VOL. IV. No. 16.

THE

HE

THEATRE: AN ILLUSTRATED MAGAZINE OF DRAMA, MUSIC, ART AND LITERATURE-Published every week from October to May, and as a monthly during the summer, at No. 42 West Twenty-third Street, New York.

The price of yearly subscription to THE THEATRE is four dollars in advance. The editor solicits contributions from the readers of THE THEATRE, and suggests that old play-bills, and scraps relating to the stage, notes, news and items appertaining to the different arts, would be acceptable. It is the desire of the editor to establish a widely-circulated magazine, and to further that end every good idea will be acted upon so far as possible. Care is always taken not to needlessly destroy valuable manuscript. All articles appearing in THE THEATRE are written especially for it unless credited otherwise.

ENTRE NOUS.

ΑΤ T the annual meeting of the Actors' Fund Society, held recently in the Madison Square Theatre, a very large audience, most of them presumably members of the theatrical profession, accorded more applause and exhibited more enthusiasm over the "address" made by Colonel Robert Ingersoll than anything else on the programme. This orator, the greatest of these times, pretends to be "the actors' friend," and is generally considered so by a great many individuals who claim the title of "actor," who have not the least idea in the world why Mr. Ingersoll is so represented excepting that he occasionally lends his services to some benefit and is a liberal entertainer in a social way. To the thoughtful observer outside the pale of the "dramatic profession," Mr. Ingersoll's remarks at the meeting in question led to a most distressing exhibition. Without cause, rhyme, or reason he introduced the subject of the Church, and in a most extravagant display of rhetorical force, in which sarcasm, wit and malignant musings were strung very much like reed birds on a stick, he sought to show to these actors that the Church was

WHOLE NO. 94.

a temple of despair, its teachings moribund, and its principles an enemy of joy and good health. At every period where Mr. Ingersoll assumed the attitude of either a comedian or tragedian in order to give emphatic physical stress to his utterances, the audience yelled with delight and applauded to the echo. What did it indicate? Simply this: that the actor (as representing themselves on this occasion) is a positive enemy to the Church, or else they are an exceedingly impressionable lot of people who allow sensible judgment to be overcome by beautiful sentences that are very often logically incorrect. Mr. Ingersoll misrepresents himself. I do not believe he thinks always as he speaks. His utterances are impromptu, and the excitement of the delivery frequently makes them ill-considered. His reasonings on the subject of religion are ingenious and more often sensible than otherwise, and his reply to Mr. Gladstone, as published in the North American Review for June, cannot fail to impress a philosophic and intelligent reader that religion has connected with it some very foolish anecdotes and silly stories that should in no way affect the chances of the unbeliever. The great truths found in the Bible, upon which our laws are based, are self-evident, and any man who lives up to them to the letter, may be sure of a possible future happiness. It is not necessary to believe the story of Jonah and the Whale, or the Garden of Eden tale, and anyone insisting upon such a thing as being a necessity must place a very light estimate upon the intelligence of a Creator. You might as well say "if you don't believe there are any sour apples because all you have tasted are sweet, you cannot believe there is a tree!" The mere incidentals of commonplaceness are trivial things to consider if you are firm in the belief of an unknown Power. The Church of to-day seldom introduces into its

service anything to offend intelligence, because you may separate the wheat from the chaff as you are disposed if you will only preserve the wheat. The difference in denominations is almost as hard to analyze as the line that separates Republican from Democrat. In communities that are intellectual the Church does not preach eternal hell and damnation nor relegate to God the cruel things which Mr. Ingersoll says it does. The good Episcopalian is not an enemy to joy nor a tool to superstition. The good church goer is a good theatre goer, but he can decide between the good and bad on the stage just as well as he can decide upon the good and bad in religious hypocrisy. Mr. Ingersoll talks about the Church vs. the Stage just as if the former were a body riveted together by a clasp of bigotry. I am a believer in the sensible principles of the Church and find much in the work that interests me, but that does not hinder me from enjoying the theatre, and I am one of millions of others with similar feelings. Now I wish to tell these actors who applauded Mr. Ingersoll just where the Church is an enemy to the stage, just as it is also the enemy to every component of any other profession in the same way. It is an enemy of divorce and loose marital relations; it is the enemy of undue physical familiarity between the sexes; it is the enemy to bar-room brawls, to blasphemy and to loaferism. It is the enemy to all these things in whatsoever career, and will not tolerate those who entertain them. When certain theatrical people advertise themselves by this sort of relation in private life, then the Church very properly discourages the idea of making heroes out of them. The Church also deplores the exhibition of half nude women on the stage, and every other display that is gotten up to attract the evil in men. There is no Church in New York City that will by any insinuation forbid its members from going to Daly's theatre, or to witness an old comedy at Wallack's, The Wife," at the Lyceum, or Rosina Vokes. Certainly Edwin Booth's performances are held in the highest possible estimation, and there exists hardly

