following were the names of the donators. Whether in the grace and high-bred courtesy of Sir Peter, the cowardly bluster of Bob Acres, the pathos of Tourbillon, or the drollery of Peter Dunducketty, this great artist of the old school enacts these characters with a general perfection that would be difficult to surpass.

LESTER WALLACK.

JOHN LESTER WALLACK is the leading light comedian upon our stage. For

many years this distinction has belonged to him. He acts seldom, it is true; but each reappearance that he makes is applauded with enthusiasm. He is also the head of the celebrated Wallack's Theater. Mr. Wallack is a son of that lamented and brilliant actor, James W. Wallack, who was known as the "Brummell of the Stage" and who came to the United States more than

sixty years ago. Les

ter Wallack was born in New York on January 1, 1819. He was educated in England, and he made his first appearance in 1848, at the New Broadway Theater, in New York, as Sir Charles Coldstream. He acted various light comedy parts under the name of John Lester. His name is really John Lester Wallack. He per

Theater was opened on Sept. 25, 1861, and the third on Jan. 4, 1882. The elder Wallack died in 1864, and Lester Wallack took his place. Mr. Theodore Moss was and is at present associated with him in the business management of the theater. Mr. Wallack, when he was in England, received a commission in the Queen's service. He married a sister of the famous English artist, J. E. Millais. Mr. Wallack is not one of those actors who show their age unpleasantly-who are old simply because they are old. He is not, of course, a young man.

formed also occasionally in romantic plays like The Three Guardsmen and Monte Cristo. This second play established Mr. Wallack's popularity. He performed under managers like Hamblin and Burton, acted for a time in London, returned to New York with his father, who had been staying in England, and who opened, in 1852, the first Wallack's Theater, then at the corner of Broome Street and Broadway. The theater was afterward moved - metaphorically-to Thirteenth Street and Broadway, and is now at the corner of Broadway and Thirtieth Street. The second Wallack's

Few persons who have passed the melancholy cross-road of

a half century are young men. But the youthfulness, the gay and graceful insouciance of some of our elder contemporaries is quite exhilarating. Mr. Wallack is in a good state of preservation His form is erect and elegant, his action vigorous and easy. Mr. Wallack has, perhaps,

lost his versatility with the progress of years; amorous and romantic lovers are

no longer in his line of work; but in a restricted field-in characters, for instance, like Prosper Couramont and Hugh Chalcote-he is an actor with a delightful style, a man of the world who can depict that entertaining sort of person, a delicate and artistic humorist.

MCKEE RANKIN.

ARTHUR MCKEE RANKIN was born in

the village of Sandwich, Ontario, Canada, on the 6th of February, 1844. He early evinced an inclination for acting, making his first appearance on the stage at the age of seventeen in the city of Rochester, playing general utility parts under the management of Wellington Meech. After a brief season of this sort of work, he yielded to the solicitations of his family, and accepted a secretaryship in the Canadian Bureau of Agriculture. He soon became tired of this, however, and on March 14, 1863, made his debut as the Count in The Stranger, at Wood's Theater, Cincinnati. From that time his advancement was

rapid, and in 1866 he was the leading man in the Arch Street Theater, Philadelphia. He then organized a company and started to star on his own account in Ours and Rip Van Winkle. In 1869, while in Boston, he met and married Miss Kitty Blanchard, a popular young actress in that city. Since that time they have played together in almost every city in America, notably at the Union Square in 1874, where they made an immense hit in the Two Orphans-Mr. Rankin playing Jaques Frochard, and Mrs. Rankin, Henrietta. In 1877 he bought The Danites from Mr. Joaquin Miller, and produced it on August 22d of the same year at the Broadway Theater, appearing in the leading role of Sandy McGee, Mrs. Rankin playing Billy Piper. His success was instantaneous, and he has since confined himself almost entirely to the Western drama. In Forty-Nine, his second play, he acts the character of Old '49, and his wife appears in the role of Carrots, a vivacious character of the Lotta type. In September, 1883, he opened his own theater on Third Avenue, New York, which he is now managing. Mr. Rankin is also the leading actor of the Union Square Theater during the present season, 1883-84. Both have appeared chiefly, of late, in their two plays. The Danites was given not long ago in London. Mrs. Rankin is a pleasant actress, and is particularly successful in her rendition of innocent, but rather roguish girls. Mr. Rankin is a vigorous, effective player, who may always be counted upon to do good work.

