Managers In Distress The St. Louis Stage, 1840-1844

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Monograph Series No. 1

MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

by William G. B. Carson

THE THEATRE ON THE FRONTIER
Chicago, 1932

LETTERS OF MR. AND MRS. CHARLES KEAN

RELATING TO THEIR AMERICAN TOURS

St. Louis, 1945

ST. LOUIS GOES TO THE OPERA

1837-1941
St. Louis, 1946

MANAGERS

IN

DISTRESS

The St. Louis Stage, 1840-1844

WILLIAM G. B. CARSON

St. Louis

St. Louis Historial Documents Foundation

1949

194-9

"William C3-. 33. Car-son

TO

THE MEMORY OF
MY MOTHER

PREFACE

In this book I take up the pen where I laid it down something more
than fifteen years ago. In The Theatre on the Frontier I then re-
corded the humble birth of the drama in St. Louis, and, having done
so, followed the first steps of the youngster through its early years
until, after a quarter of a century, its grip on life was sure. That
work, as I have said, covers twenty-five years. This one is content
to deal with only five. For this discrepancy there is more than one
reason.

The years 1840-1844 constituted a definite period in the history
of the St. Louis stage, as indeed in that of the American theatre in
toto. During those five seasons or, as they were computed in St.
Louis, ten seasons the fortunes of the stage and of those who
lived on it and by it sank to their lowest depths. Business depression
and political unrest proved to be powerful enemies, and, though the
managers here and elsewhere resorted to every device they could
think of to attract audiences, they were lucky if they succeeded in
escaping complete disaster. By 1845, however, a gradual improve-
ment had set in, and before very long the theatre was restored to its
normal state of health, if indeed there can be said to be such a thing.

Then, too, I have attempted a different approach. It seems to me
that it is worth while to observe, not alone what happened on our
stage approximately a century ago, but also how it happened, and
why it happened in the ways it did. Closer scrutiny, I believe,
brings out facts about the manner of the operation of the theatre in
St. Louis -which a more superficial review would inevitably miss.
Moreover, these facts are in my opinion significant because the St.
Louis theatre was no unique phenomenon, but, on the contrary, a
more or less representative institution, and from the details of the
one we may learn much of the details of the many.

There is also a further reason. In his cogent introduction to The
American Theatre as seen by its Critics, 1752-1934., which he edited
in conjunction with the late Montrose Moses, John Mason Brown
makes some very telling points about stage history as it is usually
written. It is, he says, "unquestionably a chronicle of the stage, but

x PREFACE

the theatre which gains admission to [the writer's] pages is seldom,
if ever, the same theatre which playgoers know, and which succeeds
or fails according to the personal responses it awakens in them. It
has lost its flesh and blood, its colors and its shadows, its hazards
and its expectancy, its first-run meaning, and the men and women on
both sides of the footlights who give it its point and its appeal." It
was to recapture some of this lost savor that the two collaborators
published, though one did not live to see the task completed, a
valuable assortment of critiques and reviews written on the spot. It
is in part to achieve something like this for the St. Louis stage of the
early 1840's that the following pages have been written. My inten-
tion is in no way to belittle the contributions of those who have used
the other approach. That is, of course, invaluable; it would be
impossible to present all the history in "slow motion," and, if this
were done, no one would have time to read the results.

In the introduction quoted above Mr. Brown points his finger at
the sometimes forgotten truth that the theatre is the creation of
"men and women on both sides of the footlights." Not always do
they receive their due. They have, as a rule, been dead a long time.
We do not see them as living persons; nor do we see their theatres
through their eyes while the outcome is still in the balance. When
we meet them, their problems have long since been solved. Gone are
their anxieties, gone their disappointments and their triumphs. So
much is lost. In this book I try to satisfy Mr. Brown. With not
only contemporary newspapers but a wealth of letters, diaries, ac-
count books, and other records to draw on, I have sought to revivify
the St. Louis theatre from 1840 through 1844, to see it, hear it, and
feel it as it was seen, heard, and felt by those who lived with it in
the Fabulous Forties.

The focal point of all its activities was two men, Noah M.
Ludlow and Solomon S. Smith, the managers of the resident com-
pany, and the arbiters of its destiny. These two men I have tried to
bring back to the land of the living. I have tried to show what
manner of men they were, to see their world through their eyes,
and so both to compound a history and also to arouse interest in
them themselves and sympathy with them in their perplexities.

In my labors I have received help from many persons, and to
at least some of them I wish to acknowledge my indebtedness and to

PREFACE xi

express nay gratitude. By far the greater part of the material I have
used that is, the diaries, almost all the letters, and most of the
newspapers are in the possession of the Missouri Historical Society
in St. Louis, and to the members of its staff, Mr. Charles van
Ravenswaay, Miss Marjory Douglas, Mrs. Brenda R. Gieseker, and
Miss Caroline Crutcher, I owe more than I can say. Dr. William
Van Lennep, Curator of the Theatre Collection of the Harvard
College Library, kindly placed at my disposal all pertinent manu-
scripts and pictures in his archives. Mr. Frederick Vbelker has
aided me in my efforts to solve the financial riddles between the pages
of the Ludlow and Smith Return Books. To Dr. George C. D.
Odell, Mr. George Freedley, Mrs. Elizabeth P. Barrett, Mr.
Barrett Clark, Dr. Walter Prichard Eaton, Dr. Robert Terry, and
many others I am indebted for valuable counsel and useful informa-
tion. Finally, as always, my work has been made possible by the
co-operation and encouragement of my wife.

WILLIAM G. B. CARSON
St. Louis
December 8, 1948.

CONTENTS

I. DRAMATIS PERSONAE 1

II. CURTAIN UP! Spi ing of 1840 19

III. FOUR MUSES. Spiing of 1840 . . . . . 50

IV. THE PLOT THICKENS. Fall of 1840 83

V. ASSORTED ENTERTAINMENTS Spring of 1841 . . 115

VI. "WISE MEN NE'ER SIT AND WAIL THEIR WOES."

Fall of 1841 159

VII. "HARD TIMES, COME AGAIN No MORE!" 1842 . . 182

VIII. DARKNESS VISIBLE. 1843 211

IX. THE DEPTHS OF THE RED SEA 18-14 ... 248

X. EPILOGUE 287

Appendix

Records of Performances of Individual Plays 299

Income, 1844 Spring and Fall Seasons 306

Bibliography 311

Index 315

Xlll

ILLUSTRATIONS

Tom Thumb's First Visit to St. Louis Frontispiece

Noah M. Ludlow Facing page 16

Sol Smith 17

Mrs. George P. Farren 32

. S. Conner as Romeo .... 33

. S. Conner as Pizarro 112

Page from Ludlow and Smith Letter Book 113

Jean Davenport as Little Pickle 128

Signior Hervio Nano 129

Playbill, St. Louis Theatre, October 12, 1841 172

Mrs. Fanny Fitzwflliam . . 208

J. A. Neafie as Richard III . 209

Joseph M. Field 224

George Percy Farren 225

Two Pages from Ludlow and Smith Return Book, 1844 . . 250

DRAMATIS PERSONAE
SPRING OF 1840

Near the foot of Olive Street on the St. Louis levee is tied up
twelve months of the year the S.S. Goldenrod, J. W. Menke,
Captain. Here nightly gather fun-loving citizens to hear actors of
the 1940's tear all manner of passions to tatters in good, red-
corpuscled dramas like The Drunkard and Nellie, the Sewing
Machine Girl. Few of these modern playgoers know, and fewer
still would care if they did, that on their way to the gangplank
which leads to their aquatic theatre they have crossed historic soil
and elbowed their way through crowds of histrionic ghosts.