a minister of prominent standing who has not seen Booth and thinks of him with the deepest admiration. Then what is Mr. Ingersoll talking about? Why did these actors look at each other whenever he made a "point," as if to say, "that's so," "he's right," and so on? The trouble is, Mr. Ingersoll is eternally talking about "orthodoxy" as if it were a prime integrant in the present manufacture of opinion, and his view of it is exaggerated, distorted, and wholly extraneous. The Roman Catholic Church

is possibly more "orthodox" than any other denomination, yet the actor who scoffs may be interested to know that even the Paulist fathers of the Ninth Avenue Church are occasional visitors to Daly's Theatre. Mary Anderson is a strict Church woman. She has never found that this injured her success in life, even if she is "orthodox" enough not to play in Holy Week. Then when Mr. Ingersoll began in his discourse to talk about the Church, why did a shout of exultation go up from that audience? Oh, shame!

**

BUT UT let us put by the mistake of that meeting and try to think of the splendid work and purpose of the Actors' Fund Society, as told there by its President, Mr. A. M. Palmer. A recapitulation of the work done by the association since its foundation six years ago, shows that there has been paid out for relief, burials, medicines, hospital charges and other necessary expenses, the sum of $95,833.53, or an average of $15.975.58 for each year. During that period there has been paid into our treasury the sum of $146,301.19, or an average of $24.383.53 for each year. The number of persons to whom relief has been afforded during this time is 1509, and the number buried is 332. The reading-room has been maintained with gratifying success, and the dramatic agency has been established under auspices which should insure its success with corresponding benefit to its patrons and the Fund. Considerably more than one-third of all the money accruing from benefits this year was raised by the unselfish but most effective efforts of three

women, Agnes Booth, Mrs. Langtry and Mrs. Leland.

Mr. Palmer said in his report:

As I look back, my friends, over what has been accomplished by us in the past six years, I cannot help feeling that we have done much to remove the cause which led, and justly led, to the great actors' complaint. We have done more. Not only does our association stand ready with open purse and willing hand to provide for the necessities of actors and actresses under sickness or other misfortunes, but it also provides, as you have seen, for all persons under like circumstances who are in any way connected, no matter how humbly, with the business of amusements. And not only does it do this, but it charges itself with the duty of providing, by every means in its power, for the elevation, the intellectual improvement and the happiness of all members of the profession who may come within its influence. I have said that its operations are broad. By one of its unwritten but nevertheless imperative laws they are also secret. list of beneficiaries is unknown at this moment even to many of its own trustees. Its extended help is not an ostentatious display of the liberality of one man or of one set of men. It is the help extended by the entire organized profession of America to its own unfortunate members, in the strict fulfilment of a well-recognized duty. It is no one man's charity; it is all men's charity. I pray that you will so regard it, that you will so cherish it, and that its blessed work will go on so long as sickness or pain or poverty endure.

Its

Among a number of distinguished actors who sat upon the stage were William J. Florence and Dion Boucicault. The latter spoke briefly, but in an extremely witty and interesting way. What Mr. Ingersoll said when he had no reference to the Church was brilliant indeed. His delivery was watched with intense interest by every actor, and the general verdict was that his power to combine impromptu speech with acting is a marvellous accomplishment.

**

MANY ministers have turned actors, but

comparatively seldom has this been reversed. Ebenezer Morse, who was born

in Boston in 1784, made his début at the Park Theatre, New York, in 1806 as Pierre, in "Venice Preserved." A year or two later he went to England and played in London with great success. He sank rapidly, owing to his dissipated habits, and at last returned to Boston sick, penniless and partially blind. At the breaking out of the war of 1812 he entered the army. At the close of the war he reformed his habits and finally became a clergyman of the Episcopal Church. He died more than half a century since at Williamsburg, Va.

