions and spirit of ancient Greece

Starting point is 03:00:23 that every attitude and gesture is as classically correct as her appearance. And in her acting, she attains with the same completeness, the same conventional ideal. In her delineations of the fiercer as the softer emotions, she never falls short of, never exceeds the sobriety of that average of expression, which is the ne plus ultra of sculptural truth. No weakness, no exaggeration deforms the harmonious outline of her creations. The fire of her eye, the exquisite modulations of her voice, the majesty and grace of her movement, the magnificent bursts of tragic fury, regulated by her profound intelligence of her part served to fill up this outline, but are never permitted to exceed it. For Rachel, it may be said that nature, the nature of this outer

Starting point is 03:01:19 world and humanity does not exist. With her, art has taken the place of nature, an art whose elements perfectly coordinated constitute a world by itself, with its own laws and its own coherence and its own denizens, life, interest and beauty. But this world is not our world. Its women are not women, but goddesses or demons. Its terrors do not move us, its tears do not melt, nor its smiles warm us. It is true that in the character of Adrian Lacova, in a play founded on the history of the famous actress of that time Louis XI. And in that of Mademoiselle de Belle Isle, a young girl of noble birth and unsullied purity exposed to odious and ungrounded suspicions. Rachel has proven that she can be human when she will,

Starting point is 03:02:17 while, as the lesbian of Monsieur Berthe's graceful drama, she has shown that she possesses, would she but use them a charm and beauty equal to her power but parts of this description are rare in her performances though highly successful would probably never have won for her the pre-eminent position that she has attained in the classical creations with which she has identified her name yet in witnessing her interpretations of camille emily fedre hermione etc we feel that we are in the presence not of any passion or emotion but of a most perfect representation of passion and emotion in these purely intellectual appeals to our intelligence we are conscious of receiving a high artistic gratification and follow with admiring wonder at these magnificent exhibitions of our intelligence of our own artistic gratification and follow with admiring wonder at these magnificent exhibitions of plastic bar. But they produce no illusion, excite no emotion. We recognize the transient art of the actress, but for us the art remains art, the actress, an actress. If Rachel be the high priestess of art compelling us to follow her into a region of purely ideal, Larastori is the interpreter of nature in the broad sphere of human

Starting point is 03:03:41 life and emotion. Her creations, no less artistically perfect, are to those of Rachel, as is the woman Eve, to the eve of the scotter. They live, breathe, move with the same life that pulses in our veins and beats in our bosoms, bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh. They stir our hearts with a touch of nature and waken and answering vibration in the innermost fibers of our consciousness. Whatever the sentiment she is portraying, Laristhorri, says and does just what we would say and do in the same situation. Her joy, her sorrow, her anger, hope, pity or revenge are all real human emotions. Exactly such as we ourselves should feel under the same circumstances. Her smile and chance us, her tears afflict and her indignation

Starting point is 03:04:34 rouses us, for they are our own. While Rachel, as in Mary Stewart, compels the most capricious pathetic and touching phases of human feeling to assume the proportions of the conventional ideal she has made her own. Lara Stori, as in Mira and in Karma, while Rachel, as in Mary Stewart, compels the most capricious, pathetic and touching phases of human feeling to assume the proportions of the conventional ideal she has made her own. Lara Stori, as in Mira and in Kama, avails herself even of the introduction of the supernought natural element to deepen the purely human pathos of her part.

Starting point is 03:05:17 Rachel, subordinating nature to art, so chastens every detail of her character that no distortion ever impales its classic contour. Laris Thore, pressing all the resources of art into the service of nature, models every portion of her acting so faithfully upon the reality of life that in her most impetuous, most pathetic or even most terrible delineations, she never misses, never oversteps the truth. End of Chapter 21, recording by this name. Chapter 22 of Among the Great Masters of the Drama. This is a Libravox recording. All Libravox recordings are in the public domain. For more information, or to volunteer,

Starting point is 03:06:11 please visit Libravox.org. by Steve Mayer. Among the great masters of the drama by Walter Rollins. Fector Fector is the most youthful, most ardent, most enthusiastic, most insinuating of artists. What variety of talents?

Starting point is 03:06:32 What unpretending skill and conception? What marvelous, thrilling, electric execution. Alexander Dumas, the younger. Charles Fector acted Hamlet for the first time in London in the spring of 1861, and made so great an impression that the play ran for 115 nights. It was nine years later when he produced it in the United States. As a boy of 15, the writer Saw Fector play Hamlet at the Old Globe Theatre in Boston in the winter of 1870 to 71. I will not venture to speak on the merits of that remarkable performance, in face of the numerous

Starting point is 03:07:10 estimates by more competent critics which are extant, but will confine. myself to quoting from them. Charles Dickens, the actor's close friend, wrote, Perhaps no innovation in art was ever accepted, with so much favor by so many intellectual persons, pre-committed to and preoccupied by another system as Mr. Fectors Hamlet. I take this to have been the case, as it unquestionably was in London, not because of its picturesqueness, not because of its novelty,

Starting point is 03:07:42 not because of its many scattered beauties, but because of its perfect consistency with itself. As the animal painter said of his favorite picture of rabbits, that there was more nature about those rabbits than you usually found in rabbits, so it may be said of Mr. Fector's Hamlet, that there was more consistency about that hamlet than you usually found in Hamlet. Its great and satisfying originality was in its possessing the merit of a distinctly conceived and executed idea. From the first appearance of the broken glass of fashion and mold of form,

Starting point is 03:08:18 pale and worn with weeping for his father's death, and remotely suspicious of its cause, to his final struggle with Horatio for the Fatal Cup, there were cohesion and coherence in Mr. Fector's view of the character. De Vrend, the German actor, had some years before in London fluttered the theatrical doves considerably by such changes as being seated when instructing the players, and like mild departures from established usage.

Starting point is 03:08:45 But he had worn in the main the old nondescript dress and had held forth in the main in the old way, hovering between sanity and madness. I do not remember whether he wore his hair crisply curled short, as if he were going to an everlasting dancing master's party at the Danish court, but I do remember that most other hamlets, since the great Campbell, have been bound to do so. Mr. Fector's hamlet, a pale, woe-be-gone Norseman,

Starting point is 03:09:11 with long flaxen hair, wearing a strange garb never associated with the part upon the English stage, if ever seen there at all, and making a piratical swoop upon the whole fleet of little theatrical prescriptions without meaning, or, like Dr. Johnson's celebrated friend, with only one idea in them, and that a wrong one, never could have achieved in its extraordinary success, but for its animation by one pervading purpose, to which all changes were made intelligibly subservient. The bearing of this purpose on the treatment of Ophelia on the death of Polonius, and on the old student fellowship between Hamlet and Horatio, was exceedingly striking. And the difference between picturesqueness of stage arrangement for mere stage effect,

Starting point is 03:09:56 and for the elucidation of a meaning, was well displayed in there having been a gallery of musicians at the play. And in one of them passing on his way out, with his instrument in his hand, when Hamlet, seeing it, took it from him to point his talk with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. This leads me to the observation with which I have all along desired to conclude, that Mr. Fecter's romance and picturesqueness are always united to a true artist's intelligence and a true artist's training in a true artist's spirit. George Henry Luz declared Fector's Hamlet to be one of the very best he had ever seen. Wilkie Collins, said in 1882, from MacReady downward, I have, I think, seen every hamlet of any note and mark during the last five and thirty years.