Within a few yards of the moorage stood long ago the Thespian
Theatre, where in 1819 "young gentlemen of the town" spouted
bombastic speeches and "the celebrated Mrs. Groshon" declaimed
the lusty lines of Pecanne, the lough and ready heroine of ALphonso
Wetmore's The Pedlar, the first home-brewed play staged west of
the Mississippi. 1 A little further up the slope is the site of the old
Salt House, where from 1826 to 1836 audiences and actors alike
sweltered in the almost ventilation-proof "hot house" which suc-
ceeded the hall on Main Street as the local Temple of the Muses.
For fourteen years after that up the same hillside toiled such dra-
matic luminaries as Edwin Forrest, William Charles Macready, and
the irresistible Ellen Tree, all heading; for the famous New St.
Louis Theatre, the drab-faced structure which during those seasons
was the theatrical capitol of the West.

Visit the spot to-day. "Change still doth reign, and keep the
greater sway." Where a century ago the stars shone in all their
glory, to-day, shining in their red and white paint, Public Service
Company busses take their siestas between the rush hours of morn-
ing and evening. On the southeast corner of Third and Olive

1 Mra. Groshon'i "celebrity" was really very alight indeed. First known
as "Mrs. Goldson," she was teen in New York as early as 1813 (George
C. D. Odell: Annals of the Neva York Stag e, II, 413). In 1820 she came to
St Louis with the Collins and Jones troupe, and while here joined the local
amateurs in a performance of The Pedlar by Alphonao Wetmore, a pay-
master in the Army of the United States (William G. B. Carson:
The Theatre on the Frontier, 73).

2 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

Streets a battered gray sign in the shape of a shield informs the
passerby that here once stood the famous theatre operated by
Ludlow and Smith. Beyond this dejected-looking emblem, the eye
encounters from the imposing span of the Eads Bridge on the north
to the slender spire of the Old Cathedral on the south only waste-
land, empty, broken streets bisecting acre upon acre of weed-grown
vacancy. To the east the sky is smudged with the smoke of the
mills and factories on the Illinois side of the great brown river.
The whole region is in a state of suspended animation, passing
through a dreary entr'acte between the glories of its past and, it is
hoped, the greater glories of its future.

On the evening of July 3, 1837, when the New St. Louis Theatre
was formally dedicated with an appropriate address in heroic couplets
and Tobin's posthumous comedy of The Honey Moon, the drama
in St. Louis had already attained its majority. As far back as 1815
ambitious amateurs all gentlemen, of course; no lady would have
been so indelicate as to appear upon a public stage had begun giv-
ing plays in the first theatre west of the Great River, nothing, in
fact, more pretentious than a large log hut erected originally as a
blacksmith shop, but later pressed into service as a courthouse, ball-
room, church, and God save the mark I theatre. 8 It had stood
on the west side of Barn Street (later Third) near Spruce and
opened its doors with a double bill composed of The School for
Authors and The Budget of Blunders. Four years later the am-
bitious Thespians had erected their house on the lot bounded on the
east by Main, and extending from Locust to Olive. From that
modest structure, almost certainly the first in the West built ex-
pressly for a theatre, the transition to the abandoned salt warehouse
on Church Street (later Second) about a hundred feet north of
Olive, had been made in 1826. Eleven seasons later that histrionic
oven, succumbing to its own accumulated heat, had gone up in
flames, to be replaced the following summer by the more appropri-
ate edifice on Third and Olive. Here for fourteen years Noah M.
Ludlow and Solomon S. Smith presided over the theatrical des-
tinies of the growing city. In 1851 the firm having concluded its

'Plays had, of course, been given in the Spaniih colonies to the west as
early as 1598. Cf. Winifred Johnston: 'The Early Theatres in the Span-
ish Borderlands," Mid-America, Vol. XHI; N.S., VoL II, No. 2.

DRAMATIS PERSONAE 3

activities in St. Louis as the first step toward final dissolution, the
building, callously condemned as a public menace, was torn down to
make way for the new Custom House, which was to stand its
ground until in turn demolished when the National Park Service
took over the whole area to erect upon it a fitting memorial to
Thomas Jefferson and the pioneers who funnelled through St. Louis
to people the little known, but alluring, wilderness as far as the
Rockies and beyond.

The story of these early days, the first twenty-five years of the
St. Louis stage, has been told elsewhere, and will not be repeated
here. 8 The purpose of the writer in preparing this volume is to
pick up the thread of the narrative where he dropped it and follow
the same stage thiough another five seasons of troubled existence.

The St. Louis of 1840 was a very different place from the lonely
frontier town of 1815 with its approximately two thousand Ameri-
cans, Frenchmen, and Indians. "Its population," asserts the St.
Louis Directory for the Years 1840-1, "within the corporate limits
(which are very confined), is 16,291. The suburbs, which are in
fact a part of the city, have a population of 6,349, making a total
of 22,640, and an increase in ten years of 16,338, or more than
250 per cent." The editor, Charles Keemle, goes on to point out
that in a single year the number of steamboats arriving at the levee
had increased from 1,476 to 1,721, and the tonnage from 213,193
to 244,185. "The increase has taken place in spite of the unfor-
tunate state of moneyed affairs over the whole country." Further-
more, Keemle points out, St. Louis is becoming increasingly a centre
of commerce.

By this fifth decade of the century the pioneering French had
been overwhelmed by the great flood of Americans from the Eastern
states, and there was now setting in the great influx of Germans
fleeing from tyranny overseas and bringing to the city their thrift
and their love of music and drama. Gradually, as more and more
of them came and identified themselves with the life of the com-
munity, they exercised a progressively stronger influence, but in the
years under consideration here their grip was not yet secure and
their weight was little felt. So far as the theatre was concerned it
was as yet but negligible.

a Canon: The Theatre on the Frontier.

4 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

Though remote from the populous regions of the East and South,
St. Louis was by no means the home of a crude, uncultured peas-
antry. This misconception has been finally removed by Professor
John McDermott in his Private Libraries in Creole St. Louis in
which he reveals the surprising richness of the settlers' libraries
under the flags of France and Spain. Already, in 1840, there were,
in addition to two "capacious and substantial schoolhouses in which
between two and three hundred scholais are taught by respectable
and efficient teachers" again I quote the Directory two institu-
tions of higher learning, St. Louis University, operated by the
Jesuits, and the Episcopal Kemper College with its newly estab-
lished medical school. The Catholics, Episcopalians, and Presby-
terians had opened two churches each, and the Methodists, Baptists,
Unitarians, Associated Reformed Presbyterians, and German Luth-
erans one apiece. (There were also two "African" congregations.)

Something of the character of the town, its merits and demerits,
appears in a letter from Ludlow to his son-in-law, Matthew C.
Field, then an editorial writer on the New Orleans Picayune,
written June 23, 1841.