JOHN GILBERT.

JOHN GILBERT, the most celebrated actor associated with Mr. Wallack's company, unless we make an exception of Mr. Wallack himself, is also one of the most popular and thoroughly artistic players in New York. The town, indeed, takes a kind of personal pride in Mr. Gilbert, whose age, suave and old-fashioned manner, and splendid merit, win affection and regard the longer he lives. Mr. Gilbert's real name is John Gibbs. He was born in 1810 at Boston, next door to the house in which Charlotte Cushman was born. He acquired his education in the Boston High School, and at the age of eighteen he was a dry goods salesman. He stuck to calico for five years, and then gave rein to his dramatic talent. His first appearance was made as Jaffier in Venice Preserved, at the old Tremont Street Theater. He remained thereafter on the stage, had much success, and acted many parts. He gave performances in both New York and Boston, and then went to England. He made a successful first appearance in London, and he stayed there to act with Macready and Charlotte Cushman. When he returned to New York, he acted at the old Park Theater. Then he was at the Bowery Theater. Finally he went to Philadelphia. When Wallack's Theater, at the corner of Thirteenth Street and Broadway, was opened in 1861, Mr. Gilbert joined the company of that theater and gave, on the first night of the new house, a performance of Sir Peter Teazle in The School for Scandal. Mr. Gilbert, thereafter, acted "first old men," and at the present moment he is the ablest actor of his class in this country. It would be difficult, we believe, to find any actor in England or the United States who could perform a character like Sir Anthony Absolute, Adam, Hardcastle, Sir Peter Teazle, Dr. Sutcliffe,

and a dozen other characters, as well as Mr. Gilbert can perform them. Mr. Gilbert's acting is marked by dignity of bearing, perfection of speech, grace of gesture, sobriety of style, and genuineness. There is an occasional touch of extreme stiffness in his performances, a certain mechanical conservatism which makes them less pliable and independent than they should be. Yet Mr. Gilbert is a very fine actor, and the first of his kind. Nothing could be more charming and beautiful and true than his acting in Old Heads and Young Hearts. He wears the dress of the last century with exquisite ease and breeding. His Sir Peter Teazle is a masterpiece of old-fashioned acting, and the fashion is one that is well worth imitating.

MME. JANAUSCHEK.

MME. JANAUSCHEK was born at Prague, Bohemia, on July 30, 1832. She was the fourth of a family of nine children. At an early age she acquired the German and Italian languages and studied music. When she was sixteen, she went upon the stage. Her dramatic talent was soon discovered. She was sent to Leipsic, and shortly afterward she joined a traveling company at Chemnitz. She made her way forward rapidly and was soon engaged for a good salary, at Cologne. She kept at her studies during all this time and was warmly welcomed at Cologne. She was finally engaged as the leading actress of the Stadt Theater at Frankfort. There she stayed eleven years. She then became a star, and traveled in Europe. After acting everywhere, and after remaining for a year at the Royal Theater, Dresden, she came to this country in 1867. She appeared at the Academy of Music on Oct. 9, 1867, and was recognized at once as an actress of great accomplishment and power. She used the German language then. Her success determined her to study English, and she soon mastered this language. She began her English performances during the season of 1873-74, and for ten years she has continued to act characters like Brunhilde, Lady Macbeth, Medea, Deborah, and the like, in English. One of her most remarkable performances is her rendering of Lady Dedlock and Hortense in "Bleak House." The brilliant versatility shown in this performance is altogether unusual. Mme. Janauschek has a strong, though somewhat harsh voice, and her English intonation is not agreeable. Of late she has lost much of her old spontaneous manner. The actor, of course, is not proof against a ravaging Time. Yet Mme. Janauschek's breadth of style, brilliant artistic accomplishment, and picturesque strength, make up an acting which is always true and splendidly dramatic.

MME. MODJESKA.

