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Show By JOHN BAUER General Manager, Valley Music Mall l Undoubtedly the most successful and popular American play of the nineteenth nine-teenth century was "Uncle Tom's Cabin," the dramatization drama-tization of Harriet Beecher Stowe's famous story. It was played uninterruptedly for fifty years after it was first produced. There were actors who, during the last quarter of t h e nineteenth century, played in nothing else. Acting Act-ing in this play became an industry for many actors and quite ceased to be an art. In the single summer of 1902, there were sixteen companies in our country playing the piece under canvas. The early performers in the play were not called Uncle Tomers as they were at the turn of the century. That name was given to them in later years when the country became flooded with companies playing this piece, and advertisements in the dramatic papers read: "Uncle Tomers Wanted." The Howard family were the first actors to play "Uncle Tom's Cabin." They staged the adaptation which had been made from Mrs. Stowe's book by George L. Aiken. They opened with it in Troy, New York, where it had a run oi over ! three months. F.om there i they took it to the National Theatre in New York, where they gave their first performance on July 18 1853. AI'Ut ll-.e New ' Yor! run, they took the play on tour. George C. Ho war J acted St. Clair and he made an ideal Southern planter. On an off the stage he invar- j iably wore a black broad- I cloth frock coat with brass buttons, and he always had on lavender trousers. So, when he was around the hotels and on the streets of towns where "Uncle Tom's Cabin" was playing, people who had seen him at the theatre would recognize him at once and would say, "There goes Eva's father." Mrs. Howard was Topsy. The concensus of theatre critics is that there has never been anyone to equal her characterization. Cordelia, Cor-delia, Mrs. Howard's daughter, daugh-ter, was a born actress who was noted for her portrayal of Little Eva. Crowds would follow her when she was out on the streets or in the stores shopping with her mother. They all wanted to get a peep at Little Eva with her long golden hair. |