Starting point is 03:10:45 The true hamlet I first saw when Fector stepped on the stage. These words, if they merely expressed my own opinion, it is needless to say, would never have been written. But they express the opinion of every unprejudiced person under 50 years of age with whom I have met. for that reason let the word stand. That excellent actor, Herman Vezin, unfortunately, but little known to his fellow Americans because of his long residence in London, who had supported Fector in Hamlet, wrote, He played Hamlet and took the town by storm.

Starting point is 03:11:20 His appearance, his easy grace, his freedom from the vice of mouthing, his unstilted style, delighted all but the most bigoted adherence of the stagey school of acting. I sat in the stalls at one of the rehearsals and was much struck by his manner of always thinking the thought of Hamlet before he spoke the words. I said to him,

Starting point is 03:11:40 You're going to make a great hit in this part. None of his Shakespearean attempts equaled his hamlet. Vector will rank high in the role of great actors who have excelled in that character. Dutton Cook said, I've perhaps seen a score of hamlets, including the hamlets of MacReady, of Charles Campbell, of Emil de Vrant, and Salvini. It seems to me that Fectors Hamlet ranks with the worthiest of these.

Starting point is 03:12:06 William J. Hennessy, born in Ireland in 1839, was brought to America 10 years later, and remained here until 1870 when he went to London, where his studio now is. While in the United States, he held a deservedly high rank as an illustrator, his work including the admirable series of drawings of Edwin Booth and his chief characters. Since his return to England, he has confined himself to painting in oil and watercolors. He is a member of the National Academy of Design. And of Chapter 22. Chapter 23 of Among the Great Masters of the Drama.

Starting point is 03:12:45 This is a Librivox recording, or Librivox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Librivox.org. Recording by Catherine Phipps. Among the Great Masters of the Drama by Walter Rowlands. Jefferson Mr. Jefferson is an actor of exquisite art. As a comedian, he would hold his own beside the finest comic artists of France, M. Réignier, M. Go, M. Cochalins. Brander Matthews.

Starting point is 03:13:17 A certain likeness exists between Fector and Jefferson. Both were artists as well as actors. Factor's father, who was a talented sculptor, wished his son to follow in the same path, and for some years, Charles studied modelling with great success. but at last his love for the drama became too strong to be resisted and he abandoned the studio for the stage. Another French actor, Etienne Melang,

Starting point is 03:13:43 who won fame in romantic parts, such as Fector Shonin, Montecristo, was one of them, was also a sculptor of genuine attainments. His two sons, Lucien and Gaston Melang, are painters of great merit, some of whose works have been reproduced in the illustrations of this series. The elder Malang, who was likewise a talented painter,

Starting point is 03:14:06 when a young man out of an engagement, joined a strolling company on the point of embarking at Havre for Guadalupe, where he arrived in the summer of 1830. The first essays of the motley troop were tolerably successful. But a sudden rising of the blacks, and an attempt made by them to take possession of the places in the theatre reserved for the whites, compelled the governor to interfere and order the house.

Starting point is 03:14:32 to be closed. Thus, thrown upon their own resources, the ladies of the company were reduced to give lessons in dancing, and their male associates in fencing, whereas Melang, who knew nothing of either accomplishment, remembered that he had formerly been a scene painter, and boldly announced his readiness to take likenesses at all prices and in all sizes. It is presumable that at the period in question, the art of portrait painting in Guadalupe was in its infancy, for no sooner had the advertisement appeared than our hero's studio was crowded with applicants, mostly natives, and doubtless attracted by the modesty of the charges, which varied, according to the dimensions of the work, from Ten Su to two francs.

Starting point is 03:15:19 A precious lot of ugly scoundrels they were, observed Melang, long afterward, while recounting some of his early adventures, and a pretty caricature I made of them, but they paid down on the nail, so that before six months had elapsed, I had put by a sufficient sum to defray the cost of my passage, and started in the first homebound vessel that sailed from the port. In 1852, when acting the title role in Benvenuto Cellini, he muddled on the stage, in a few minutes a figure of Hebe, which Napoleon III, who was present on the occasion, requested might be reserved for him, and gave it a place of honour in the Twiluies.

Starting point is 03:16:01 This tour de force was followed in Salvatore Rosa, by a masterly sketch of a rocky landscape, which Melang dashed off on canvas with similar rapidity, and renewed on each successive performance of the drama. Mrs. Siddens, it is recorded, used the sculptor's tools successfully, But Sarah Bernhardt is doubtless the best-known actress who has also one distinction in art. As long ago as 1876, she gained an honourable mention at the Paris Salon,

Starting point is 03:16:33 with a group entitled After the Tempest. And many will remember the collection of her paintings and sculptures, which she brought with her on her first visit to America in 1880, and which were exhibited in several cities. A prominent English actor, Jay Forbes Robertson, has painted many pictures, including one of the church scene from much ado about nothing, as acted by Irving's company at the Lyceum Theatre. And Weiden Grossmith, a brother of the monologist, George Grossmith, is also both a well-known actor, having played Jacques Strop to Henry Irving's Robert McCair and an artist whose works have been shown at the Royal Academy. The writer remembers visiting an exhibition in London in 1880, where all the works of art on view were either of actors or by them. Many names familiar to British or American theatre goers appear in the catalogue.

Starting point is 03:17:32 C.J. Matthews, William W. H. Kendall, Henry Neville, Genevieve Ward, E.H. Southern, George Conquest, Harry Poulton, Ella Dietz, Curl Bellew, Wilson, Wilson Bounde. Barrett, Fred Vokes, Howard Paul, and Ada Swanborough. Three paintings by Joseph Jefferson were shown, a sea coast at sundown, a Scotch Lock, and a lake scene in America, the last-named being lent by the actor's son-in-law, the late B.L. Fargin, novelist. All the pictures by Matthews in this collection were landscapes,

Starting point is 03:18:10 and, as these titles suggest, it is in landscape painting that the genial rip, delights to spend such leisure hours as can be spared from acting and fishing. Some of his best pictures have for their subject the Cypress Swamps of Louisiana, where Mr. Jefferson owns a large plantation, but his brush is not by any means limited to such scenes. And when the actor is seen no more upon our stage, he will leave behind him not only the memory of a famed comedian, a fellow of infinite jest, but also that of an artist, and dutely that of an artist, with both sympathy and imagination.

Starting point is 03:18:50 End of Chapter 23. Chapter 24 of Among the Great Masters of the Drama. This is the Libravox recording. All Libravox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org. Among the Great Masters of the Drama by Walter Rowlands. Chapter 24.