I wish you would stir up the Orleanese with a long pole and
send them up here We want some of their spirit in this com-
munity mighty good people here "bless you" but they lack ginger
Tell them and it is a fact that there is the [sic] one of the very
best Hotels here in the U.S. [the new Planters House] ....

Then the country around us you know is beautiful pleasant
drives fine horses and carriages at a very reasonable rate fishing
in abundance in the Ponds and Lakes around us and over in
Illinois Fine shooting in the season for game Markets and Hotels
well furnished mineral springs in the vicinity and every thing
calculated to contribute to the comfort of ladies and gentlemen
who have money even a well regulated Theatre conducted by
the gentlemanly managers. 4

Ludlow wanted Mat to speed some of his fellow-citizens up the
river. He knew they liked to go to the theatre.

Returning now to the building on Third and Olive, which, though,
as we shall see, not tie only purveyor of theatrical entertainment in

*A11 letters and diaries quoted, except in those cases specifically noted,
are in the possession of the Missouri Historical Society in St Louis.

DRAMATIS PERSONAE 5

the city, was by all odds the most potent, we find that it had now
rounded out three years of its all-too-brief career, and was the
accepted centre of dramatic life. Ludlow's familiar description in
his book" is supplemented by an even more interesting, if less well
spelled account in the diary of Henry B. Miller, a St. Louis artisan,
which I shall insert.

.... the Theatre is sitio at the corner of 3 d & Olive street this
is quite a respectable theatre the building is about 150 feet by 80;
with two tiers of boxes & gallery the Pit or Parquette as it is here
called, is fitted up in better stile than we mostly see in the Eastern
cities; there the pit is generally half price, and benches for seats in
consequence of which it is very much crowded and that too with
the lower Classes quarrels & fights are common but here; the
seats of the Parquette are chaiis, every one has his chair there can
be no crowding, the price of admission to the Parquette is the same
as to the boxes the consequence is the Parquette is filled (when full)
with men of respectability, taste & learning, the pit is die best place
in the theatre, if you can get a conveniet seat, and men mostly when
they wish to see or criticize on a perform take the pit in preference ;
they can hear more distinctly; and see plainer than in any other
part of the house being nearer the performers, and right in front
of the stage ; the Gallery is but half price ; this part of the house is
generally intended for the hard customers Darkies, &, &, this house
will hold for 12 to 1500 persons without much inconvenience; the
interior of the house presents quite a neat appearance, the principal
ceiling is canvassed, with paintings of the muses in the front part of
the house on the 3 d story (over the offices) is the Gentlemans
Saloon this is a very fine room it extends the whole width of the
building; by almost 21 feet wide & I think 27 feet high to the
square there are two sky lights in the ceiling the ceiling is Stuccoed
and tolerable well done, and makes a good appearance the exterior
of the building makes a rather poor show not being yet finished ; it
is intended to be plastered and a splendid Portico to be erected in
front ; if this is ever done, the house will make a splendid appearance
tho hard times in money matters, had quite a visible effect on the
finishing of the exterior of the house, it has already cost upwards of
$60,000 the estimated cost of the house finished complete was esti-
mated at $80,000, the Lessees Mes Ludlow & Smith have pledged
themselves to pay the company ten per cent on the money expended,
for the next ten years, when their Lese expires; they have had the
house open upwards of one year, the Dramatic corps, has been pass-
ibly good the greater part of the time ....

"Noah M. Ludlow. Dtamatic Life as I Found It, 477-478.

6 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

This was written in 1838, when, as it says, the building was only
about a year old, but the projected face-lifting was never carried out.

That, despite the pleasing pictures painted by Ludlow and Miller,
the Theatre building left something to be desired may be deduced
from the fact that, after the property had been acquired by the
Department of the Treasury as the site of a projected Custom House,
the stiucture, which was not yet fifteen years of age, had to be
demolished at once. On January 20, 1852, a surveyor by the name
of W. W. Greene wrote Secretary Thomas Corwin that the City
Engineer had condemned the east wall "as unsafe and liable to fall
and dangerous." There seems to have been a hope that some por-
tions of the old building could be employed in the new one, but on
February 16 the architect, George I. Barnett, wrote Secretary Cor-
win: "On examination of the Old Theatre Building, I find that
the windows, doors, stairs, benches, the columns of the Vestibule and
Mocenium [almost certainly proscenium is meant], the iron columns
that support the boxes and other materials will not be available for
the purposes of rebuilding in the New Custom House." Further-
more, on March 12 he reported the bricks too were useless, "being
for the most part Salmon and the balence light red brick and of a
very inferior quality."

So, while it was not without other virtues, the Theatre, we see,
was structurally no model.

To the credit of the managers it should be added that the theatre
was recognized as a respectable establishment into the confines of
which a gentleman need not fear to escort his "lady" lest she be ex-
posed to insult or embarrassment. It should be understood that a
century ago audiences nowhere practiced the decorum accepted to-
day as a matter of course. Perhaps partly because it was not yet
possible to extinguish the house-lights during a performance and the
occupants of boxes and pit were quite as visible to the naked eye as
were the actors on the stage, many of these spectators saw no reason
for hiding their respective lights under any bushels. It never occurred
to them that they should be seen and not heard. They came to have
their fun and not infrequently considered themselves in a sense parts
of the show. It would be asking too much of a theatre on the fringes
of civilization to observe Emily Fostian courtesies not yet in vogue

DRAMATIS PBRSONAE 7

in the great metropolitan centres. Yet, even so, Ludlow and Smith
by dint of resolution and firmness had succeeded in making their
house one of the utmost respectability, even if not always a haven of
peace and quiet. "On the opening of the house," wrote Ludlow in
his Dramatic Life as I Found It, "I made a beginning of a reform
which I adhered to and carried forward in after years in all the
theatres under my management. This was to refuse admittance to
any female to the performance who did not come attended by a
gentleman, or someone having the appearance of a man of respecta-
bility, not even in the third tier ; and women notoriously of the pave
were never, under any conditions, admitted. The result of these
rigid measures was that the third tier in our theatres was as quiet
and orderly as any portion of the house." 6 The success of the two
managers in their efforts to preserve an atmosphere of decency and
decorum is doubtless one of the bases for the respect almost uni-
versally accorded them in the community.

Since these two men are in a way the heroes of our tale, it might
be well to acquaint ourselves with them and their respective disposi-
tions. They had in 1840 been partners for five years, operating in
St. Louis in the spiing, summer, and fall (since 1837), and in
Mobile during the winter. Later in the same year they were to
accept the challenge of the redoubtable James H. Caldwell, and
invade New Orleans as well ; in this latter struggle they bad, before
many months had passed, won a lasting victoiy. 7 For better, for
worse, for richer, for poorer, paitners they were destined to remain
for another thirteen years.

They had much in common and on many points were in full
agreement. Both were actors, Ludlow being identified chiefly with
high comedy, Smith with eccentric roles. Of the two, perhaps in
part because he travelled more widely, Smith was the better known

P. 478.

TJames H. Caldwell (1793-1863) was an English actor who came to
this country early in the century and after some years in Virginia, where
he entered the field of management, transferred his activities to New Or-
leans, where he soon established himself as the dominant force in the
theatre. He built and managed the Camp Street and the handsome St
Charles Theatres, and maintained his grip until 1843 when displaced by
Ludlow and Smith. An account of this struggle may be found in the
memoirs of either of the latter men. Caldwell also had many interests out-
side the theatre, and is especially remembered for his introduction of light-
ing gas into the city.