* **

MR. DALY'S company has met with re

Mr.

markable success in London, although "The Railroad of Love" was not received with much approbation as a play. Miss Rehan has captured the critics, and Mr. Lewis is pronounced by the London Times to be the American Coquelin. Regarding Mr. Daly's personal influence with his company, Mr. Labouchere says that Mr. Irving went over to America to teach what an important factor in poetical plays is the application of modern science. Mr. Daly has come to London to suggest the occasional and advantageous suppression of the actormanager and the actress-manageress. Daly does not act except as an absolute autocrat. He is his own manager, director, adviser, stage-manager, and often author. He is at the mercy of the whim and caprice of nobody. He casts his plays as he thinks they ought to be cast, and his will is law. He will have no limelight thrown upon any one individual in his company, and no printing names in big letters on his programmes. Mr. Labouchere further observes: "I believe, and I always have believed, that the playgoers of London would welcome a manager who was at once a literary man and had a practical experience of stage production. In England our ensemble is often extremely good, but it cannot be absolutely correct when plays are chosen to suit the whim of an actor-manager, and when positions are arranged and the cast chosen to fit in with the vanity or the ambition of an actress-manageress. The ideal manager is

the man who knows his business, but who does not act. Half the success of the Daly plays is due to the fact that there is a good general to guide them, free from any bias, and who knows exactly what ought to be done. And the consequence is that he can boast a happy family that has confidence in the head of it. Mr. Daly has no personal ambition to serve except to present amusing comedies and get them acted as well as he can."

THE month brought with it a number of

deaths among prominent members of the profession. The announcement from London of the death of " Fred" Vokes was a painful surprise, and many hearts went out towards his sister Rosina, between whom has existed much affection. It was in the spring of 1872 that "The Vokes Family" first appeared in this country at the Union Square Theatre. They created an immediate furor. They were then five in number, although the one called Fawdon Vokes on the bills was not really one of the family. The brother and sisters only consisted of Fred, Jessie, Victoria and Rosina. Of these sisters Jessie is dead. It is not so very long ago, and those who saw the little band of merry makers in "Belles of the Kitchen" will not forget it as long as they live. It was a revelation of a delicious stage frolic, innocent enough for a nursery, but immensely clever and full of delightful conceit. Dear old Fred! He had a face full of smiles, and his slim agile figure, his natural drollery and his generous heart will assert a place in the memory. Who will ever forget his dance with rosy faced, big-eyed Rosina and the sweet Victoria? They were the first to establish that kind of fun on the American stage, and it has bred nearly every "laughable attraction" we have seen since, but the imitators have been poor indeed.

Frederick Vokes was born in London, January 22, 1848, and made his first appearance at the old Surrey Theatre. The Vokes Family, as an organization, first appeared in London on Boxing night, 1868, when the pantomime of “Humpty Dumpty" was produced at the Lyceum Theatre. They kept

together thereafter for many years, and made great successes in the plays called "Belles of the Kitchen,” “Phœbus's Fix," 'The Wrong Man in the Right Place," and "Fun in a Fog." They were played in this country many times succeeding 1872. Frederick was the business head of the Vokes Family and the manager. He married Miss Bella Moore, the second daughter of George W. Moore, better known as "Pony" Moore, and she and a daughter ten years old survive him.

**

THE HE death of Bobby" Newcomb, the minstrel, in Tacoma, W. T., on June 1, also finishes a notable career. His right name was Robert Hughes. He was born in England about forty-five years ago, and came to this country while a boy with his father. Here he became a protegé of the famous W. W. Newcomb, who, billing him as "Little Bobby," brought him into public notice during the '50s as a ballad singer. He followed W. W. Newcomb's fortunes for many years, going with the Rumsey-Newcomb troupe to Cuba and England early in the '60s, and finally adopting the name of Newcomb. Subsequently in turn he became associated with the San Francisco, Carncross & Dixey's, Bryant's, Morris Bros.' and other leading companies. He married Mary Blake, by whom he had three daughters. All are bright children, and he had for the past three or four seasons coached them for the stage. As the Newcomb family they had traveled widely in sketches and a farce comedy, written for them by the father. At the time of his death they were together and working. Mr. Newcomb wrote many popular songs, among them "The Big Sunflower," Where the Pansies Grow," The Ivy Leaf," etc., and he was the author of the pathetic poem. "Dorkin's Night," originally published in The Clipper. He was the pioneer of “neat song and dance."

BENJAMIN MAGINLEY'S death was in

deed a shock as he was a man of the most perfect health apparently, but the pop