Show D iAi1d1ANIYtYRIo r 1 j 1 tof i4p vciliigvith2Ed Will l F 1 rest a 1 FORREST AND EDYUX KEAX e = > t The Great Actor and Lincoln Sav < 1 fria4Sn1cideParsOitftlbItCiflifl I r Jscyuces JscyucesL We surrender our space this morning to make room for the following interesting inter-esting article writfen for TUE HERALD by Dr Kane the theatrical veteran now resting in this city of whom we have before had occasion to speak Dr Kane has written extensively for the Argonaut Argo-naut the Mirror the St Ronis Rcpub llcan and many other of the leading papers of the country and his articles on the drama are always greeted with the keenest appreciation His personal reminiscences of Edwin Forrest will be extremely interesting reading at this time when everything relating to the great actor is so eagerly sought after and cherished Now that Edwin Forrest has left the world and that smaller stage of which he was incontestably one of the brightest est lights for over forty years innumerable innumer-able anecdotes more or less true arc told of him What I am about to relate is the result of a few hours conversation conversa-tion with the great actor on the night he closed his last engagement at the bt Charles Theatr in New Orleans It was in the season of 18712 I had witnessed his performance of Learl hud I seen the character rendered and though 1 never saw such a mighty piece of realistic treatment of the part before and I am quite sure I have not seen it done so well since Forrest looked I every inch a King His reading of the lines I am a foolish fond old man Foreseen and upwards and to deal plainly I fear I am not in my perfect mind has never been effaced from my memory The auditors were movcn to tears At the close of the play I entered the dark alley ot the Theatre and at the foot of the stairs I met Joe McCardle Forrests licCardleit business man who said Here comes the governor now and in a few moments mo-ments Forrest was grasping my hand How arc you doctor said he in a I gruff vOlceI heard you were sick and I was afraid I should leave tonI 1 without seeing you He then placed I his arm in mine and we walked and talked all the way to the St Charles j I hotel i We went into the supperroom nod 1 the old man ate heartily After that we were soon cozily ensconced in Ins comfortable quarters I hMr Forrest said I when we were seated were 3011 ever a circus rider Yes I washe answered from the depths of his throat I was with a I dramatic company in 1826 or 1S27 in Lexington Kentucky The company broke up I had to do someUiiii i 1epin and IJreshard two Fronchmci came along with their circus and I joined them I never rode except in i the entry but I went into the ring and leaped and tumbled as well as the beat of them and then the old ma laughed at the remembrance When did you first come to New Orleans I came here about 1S27 from Nashville Nash-ville as a member of the stock con pan at the old Camp fct Theatre with James II Caldwell this father of the drama of the south and the man gurator of gaslight in New Orleans I was forfeited fined twice during the season once for refusing to play Romeo and again for not playing Hamlet because I did not think I uta old enough to play either part I thin I Romeo should be played by a man oC I mature years I saw Charles KembI I play it with wrinkles on his face acid it was an excellent performance During my first visit to the Crescent City I was wandering one night along I Camp Strcet when at the corner uf Canal I was attracted by the noise of a roulette wheel in a gambling house I had but a single dollar in my pocket j I yet I went in to try my hick In a I few hours I won 1000 a fortune to me at that time of life With my luck I went home to bed but there was no rest for me that I night Whether by the cnange of mj pecuniary condition or bv the fascination fascina-tion of the gamins table I do not know but I arose and returned to the gambling house In a short time I was cleaned out and this was my first and I last gaming experience J never putdown put-down adollar since I was once on board a steamboat I I on the Mississippi river going somewhere some-where I dont know where but one day as I was reading a bOok a fine looking gentleman accostqd me and said he owed his fortune to me I am1said he very wealthy Now not knowing hdw I conld have been instrumental instru-mental sri making a fortune for a man I had never seen before I naturally asked him to explain < > Wellsir1 said the gentlemanafew Syears ago I was a ruined man disgusted dis-gusted with the world and mankind One night you were performing Damon and Pythias at the Camp Street Theatre Thea-tre I dropped in and saw the play out Iwas so struck with the feeling with which you Jmbued the character of Damon and the devofjon which exists between the two Iriends that I concluded con-cluded that the world was not so bad at I had pictured it I left the Theatre with wholcsome impressions nerved myself Jonce more for the struggle of lie and now you see before you a successful and happy man I live over here in Bayou Sara I own a large plantation and as I owe everything to you should be happy to share it with I you Forrest however declined He was growing in popularity his attachment to the stage was fixed and he maintained main-tained it to the last I understand ilr Forrest said I that the first time yon appeared prominently before the public was when playing with Edmund Ed-mund Kean Yes11 he replied I was at Albany when Kean made his first appearance there Othello was put up for the opening night I was cast for lago I went to the theatre in the morning rKean did pot come I went to hi hotel sentTJp lid nd was ushered into his presence r saw a little pale faced man with curly black hair with an eve by God he had a perfect mirror mir-ror of an eye I told him I was the