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Show I WIVES I HA VE MET-Bv Nat Goodwin B VTAT Goodwin's Book," which Richard G. Bed- B'J ger of Boston has just published, tolls all about Hl tho author's encounters with Hymen, sketches the Rt character of each of the feminine parties to the B) contract and throws in for good measure some Btt humor and philosophy based on the several exper- B iences. All the Information vouchsafed in this B.1 article has been gathered in the afore-mentioned B book. B" Nat Goodwin has had five wives. Their por- B traits, stretched in a row across the cover of his Br book, testify to tho fact that all were beautiful. B' Their names were respectively, Eliza Weatherby, B Nella Baker Pease, Maxine Elliott, Edna Good- Bj rich and Margaret Moreland. The last is the B! present Mrs. Goodwin, having been married to B the author sinae May of last year. B'' Eliza Weatherby, one of tho most beautiful j actresses that ever graced the stage, came to Kr this country originally with Lloyd Thompson. B. From her salary she supported a widowed mother B and five sisters. Mr. Goodwin met her when they B' were cast for the same company of Rice & Good- B win's "Evangeline," and friendship soon ripened B into love. They were married by the Rev. M. B Kennedy of New Rochelle on Juno 24, 1877. B The first Mrs. Goodwin, who was ten years B older than her husband, is apparently the only B real wife the author over had. He characterizes B her among the five as "the wife who mothered B me" and writes of her in the highest terms of B affection and appreciation. They played together B after their marriage until illness forced her re- B tirement from the stage. When she died she left Bj her entire fortune to her husband, an action which H was doubly gratifying to him, in. that it enabled B; him to cancel all his debts and served as a sort Bf of vindication from the accusations of neglect and B 'cruelty which his villifiers heaped upon him. Of H' )irr lio Rnvs: V "Eliza Weatherby was one of the most beauti- B ful women whom I have ever known, and one of B the most self-sacrificing wives that ever blessed B man with devotion and love. B "I was only a stripling when I married this B beautiful creature. Moreover I was unre'iable B and, I confess, unappreclative of what the fates B had been so kind as to bestow upon me. Many BB have accused me of 'wanton neglect.' I may HH have neglected her, but only for the companion- B ship of men. She never complained and d"ing B the ten years of our happy married 1. there B was never one discordant note. She was ten m years my senior and treated me more like a son H than a husband, but, like the truant boy who M Tuns away from school now and then, I was H always glad to return and seek the forgiveness H that an indulgent mother always gives a wayward P3 child. Our own home near Boston was a little B paradise, I was seldom away from it and together H we spent many, many happy hours, surrounded BH by our little sisters and my friends who were H always her friends. She waG domesticated to a H degree and never cared for the theatre. A loving H sister, a dutiful daughter, a loving wife, she is H resting in Woodlawn and the daisies grow over 1 her grave." BB Mr. Goodwin's second, and third wives ware H ' thrust on him by circumstances. First, for num- H ' ber two. B Along in the early nineties Nat was living with B John 'Mason in a flat on ' Twenty-eighth street. B He began to weary of single life. Mrs. Nella R Baker Pease, wife of a Buffalo dilettante, ap- B peared nightly in his audience and made herself B conspicuous by effusive applause. She was a B gifted woman possessed of many talents, music B being the principal one. The author character- B , Izes her as "the best amateur piano player I ever B heard." BMfcMHBH'-HHBr When playing in Buffalo, he was Introduced to all of her family, including the dilettonto bus-band, bus-band, whose income proceeded from a rich father, and discovered that her home was nothing noth-ing short of a whitened sepulchre. He promised to get her out of it by fitting her for the stage and enlisting the aid of his friends to get engage-. ments for her. His mother became interested in Mrs. Pease's troubles and Invited her to spend a few days in their Boston home. She came, and remained several months. When the author returned re-turned from his tour to the parental rooftree, ho found Mrs. Pease still present, and, being subsequently subse-quently thrown with her a great deal, found her very attractive and entertaining. He was just about to place her in Steele Mackay's charge, when her dilettante husband suddenly served him with papers charging alienation of the lady's affections. And there you are! Mr. Goodwin, always gal lant, gave up a prima donna to whom he had become be-come greatly attached and married the pianist. The birth of their son was the happiest event in the author's life, just as liis death was the saddest. sad-dest. But Mrs. Goodwin was a changed woman from that day. She became insanely jealous of the child, and the curtain Is charitably dropped on their lives. In 1896 her husband secured a divorce from her by agreeing to pay her $20,000. His comment is that "wives came high, even in those days." Maxine Elliott was the third. Mr. Goodwin met her at a banquet in San Francisco just prior to his Australian tour. He was attracted by her