Starting point is 03:19:17 Salivini Salivini is above all rules. rules and beyond all comparison w e henley some years since solvini after much persuasion consented to commit to writing his reasons for interpreting as he has the various shakespearean characters played by him the paper was published in a leading italian weekly and from a translation by miss helen zimmern the following extracts referring to salvin's macbeth are taken he says first before undertaking the study of the characters of hamlet macbeth king lear and othello i consulted the legends whence the poet had obtained his themes i had all the english and german commentaries and criticisms translated for me and read the italian french and spanish ones the two first were obscure and so extraordinarily at variance among themselves that i could not form an exact criterion the italians sinned from the same cause and from their pretensions to be an infallible judgment. The French were vague, airy, and full of gallic fantasticalities.

Starting point is 03:20:32 The descendants of Servantes and Lope de Vega persuaded me most, but all things considered, I resolved to interrogate no other commentator on these English works, but Shakespeare himself. O artists of the dramatic world, do not confuse your minds by seeking for the sources of his various characters. It is from his well alone that you can quench your order to know. Go direct to him. Study him in every phrase with diligent patience. Do not tire.

Starting point is 03:21:04 When you think you have done, recommence. Persevere. Shakespeare is never studied too much. Macbeth's character, according to the Italian actor, is the absolute antithesis of that of Hamlet. If Hamlet may be defined as force of thought above action, the conception of Macbeth may be defined as that of force of action above thought. It is always Shakespeare who leads me to observe these things by his own words. Thus he makes his protagonists say in the second act,

Starting point is 03:21:41 Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives, I go and it is done. and in the third strange things i have in head that will to hand which must be acted ere they can be scanned and again in the fourth act he says the flighty purpose never is o'ertook unless the deed go with it to crown my thoughts with acts be it thought and done it seems to me that my definition has no need of further commentary macbeth he points out is a man who would have hesitated at nothing. Had noble deeds been required for him to attain his end, he would have flooded the kingdom with them. If he hesitated a second before murdering Duncan, it was that he revolted at the thought of assassination, of killing without opposition. When he sees the specter, what he craves is peace from such disturbances, not expiation.

Starting point is 03:22:44 The upshot of his conversation with the doctor proves, according to Signor Salvini, that he does not repent of what he has done, but that the visions disturb him, and that he defies them, combats them, and conquers them with his strong spirit. He is grand, this sanguinary, ambitious man, but superstition is his Achilles' heel, and by it he fails. If I sought a comparison with a similar character, I should cite the son of Pope Alexander the 6th, the famous Duke Valentino Caesar Borgia, who, like Macbeth, could find no other means to maintain his power but poison and arms. But he committed low deeds and obscenities not imputable

Starting point is 03:23:30 to Macbeth, and therefore the usurper of the Scotch throne, for all his ferocity, appears more majestic. When I read this grand tragedy for the first time, I expected to see the Sandusory. the synambulist scene of the wife, followed by one of the husband, and it was quite difficult to persuade myself of the contrary. It seems extravagant, this effect produced on my mind, but yet it seems to me justifiable. The synambulist scene takes place at the beginning of the fifth act, and up to then, neither the waiting-maid nor the doctor has given a hint of such a condition. No one expects it, or has reason to foresee it. It is Lady Macbeth. who has ever been the strong one, who has called him a coward, laughed at his hallucinations,

Starting point is 03:24:20 never a single word of remorse or repentance from her lips. How then comes this resolute woman suddenly to falsify the terrible but grand impression the audience has gained of her up to now? And why has the author, ever rigidly observant to maintain his characters the same from beginning to end made an exception for Lady Macbeth. Is it illness that makes her weak and vacillating? It may be, but this scene seems to me originally composed for Macbeth, and afterward changed for the benefit of some actor. Actresses were not then

Starting point is 03:25:00 employed, who perhaps did not think the part he had to sustain sufficient. I thank him from my heart for having taken it from Macbeth. The burden of this role is sufficiently exorbitant. An original idea, certainly, on Signor of Salvini's part. These quotations from Salvini's essay show something of the care and study that the great tragedian expends on his wonderful impersonations. End of Chapter 24.

Starting point is 03:25:37 Chapter 25 of Among the Great Masters of the Drama. This is a Libre Fox recording. All Libra Fox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Librabox.org. Among the Great Masters of the Drama by Walter Rowlands, Chapter 25. Edwin Booth That face which no man ever saw and from his memory banished quite, with eyes in which are Hamlet's awe and Cardinal Richelieu's supple light,

Starting point is 03:26:11 looks from this frame. Thomas Bailey Aldrich on Sargent's portrait. of Booth. On a memorable occasion, Salvini and Booth acted together for a few nights at the Academy of Music, New York. In the spring of 1886, the Italian Tragedean playing Othello and the Ghost in Hamlet to Booth's Iago and Hamlet. Booth first played Richelieu in Sacramento, California, in 1856, when he was but 23 years of age, it was the most successful part among those he presented on his first visit to London in 1861. And at the time of his second engagement in the English capital in 1880, the Athenium printed this flattering notice of the performance. Mr. Booth's Richelieu is an admirably conscientious, thoughtful, and artistic performance.

Starting point is 03:27:13 In this character, the significance of Mr. Booth's method is revealed, and the reputation it has one for him in the United States becomes comprehensible to the English public. Almost for the first time in recent days, the full value of an artistic method has been made apparent by an English-speaking actor to an English audience. Those actors who, like Mr. Irving, Vechter, or even Signor, Salvin. have one more misrecognition, have done so apparently on the strength of personal gifts and of a species of magnetic or sympathetic influence, which enabled them to dispense with apparent method, and, in certain instances, over leap it. In the case of Signor Salvini, what looked like nature was probably an outcome of highest art, with Mr. Irving, and in a certain degree with Fetcher, what was best was a direct outcome of individuality.

Starting point is 03:28:19 Through a direct inspiration, Mr. Irving attained the really splendid effect, which is witnessed in Hamlet, when he springs, after the play scene, into the throne vacated by the king, or that not less fine effect in Richelieu, when, after the departure of the baffle, murderers. He puts his head through the curtains of his bedroom by much slower, and it may be

Starting point is 03:28:47 sure, processes Mr. Booth reaches a result not less fine. Mr. Booth's Richelieu is a sustained and an exquisite performance. At one or two points, it displays electrical passion, and it is throughout admirable in finish. Those passages in which Richelieu confronts the cowering of the king, and defies him to touch the woman around whom he has thrown the protection of the church are naturally the favorites with the plagueor, far higher. However, than the merit of these passages is that of the grace, beauty, and completeness of the whole. All that was seen was the fierce, subtle, an indomitable prelate in the very guise in which he has been conceived by Lord Lytton. The appearance was singularly like the best-known pictures of Richelieu, and the character of the astute

Starting point is 03:29:45 on Scribler's man was presented to the life. William Winter, the close friend and biographer of Booth, thus wrote of his Richelieu. Booth's personation of Richelieu has by many acute critics been accounted his best work of art. The character is one that assimilates at many points with Edwin Booth's temperament, and one that is marvellously well adapted to catch the sympathies of mankind. Appearing as the soldier priest, the Tragedean has never failed to win the popular heart. No piece of acting is better known in this generation, and, accept it to be Jefferson's matchless performance of Rip Van Winkle. No piece of acting is more admired. Booth's Rishaloo is one of the most powerful, symmetrical, and picturesque works of dramatic art with which the stage is adorned.