person cast for Ingo and oste did not J come to the rehearsal I had come to I him to see if he had any particular business that he might want done at night Sit down said he With regard to business all I want you to do at night is to come on thestageandlookat me it will be all right Kean then sat down at the piano and sang one of Moores melodies Believe me if all those endearing young charms He had a splendid voice and was the nnest tineer ever heard in my life and have heard them all At night continued Forest when in the play I had to say Look to yonr wife observe her well with C itslo Wear your ej s thus not jealous nor secure As much us to say dont be too dri sure of her At the same time I placed my face close to his and gave him avery a-very meaning look Lean glanced at me with surprise After the curtain fell Kean came to me and said Young man where did you get that idea i from What idea I asked The idea of looking me so intensely in the eyes when you said nor secure Why I got it from where you got your great style ofacting replied from nature Rean grasped me warmly by the hand and said You will make a name nameA few Weeks after Kean was the recipient of a grand dinner in Philadelphia Phila-delphia during which he drank to the health of Edwin Forrest and urged the assembly to encourage as he said Coming actor of the day The speech was reported but the fellow that did it got drunk and lost that copy I would give 1000 tonight to-night for that report as I heard that Kean spoke of me in the highest terms In the following spring I came to New York and put up at a boardinghouse I was without a dollar I did not have two shirts in the world My clothes had been seized for board in Albany I was thoroughly disgusted with the world and resolve to kill myself I went to a drug store and bought some arsenic I told the apothecary I wanted to kill rats I went to my room and mixed it and was upon the point of taking it when just as tnings happen on the stage I heard a gentle rap on the door a man came in who said he was an actor and that his name was Woodnull The object of his visit was to get me to play for 1m benefit He said he had never seen me act but he had heard Ogden Hoof man a member of the Leg islature and others capable of judging say that I was very fine I told him hastily tha fl had done with acting and that 1 did not know anything about him or his benefit The actor looked downcast at me and said 1 am a poor man and have along a-long summer to run through I had hoped you would have come to my aid and assit me in supporting sup-porting my family otherwise we arc beggared These words touched me so said Forrest that I finally consented I played Othello for him It nas a grand sweep financially and dramatically dram-atically for hundreds were turned from the doors of the theatre Next morning Mr Gilford manager of the Bowery Theatre put 500 into my hand and engaged me for a year at his thentre From that time till now my couraoiiflh been onward and upward up-ward In 1829 I apf c rd in the first of my American dramas in Metaoiora1 wnt ten by a printer bv the name of Wn Stone for the play I gave him 500 ama am-a benefit He eventually committee suicide by drowning in the Delaware River In 1831 Doctor Bird of Phila dclphia wrote The Gladiator for me and afterwards The Broker of Bogota and then Oralooba Judge Conrad wrote Jack Cade for me I afterwards paid 1000 for a play entitled Mahomet which I subsequently concluded was more fit for the closet than the stage I did all I could to encourage native talent ain a-in this case the play Lad much merit but the under plot was had and it did not suit my purpose of founding the American drama h Apropos said I Mr Forrest what do you think of the relative position of I the legitimate drama and the sensation business Do you belieye that the legitimate will soon recover its lust preeminence No he replied in a deep tone the sensational got such strong hold upon the public that it would take a Shakespeare and a Garrick combined to uproot it However when there shall come a time when we will have a man thatcan look and act Antony and a woman who can look and act Cleopatra Cleopat-ra and the play is gotten up with the same careof detail and expense as The Black Crook was with a panorama o C the Nile and a fine ballet of beautiful women why it will run for a thousand nights Mr F then spoke of his relations with the press < a hI have seldom been criticized but often attacked but I am happy to say my detractors have almost exclusively been foreigners One exception I make and that was when I was in England Douglas lerrold wrote the finest article on my Othello I ever had in my life I am prouder of that than any notice I 1 over received Did yon not from your style upon the methods of Edmund Kean and Thomas Cooper I did JJ replied the veteran You are < of Scotch descent are you noUJJ < notMy father was of that race but my mother was Dutch of a Holland family She was extremely pious I was not a strong child I often heard the old people say Ned is a weak child wefear we shall never bs able to raise him I wondered why I should not live like the rest of the children Early in life I took a great deal of exercise and made myself what I ama Hercules Hercu-les But I come of a gouty family but I have conquered everything and I will conquor tliisat the same time he wave his leftarin a low with his right hand I asked Mr Forrest what he thought oC E Barrett He took occasion to say that he was a talented fellow who lad struck out a path of his own he copies no one He rose from the lowest round of the dramatic ladder with no one to help him I know what that isle is-le added i no one helped me Barrett I will make his mark Fecter he observed served is a melodramatic actor not a tragedian His Hamlet is good but there is more