marvelous beauty and decided de-cided that she, Instead of Blanche Walsh, should bo his leading lady. Everybody told him that Maxine was a rotten actress, and the papers were full of roasts on her work, but he would not listen. When he went home and told his manager this is what happened: "Why, you re crazy!" he shouted. She s beautiful to look at, but she can't act; she hasn't the emotion of an oyster! Blanche Bates is playing play-ing rings around her in Frawley's company! Get Bates if you can, but pass up Elliott! Read what the San Francisco papers say about her! Go to sleep and in the morning I'll try to engage Blanche Bates for you!' "I only wish I had followed his advice, but Fate was peeping over my ramparts! And he caused me to pass a very restless night! "Dressing in my best regalia the next morning morn-ing I called upon Miss Elliott at the Baldwin Hotel. In a few moments I was ushered into her presence and quickly told her of my purpose. It appeared to appeal to her, but there were several barriers in the way. She was about to sign with Harry Miner and Joseph Brooks for the following season. I soon learned that that part of it could be easily arranged, as no documents were signed nor material secured. Her little sister Gertrude must also be looked after. I said I would engage her whole family, if she so desired. "As I look back to that little impromptu business busi-ness talk I can see the demure, simple, intelligent Gertrude Elliott, whose fawn-like, penetrating eyes and shell-like ears drank in every word of our conversation. I reca'l the awe with which she reviewed every act and speech of her beautiful sister! "Fate plays pranks with us all and shifts about to suit Its pleasure. Why did he concentrate his force upon one sister at that interview and do-' mand obedience? "There were two prizes in that room for me to select. As usual I drew the blank! "Had I not made those two engagements the pages of history would have been greatly changed. Had the little Kentucky family held aloof there would have been no Maxine Elliott theatre in New York; Forbe's-Robertson woulQ never have met the sweet Gertrude; the latter would never have been launched as a star; Max- O ine would not now be a retired actress, rich and famous; Clyde Fitch's career would have been postponed, and the avenues of my poor life would hove been broader and less clogged with weeds." They sailed for Australia, where they had a most successful season. Now it so happened that Maxine had filed suit for divorce against her husband on almost the identical day that Nat was arranging to separate from his second wife. Neither knew of tho action of the other until the decrees were granted, when the papers began to bristle with scandal about the coincidence. Maxine Max-ine and Gertrude were almost prostrated with humiliation, which did not decrease as the time ... for returning o America approached: " Til never go back to that beastly country,' walled Maxine. 'Just see what they say about you and me,' and she thrust an armful of newspapers news-papers at me. 'Never mind me,' I replied. Think of yourself.' And when I discovered that that attempt at consolation was no go, I added, 'Why, it will all be dead by the time we get back.' Maxine Max-ine was not to be comforted, however. She was sure our arrival In America would result in a fresh outburst of scandal. ' Maybe it will, I agreed, 'but we haven't done any wrong, any harm, so why should we worry?' Maxine wrung her hands and sobbed. 'We know our behavior I has been absolutely right,' I urged. 'We know,' said Maxine, 'but the world does -not know.' And I confess -I could find nothing to say to that. 1 was rattled. A chicken I had bought on my way home from the track and had put on a spit to roast over my grate fire was a mass of charcoal when I finally discovered It. At dinner I upset a bottle of claret all over the table cloth and spilled a pot of hot tea into Gertrude's lap. It was tho most inharmonious meal I ever ate. I was rattled! "And all the time Gertrude said nothing. That is, up to the moment. that scalding tea hit her. Then she let go! " 'You two people are acting like a couple of fools,' she began succinctly. 'There's only one way out of it and you have got to take it.' " 'What is it?' Maxine and I asked. ' 'Cable America you're engaged and are to be married some time next season.' "I left the room. At the theatre Maxine and I made no reference to Gertrude's suggestion. On our return to the hotel I tried to excuse myself from our usual supper. But Max, with a merry little twinkle in her eyes, said, 'Oh, come on.' " 'What do you think of Gertrude's suggestion sugges-tion ?' asked Max. " 'What do you think of it?" I parried. " 'I'm game,' said Max. " 'You're on,' said. "And thus began my romance.' " Mr. Goodwin doesn't remember the date of the marriage. It is very difficult for him to remember re-member dates. He knows the place, however. It was the Hollander hotel in Cleveland. "Max received two wedding presents a diamond dia-mond ring from me and an anonymous letter from some 'Christian lady' warning her against the 'Monster" who had lured her Into 'Holy Matrimony!' Matri-mony!' "We were very happy at least I was for a few months. I made the mistake of introducing her to few conspicuous, powerful financiers who gave her tips on the stock market (and casual luncheons!). They also gave me