Starting point is 03:30:41 It may not reproduce the cardinal of history. That result was not essential. It certainly does embody the cardinal of the drama. That booth looks, the character is a matter of course, his weird, thoughtful, spiritual face, and is slender, priest-like figure made up with the concomitance of age and clothed in the requisite inaccurate ecclesiastical garments. Combine in a perfect presentment of the fiery soul in the aged and puny body, the physical realization could not be improved. Edmund Clarence Stedman wrote of the famous curse scene at the end of the fourth act of Richelieu. We moderns who so feebly catched the spell which made the Church of Rome sovereign of sovereigns for a thousand years.

Starting point is 03:31:33 Have it cast upon us in the scene where the cardinal, deprived of temporal power and defending his beautiful ward from royalty itself, draws around her that church's awful circle and cries to Baratis. Set put a foot within that holy ground and on my head, yea, though it wore a crown, I launched the curse of Rome. Booth's expression of this climax is wonderful. perhaps nothing of its own kind to equal it upon the present stage. Well may the king's haughty parasites cower and shrink aghast from the ominous voice, the finger of doom, the arrows of those lurid,

Starting point is 03:32:16 unbearable eyes. John Collier's vivid realization of the actor in this episode of Bull War's drama painted in London was given by Edwin Booth to his friend William Biss-Pam who afterward presented it to the players' club, which Booth's Monificence founded, and of which he was the first president. The artist, born in London in 1850, was a pupil of Pointer, Lawrence, and Alma to Dima. Among the many portraits of men of Mark painted by Collier are those of Darwin, Huxley, whose daughter he married, Rudyard Kipling, and Henry Irving. His subject pictures are numerous and include the last voyage of Henry Hudson belonging to the National Gallery of British Art

Starting point is 03:33:08 The Death of Cleopatra, Lytemnestra, Circe, and In the Forest of Arden End of Chapter 25 Chapter 26 of Among the Great Masters of the Drama This is a Librivox recording All Librevox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer, please visit Librivox.org,

Starting point is 03:33:37 recording by Catherine Phipps. Among the Great Masters of the Drama by Walter Rowlands. John McCullough His friends are glad to remember him, not merely as the best Roman actor seen this many a day, but the strong and hearty man whose smile brightened even dull London town and the warm grasp of whose hand was that of one

Starting point is 03:34:00 whose name was truth. Clinton's student. On a certain Washington's birthday, some 25 years since, the writer saw John McCullough play Coriolanus at the Boston Theatre, after the high Roman fashion, as Cleopatra says, and worthily indeed the tragedian placed before us the noble figure of Shakespeare's hero. The excellent review of McCullough's performance, which appeared in the Boston Daily Advertiser at the time, and was, presumably, written by Mr. Henry A. Clap, well deserves reprinting, and I give it here.

Starting point is 03:34:36 In his impersonation of Caius Marcius last night, Mr. McCullough may be said to have met the high expectations which had been formed by all who saw him in Virginius. He looks and moves almost an ideal Roman of the ancient type, with the gait and bearing of one belonging to a race of conquerors. In this tragedy, he conceives his part clearly, and plays it with the directness, force, and self-consistency of one entirely possessed by his idea. His caius Marcius has the magnificent and simple dignity of one born to wear the patrician toga.

Starting point is 03:35:13 His pride is almost passionate in its intensity. But this trait also is perfectly simple. He is free from the least touch of self-distrust or the self-consciousness which is bred of self-distrust. He has the very virtue of modesty and loves no praise but, that that of his mother. To these qualities, so curiously mixed of good and evil, must be added his stern incorruptibility, his domestic purity, his lofty courage and truth, and his unflinching loyalty to his convictions. And the picture remains entirely incomplete, if we omit to name a violence of temper so extreme that under its gusts of passion,

Starting point is 03:35:54 every other power and faculty of his nature is swayed like a reed in the wind. Mr. McCullough presents all this, and more than all this, with exceptional force, and, as we have said, with rare directness and simplicity. In few words, his assumption seems a creation and not a composition. We may select for special praise his fierce, haughtiness, and scarcely restrained fury of disgust in his first encounters with the plebeian crowd, and the contemptuous irony, with which he solicits their voices when he stands for counsel. In this last position, Mr. McCullough dwells too much, we think, upon the personal offensiveness of the ill-smelling crowd, though he makes his expressions of

Starting point is 03:36:40 repulsion very effective, the over-emphasis of one unpleasant idea, detracting from the imaginative significance of the situation, for it is the patrician hauteur, rather than the patrician knows, that is most displeased. In the early interviews with his wife and child, Mr. McCullough showed the fine sweetness and tenderness, which are so often and so beautifully displayed in his strong parts, and in his speech with his mother, there was added to these a grave, deep-reaching reverence, through which breathed the peculiar virtue of the ancient republic. It would be hard to exceed the cold, contemptuous dignity, with which he turned his back upon the people after his banishment. Mr. McCullough's once rather marked weakness for

Starting point is 03:37:28 for sudden explosiveness of speech, seems to have been partially cured, and in the furious temper of Coriolanus, it finds justifiable opportunities, and never, except in one instance, does it wholly fail to beget that temperance, which should give it smoothness. In carrying out a single part of such exceptional prominence,

Starting point is 03:37:52 Mr. McCullough sometimes compels the critical observer to the thought that the artist has not such variety and imaginativeness of method as wholly to save him from the charge of sameness. But the test furnished by the character is a most severe one, and it is much to have presented the character of Caius Macias Coriolanus, with a sustained dignity, vitality, force, and artistic propriety, which give it at once a place among one's best and most vivid experiences of the stage. End of Chapter 26

Starting point is 03:38:29 Chapter 27 of Among the Great Masters of the Drama This is a Libra Box recording All Libra Box recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer Please visit Libravox.org Among the Great Masters of the Drama by Walter Rowlands

Starting point is 03:38:54 Chapter 27 Lawrence Barrett Mr. Barrett has done more than anyone else in America to present the higher drama under conditions of artistic completeness, and to stimulate the literary and artistic development of a stage impressed with his own character and taste, W. M. LaFanne. One of the earliest attempts made by Lawrence Barrett to secure the public favor for new plays by native writers was his production of Mr. Howell's dramatization of his own charming, counterfeit presentment, which he brought out in Cincinnati in October 1877. A more ambitious

Starting point is 03:39:38 endeavor was a new play. The title of this was afterward changed to Yorick's Love, translated and adapted by Mr. Howells from the Spanish of Joaquin Estebanus, the action of which takes place in the Globe Theater of Shakespeare's Time. This was produced at Cleveland in October. 1878. Another note-worthy production was William Young's Arthurian drama in verse, entitled Pindragon, first seen in Chicago, in November, 1881. And a fourth was George Henry Boker's tragedy based on the story of Francesca da Remini, produced by Barrett at Philadelphia, September 1882. Other less important productions testify to the actor's high-minded desire to add meritorious works to his repertory, and his death, at the comparatively early age of 53, was a distinct loss to the American stage,

Starting point is 03:40:43 while Barrett's hairbell was undoubtedly one of his finest personations. The highest place among them is generally given to his performance of Cassius, in which he was often seen dividing the honors of the play with Booth and Davenport. When Barrett played Cassius in the memorable performance of Julius Caesar at Booth's theater in the December of 1871, William Winter said in the Tribune, Mr. Barrett, who was welcomed with lively interest and applause, acted Cassius with splendid spirit and great effect.