trick than art about it He can play Claude Kuy BIas and Monte Christo finely I 1i always thought snide I that logo was a more difficult part to play than Othello Am right By no means There are hundred en who can play lago but very few can play Othello replied the old man Forrest was a fine mimic During the evening he gave me an imitation of John Green in his Irish part of Dennis Bulgruddy He also mimiced a French I priest whom he heard delivering a sermon ser-mon in Montreal But the beat of all of this dialect lielniations was an imitation imi-tation of Daddy Rice of Jim Crow notoriety It was true to life In fact Forrest was an actor in a vary emenant degree Upon my complementing him upon his Irish brogue he said I think I must have some Irish in me for when I was a yomnj man I was constantly getting into fights I used to jet the scenepainter to paint my face to hide the marks Jefferson was held in high esteem by the old man He remarked that he came of a good dramatic stock I think the grandfather of the present pres-ent Joe one of the finest actors I ever saw I have a bill in my possession at home in vhieh Jetfewon played a prominent prom-inent part with David Garrick For Uonrcicault he had a profound contempt con-tempt He never wrote an original play in his life and as a man to do business busi-ness with he is a rascal As the greatest great-est of poets he remarked 1 rank Homer then comes Virgil and then Shakespeare Byron could write de cription finch but could not write a dialogue Shakespere excelled in both Forrest told a story connecting with his trip to California He was deathly sea sick yet it did not prevcpt him swearing A preacher who was onboard on-board undertook to admonish him for his profanity bt Forrest only answered answer-ed that his Lord and Master when at sea was devlish glad to get out and walk The captain of the ship now approached them and sought to sod he the old man by remarking that beloved be-loved the sea that he went to sea as a matter of choice and would not live onshore on-shore Thats a dam lie sir said Forrest I know of Jut one man who went to sea as a matter of choice for if he had remained on shore he would have been drowned and that was Noah One night during the war Forrest was in Washington The play was Richelieu President Lincoln accompanied ac-companied by Forney Seward and several prominent members of the administration ad-ministration was seated in a private box at the left of the stage In political politi-cal opinions Forrest was directly opposed op-posed to them When in the grand apostrophe to the pen Mr Forrest rose solemnly and deliberately facing 1 the Presidents box With tho pen held majestically aloft his eyes flashing fire the tones of that wonderful voice vibrating vibrat-ing through the theatre and speaking with unusual deliberation and emphasis he pave such a rendering of Buluers lines as must have astonished the President Presi-dent Beneath the rule 01 men entirtlv great The pen is mtghtier than the sword Tale away the sword States can be saved without it ha looked the party squarely in theCa the-Ca e as much as to say And thats mv opinion too The shot hit its mark There ensued some whispered remarks between Lincoln Lin-coln and Forney and a deprecatory shake of the head on the part of the former accompanied by a dubious elevation ele-vation of the eyebroBs as much as to say Well I never heard that passage read that way before Forty years ago the American stage contained several actors of no mean promice Among them was Augustus Adams Of him Forrest said He was a splendid fellow and had he not abused the gifts of nature he would i have oon acquired a prominent place I upon the stage of the daybut lie was his own worst enemy He fell a victim to the actors bane stiong drink Another An-other actor who promised to take a front rank was Charles Eaton Forrest said of him he committed the too con mon error of copying from others II IJ notonly imitated Booth on but off the stage He was killed while in a state of intoxication by falling from a balcony of a hotel Forrest did not shave in the general opinion of Edwin Booth and said sig nificantly lIe had a father bornb fore him and that he had a brother both of whichrfacts helped to makebis reputation it was nearly daylight when I was about to take my leave I asked him if he intended to come to New Orleans next year i What do we know about next year said he I Sure enough he died the following i spring I I Forrest was a very singular man Beneath I Be-neath his rugged stern manner which perhaps the rude buffets ot the world I had given him there was a deep well of natural tenderness The simple utterance ut-terance of the word Cordelia as the king kneels by the body of his dead daughter seemed to bubble up from his very heart There was something in the subdued pathos of his utterance of the line Her voice was ever soft gentle gen-tle and low which went straight to the heart And now that wondrous voice is stilled anti the noblest Roman of them all is laid away inthe silent tomb forever During our conversation Joe Me Cardell was packing up the trunks preparatory pre-paratory to the old mans departure for Galveston Joe said Forrest dont put up that volume of Shakespeare I want to read it on the road Whatl Do YOU read Shakespeare at your time of life I asked Read it he replied I read it every day Shakespeare was a greater man than Jesus Christ After a hearty shake of the hand he said Give my love to your petty laughter and dont forget to conic and see me next June in Philadelphia I took my leave little thinking then that a man of his physique was so near his end Out oat brief candle Life tfBo bni n walking Rhalow poor player That struts and frets his hourupou the stage And then Is heard no more I DE KANE SALT LAKE CITY September 1118S5 J |