tips,. Mine lost invariably. Hers always won. How very strange! "As we toured through tho country to splen- BHBHBHHBBHKaKBBHBBHB did business I discovered her authority was growing. grow-ing. I was constantly being censured for my grammar. She began to stage-manage my productions produc-tions without waiting for my suggestions. She complained of my companions whom she found 'common.' My previous marriages came in for a share of her disappoval. "I found this amusing, inasmuch as she herself her-self had made a previous plunge; as I had taken one of her family out of a lumber yard and tried to make him an actor; as I had taken a cousin from a picture gallery in Boston where she was going blind trying to copy miniatures and made her an actress, and as another member of her family had committed suicide in a disreputable place in San Francisco. With this genealogical tree waving in the background she still had the courage to pluck my friends from my garden and call them 'vulgar'." " The author has never had a very high opinion opin-ion of Clyde 'Fitch, who pursued him with manuscripts manu-scripts for months before he finally agreed to produce "Nathan Hale." Though the play made a great success, the author regards his connection connec-tion with the American playwright as extremely unfortunate. From the time of the first contract made between them, Mr. Goodwin narrates that Maxine and Fitch conspired against him. They launched her as a star (on her husband's money!) and broke up his home. It is about their life at their country place In England that the author is most unrelenting. His wife became more and more engrossed with her English friends, and her boredom with him increased in-creased to such a shocking degree that life became be-came almost unbearable for the American actor-husband. actor-husband. At the end of a certain summer ' I made up my mind to bring things to an issue to use a slang expression, to vamp. Ugly rumors were rife concerning the attentions of the ex-prime minister, the member of parliament, two American Amer-ican millionaires, an English lord and the leading man of Maxine's company. I put Jackwood on the hooks of a real estate firm and placed my furniture in a storehouse together with the content's con-tent's of my wine cellar (only to see them again, alas, adorning the home of my wife on Duke street, London, a residence purchased during our marriage, to which I was never Invited!)" If Nat had fully realized how deeply he was boring Maxine he would have taken himself away sooner. But he never knew until he came across a certain endearing letter which she had written to an English lord. That was the beginning of the end. In conclusion he estimates her as follows: fol-lows: "I always had great respect for Maxine's brain and her splendid opinions regarding untried plays. Had it not been for her superlative Judgment Judg-ment I should never have produced 'An American Citizen' or 'Nathan Hale.' "Perhaps she discovered that my roles in both plays were subservient to hers. I later found that the lady was as discerning as she was discriminating. dis-criminating. However, both plays were produced with much success. We both scored, I making base hits, she, home runs. I first printed her name featured as supporting mo, but as I became enamored of her charms her type gradually became be-came larger until it equaled mine. "I think if we had been associated a few years longer my name would have been up as her leading lead-ing support. "Maxine Elliott is a variously gifted woman. With the ambition of a Cleopatra she used me as a ladder to reach her goal and found her crowning crown-ing glory in the blinding glare of a myriad of incandescent in-candescent lights which spell her name over the portals of a New York theater. She is one of the cleverest women I ever met. Her dignity Is that of a Joan of Arc, her d jaeanor Nero-like in its assertive quality and yt , . je has channels of emo- UMHH H tion that manifest womanliood in the truest sanse Hf , of the word." H( By this time marriage had bocomo an incident, B" not a conquest. Along came Edna. To use the K author's own expression, "I fled from a Cleopatra Hc to meet a Borgia. If my second and third mar- H) riages were errors, my fourth was a catastrophe.' K. The author's alliance with Edna Goodrich H' erew out of his rescuing her and her company K. from the hands of sheriffs and pawnbrokers. She Hj extracted a huge piece of money from him by V way of the courts and an unfortunate trust agree- Hm mont just before she bade him farewell forever. HJ Miss Moreland's history has yet to be written. W Let us hope that It will resemble that of Eliza B Weatherby. H The author bears the press some malice for H'' airing his matrimonial tendencies so unfeelingly. Ht Ho makes the v title of one feature story the Ht' heading for a chapter: "Why Do Beautiful Women Vi Marry Nat Goodwin?" Somo of the paragraphs L' under it show bitterness under oppression: K "I never stole any of my wives, neither were H they ever forced into matrimony with me. H "My friends who have been privileged to visit HI any home of mine will tell you that it was the H abode of a lady and gentleman! H "This will jar my vllliflers. I have no right H1 to be respectable and have a home. I am a l brawler and a reveler, a drunkard and a gambler. H Maybe. Yet with all these alleged vagaries I fail H to remember