Starting point is 03:41:21 On a previous occasion we have expressed the opinion that this is a work of absolute genius. It will suffice now to remark that it easily bore away the richest honors of last night's performance. George Edgar Montgomery paid a tribute to the actor in these words. His Cassius is the most truthful and impressive Shakespearean performance that he has given us. and Edward A. Dithmar wrote, his splendid Cassius, a part for which he seems to have been made, has its full measure of admiration. It is not likely that the stage has ever known a finer performance of the subtle Roman. His best part, judged from every point of view, is Cassius. There is not a false tone in that vivid, forceful, thoroughly human portrayal. End of Chapter 27.

Starting point is 03:42:18 Chapter 28 of Among the Great Masters of the Drama. This is a Librivox recording, or Librivox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Librivox.org, recording by Catherine Phipps. Among the Great Masters of the Drama by Walter Rowlands. Henry Irving and Ellen Terry I don't know that I remember having seen a greater performance by any actor, not even accepting Macreides Varner. It is wonderful.

Starting point is 03:42:56 John Gilbert on Irving's Louis XI. She is as near absolute perfection as anyone can be. Sarah Bernhard on Ellen Terry. W.G. Willis's beautiful version of Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield was first produced at the Court Theatre on March 30, 1878. The play achieved instant success. Herman Wiesen, acting Dr. Primrose admirably, and Ellen Terry, for whom the part had been written, winning a complete triumph as Olivia.

Starting point is 03:43:30 Miss Terry has declared that it was her popularity in this part, which led Mr Irving to engage her as leading lady for his company at the Lyceum Theatre, of which he became manager at that time. However this may be, the fact remains that in December of the same year that saw the production of Olivia, Ellen Terry made her first appearance before a Lyceum audience, playing Ophelia to the hamlet of Henry Irving,

Starting point is 03:43:57 thus beginning the remarkable series of dramatic successes, with which the world of theatre-goers is familiar. About seven years after the initial presentation of Olivia, it was most successfully revived at the Lyceum, with Ellen Terry in her original part, Irving as Dr. Primrose and William Terrace, as Squire Thornhill. Clement Scott, the well-known critic, wrote of the revival. For seven years, the Olivia of Miss Ellen Terry has been laid up in lavender, and the picture of a

Starting point is 03:44:30 loving and lovable woman, with all her waywardness, trust, disappointment, and anguish, is presented to us with an added sweetness and a deepening colour. The artist, evidently, has not put this admirable study of a true woman wholly out of her mind. she has not played the part for a long time on the stage, but she must often have thought of it. New ideas, fresh suggestions, innumerable delicate touches, never lost on the observant spectator,

Starting point is 03:45:01 have been brought to bear on the new Olivia, who stands out as one of the most striking personations, as fine in perspective as in outline, as tender in thought as it is true in sentiment that the modern stage has seen. In the first act of the play, Miss Ellen Terry has little more to do than strike the keynote of the poem.

Starting point is 03:45:23 She has to show how Olivia is the fairest of the old vicar's flock, the loveliest and most winsome of his many children, the loved companion of her brothers and sisters, her father's idol. But for all that, simple Parsons' daughter as she is,

Starting point is 03:45:40 inexperienced in the world and its ways, she already shows how strong and absolute is the affectionate nature that is in her. She loves the young squire, not because he has a fine coat and winning manners, not because he is above her in social station, but because her nature leans toward someone who appears stronger in character

Starting point is 03:46:02 and less dependent on love than herself. We come to the second scene. Love, the master, has worked havoc in Olivia's heart. Gradually, but very delicately, Miss Terry shows how her father is forgotten for the sake of her lover. She hates Birchall because he dares to doubt the man she loves.

Starting point is 03:46:23 She defends her Thornhill with a woman's desperation and a woman's unreason. He may have deceived other women, but he loves me. That is her argument, and it is urged with brilliant petulance. The second scene with Thornhill

Starting point is 03:46:38 brings out some very subtle suggestions. It is as excellently played by Mr. Terrace as by Miss Terry. Both are goaded on by destiny. For a moment she would hold back, and so would he. She cannot forget her father, nor he, his honour. The man is not wholly reckless yet. There is a pause, but it is momentary.

Starting point is 03:47:02 Selfishness prevails. The strong man conquers, not the weak, but the loving woman. And once she has given her promise, we know that she will not turn back. Then comes that exquisite scene when, at the twilight hour, Olivia distributes her little presents to the loved ones before she steals away from home to join the lover of her future life. Miss Terry's fine power of absolutely identifying herself with the situation, the real tears that course down her cheeks,

Starting point is 03:47:32 the struggle to repress as much as to express, make this one of the most pathetic moments. It is, however, and the third act, that Miss Terry's acting has most visibly improved. She has here emphasised the contrast between the happy married woman and the heartbroken, despairing dupe. The actress begins the scene with an access of gaiety. If Thornhill's love had grown more cold,

Starting point is 03:47:59 hers has gained in force and impetuosity. Her object now is to retain her lover by her side. Her short life with him has intensified her affection. She coquettes with him. She hangs close to his neck. She laughs and is merry. Suddenly, and without warning, comes the storm which is to wreck her life.

Starting point is 03:48:20 Her lover tells her that he has deceived her. She is not his wife. The announcement at first stuns her. She cannot believe or understand. She beats her brains to get at the truth. The realization of her situation is awful. Father, mother, home, friends, contempt, humiliation, crowd before her eyes like gusely

Starting point is 03:48:41 specters, the love has suddenly changed to savage hate, and as Thornhill advances to comfort her, she strikes him on the breast, and in that one word, devil, is summed up the unspeakable horror that afflicts her soul. But as yet, the act is not nearly over. The most beautiful passages of it have yet to come, when her father returns to rescue the lamb that is on the road. Never before, to our recollection on the stage, has woman's grief been depicted with such infinite truth. Olivia has been beaten and sorely bruised, but in her father's arms, she is safe. She feels she is forgiven and at rest. Such acting as is contained in the Olivia of Ellen Terry, as fine in conception as it is impressive in effect, is seen very rarely on the stage

Starting point is 03:49:32 of any country. Unquestionably also, the play is made doubly interesting by the reading of the Vicar, given by Mr. Henry Irving, a performance more carefully restrained and modulated, a study more innocent of trick and less disfigured by characteristics of marked style and individuality than anything he has attempted before. Mr. Irving's vicar is a dignified, resigned and most pathetic figure who lingers on the mind long after the theatre is quitted. The best idea that came into the actor's mind and, in effect, the finest moment of his acting, was in the scene where the vicar comes to rescue his daughter. For a moment, troubled and trouble-stained as he is.