8 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

outside their own bailiwicks. What is more important, both men
had for their profession a sincere love and a profound respect. In
the theatre they saw, not merely a means of livelihood nor even just
a great art, but also a potent instrument for the public good, a
powerful teacher of moiality and virtue. It was their fixed deter-
mination that never should the establishments under their control in
any way bring discredit to that profession. Hence they did not stop
with the promulgation and enforcement of the rules mentioned
above, but they saw to it that the plays they presented were, even
by nineteenth century standards, eminently proper ; and they, further-
more, did their utmost to make the members of their companies
conform to a reputable pattern of behavior. That they did not
invariably succeed in this latter endeavor was not their fault, for
they were not always in a position to do as they wished. Whenever
the stage was subjected to attack on the part of narrow-minded
clergymen or anyone else they came vigorously to its defence. 8
Finally, both men were in their private characters sober and in-
dustrious, and their names were never associated with any scandal.
There can be little question that in those days when the "unco
guid" were more than ready to discover and denounce any slips on
the part of those who made their livelihoods on or by the stage, the
conduct of these two men was a great asset to their profession.

Nothing in the record of their professional careers is more to
their credit than their dealings with their actors. They treated them
with fairness and respect, but demanded that in return they be used
after the same manner. In the history of the American theatre is
repeated over and over again with all manner of variations the story
of the absconding manager and of unpaid actors and actresses. But
in these tales the names of Ludlow and Smith, so far as I have seen,
never appear. Says Mrs. John Drew in her Aitiobioffraphical Sketch,
"After this I went to New Orleans, to Ludlow & Smith, prover-
bially the closest pair in the profession." 9 Perhaps they were close;
if so, the following pages may show the reason why. But there is
another side to the picture. Among Smith's cronies was one Edwin

8 For Smith's reply to an attack by the Reverend Artemus Bullard, min-
ister of the First Presbyterian Chvuch in St. Louis, aee his Theatrical Man-
agement in the West and South for Thirty 'Years, 158-159.

P. 98.

DRAMATIS PERSONAE 9

Woolf , who had at one time led the orchestra in the theatres of his
firm. The two carried on a correspondence, and a number of the
musician's entertaining and enlightening letters have fortunately been
preserved. In one, dated from Philadelphia, July 11, 1841, he has
this to say: "There are but few managers who pay salaries regulary
[sic]; and those salaries are mostly on a reduced scale." Never in
all my examination of documents relating to the firm of Ludlow
and Smith have I found in any form any assertion that it ever
failed ultimately at least to meet its obligations to those who worked
for it, even though so doing meant a personal loss. 10 Salaries might
be at times in arrears. Often it was necessary to give notes in their
stead, but I know of no instance in which the employee came out
the loser in the end. This is, I think sufficient answer to Mrs. Drew.

Unfortunately it is not possible to stop at this point in my dis-
cussion of the two managers. They themselves have forced the issue.
In his famous autobiography Joseph Jefferson says: "It is seldom
that partners in theatrical management agree. Wood and Warren,
of Philadelphia, were never on very friendly terms. Ludlow and
Smith were in partnership for many years without exchanging a word
except on business. How they managed it, or rather mismanaged
it, I can't telL 1 ' 11 Jefferson is guilty of some exaggeration. It is
true that the two men neither liked nor trusted each other. Their
partnership was born in misunderstanding and concluded in ill-
concealed dislike. But it is inaccurate to say that they spoke only
on matters of business. In the main, despite smouldering resentments
punctuated by occasional angry outbursts, they did for more than
eighteen years, in fact for over a quarter of a century, preserve the
amenities outwardly. They wrote each other in a friendly vein,
visited each others' houses on occasion, and looked after each others'
personal affairs. It was not until the Civil War that there was an
open quarrel.

From time to time it will be necessary to mention this bad feeling.
No history of the St. Louis stage during the period of their ascend-
ancy can properly ignore it. In compiling their memoirs both parties
saw to that, Ludlow especially adverting to it on page after page of
his book. But it was Smith who first brought it into the open. In

10 Smith: Theatrical Management, 151.
u. Autobiography of Joseph Jefferson, 115.

10 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

his Theatrical Management he says that, believing himself to have
been treated unfairly after the dissolution of their partnership by
"the person with whom I joined my fortunes," he would not men-
tion the latter's name in his book. 19 This rather astonishing, and it
would seem unnecessary, feat he somehow managed to accomplish,
not, so far at least as I can see, gaining anything thereby. These
memoirs were published in 1868. On February 14 of the following
year he died suddenly after a paralytic stroke. Ludlow, whose
hatred had by this time grown rancorous, set out to get revenge in
his own recollections, which appeared eleven years later. These he
filled with innuendoes and outright accusations of dishonesty. Be-
cause of his advanced age and the length of time which had inter-
vened since the occurrence of the events he reported, he did not,
scrutiny reveals, make out a very good case for himself. Neverthe-
less, there have been those who have accepted his words at their
face value, and in this way he has partly accomplished what he set
out to do when he attacked the chaiacter of a dead man who could
not answer back. 18

In considering Ludlow, I believe that perhaps the first thing to
be noted is that we are dealing with a very unhappy man. This fact
is revealed on page after page of his diaries now in the possession of
the Missouri Historical Society. Furthermore, in an affidavit made
in 1868 in connection with his quarrel with his former partner, he
says that he was "naturally despondent" in his temperament. 14 There
were in his life many circumstances to cause him genuine distress.
His trials and misfortunes, plus perhaps some ill health, did, how-
ever, apparently breed in him a rather extreme case of self-pity
revealed in his diaries and sometimes in his correspondence. As so
often follows in such cases, he felt himself aggrieved when those
with whom he came in contact failed to place his interests first, and
he seems also to have assumed that his troubles automatically justified
certain omissions.

12 Sraith: Thtatrical Management, 116.

"The Ludlow and Smith quarrel hag been treated by Mr. Wayne W.
Arnold in "Sol Smith: Chapters for a Biography" written as a master's
thesis at Washington University in 1939. Since then additional data have
been uncovered, and are now to be found in the archives of the Missouri
Historical Society, and in part in the Theatre Collection of the Harvard
College Library.

"Harvard College Library.