any time when I dined a mistress H' at the same table with my Ife and children 1 an incident in the career of a most conspicuous H member of our profession who has the reputation H1 of being possessed of supreme chastity. He pre- Hi fers marshmallows to champagne stick licorice Hf, to Havana cigars. He married at the beginning Bf of his career and 'is quite content to stand pat K with his head in the sand. B- "I have often wondered if these self-elected H critics of my actions would have refused any of H the women whom I have had the privilege of H marrying! H "Does it ever occur to them that a woman H must be Interested in a man (in some little de- B greo!) before allowing him the privilege of tak- H ing her hand in marriage? If she has a brain H she understands his motives and even if moved H by other reasons than that of affection it is still Hl she who decides to meet the issue. H "The women who married me had the reputa- H tion of being possessed of brain as well as beauty H and all of them had tasted the sweets of matrl- M mony before I came along. I wonder what these m ebony-lingered gentlemen who have marveled at H my success in the matrimonial field would say H if they were privileged to glance at my visitors' H book in use at Jackwood or in my West End Hl avenue home in New York! It would convince H them that they never could have passed the but- H "It has never been chronicled that the heads Hj of the theatrical profession were my constant vis- H itors. Statesmen, diplomats, lawyers, consplcu-H consplcu-H ous public men from abroad, multi-millionaires H (not forgetting one president) and some of the H nobility have graced my board. This may have H been the reason why one of the beautiful women H married me! H "Fancy any of my critics writing that Lord U had visited mo. Senator dined with ane, MM Marqhioness accompanied me on a hunting H trip! That would not be news it's too clean! jS But they do qable to the remotest corner ol the H i globe my presence at a prizefight. That is Inter- flE esting matter and news! How considerate of ' the feelings of one's aged parents who are forced IH to bear the brunt of their unwholesome lies! How H ' I loathe these mephitlc hounds who burglarize BH-' men's firesides, the pestilential pirates of women's homes, who Invade the sanctity of loving hearts, who write with pens steeped in venom. Somo of the author's philosophy of matrimony iollows: "Whenever I hear a man (or woman) express himself as being tremendously in love, combined with an abiding faith oven it he and his mate are living in different zones, I always watch for the finale and generally read the epilogue in the Reno Gazette. When married people are separated (this Is from my point of view), unless he has misgivings when her name is mentioned and his pulBe does not quicken, if he does and quiver when he Is told that his wife was seen, beautifully beauti-fully arrayed, entertaining a party of friends at some particular garden party or golf club the little messenger Cupid has taken wings. He may strut about like Chantecler, proclaiming that his crow awakens the slumbering embors of a dying passion, but he is only mesmerizing himself. "Marriages are made in heaven cancelled in Reno! ' Perhaps some will object to a number of my attitudes in this book, particularly as regards my marital ventures. I have 'no right to refer' to the sanctity of marriage 'a union of two souls,' cemented ce-mented by a (paid) preacher, ordained by the. Deity,' etc! But these good people will mistake my attitudes. I do not recognize as sanctified any ceremony that can be annulled by a flve-thou-sand-dollar-a-year judge. "Reno is known as the Mecca for vacillating souls. New York makes it look like thirty cents! "New York, by comparison, makes Reno look like a Mormon mausoleum! "All you have to do in New York is to call at the captain's office, behind closed doors, whisper whis-per 'Guilty,' and, presto, you go as free as the birds! If you are hoarse, send some one in your place, it's all the same. "It is just as natural for two human beings, brought constantly in contact with each other,, to mate as it is for birds and animals. "A man of genius, if he marries at all, should marry a peasant. "If a man steal your wife don't kill him caution him!" Mr. Goodwin defends his frank characterizations characteriza-tions of his wives in the following paragraphs: "It is not my mission in this book to say anything any-thing unkind or harsh of any of the women who have married me. I wish to confine myself to speaking in terms of fullest apreclation of their virtues and merits, leaving it to wise censors to judge me. By some power of reasoning all men and women elect themselves the judges and juries of my actions. Their harsh criticisms I leave unanswered, un-answered, being thoroughly satisfied in my own mind that I have committed no offense whatever against humanity, knowing that I have treated honest women as they should be treated, with all due deference and respect to womankind." He summarizes his experience thus: "My first (wife) was an angel; "My second a silly woman; 'My third a Roman senator; "My fourth a pretty little thing; "My fifth all woman! "My whole (desire) was by repetition to prove that hope can conquer experience!" It must be recorded to Nat Goodwin's undying credit that he gave each of his wives the better of the bargain. |