MME. MODJESKA was born in Cracow, the ancient capital of Poland, now the second city of Galicia or Austrian Poland. She is the daughter of Michael Opid and Mme. Benda. Opid was a mountaineer, though a man of artistic and scholarly taste. One of the performances which she saw in her youth was Hamlet, acted by Fritz Deverient. This made a serious impression upon her mind. It fired her enthusiasm. She had worshiped Schiller, and she then began to worship Shakspeare.

Soon she longed to go upon the stage. She appealed to her half-brother, Felix Benda, who was a popular actor in Poland. He took her to an experienced actress, in whose presence she recited a poem and sang a song. But the actress was not pleased with her. She continued to study, however, and finally appeared upon

the stage. She
was not slow in
going forward,
and, after an
eventful strug-
gle, she be-
came popular
and famous.
She turned up
next in San
Francisco,
where she mas-
tered English
and appeared
upon the
American
stage as an
English-speak-
ing actress.

Her success in

California led

to her appear-
ance in New
York. She

made her first

appearance

there at the
Fifth Avenue
Theater about

six years ago,
and not very
long ago she
acted with bril-
liant success in

London. Her position upon the stage is now assured. She is one of the most charming, graceful, and delightfully artistic actresses that we have. In characters

MARY ANDERSON.

like Adrienne, Frou-Frou, and Camille, she is refined, tender, and sympathetic. In a character like Rosalind, she has no living competitor. Her's is almost the ideal Rosalind, as Modjeska's Camille is almost the ideal Camille. She is not a great tragic actress, possessing no breadth of style, no deep passion, no deep strength. She is essentially an

She came upon
the stage only
a few years
ago, and she
made her way
from the first.
She is a young
Western girl,
and a perfectly
successful act-

ress even at
her age.
She
was recognized
in the begin-
ning as a re-
markably
promising act-
ress. Since
then she has
appeared regu-
larly each sea-

son in New
York, and she

has not thrown
away her op-
portunities. At

the commence-
ment of last
autumn she
appeared at
the Lyceum
Theater, Lon-
don, where her
popularity was
established
immediately.
Miss Ander-
son's "raw-
ness" has, per-
haps, im-
pressed itself
mournfully up-
on many imag-
inative minds;
and it has been
the fashion to
place all her

talent, intelligence, and popularity to the account of her vocal organs. But thoughtful and discriminate observers of acting, here and elsewhere, will not fail to notice to-day that Miss Anderson's rawness is that of an individuality, that she is able to express soul and truth with her voice, and that her intelligence grows steadily and clearly. They will not dis

cover in her a prodigy-a very young person endowed with fine intellectual power and potent imagination. Like Mr. McCullough, Miss Anderson has worked, up to this moment, chiefly from the outside, through conscientious and ambitious endeavor; though, unlike Mr. McCullough, she has failed to put much heart into her work. She has put, as a matter of fact, youthful earnestness and strength into it. It is, however, certainly beyond question, now that she has gone ahead with such perseverance, that her intelligence has been shown of late in results which are very encouraging, and that she is exhibiting at last in her acting an appreciation of true artistic effect. It is not mastery that we look for in her acting; it is the charm, the effort, the striving of irresistible talent, which has fought its way against obstacles, which has been forced to contend against itself, and which has accomplished stately and beautiful work. Miss Anderson lacks power and diligence of mind, fire and light of fancy. Her talent is genuine, but it is a crude talent, unsupported by that depth of culture, that acquired knowledge which lifts genius from its solitude. Yet, within her limitations, she is and will remain a strong natural actress, with intelligence enough to grow and to make discreet use of her powers, and with one of the most remarkable dramatic instincts that a woman could possess. One of the characters in which Miss Anderson was accustomed formerly to sway and pose awkwardly was Julia. As Julia, Miss Anderson is not yet entirely free from self-consciousness; but her treatment is now, on the whole, singularly honest and attractive, and full of impulse rightly directed. The changes which have been remarked in her acting of Julia represent the kind of artistic progress that she has made. Miss Anderson's best performances are given in the characters of Julia, Juliet, Evadne, Parthenia, and Galatea. Her Juliet is still rather

uncertain.

CLARA MORRIS.

