Show Ca 2 By JOHN BAUER General Manager Volley Valley MusIc Ilan th that England's s d du u most otoe re- re renowned actor David Gar Car Carrick rick and the compiler of the first English dictionary Dr Samuel Johnson came from the same town Lich field It is less well known that they to try their fortunes in the great city of London at one and the same time In 1737 they reached the metropolis of their dreams in a most condi tion One it is said arrived with a single shirt and a pair of breeches the other with two pairs of stockings without tops or feet They took out lodgings in an ob ob- ob obscure corner of London where they lived for some sometime sometime time Garrick was the first to gain ain popular recognition He burst forth forthm in m theatrical splendor and won a reputation tation that has not dimmed in the years since he made his London debut in 1741 at Goodman Goodmans s 's Fields Theatre as Richard Ill Poor Sam Johnson at this time was condemned to make the most of his one shirt having to lie in bed while it was being laundered At the time his mother died he was forced to write Rasselas to raise sufficient funds to bury her Many years after when both men were at the pin nacle of their fame John John- Johnson Johnson son at a dinner party teased tE-ased Garrick on their early poverty and reminded him of the meanness of the garret they had occupied occupied pied when they first arrived In London Garrick was embarrassed and denied the assertion Come come said the famed Lexicographer Dont forget old friends Davy thou that we lived in a garret for many months and that I reached London with three pence in my pocket whilst thou Davy only three pence halfpence in thine Garrick and Johnson were long life friends In 1747 Johnson wrote the pro pro- logue prologue for the opening of the Drury Lane Iane Theatre under Garrick's manage manage- management ment and in his second year as manager Garrick pro pro- produced Johnsons Johnson's Mahomet J and I Irene In January 1779 when G Garrick and died r Johnson offered to write his biography an offer for reasons unknown not aCt ac- ac accepted by Mrs Garrick Postscript A gentleman asking a friend who had seen Carrick perform his fi first and his ro last role p if he thought ht him as good an actor when he took his leave of the stage of Old Drury as when he first played at Goodman Goodmans s 's Fields he gave for an answer the following I saw him rising in the East In till ail his energetic glows I saw him setting in the west Vest In greater splendour than he rose I |