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Show STAGE NAMES, Manner of Their Adoption hy 3ra-matlc 3ra-matlc Celebrities. Tho list of names on tho end of a theatrical programmo which is dovotcd to the chorus often reads llko a Joko book, for a chorus girl scorns to havo a wild desire to be an Almeo or a Gwendolyn Gwendo-lyn rather than a Bridget or a Kate. Perhaps Per-haps it Is only natural, but bettor taste could bo used In many cases, and a 200-pound 200-pound Lillian or Dotty aro somewhat humorous. hu-morous. The Dramatic Mirror has a good artlclo about stage names of famous fa-mous actors, and says that Julia Mar-lowo Mar-lowo believed hers to bo Impossible It was Frost, and to this her mother pro fixed Sarah and sho chose, after long deliberation, the namo of several heroines hero-ines of tho classic drama and combined it with tho surnamo of Christopher Marlowe. Mar-lowe. Tho result is euphonious and dignified. dig-nified. Some of the foremost players lmvu perpetuated tho namo which had been Identified with tho etago by others of their family. Thus with Mrs. Flsko when sho was Mlnnlo Maddern, thus Ethel Barrymoro, whose namo is Blytho, and Maudo Adams, who Is Miss Klskad-don. Klskad-don. Blanoho Walch stood valiantly by tho family name, as did, I believe, Julia Arthur. Maxlne Elliott debated with herself lengthily whether lo forsako the moro commonplace Jessie McDermott, but selected ono of tho most Individual and Individually appropriate names on tho American stage. Whatever tho source, Virginia Harned has an excellent stago name, strong and lasting as a mountain pine. Edwin Arden, whoso family namo was Hubert Pendleton Smith, arrived logically at tho conclusion that led to the adoption of his professional name. "I argued that Smith wus a bad namo for an actor unless un-less he was a great one, and 1 had no hopo of that consummation. Besides, thero was an old and excellent theatrical family named Smith the family of tha Into Mark Smith and that might causo many complications and necessitate many explanations should I use It. Besides, I had read Oliver Wendell Holmes's poem, 'Tho Boys,' In which ho regrets that 'fate tried to conceal' some one by 'naming him Smith ' Therefore I chose two family fam-ily names. I fell that I hud a right to them Arden was my mother's family maiden name and Edwin was my grnnd-lather's. grnnd-lather's. In time, with my father's consent, con-sent, 1 had inv namo changed by law, and becamo In a legal as well as professional profes-sional sense Edwin Arden." Blanche Bates uses her family name. So. I think, do Wilton Lackayo and Dus-tln Dus-tln Famum. E. 11. Solhcrn loses no prestige pres-tige by adhering to tho old namo mado Illustrious by his father. Eleanor Rob-son Rob-son mado no chango In tho family namo bequeathed her by her father, although bv reverting to. tho maternal side he might havo borrowed and revivified tho famous ono of her grandmothor, Evelyn Cameron. Somotlmcs a typosotter's blunders blun-ders havo determined the names of stago beginners. It was tho story of May Rob-son's Rob-son's stago christening alio had determined deter-mined to uso her own name In tho profession. pro-fession. " 'Mary Robinson' It should havo appeared on tho bill. 'May Robson' was tho typo's playful little variation. I felt Hko crying. I bellcvo I did a Uttlo. Mrs. Courtalno was a member of tho company. Sho dried my tears, figuratively speaking, by tolling mo to adopt tho namo. 'It will bring good luck, child sho said; 'Indeed It will ' So May Robson 1 have romalncd on the programmes," sho sayB. if. as goes tho Rlalto legend, Ada Rohan Ro-han was originally Bridget Crohan, she gained In euphony by thc elision and substitution. sub-stitution. A. Lamb said ho had never known a stage Ada who was not clovor Ada Dwyer, who uses tho namo her parents par-ents gave her, dropping that of her husband, hus-band, Harold Russell bears out of tho claim. So does Ada Oilman, who, by tho way. was lho prima donna In Do Wolf Hopper" h first theatrical venture, tho Ill-fated Ill-fated "Hundred Wives," nngcllzcd by him, Mr. Hopper. In passing, bo It said, rotalncd his Quaker surname, dropping his Christian name, William, and Jefferson Jeffer-son Do Angclls sticks, aa ho should, to tho nnmo that was borno by three generations gener-ations of comedians. |