DRAMATIS PERSON AB 11

Except in the pursuit of his profession, he appears to have been
exceedingly careless. This fact is evidenced by the sometimes almost
incredible errors in his published recollections, errors which cannot, I
think, justifiably be ascribed wholly to his advanced years. They are
the more mystifying in that he kept diaries (much more consistently
than did Smith despite many good resolutions) and, besides, must
have had recourse to mountains of notes, without which, despite its
inaccuracies, the book could not possibly have been compiled. Of
less importance to-day, but of much greater seriousness during his
lifetime, was his carelessness in money matters; or possibly it was
inadequacy rather than carelessness. It is difficult for us today, sur-
rounded as we are with financial processes and institutions which,
if not always as secure as we could wish, have been so developed and
systematized as to offer far more ready assistance to businessmen
than was conceivable a century ago. It was then the practice to
lean heavily on individual aid or at least on the backing of individuals
who were willing to assume the risk of endorsing a note. Nor could
one step at will into a nearby department store and charge whatever
one wished to buy. Unless one happened to have been born with a
flair for such affairs, the whole thing must have been, to say the
least of it, bewildering. If one were engaged in a business or
profession as hazardous as the theatrical, the confusion must have
been almost stupefying. The years covered by this book were
definitely lean ones. Ludlow and Smith did business in at least five
states (Missouri, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, and Ohio), and
in almost every one they contracted debts. Notes were constantly
falling due and often could be met only by new borrowings. Per-
sonal property had to be mortgaged and sometimes sacrificed. And,
as long as their theatres were open, salaries had to be paid once a
week. Finally, the partners were, most of the time, miles apart,
and one could not know at the moment what obligations the other
was assuming or discharging.

For all this Smith seems to have had a gift. He was a clever and
astute man of business, kept his head, and somehow or other managed
to march forward. Despite many bitter complaints, I suspect that
he derived a certain pleasure from the fracas. But poor Ludlow
seems to have been blessed with no such knack. Moreover, he was
usually almost wholly occupied with the complexities of a theatre in

12 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

operation and the necessity of mounting a new bill of plays every
evening of the week, Sundays alone excepted. From 1840 to 1845
Smith spent little time in St. Louis. While the company was in
Mobile, New Orleans, or elsewhere, he was often at the helm, but
during the summer months he was prone to range far and wide in
the firm's interest or his own. Meanwhile the senior partner stood
by on Third and Olive. Bedevilled on all sides and having little
head for such matters anyway, he seems to have brushed aside all
but the most immediate perplexities for future solution, and, so far as
was possible, to have put them out of his mind. When debts caught
up with him, he paid them, I believe, if he had the cash. If he did
not have it, he apparently felt the whole matter should be dropped.
Frequently he fell back on the excuse that his health was not good.

It was this weakness that caused the final break between the two
men, which almost culminated in legal action in 1863 and was
eventually settled out of court in 1866. Ludlow was heavily in
debt to Smith and, although for some time he paid the interest when
due, could not be induced to pay the principal. He contended that
he was unable to do so, but that he was not telling the truth Smith
was firmly convinced. He felt certain that in conveying his real
estate to members of his family, Ludlow had deliberately sought to
place himself in such a position that he could not make good. This
determination the former ascribed in part to the latter's resentment
at his taking the Union side in the War between the States, for
Smith suspected his former partner (perhaps quite unjustly) of
Confederate sympathies. Into the details of this dispute there is no
occasion to delve here. As I have said before, they are mentioned
only because it is impossible to ignore them, and also because, I am
convinced, Smith has been done a very grave injustice. 16

In my opinion the most serious counts against Ludlow are his
careful omission from his book of any mention of the real cause of the
break and what must have been his deliberate deletion of passages
from certain pages in Smith's book which he quoted in order to dis-
credit the writer. He used quotations to make points which would
reflect upon the honor of the other man and at the same time sup-
pressed other sentences in the same context which flatly gave the lie
to his charges. 18 Whatever the true explanation may be, my own

"Cf footnote 13.

"Smith: Theatrical Management, 116-120; and Mr. Arnold's thesis.

DRAMATIS PERSONAE 13

conviction is that by the time he wrote his Dramatic Life his hatred
had become such an obsession that he was no longer capable of
either restraint or prudence.

If Ludlow was something of an introvert, Smith was definitely an
extrovert, a man of versatile talents, abounding energy, and tre-
mendous vitality. Most of his life was consumed in one battle after
another with outrageous fortune, but, unlike his partner, he seems
to have taken them all in his stride, and, despite occasional grum-
blings and explosions, to have thrived and in the end to have come
out on the top of the heap. Like Browning, he "Held we fall to
rise, are baffled to fight better." Travelling far and wide, he ac-
cumulated friends throughout the Union, and, whereas the lather
stiff-necked Ludlow was apt to freeze people until they came to
know him, "Old Sol," as he was almost invariably called, warmed
them with his expansive good nature and generosity. "I didn't
fancy Mr. Ludlow at first," says Clara Fisher Maeder in her auto-
biography, "and wrote home that he looked to me as if he had
swallowed a poker, he was so stiff and formal ; but I learned to like
him better." 17 This was perhaps typical. People did not care for
Ludlow at first, not even his future son-in-law, Matthew C. Field,
who said of him in a letter addressed to Smith on September 14,
1835, after leaving St. Louis, "I do not like Mr. Ludlow cant
cotton to him." Later, Mat changed his allegiance, and in his diary
and letters we find really hostile references to his old friend, prac-
tically the only ones I have come across in all the letters I have read.
"Wherever he went," says Wayne Arnold in his Sol Smith-
Chapters for a Biography , "the charm and gayety of his personality
delighted people. One friend wrote, 'If you have not lost all drollery
I expect something from you to again set our table in a roar.' 18
Many of his letters bear affectionate salutations, such as 'My dear
Uncle Sol,' from P. T. Barnum, 'My dear King Solomon, 1 from
Charles Kean, 'My dear old friend,' from Ellen Tree, and many
headed by TDear Old Sol.' " This from a man named Wood:

There is but one Sol celestial, and although my range has not
been very limited, I have found only one Sol terrestial, and earth
will be a great sufferer by the waning of either.

^Autobiography of Clara Fisher Maeder, 29.

"Francis C. Wemyss to Sol Smith, March 27, 1854- (Arnold thesis, p.
70).

14 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

Never before having found a person who would afford me
pecuniary assistance and refuse any consideration or security, this
exalted opinion is forced upon me. . . . 1B

The most moving tribute to the "Sol terrestial" which has come
to my attention was one written in February, 1862, by Mary Ann
Farren, a lifelong friend and for years a leading member of his
company.

.... You must not despond. I remember it was the remark of
every one in happy years gone by, that you were always most cheerful
when things looked gloomiest You have been "So clear in your
great office" through life, that you have a certain refuge in the
mercy of our Almighty Father ... for by the fruit is the tree known,
& in every relation of life, as husband, father, friend, if ever frail
human man fulfilled his duties, you have. Pi ay forgive me for writ-
ing this, but my heart is full & I must speak.

Of such stuff were the two men whom, locked in an unbreakable
embrace, we find dominating the St. Louis theatrical scene in the yeai
of Our Lord 1840. Although the partnership was but five yeais old,
both wished ardently to break loose, but practical considerations
made separation for the time being unwise, if not unthinkable. 90
Each pondered the question alone and they discussed it together, but
until 1853 the outcome was always the same. So they struggled on
together, opposing as best they could the misfortunes which were to
beset them for five unhappy years, the whole period covered by this
book, which will ring down its curtain just as the black days are
drawing to a close. There are to be many actors on our stage, but
the leads fall to these two, and it is for that reason that they have
been accorded star billing and the advance publicity allowed them
in this program.