She

Her

Miss CLARA MORRIS is unquestionably a woman of genius, singular and original genius. There is no actress like her, and no actress can do just what she does. Miss Morris was born at Cleveland, Ohio, in 1850. She came into the world amid grim poverty. At the age of fifteen, she went upon the stage of John Ellsler's Academy of Music as a ballet girl. She toiled hard, and weakened herself to the point of sickness and disease. For years she has been a sufferer. Her poor health sapped her genius, without doubt, yet did not destroy it. The vitality of her mind and nature is really marvelous. She was at the Cleveland Theater during four seasons. advanced gradually to the first place in the theater. education was defective, but she continued to rise in spite of it. In 1869, Miss Morris appeared in Cincinnati. Then she came to New York. Mr. Augustin Daly agreed to let her perform at the Fifth Avenue Theater. She was entirely unknown, and Mr. Daly was not inclined to assist her. She joined a famous company which included many popular actresses. She was given a small part in Man and Wife at the beginning of the season of 1870-71. Miss Fanny Morant, fell ill unexpectedly, we may say fortunately, and Miss Morris was asked to perform the character of Anne Sylvester. Her success in this part was remarkably brilliant. She was seen and she conquered. Her genius was revealed within three

hours. Miss Morris then continued to act under Mr. Daly's management. She had a series of triumphs, and she was soon accounted the leading actress of the country. Finally, she quarreled with Mr. Daly and joined the company of the Union Square Theater, and gave a magnificent performance in Mr. Rowe's play, The Geneva Cross. When she quitted the Union Square Theater, Miss Morris became a star, and she has been seen on many occasions in New York. A few years ago, she acted against Mlle. Bernhardt with the utmost success. At present she has a company of her own. Miss Morris is, it need hardly be explained, a very uneven actress. She lacks education, artistic training, and, at times, artistic sincerity. She is full of eccentricity and oddity. She is also a sick woman, and her acting is done against hard obstacles. Her pronunciation of the English language is marred by a disagreeable twang and a Western treatment of the difficult letter r. Yet, after all has been said against her, and much can be said against her, she is the truest genius that we possess. Her power is deep and strange. Her pathos is irresistible. No actress can put the feeling and the fascination that she puts into characters like Camille, Cora and Miss Multon.

FANNY DAVENPORT.

Miss FANNY DAVENPORT is the daughter of the American actor E. L. Davenport, and was born in London, Eng., opposite the British Museum, in 1850. She made her first appearance on the stage at the Howard Athenæum, Boston, Mass., as the Child in Metamora, under Jacob Barrow's management. She then played children's parts in Burton's old Theater, in Chambers Street, New York. On February 14, 1862, she appeared as the King of Spain, in Faint Heart Never Won Fair Lady, at Niblo's Garden. Her acting in that play attracted the attention of Augustin Daly, the manager of the Fifth Avenue Theater, in Twenty-fourth Street, who offered her a six-weeks' engagement with her father in London Assurance. She afterward appeared at the same theater as Violetta, in She Would and She Would Not; Miss Pickland, in Goodnatured Man; Polly Eccles, in Caste; Mrs. Madison Noble, in Surf; Alice Hawthorn, in Old Heads and Young Hearts; Effie Remington, in Saratoga; the Baroness, in Article 47; and Leo Ten Eyck, in Divorce. The theater was then burned, and after the new Fifth Avenue had been completed, in Twenty-eighth street, she scored a great success as Mabel Renfrew, in Pique; a play written for her by Mr. Daly. She starred throughout the country with this play, and in her company was the actor Edwin F. Price, to whom she was married in 1880. In the fall of 1882 she went to Paris, and there purchased the right to produce Sardou's great emotional drama of Fedora in this country. It was accordingly brought out by her at the Fourteenth Street Theater, New York, on October I, 1883, and both Miss Davenport and Mr. Mantel, an excellent English actor, have won popular favor in it. Miss Davenport is a very versatile actress, but great tragic rôles, like Lady Macbeth, are beyond her reach. She is essentially a society actress. She must also be credited with considerable emotional power. Her acting, for instance, in the emotional character of Fedora is a wonderfully clever performance, but it lacks delicacy and the spontaneity of true dramatic fire.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF ACTORS,

ACTRESSES AND SINGERS.

