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Show WHEN DICKMAN WAS AN ACTOR f Edward F. O'Day has a characteristic sketch of Charlie Dickman of San Francisco in a recent issue of Town Talk. It will be of interest to the many local friends of that great Bohemian, artist, ar-tist, actor, wit and raconteur. Mr. O'Day's latest contribution to Dickman's fame is as follows: Painter Charlie Dickman mqt Actor Billy Crane at the Family Club a few nights ago. "Good evening, master," said the genius of the palette. "Billy," asked one who overheard, "why does Dickman call you master " "Because," answered tho distinguished comedian, comed-ian, "I once had the privilege of playing in the same company with him." Charged with having been a professional actor in the same company with "The Senator," Dickman Dick-man blushed modestly and admitted tho corn. "That was not my only offense," he vouchsafed; vouch-safed; and so it comes about that I am able to give the public a hitherto unpublished chapter in the life of one of California's foremost artists. "It all started when I was at school in Detroit," De-troit," Dickman confessed. "I took part in a number of performances, and the rest of the fellows applauded me and said I was great. The result was that I found my way into amateur theatricals. I became stage manager of the Detroit De-troit Theatrical Society. "There was a tragedian named Frederick Loranger playing in Detroit, and he took mo into his company. I played the Gravedigger in 'Hamlet,' Tubal in 'The Merchant of Venice' and Francois and de Berenghen in 'Richelieu.' The Detroit Free Press gave me a great sendoff." "Whom did you know on tho Free Press? I demanded suspiciously. "I didn't know anybody," answered Dickman in a tone of rebuke. "I went on the road with Loranger, touring tho central States. A little later I joined the company of John Sullivan and Fannie Moncastle. We were playing at Chatham in Canada one night when I received a telegram from William McConnell, the stage manager for John McCullough, asking me to come to Detroit at once. I went. ".McCullough was at the Detroit Opera House, playing 'Othello.' Frederick Warde was playing play-ing Iago, John Lane, Cassio and Augusta Stockman, Stock-man, Desdemona. Barton Hill xwas in the com- pany too. The Roderigo of the cast had been taken suddenly ill. The first act was just over when I reached the theatre, and Roderigo was lying on a stretcher in the wings. '"For God's sake, Charlie,' he said, 'get into i these duds and go on.' I had played Roderigo before. Warde, Lane and I rehearsed the duel scene during the entr'acte. They didn't let McCullough Mc-Cullough know what was happening for fear he'd be rattled. Wlhen he got to the end of his speech to Cassio, 'Never more be officer of mine,' he looked at me and saw I was a stranger. So he strode over to the wings and said, 'Who's this kid?' The prompter told him not to worry. After the performance McCullough offered mo a position in his company. "I didn't take It, for I knew I could do pretty well around Detroit. I was a very quick study, and I used to be called in at the eleventh hour to take a part when an actor couldn't go on. I vas paid as much as sixty dollars a night for doing this. I remember that one night I played the leading comedy part in 'Michael Earl, the Maniac Lover.' I learned the part between noon and night, and had a single rehearsal with the comedienne. "When Robson and Crane came to Detroit in 'The Comedy of Errors,' I got a job as a super. Billy Crane drilled us. He looked older than he does today, and that goes whether he reads your article or not! "Then I was with the Forester Troubadours in 1 comic opera for a year. We played all the way from Buffalo to Chicago and Cincinnati. What the name of the piece wan I have entirely for- V gotten. H "That ended my theatrical career until I came H to California. I had been drawing all this time. B ' I became chief designer for a lithographing house B . in New York. I came out here to work for the H( Bancrofts. But the stage still pursued me. I H joined the Bohemian Club twenty-four years Hl ago but fur two years before that I had been HJ staging their jinks. B "Wihen 'Bluff King Hal,' the opera written by B'L I Daniel O'Connell and Humphrey Stewart, was Bb produced at the Grand Opera House, I played V the part of Bardolph. And later on when 'His B ' Majesty,' by Peter Robertson and Humphrey H Stewart, was produced at the same theatre I H played the leading role. H "My amateur standing had been restored by H this time, so to speak, and it was as an amateur H that I played Eccles in 'Caste' at the Cali- H fornia. Just the same I was paid for it. And H ' about a year before the fire I played my old 1 part of Tubal when Dick Hotaling gave 'The B Merchant of Venice' at the Majestic or was it H the Central? I appeared under the name of H 'Williams and my secret was kept. H "I never cared for the stage. I like my friends M too well to be traveling all the time. When I was in comic opera ray contract placed my serv- H ices at the disposal of the manager of club af H fairs, lodge meetings and so on. Night after H night I'd take off the grease paint, get into a H dress suit pnd go with that manager to some en- H tertainment. The presiding officer would say, H 'Wo have with us tonight,' and that was my cue H to get up and be funny. This disgusted me. The H last straw came when a clerk in a store said to H me, 'You're the funny man.' I didn't care to go H through life with that tag. And now all that H Is left of my theatrical activity is an occasional H appearance with Mackenzie Gordon and Bill Hop- H kins in The Neapolitan Trio." H Would Charlie DIckman have risen to eminence Ht in tiio dramatic profession? Would he have be- B' come a distinguished actor, as he has become a H distinguished painter? In answer to these ques- w tions let me tell a little story. H A number of years ago DIckman wrote a little H sketch for the Bohemian Club. It was called H 'The Hypnotist," and the author played the prln- H clpal role. Sir Henry Irving was present at the H Bohemian jinks at which this sketch was pre- H sented. A few nights later the great English H actor was at a dinner at the home of M. H. De H Young. He spoke of Dlckman's work without H mentioning Dickman's name which he did not H know. He declared that the man who played the H Hypnotist had given a remarkable performance. H v "That was Charlie DIckman," said William H Greer Harrison. "Charlie has the makings of a H good actor." H "He has not the makings of a fiood actor," H replied Irving. "He is a finished artist now." B Shortly afterwards Irving wrote to DIckman, B asking the painter to join his company. DIckman r declined the flattering offer. Irving wrote again, H begging him to reconsider his decision, but Dlck- H man withstood temptation. H I take it that wo are all glad he did. The Hi fame and the wealth which might have come to H'i Charles DIckman as an actor would have been an Hi Inadequate recompense to art lovers for the loss H of those magnificent marines which he has exe- Hl cuted. Better one mural from his wizard brush H than a long gallery of histrionic pictures. Dlck- H) man made no mistake when he stuck to his H; ; studio. That is where he belongs; there he is H doing creative work with which the work of the H actor cannot be compared. Sir Henry Irving H; lives in the memory of those who saw him, in H unsatisfactory descriptions of his art even Haz- B f H- i lltt and Lamb could not capture all the genius of great actors for the written page and in the portraits which great painters made of him. The painter's is the more enduring work; his masterpieces master-pieces live through the ages. Sir Joshua Reynolds Rey-nolds is greater than Garrick; Gainsborough is greater than Mrs. Siddons. Most decidedly, DIckman DIck-man was right. |