The five years from the beginning of 1840 to the close of 1844
were perhaps the most grievous in the history of the American stage.
The St. Louis managers had no monopoly on distress. The country
over, the story was the same with all too few cheerful exceptions.
When one reads the accounts of the disasters which overwhelmed
the theatrical world, actors and managers alike, during that dismal

"John Wood to Sol Smith, May 5, 1856 (Ibid,, 70).
"Smith. Thtatrical Managtmtnt, 234.

DRAMATIS PERSONAE 15

period, one wonders how they succeeded in surviving at alL Yet
survive they did. Theatre folk, as their annals show, combine a
toughness of fibre and a resiliency that enable them to stand up
under terrific punishment with an optimism which refuses to sur-
render before even the most depressing realities.

"The season we are now entering on," writes Professor Odell in
his Annals of the New York Stage, "was one of the most depressing
in the history of American theatricals. Mitchell's Olympic and the
Chatham weathered the storm better than any other houses. The
Franklin was practically out of commission, and the great houses,
the Park, the Bowery, and the rebuilt National 81 went through
periods of decline that must have been heart-breaking. It apparently
took the public three years to discover, after the panic of 1837, that
it could begin its economy by staying away from the theatre; the
result will be seen in the chronicle on which we are now embark-
ing.""

This was in the fall of 1840. Of the following spring Francis
Courtney Wemyss, the well-known actor and manager, wrote in his
Theatrical Biography: ". . . at this period the theatres in New York
were all at their lowest ebb ; the property of Mr. Simpson" in the
Park, advertised for sale, as under seizure for rent, by Messrs. Astor
and Beekman , the process in all probability intended as a protection,
instead of an oppression to Mr. Simpson; the National burnt, and
not likely to be re-built again ; and the Bowery closed by an injunc-
tion for non-payment of license." 14 But not yet had the bottom been
reached. Professor Odell calls the season of 1842-1843 probably
"the worst theatrical season financially in the range of New York
history." . . . M

But this was, for New York at least, the nadir. "We shall, then,
find a slight upward tendency, beginning with September, 1843,
though as usual affairs at the Park were gloomier than in other

"The National Theatre had burned down on September 23, 1839. It
wai rebuilt and re-opened on October 12, 1840. On May 29, 1841, it burned
again.

"Odell: Annals, IV, 440.

Edmund Simpson, joint manager with Stephen Price of the Park The-
atre, 1818-1840; iole manager until 1848.

**P. 288.

"Odell: Annalt, IV, 603.

16 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

houses." 86 The lower-priced houses like the Bowery and the Chat-
ham fared better. Gradually, by slow degrees, conditions improved
even though the Park, the "first theatre" of the city, fell into decay
and in a few years gave up the ghost, and the once-proud Bowery
saved itself only by becoming the home of melodrama and the
jingoistic "Bowery Bhoys."

As for Philadelphia, the best words perhaps to describe conditions
there are confusion and chaos. "The drama proceeded of course,
sometimes reviving for a considerable time, and at others sinking
into a state of the utmost prostration. Its best action, however, was
flickering, irregular, uncertain, and not at all like the established
routine of former days, nor had it that position of a settled element
of social enjoyment which in earlier times it possessed." This from
William B. Wood, the veteran actor-manager who had known the
Quaker City stage for nearly half a century. 87 A telling account of
the tribulations of these seasons is to be found in the pages of Dr.
A. H. Wilson's A History of the Philadelphia Theatre 1835 to
1855. Not only was money too scarce, but theatres were too many.
The Chestnut, the Walnut, the Arch, and the National, all of them
famous establishments, not to mention less eminent houses, opened
and closed, lowered prices and raised prices, changed managers,
changed actors, and battled each other relentlessly, each struggling
to lay hold of those persons who had the cash and the desire for
theatrical entertainment.

The state of affairs in Boston was less involved, perhaps less
tragic, but, while some companies held their own, there was trouble
at the famous Tremont. William W. Clapp in his Record of the
Boston Staye tells of the efforts of J. S. Jones to keep it afloat. Here
too it was: "Open up. Shut up. Raise prices. Lower prices."
Nothing seemed to avail. At the close of the season of 1840-1841,
he gave up, and the responsibility was assumed by Andrews and
Preston 88 with the following outcome: "The result of twenty-five
weeks' management found Messrs. Andrews & Preston about ten
thousand dollars worse off than at the commencement." 89 The Tre-

**H>id., V, 1.

^Recollections of the Stage, 464.

P. 375.

379.

..*

.' <'. t

tO.MKl>L\X / .\LWAGJfiR OFTHK, iJOBILP* ,VXU .ST. LOI'JS THR.VTRIW

NOAH M. LUDLOW
(Cowtety of the Theatre Collection, Harvard College Ltbiaiy)

OFTHJft

SOL SMITH
(Cowtesy of the Musouii Htttottcal Society)

DRAMATIS PERSONAE 17

mont's last season, 1842-1843, closed with a "deficiency" of about
$3,000. The failure of this famous house Clapp does not attribute
necessarily to the nation-wide depression, at least entirely, since it
suffered from its small size and from injurious competition, and the
Boston Museum, which the Proper Bostonians who hesitated to
cross the portals of an undisguised theatre could safely attend for
twenty-five cents, did draw audiences. Here, as in New York,
people would or could pay only a moderate price for dramatic
entertainment.

To local causes too can perhaps be ascribed in part the woes of
the Dorrance Street Theatre in Pi evidence, but its failure certainly
coincided with the collapses in other cities. William H. Russell,
assuming the management of the house in 1841, soon closed its
doors, deeply involved in debt, though the stockholders, who had
charged him a stiff rent, declared a dividend. In 1842 Jamieson and
Isherwood 80 undertook to see what they could do, only to fold up
their tents and silently steal away after a very short time. The next
year it was the same story with the actor Wizeman Marshall at the
helm; he soon was compelled to close his doors for lack of patron-
age. 81 Finally in 1844 the theatre settled the matter once and for all
by going up in flames. In the blaze the English lecturer Dr.
Dionysius Lardner (of whom more later) lost his precious plane-
tarium. (In fact, there were those who said the fire originated in
the little stove that operated this mechanism.) 83

In Charleston the situation was at first much the same. Stanley
Hoole writes that in 1841-1842 "the esteemed manager was losing
money. ... In spite of complimentary newspaper comments, the
theatre still failed financially. London Assurance, a new play first
given on January 9, 1842, was continually repeated, but still Latham
lost money." 88 But after this, a new manager, William C. Forbes
(like his predecessor an actor, but one with a wider reputation),
took over, and by dint featuring famous stars was actually able to
prosper.

a George O. Willard: History of the Providence Stage, 1782-1891, 138

**Ibid.

**The Ante-Bellvm Charleston Stage, 45. W. H. Latham was an actor as
well as a manager. He assumed control of the Charleston Theatre in No-
vember, 1841.

18 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

Slowly conditions righted themselves, and although the managers
did not take up permanent residence on Easy Street, their trials
grew less painful, and their crises less acute. They succeeded in
weathering the storm by virtue of their ingenuity and the fertility
of their imaginations. There seems to have been almost no limit to
their ability to concoct schemes and expedients, and their artistic
consciences were put away against better times. Melodramas,
spectacles, horse-operas, acrobats, dwarfs, giants, legless men, armless
men, celebrities on the stage and in the boxes all went into the pot.
Individuals went down and disappeared, but somehow the theatre
got through the Slough of Despond.