Starting point is 03:50:20 He breaks away from her and remembers that he has a duty to perform. He loves the child surpassingly well, but he is her father, and she has erred. He has to summon up all his courage for a homily on her lost sense of duty. He nerves himself for what he conceives to be necessary, and begins with tears starting in his eyes to tell Olivia of her grievous fault. But the old man breaks down over the effort of forced calm. The strain is too much for him. All at once he melts. He casts aside the manner of the priest, and calling Olivia to his arms, becomes her loving father once more. The effect of this was instantaneous. The house was astonished and delighted. As regards acting, it was a moment of true inspiration, a masterpiece of invention. End of Chapter 28.

Starting point is 03:51:20 Chapter 29 of Among the Great Masters of the Drama. This is a Librivox recording. All Librivox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Librevox.org. Recording by Sonia Among the Great Masters of the Drama by Walter Rowland. Coqueline Monsieur Coqueline is really the balzac of actors.

Starting point is 03:51:46 Henry James That trenchant writer, the late W.E. Henley, printed some years ago a paper upon Cochlan, which is a most valuable estimate of the distinguished French actor. Henley says, To tell the truth, Monsieur Cochlan is so excellent an actor that under Salvini, I know not where to look for his equal.

Starting point is 03:52:08 Mr. Henry James said of him. him years ago that he had more temperament than Monsieur Gou and as much art, and I agree with Mr. Henry James. He has played many parts, and good, bad and indifferent, he has played them all incomparably. Nature intended him for a great actor. Education and opportunity have made him a great artist. It is recorded of him that at the beginning, as Renier's pupil, he is Renier's best work, he failed and failed conspicuously with his wide mouth and brilliant eye his impudent nose and vibrant voice he seemed designed by nature for the prince of scapins and masquerie but his first efforts in this direction were far from notable and when ringier changing completely the bend of his education began to train him for the performance of old man's parts and produced him finally as the organ of the tartuff the result was a cruel fiasco it was a cruel fiasco it was so far as I know, the last with which this admirable actor has been credited.

Starting point is 03:53:12 He resumed his practice upon the heroic rascalddom of Molière and Rignard, and at four-and-twenty or so, he made his first great hit as the Figuero of the marriage. He was half-dead, they say, with stage fright, and his weakness aiding, he played the part in a tragic vein that was accepted as not a blunder, but a revelation. Since then he has touched nothing which he has not adorned. Big parts and little, the old repertory and the new, Moliere and Hugo, Marivot and Ogier, The Juer and Le Fis Natural, Jean Dacier, and Le Mondeau-N-San-Nuy,

Starting point is 03:53:49 Banville and Scribe, he has played in all, and in all he has excelled. From first to last his career has been one of hard work and artistic uprightness and unselfishness. He has never disdained to play small and secondary parts, the dancing dandy and the huntsman of Le Facheux, the ridiculous Marquis of Le Chouin, the Dubois of Le Mison-Trope, the Lucca of Dengueur, the Monsieur Loyal of the Tartouf, and in playing these perfectly, he learned to become the perfect

Starting point is 03:54:19 exponent of greater and more perilous matter, the magnificent impudence of Sbrignani and Skapin, the hybrid wickedness of the Duke de Cedmont, a hungry and tattered heroism of Gringuars, the colossal hypocrisy of Tartuff, the beautiful and touching humanity of the old schoolmaster in Les Renzhou. It is known that for him excellence is unattainable, save by means of discipline, that there is only one way to true eminence in art, and that way is through training and work, and his achievement is a proof that he is right. Macready, as we know, thought otherwise, and most Englishmen think with McCready. I confess that on this point I prefer the authority of Cochlin, whose example, as it seems to me,

Starting point is 03:55:06 is a good deal more respectable than mccready's own so far as i can gather macready like mr irving was always himself and nothing else coclin like salvinie though of course upon a lower level is only himself in method and accomplishment and the part therefrom is always the character he happens to have in hand in the masquerie of le turdi he is a hero of romantic farce the citizen of an impossible and delightful and delightful community, the exemplar of an impossible and delightful immorality, the sublimation of an impossible and delightful theory of humorous adventure. In the Vadius of Les Famsavantes, he is only an incarnation of angry pedantry. In the said Mont of L'Etranger, he is a man of breeding to the fingernails and a blackguard in every fiber. These three parts are a type of his whole achievement. Whatever he does is done with such a combination of art and temperament, with so much accomplishment and so much intelligence at once, as to stand

Starting point is 03:56:12 out, however good its surroundings, as a perfect expression of histrionics. I have the greatest possible liking and respect for the rare and beautiful talent of Monsieur Delonne, and the greatest possible admiration for the noble, intellectual, and technical qualities of Monsieur Goe, but I confess that wherever I have seen these admirable artists in direct competition with Monsieur Cochlin, in L'ETourdi, for instance, and Les Fams Savants, I have been obliged, almost against my will, to prefer Vadieu to Trisotin and Mascari to Lely, that when these two famous artists have retired, he will remain, for some years to come, the central and sovereign figure of the Theatres Francé seems to me proved in advance.

Starting point is 03:57:00 Henley's article on Cochlin was written long before the actor had created the part of Syran in roston's play which may be considered his highest achievement in it he shows in consummate perfection the two apparently contradictory sides of his remarkable genius he is the very type of the gascon soldier full of braggadocio and fight merry and impudent on the other hand he is a lover such as the world has never seen before End of Chapter 29 Chapter 30 of Among the Great Masters of the Drama This is a Librivox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer

Starting point is 03:57:49 Please visit Librivox.org Recording by Sonia Among the great masters of the drama by Walter Rowlands Sarah Bernard Madame, you were both great and charming I am an old combatant, but at the moment when the enchanted people were applauding you, I confess that I wept. When the young Sarah Bernard

Starting point is 03:58:17 appeared as a candidate for admission to the Paris Conservatoire before the jury of that august institution, she recited instead of the customary selection from Corne or Racine a fable of La Fontaine's, entitled The Two Pigeons, with such effect that she was at once. accepted as a pupil. One of the actress's finest performances is the part of Adrian Le Couvreur, inscriben Le Gouvet's drama of that name,

Starting point is 03:58:44 in the second act of which Adrianne resides to her lover, Maurice de Sacks, the same fable. Rachel was the first impersonator of Adrian Le Couvreur, and a well-known English playwriter, the late Pellgrave Simpson, who witnessed her performance in Paris in 1849, has placed on record a most interesting account of it, and also of Sarah Bernard's rendition of the character in London in 1880.

Starting point is 03:59:08 He begins with Picture 1. It is the evening of the 14th of April 1849. A vast crowd is assembled in every part of the Sal of the Teatro Francé. The occasion may well account for the enormous throng, for a new place to be given for the first time by the deified dramatist of that day, Eugenes Scribe, and the greatest actress of the period. Some will say of all time, Rachel is about to appear in the principal part.

Starting point is 03:59:36 The play bears the title of Adrian Le Couvreur. It is not my purpose to dilate upon the piece itself. The picture to be painted is that of the actress alone. She enters at last in Act 2. Her reception is stormily enthusiastic, and she smiles a faint, almost melancholy smile in return. She is studying the part which, as Adrian Le Couvreux, she is about to play on the fancied stage beyond the stage.