Abbott, Emma, was born in Chicago, where her father was a local musician. At an early age she manifested a taste for singing, and when quite young started east alone. According to her own account she carried her shoes in her hand, and went barefooted to save them. At Toledo, Ohio, she applied for work, and also at Cincinnati. In this manner she worked her way to New York, where she sang in halls, etc., until she came under the notice of her benefactor, who sent her abroad to be educated for the operatic stage. In 1876 Miss Abbott made her debut in London, as Maria in La Figlia del Reggimento, and was criticised somewhat unfavor

ably by the English critics. In the mean time some overzealous friends had been inserting rather injudicious accounts of her marvelous voice in the American papers. Public curiosity was widely awakened, and a desire was felt on all sides to know whether she was really all that her friends had claimed for her, and whether she would prove to be the representative American prima donna to succeed Miss Kellogg. But on her appearance in 1877 at the New York Academy of Music, in La Figlia del Reggimento, she was severely handled by the critics. They universally agreed that she merely possessed a light and flexible soprano voice, not by any means a phenomenal one either in point of quality or volume or range. In the upper register there is an edge which grates very unpleasantly on the ear, and it is essentially metallic. Her

great musical talent at an early age, and for several years sang in a cathedral choir at Albany, after her parents had moved to that city. Her voice gave such promise that in 1868 a purse was made up by her friends to send her to Paris, where she received vocal instruction from Duprez. After studying two years longer with the celebrated maestro Lamperti in Milan, Mme. Albani, in 1870, made her début in Italy, in La Sonnambula. In 1873 she sang for the first time to a London audience, and has been a great favorite with the English people since that time. She first came to America in 1874, with the impresario Strakosch, but her operatic tour in this country did not prove a financial success, owing mainly to poor support. She was well received in New York, however, and was greeted with great enthusiasm on her appearance

middle and lower notes are weak and of inferior quality. She had the perseverance, however, to organize an opera company, supported by William Castle and others, and in spite of adverse criticism, she has become a favorite with her audiences in Western towns. Her répertoire includes The Bohemian Girl, in which she made her reputation, King for a Day, Elixir of Love, Paul and Virginia, The Colleen Bawn, The Lily of Killarney, Rigoletto, Sonnambula, Carmen, Faust, Maritana, Fra Diavolo, Lucia, Martha, Mignon, Chimes of Normandy, and Romeo and Juliet.

Albani, Emma, is the stage name of the favorite operatic singer whose maiden name was Emma Lajeunesse. Her parents were French Canadians, and she was born at Plattsburg, N. Y., in 1850. She showed

with the Mapleson troupe in the spring of 1883. In 1878 she married Mr. Ernest Gye, the son of the wellknown London manager. M me. Albani is heard to great advantage as Elsa in Lohengrin, Margherita in Faust, Zenta in The Flying Dutchman, and Amina in La Sonnambula. She possesses a rich, full, and resonant soprano voice. It is best in the upper register, where it

is unusually pure;

in the middle and lower register it is veiled and not strong. Her acting is always conscientious and painstaking.

Albaugh, John W.-This sterling actor and manager was born at Baltimore, Md., on September 30th, 1837. He made his first public appearance on February 1st, 1855, as Brutus, in the tragedy of that name, at the Baltimore Museum, under the management of Joseph Jefferson. He became a manager on August 22d, 1855, and opened his first

regular season at the Holliday Street Theater, Baltimore. His first appearance in New York was at the Chambers Street Theater, under the management of E. L. Davenport and Harry Watkins, in 1857. Since that time he has taken his place with success in various companies in all the principal cities of this country. In July, 1866, Mr. Albaugh married Mary Mitchell, a well-known and talented actress and sister to Maggie Mitchell. After his marriage he gave up acting, and has since devoted his energies to the arduous duties of theatrical management. At the present time he is proprietor of the Holliday Street Theater, Baltimore, and the National Theater, Washington.

Aldrich, Louis.-This popular actor was born in Ohio on the 1st of October, 1843. His first appearance was made on the stage at the only