So it was in St. Louis, except that here there was a minimum of
competition. Ludlow and Smith were not behind their fellows in
inventiveness. Nor were they lacking in courage and determination.
However discouraged they became at times, they hung on, and in
the end they were able to drag themselves up out of the Slough onto
firmer ground. How they accomplished this not inconsiderable feat
it is the function of this work to reveal.

II

CURTAIN UP!
SPRING OF 1840

I hear from St. Louis that McKenzie was to open on the
10th his reign will be short but I fear he will annoy you for
a time until the Ravels arrive

I am about discouraged, & conclude this letter in your words,
"sick, sick at heart."

These depressing sentiments flowed from the quill pen of Sol
Smith in a letter to Ludlow written from their theatre in Mobile on
March 17, 1840. Two days later, his mood unaltered, he made this
melancholy entry in his diary: "No managers need envy us now
involved in debt, & sinking as we are."

In "the fell clutch of circumstance" Sol was wont at times to
express melancholy thoughts like these, but his blue devils never
lingered long and never seem to have curbed his inherent energy.
The life of an American theatrical manager was no sinecure in the
first half of the nineteenth century, and, as I have pointed out,
seldom if ever less so than in the early '40's. Fate played a tantaliz-
ing game, raising their hopes and their fortunes, and then rudely
shattering both. Less than three years before on July 9, 1837, to
be exact Smith had written exuberantly in his spasmodically kept
journal about the prospects of his firm, but one woe had trod upon
another's heels since then. They had lost by fire their two theatres
in Mobile, one the successor to the other, together with their stock
of wardrobe, scenery, and books. Business had begun to slump, and
the debts they had accumulated as a result of these catastrophes
weighed heavily on their spirits. They had, moreover, enteied upon
open warfare with James Caldwell, the great New Orleans gas and
theatre magnate, who was intent on driving them out of Mobile, and
the outcome was far from certain.

But the immediate cause of Smith's forebodings on this March
day was the little touring company of McKenzie and Jefferson,
which, a scant three weeks before his firm was scheduled to open
its spring season in St. Louis had taken possession of the Concert

19

20 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

Hall on Main Street and announced an attractive program of plays
to run an indefinite length of time. Although confident that even-
tually the established company would win the field, Sol was none
too easy in his mind. He knew the Jeffersons.

Perhaps a copy of the February 17 issue of the Missouri Republi-
can had reached him in Mobile, where he had been conducting a
brief spring season "with a few regulars and two or three amateurs
... for the purpose of receiving Mr., Mrs., and Miss Barnes." 1
This edition displayed prominently on its second page the following
announcement.

A New Theatrical Company

We learn by the Springfield Journal that we are to have the
pleasure of witnessing, for a season, the performances of McKenzie's
theatrical corpse. Mr. K's. company has been performing in the
principal towns of Illinois and has everywhere received the highest
applause. His purpose of coming here and the estimation in which
he is held by the people of Springfield appear in the following extract
from the Journal :

The Theatrical company which performed in this town during
the sitting of the legislature, has left, for Jacksonville, Carrollton,
Alton and St. Louis.

As a manifestation of the respect held by our playgoing citizens
for Mr. McKenzie, and his exertions to please and gratify the
tastes of his highly intellectual patrons of the present season, they
gave him an invitation to receive from them a Benefit. This took
place on Friday evening last. The room was filled and not a small
part of it was occupied with the beauty and fashion of our town.

We commend Mr. McKenzie and his Company to the favorable
attention of the play-going people of St. Louis, with whom, we
understand it is their intention to remain a few weeks.

Hence Sol's misgivings.

I said above that he knew his Jeffersons. Despite the spelling in
the newspaper notice, he must have known that this little aggrega-
tion of wandering players was no "corpse," nor yet really a barn-
storming troupe in any but the most literal sense of the word.
Joseph Jefferson the Third, who, as a small boy of eleven, was one
of the less conspicuous members, his future fame as yet undreamed
of, recorded in his delightful autobiography that they were on
occasion constrained to offer their wares in the most unsuitable of

1 8mith: Theatrical Management, 147.

CURTAIN UP! 21

structures, but the peisons who made up the little company were in
the main experienced actors and, most of them, were members of
one of the most gifted and respected families in the combined his-
tories of the British and American stages.

One of the most entertaining portions of the Autobiography of
Joseph Jefferson, is devoted to the travels and tribulations of the
author's father, Joseph Jefferson, Junior or the Second the lovable,
but improvident son of one celebrated comedian and the father of
another, together with his related satellites. Late in 1837 this
amiable gentleman, having met with but limited success in the East,
yielded to the importunities of his brother-in-law, Alexander Mc-
Kenzie, and set out with his family for the little western town of
Chicago, there to join with his kinsman in the organization of a
dramatic company which was, as he saw it, to make his fortune for-
ever more. This was always the way with this cheerful and guileless
scion of a famous line. Prosperity was always, if not just around
the corner, at least just over the next hillside, and he set out to
meet it halfway.

Chicago was reached in 1838, and the wanderers, who had experi-
enced many adventures by the way, were welcomed by the Scotchman
and his wife, the former Hester Jefferson. The two men shortly set
up in business, but there was no pot of gold at the foot of the
Chicago rainbow, and so they pushed on further south in the hope
that they had merely mistaken the foot. For approximately four
years the Jeffersons were wanderers over that part of the face of the
earth which bordered the Mississippi River, travelling from town
to town, and giving their performances in any building which could
be adapted to their use. Just how long the whole company remained
together and exactly where they went is uncertain. The Auto-
biography was not published until 1889, half a century or more
after the event, and the passage of time had blurred the memory of
the writer. In one place he tells of a season in Springfield, Illinois,
where they were saved from disaster by a friendly young lawyer
named Abraham Lincoln. Jefferson then goes on to say, "At the
end of our Springfield season, my father dissolved partnership with
McKenzie and my next remembrance finds us in the town of
Memphis." 9 From Memphis they made their way to Mobile where

* Autobiography of Jotiph Jtfferson, 31.

22 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

the pater fainilias died of yellow fever, thus putting a period to the
prolonged hegira. This was in November, 1842. (The Missouri
Historical Society has in its possession a letter from Mrs. Jeffeison
written to Ludlow, who was a close family friend, from Vicksburg
on May 2, asking if he could employ her husband as "actor artist
or both" and saying that their circumstances were very straitened;
but evidently he could do nothing for her. One of his daughters
was named for Mrs. Jefferson.) No one knows to this day just
where their travels took this family, but the information probably
lies hidden away awaiting only the searching of the curious.

The notice from the Missouri Republican quoted above is, how-
ever, ceitain evidence that the company was not disbanded after the
Springfield season, unless it played more than one engagement in the
Illinois capital, as it may well have done, though there is no hint of
one in Jefferson's book. When after three weeks in St. Louis in the
spring of 1840, the company departed for fresh fields, the Republican
on March 30 wished it godspeed much as the Springfield Journal
had done. "They leave, as we understand, for the principal towns
on the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, and in parting with them
we take pleasure in commending them to the favorable attention of
the citizens of the places they visit. We take particular pleasure in
commending the managers to the attention and courtesies of our
brethren of the press, wherever they may go, under the full convic-
tion that they will find them worthy and deserving of any attention
they may show them."

