19th Century Actor Autobiographies | Page 4

Ristori, whose
Medea, Myrrha and Phaedra are among the great traditions of the
modern stage. From first to last this little book sheds light on the severe
toil demanded for excellence on the stage, and reveals that for the
highest success of a drama, author and artist must work hand in hand.

Contents
JOSEPH JEFFERSON How I came to play "Rip Van Winkle." The art
of acting. Preparation and inspiration. Should an actor "feel" his part?
Learning to act. Playwrights and actors. The Jefferson face.
EDWIN BOOTH To his daughter when a little girl. To his daughter on
her studies and on ease of manner. On thoroughness of education. On
Jefferson's autobiography. On the actor's life. Lawrence Barrett's death.
His theatre in New York in prospect. As to his brother, John Wilkes
Booth, the slayer of Lincoln. Advice to a young actor.

CHARLOTTE CUSHMAN As a child a mimic and singer. First visits
to the theatre. Plays Lady Macbeth, her first part. To a young actress.
To a young mother. Early griefs. Art her only spouse. Farewell to New
York.
CLARA MORRIS Recollections of John Wilkes Booth. The murder of
President Lincoln. "When, in a hunt for a leading man for Mr. Daly, I
first saw Coghlan and Irving."
SIR HENRY IRVING The stage as an instructor. Inspiration in acting.
Acting as an art: how Irving began. Feeling as a reality or a semblance.
Gesture: listening as an art: team-play on the stage.
HENRY BRODRIBB IRVING The calling of the actor. Requirements
for the stage. Temptations of the stage. Acting is a great art. Relations
to "society." The final school is the audience. Failure and success.
ELLEN TERRY Hamlet--Irving's greatest part. The entrance scene in
"Hamlet." The scene with the players. Irving engages me. Irving's
egotism. Irving's simplicity of character.
RICHARD MANSFIELD Man and the Actor. All men are actors.
Napoleon as an actor. The gift for acting is rare. The creation of a
character. Copy life! Self criticism. Discipline imperative. Dramatic
vicissitudes. A national theatre. Training the actor.
TOMMASO SALVINI First appearance. A father's advice. How
Salvini studied his art. Faults in acting. The desire to excel in
everything. A model for Othello. First visit to the United States. In
Cuba. Appearance in London. Impressions of Irving's Hamlet. The
decline of tragedy. Tragedy in two languages. American critical taste.
Impressions of Edwin Booth.
ADELAIDE RISTORI First appearances. Salvini and Rossi. Appears
as Lady Macbeth. As manager. First visit to America. Begins to play in
English.

JOSEPH JEFFERSON
[William Winter, the dramatic critic of the New York Tribune, in 1894
wrote the "Life and Art of Joseph Jefferson," published by the
Macmillan Company, London and New York. He gives an account of
Jefferson's lineage, and then says:
"In Joseph Jefferson, fourth of the line, famous as Rip Van Winkle, and
destined to be long remembered by that name in dramatic history, there
is an obvious union of the salient qualities of his ancestors. The rustic
luxuriance, manly vigour, careless and adventurous disposition of the
first Jefferson; the refined intellect, delicate sensibility, dry humour,
and gentle tenderness of the second; and the amiable, philosophic, and
drifting temperament of the third, reappear in this descendant. But more
than any of his ancestors, and more than most of his contemporaries,
the present Jefferson is an originator in the art of acting.... Joseph
Jefferson is as distinct as Lamb among essayists, or George Darley
among lyrical poets. No actor of the past prefigured him, ... and no
name, in the teeming annals of modern art, has shone with a more
tranquil lustre, or can be more confidently committed to the esteem of
posterity."
The Autobiography of Joseph Jefferson, copyright, 1889, 1890, by the
Century Company, New York, was published 1891. From its chapters,
by permission, have been taken these pages.--ED.]

HOW I CAME TO PLAY RIP VAN WINKLE
The hope of entering the race for dramatic fame as an individual and
single attraction never came into my head until, in 1858, I acted Asa
Trenchard in "Our American Cousin"; but as the curtain descended the
first night on that remarkably successful play, visions of large type,
foreign countries, and increased remuneration floated before me, and I
resolved to be a star if I could. A resolution to this effect is easily made;
its accomplishment is quite another matter.

Art has always been my sweetheart, and I have loved her for herself
alone. I had fancied that our affection was mutual, so that when I failed
as a star, which I certainly did, I thought she had jilted me. Not so. I
wronged her. She only reminded me that I had taken too great a liberty,
and that if I expected to win her I must press my suit with more
patience. Checked, but undaunted in