Starting point is 04:00:02 her diction is solemn and impressive perhaps a little too heavy for the occasion but this is rachel's fault in the lighter portions of many plays notably in the virginie her bearing and manner are imposing and lay powerful siege to the feelings of her audience a cavalier might say that they are too imposing for the situation presently come the scenes where she meets her lover maurice de sax unknown to her except as a young officer of fortune on his return to paris her love is displayed with wonderful impetuosity and effect it is excited and feverish her passion is almost tigerish in its demonstration it is powerful in the extreme but surely a little in excess of womanly tenderness she recites the fable of the two pigeons with admirable emphasis and true artistic declamation but she is still passionate rather than tender on her return to the stage after having received from her lover the missive which tells her that he cannot meet her that night her feelings of mortification are expressed with less of violence however she does not seem to think the scene worthy of a special effort in act three comes the second interview with her lover and the discovery that the supposed humble office is in reality the celebrated comte de sacks in this scene there is a greater charm of womanly tenderness in her natural surprise than in any of the preceding scenes in the interview which follows when the lovers are alone impulsive passion again takes the place of tenderness but her power holds the audience enthralled is she not the divinity of the time and can divinity err and yet it might be fancied by captious heretics that her passion is strained to this cordoned harshness.

Starting point is 04:01:47 Presently comes the scene, the ambrolia of which is so admirably conceived by the master of dramatic art in construction, the scene in which Adrian discovers that she has a rival, but a rival unknown to her in the darkness. The incipient jealousy of the woman, who thinks she is betrayed by her lover, is powerful without a doubt, but almost fiendish in its expression. But Rachel contrives to throw a marvelous dignity into the words, in answer to the of the vindictive princess.

Starting point is 04:02:21 And there is an accent of profound despair in her words as she sinks into a chair at the conclusion of the act. Ah, all is finy. The curtain falls amidst the tumult of applause. In Act four, the scenes in which the devoted woman sacrifices her fortune to save her lover from arrest are played with a feverish irritability which in some measure detracts from the same.

Starting point is 04:02:44 sympathy which the situation ought to create. But in the scene where Adrienne discovers her rival and considers the treachery of Maurice Complete, Rachel rises to her greatest height. The verses from Fédre are declaimed in the face of the princess, but without moving from the spot where she stands, with so grand a scorn that her whole audience is thrilled. Here it is that the actress, without possibility of Cavill, is perfect in her greatness. The last act comes, in which Adrian is convinced in her own mind of the infidelity of her lover, but her despair is alternately lugubrious rather than plaintiff, tigerish and fiendish rather than reproachful. The return of her supposed faithless lover is only the prelude to the death scene by poison. That the death is most powerful

Starting point is 04:03:32 and effective, none can deny, but it is repulsive in its realism. Picture 2. The background is now the stage of the Gaety Theatre London. The theatre is crowded, for Sarah Berrault. Bernard is about to appear for the first time in this same play of Adrian Le Couvreur, and considerable curiosity as to the result is excited. It may be said that fair play is scarcely awarded her among the old playgoers, who have already made up their minds, and loudly proclaimed beforehand that, it is utterly impossible she can be a patch on Rachel.

Starting point is 04:04:05 Let us see. From the very first, Sarah Bernard shows that her conception of the part is entirely different from that of her celebrated predecessor. How quickly and simply she enters, studying her part, with what a pleasant smile and ladylike grace does she respond to the importunities of the fobs around her, with what seductive tones of grateful affection does she address her devoted old friend, the prompter, then comes her meeting with her lover. The love scene here is replete with womanly tenderness, springing from the heart. There is no violence of passion, and although the impulse of this loving woman is strong,

Starting point is 04:04:43 it is kept within delicate bounds. She is sweetly caressing, but not feverishly fiery, and her fable of the two pigeons is recited in a strain more touching, even to pathos than strong. All this loving tenderness, and not a spark of this conception of the character is lost. Even at the close of the act, the words, Yes, I'm occupier encore de him, l'in gras, it's la my vengeance.

Starting point is 04:05:11 As spoken with a sweet tenderness, only faintly tinged with the color of reproach the same conception and the same execution of it are continued in act three in the scenes where the great general is discovered in the humble officer and the lovers indulge in mutual protestations the stronger and darker traits of the feminine character are not yet roused the time however is shortly to come the incipient jealousy on the discovery of her yet unknown rival is admirably although delicately portrayed and gathers christian like distant rolling thunder, although the storm does not burst into an explosion. In the famous phrase, Je vous protege, alone, the actress is slightly disappointing, and yet the tone in which it is uttered is consistent with her conception of the part. It is with a quiet dignity that the words are uttered,

Starting point is 04:06:02 not with the thrilling force of Rachel. The, Theeufini, however, thrills the audience. It is a real cry du cour, although subdued and choking. From this moment Sarah Bernard is feverish, excited, restless, but without querulous irritability. When she discovers her rival and has no longer any doubt of her lover's treachery, Sarah Bernard is at once powerful with finesse and passionate with subdued energy. The climax of the scene alone may be considered at once a mistake and a failure.

Starting point is 04:06:37 The manner in which she advances across the stage toward her detested rival and hurls the outrage in the words of Fedre into her very face, with outstretched finger almost touching her, is far too overstrained. In the last act, ample amends are made for the one error. Exquisite without exaggeration is her despair at the supposed desertion of her lover, and equally beautiful her revulsion on his return to her arms. The death scene follows. Realistic it is true, but how different from the realism of her great predecessor?

Starting point is 04:07:09 The fight for life, the despairing cry, No, I ne vee not murir, are as real as any death scene ever exhibited on this stage, but without repulsiveness. End of Chapter 30. Chapter 31 of Among the Great Masters of the Drama. This is a Librevox recording. All Librivox recordings are in the public domain.

Starting point is 04:07:39 For more information or to volunteer, please visit Librivox.org. According by Sonia. Among the great masters of the drama by Walter Rowlands. Modiesca The acting of Madame Modieska stands on the same high level with the best in literature, music and the fine arts. Charles the Kay It was as Adrian Le Couvreur that Bernard first appeared in the United States,

Starting point is 04:08:07 and it was in the same character that Madame Modieska made her entry on the stage as an English-speaking actress in San Francisco in 1877. She had conquered Warsaw when she played the part on her debut there long before. A few years after her Californian triumph in Adrian, the beautiful Polish actress essayed the heroine of As You Like It, and this part she first performed in New York in 1882. She studied the part alone, without any such assistance as she had for Juliet, and began to learn the words when she was about starting for America.

Starting point is 04:08:45 She was then perfectly familiar with Shakespearean language, and wonderfully at home in the English tongue, so that she was able to work out for herself her own idea of the most delicious of Shakespearean ladies. She had seen the play produced at the Imperial Theatre with Miss Lytton as Rosalind and Curl Bellew as Orlando. Mr. Bellew's performance interested her exceedingly, When she read the play for herself, she came to the conclusion that Orlando is never deceived by his lady-loves masquerade, but merely follows her whim and lets her lead him as she will.

Starting point is 04:09:20 Be this as it may, Rosalind, with her quick wit and warm heart, is one of the most fascinating characters of the stage. Its gaiety and sweetness are the very charms which Madame Modeska can so well express, and she has, too, the light-foot and girlish figure which must belong to Rosalind. The dress which she wears shows her slender form to admiration. It is made from Mr. Forbes Robertson's beautiful design, but the colors Madame Modieska chose for herself. Instead of the brown tins which Miss Lytton wore, Madame Modieska's cloak and hat are blue. Perhaps no dress she has ever worn has suited her so well

Starting point is 04:09:59 as this picturesque costume with its feathered head, its doublet, and long tight-fitting boots of buff leather. the white-blue velvet cloak, which would be a source of great distress to anyone at all awkward, in the hands of an experienced and graceful actress becomes a most elegant and expressive part of the costume. Few women possess the bearing which becomes such a dress, but Madame Modieska is one of those few. She can put on to perfection the pretty imitation of a swashing and the martial outside. A Rosalind whose manly garb is as modest as it is trim, and picturesque, who seizes upon the ideal part of the character, and who is capable of detail

Starting point is 04:10:42 which is amusing, yet never coarse, cannot but win the hearts of her audiences. But although the part is so lovable, so interesting in itself, it requires a really fine actress. A beautiful face and a pretty figure are not sufficient qualifications for a Rosalind, though some have fancied so, and in the hands even of a clever actress the whole impersonation may be ruined by a touch of vulgarity. We have had fair Rosalinds and realistic Rosalins, beauties and hoydens, but the public fully appreciates the boon when an actress takes the part who is an artist in spirit and who has read her Shakespeare with understanding. End of Chapter 31

Starting point is 04:11:25 Chapter 32 of Among the Great Masters of the Drama This is a Libra Box recording. All Libra Box recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org. Among the great masters of the drama by Walter Rowlands, Chapter 32, Adelaide Nielsen. Twice happy we, blessed heirs of dual art, to own as mother tongue Will Shakespeare's writ, to live when kindling Nielsen voices it. Clarence Cloughbue, as Mojeska's earliest assumption of, Rosalind was in America. So Nielsen's first performance of Viola was reserved for the United

Starting point is 04:12:17 States when she presented it in London in 1878. A leading English weekly paid it this tribute. There are two conceptions of the character of Viola, either of which is defensible. There is the sentimental view which links the character with Bellario or Euphrasia in the Philaster of Beaumont and Fletcher and other similar personages of the early drama, and there is the more realistic view, which makes her assumption of masculine attire something of a madcap freak. The latter view is that taken by Miss Nielsen. It is fully borne out by the text. Viola falls in love with the Duke in the three months during which she is his confident and messenger. It is absurd to suppose that love for a man she has never seen, could have led her to the first assumption of masculine attire.

Starting point is 04:13:13 The words, moreover, spoken to her by Olivia, show that she put on with Rosalind a swashing and marshal outside. Olivia charges her with having been saucy and tells her she began rudely. Viola's address to Maria, no good swabber. I am to haul here a little longer, affords no special proof of timidity of demeanor. It is only then, in her graver moments, and when in presence of her lord, that Viola shows the sentimental aspect of her character, like the divernin of Scott. She can melt into tenderness, but her general mood is one of almost saucy defiance. Miss Nielsen presents this character to the life.

Starting point is 04:14:00 She has every physical qualification for the part, and looks surprisingly attractive in her Greek costume. She enjoys thoroughly the confusion her assumption of manly dress creates, and her delight when she finds herself taken for a man by Olivia is infectious. Not less happy is she in the more serious passages, the grace and delicacy of the play being, as far as the scenes in which she appears are concerned, fully preserved. Thus, though the impersonation may not compare with the Juliet, or even when with the Rosalind of the same actress. It is distinctly worthy of her reputation, both as regards insight and expository ability. A few months before Adelaide Nielsen's sad and early death,

Starting point is 04:14:51 the writer saw her as Viola, and finds this English critic's praise far below the worth of her performance. Mr. Henry A. Clap's appreciation of Miss Nielsen's Viola is at once more generous, and more just. He speaks of her ineffable charm and her art that was beyond criticism, and ends with these words. In that slender maid, as she looked through Adelaide Nielsen's eyes and spoke through her voice, the fairest dream of romance seemed incarnate. In her the very riches of the sea, strangely delivered from its enraged and foamy mouth, had come on shore. End of Chapter 32. Chapter 33 of Among the Great Masters of the Drama.

Starting point is 04:15:47 This is a Librivox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Sonia. Among the Great Masters of the Drama by Walter Rowlands. Mary Anderson I have the warmest admiration and respect for her talent. William Archer

Starting point is 04:16:10 it is now nearly fifteen years since mary anderson retired from this stage her last appearance having been as purita and hermione in the winter's tale at washington in the inauguration week of eighteen eighty nine she was then not yet thirty but could look back on a lifetime almost half of which had been spent in the theatre as her debut was made as juliet in louisville kentucky when she was but sixteen years of age To say how much of Miss Anderson's phenomenal success was due to the personal beauty and charm which she possessed in such high degree, and how much to her histrionic ability, would be a difficult task. In private life, few actresses ever possessed so many friends among the noblest and best minds of the day as Miss Anderson. In her own country, President Grant, General Sherman, and the poet Longfellow were especially kind and helpful to the young aspirant for theatrical honors, while at a later time, abroad, she gained the warm regard of many among the most distinguished. Robert Browning was one of these, and Miss Anderson tells an interesting anecdote about him. Balver, said he, asked me to go to hear him read his new play, Richelieu, requesting that I should take a blank card upon which to

Starting point is 04:17:26 write my criticism. On arriving at the place of rendezvous, I found Charles Dickens and Thackeray, if I remember rightly, as well as McCready and several others, all similarly armed with paper and pencil. When Balva had finished, I immediately handed him my card with A Great Play, written on it. So you see, I was the first to pronounce judgment on Richelieu. Gladstone, then Prime Minister, Miss Anderson met at a breakfast at his house in Downing Street. The meal was unpleasantly interrupted by the noise of a loud explosion nearby, which was found to be caused by an attempt to blow up the Admiralty buildings, it being the time of the dynamite outrages in London.

Starting point is 04:18:08 Mr. Gladstone was the only one present who did not show the least sign of alarm. The actress had a rare privilege for an American of visiting Tennyson and accompanying him on some of his long daily walks. And she also heard the poet read from his own verses. She says he never made a gesture while reading, though tears sometimes ran down his cheeks. A fortunate woman indeed was Miss Anderson, Victor Hugo, welcoming her in Paris and kissing her hands, Her story discussing classic draperies with her, Alma Tadema, designing costumes and scenery for her, and Lord Lytton and W.S. Gilbert writing plays for her, while George Frederick Watts painted her portrait.

Starting point is 04:18:50 Our illustration of the actress as Parthenia recalls the fact that when she played it for the first time, John McCullough was the Ingomar. It was as Parthenia that the actress chose to make her bow before a London audience, at the Lyceum in 1883. End of Chapter 33. End of Among the Great Masters of the Drama by Walter Rowlands.

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