It was the end of March when the company left St. Louis. About
two months later, Ludlow and Smith received a very modest letter
of application from one Thomas Sankey for a position in their corps.
It is dated Fulton, Missouri, May 23, and gives Columbia as the
writer's address. He evidently has some sort of engagement from
which he thinks he can be released, and he expresses a desire to
become a member of a regular company. Since a "Mr. Sankey" was
with McKenzie in St. Louis, it seems not unreasonable to conclude
that this was the man, and that the Jeffersons were by this time up
in central Missouri.

But to return to the St. Louis engagement, and, first, to the per-
sonnel of the company. The latter was very largely a family affair.

CURTAIN UP! 23

The partners, as 1 have said, were brothers-in-law, and most of the
others were members of the Jefferson clan. In his The Jeff ers ons,
published in 1881, William Winter refers to the senior partner as
"the noted actor and manager ... in the West." 8 He spells the
name Mackenzie, a spelling I have found nowhere else except some-
times in the newspapers and in Allston Brown's History of the
American Staff e, the latter by no means a wholly reliable authority.
I have come across nowhere any record of his participation in any
performance in the capacity of an actor. Certainly his name is con-
spicuously absent from the casts advertised in the Missouri Repub-
lican.

The junior partner was the grandson of the founder of the
dynasty, the gifted eighteenth century actor, Thomas Jefferson,
whose son Joseph migrated to America in 1795, and was for years
one of the best beloved players on the Philadelphia stage. 4 The
young man now in St. Louis was the second son of Joseph the First
and at this time about thirty-five years of age. As an actor he failed
to scale the heights reached by his father and his grandfather, being
regarded as "respectable" rather than brilliant. Whether his relative
failure was due to lack of talent or to his sanguine, easygoing nature,
it is impossible to say. Of the twenty-four roles which Winter lists
as part of his repertory, most are of the kind known as "character
parts," for instance, Polonius, Dogberry, the First Witch in Macbeth,
the first Grave-Digger in Hamlet, Crabtree in The School for
Scandal, and Admiral Franklin in Sweethearts and Wives. It will
be seen from this that, like his talented father, he was associated
even as a young man with elderly characters. He also had an
aptitude for painting (inherited by his son) and frequently turned
it to good use.

Mrs. Jefferson was actually a much more important person than
her husband, although by 1840 her star was no longer in the
ascendant. As Mrs. Thomas Burke, she had attained recognition as
one of the finest singers in the United States; Joseph the Third
states that she had been "the leading prima donna of the country.""
But that glory was a thing of the past. Having been born in 1796,

P 396.

'Ibid, 52.

^Autobiography of Joseph Jefferson, 54.

24 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

she was now in her forty-fourth year. She had married Jefferson
in 1826, shortly after the death of Burke. "In the spring of 1837,"
says Allston Brown in his History of the American Stage t "she
reappeared in New York after an absence of ten years, during which,
time had made such sad havoc with her voice and appearance that
few of her warmest admirers could recognize in her the idol of their
earlier days. She died in Philadelphia, in 1850, of a lingering con-
sumption." It is obvious, then, that the lady who came to St. Louis
in 1840 had lost much, if not most, of her attraction. Yet she still
occasionally attempted youthful heroines, especially when the part
called for a song.

With her she brought her three children, the eldest being Charles
Saint Thomas Burke, a gifted boy of eighteen who somehow failed
to realize in his short life the great success his talents appeared to
promise. Between him and his half brother, Joseph the Third, five
years his junior, there existed a gieat devotion. The latter, together
with his little sister Cornelia, was with the company in St. Louis.

But we have by no means exhausted the family list. There were
also two of Jefferson's five sisters, Mrs. McKenzie and Mrs.
Ingersoll. The former, true to the family tradition, devoted most
of her efforts to characters of advanced age and was useful as a
stock actress. Like so many of this small aggregation she passed
from this mortal scene not long after the season under our scrutiny,
dying in Nashville in 1845 while still in her thirties. Mrs. Ingersoll
was Mary Anne, the fourth of the sisters. She too made a career of
the stage without spectacular results. Her husband, the tragedian
David Ingersoll, had some reputation; 6 she later married James
Wright, a prompter at Wallack's Theatre in New York, and re-
tired to private life.

Younger than her sister and her sister-in-law, Mrs. Ingersoll fell
heir to most of the leading business. Some of the romantic heroines,
however, were entrusted to her niece, Mrs. J. C. Germon, formerly
Jane Anderson, who, with her husband, completed the family circle.
Something over twelve years later this young couple were to win
fame as Uncle Tom and Eliza in the famous George Aiken version

6 Allston Brown in his History of the Amtrican Staff says Ingersoll
died in St. Louis in 1847, but I have found no confirmation in any local
newspaper.

CURTAIN UP! 25

of Uncle Tom's Cabin. 1 But fortune did not smile on them long,
for in 1854 Gennon followed Little Eva to Heaven, and his widow
followed the path of her relatives. Winter asserts: "She has had a
bright career on the stage, and is a superior representative of old
women." 8

Of the twelve persons who constituted the McKenzie- Jefferson
"corpse," eight have been accounted for. The remaining four, who
were not members of the famous clan, were of no particular conse-
quence, and their names were "writ in water." To one, Sol Smith
does pay tribute in his Theatrical Management. He says there that
Sankey, "if he had lived, would have become one of the best actors of
old men the American stage ever produced" ; but, unfortunately, he
was drowned a couple of years after this engagement. 8 "Mr.
Leicester," to whose lot fell most of the male leads, is something of
a mystery. I have found in various works on stage history mention
of an individual, or, quite possibly, of more than one individual
bearing that name, but invariably without any Christian name at-
tached. According to Brown, he or one of them made his debut
at the Richmond Hill Theatre in New York in 1830." But this is
one of the Colonel's mistakes, for that theatre (located in the old
home of Aaron Burr) did not open until 1831; and when it does
open, Dr. Odell does not mention Mr. Leicester as being among
those present. He does identify him (?) as a "popular singer of
negro songs" at the Franklin in September, 1836. The fact that
the Ingersolls were there at the same time would suggest that per-
haps some friendship or connection was formed. Later in the same
volume Dr. Odell reports that he played Ben Beauty in an opus
entitled Gamblers of the Mississippi and the Idiot Girl at the same
popular-priced house. 11 But in St. Louis he neither sang "Ethiopian
songs" nor performed the part of a card-shark on the Father of
Waters. It seems strange that a man who had made a name for
himself in one particular form of amusement would so soon have

r He was not actually, as William Winter asserts (The Jefftrtom, 95),
the original Uncle Tom. But he was the first in a really adequate drama-
tization of the novel.

8 Winter: The Jeffersont, 95.

B 8mith > Theatrical Management, 156.

"Brown. The American Stage.

"Odell: Annals, IV, 151 and 397.

26 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

abandoned his trump card, but "Mr. L." was neither the first nor
the last comedian who aspired to the prestige of the leading man.
C. L. Green was probably a former member of the Ludlow and
Smith entourage who had distinguished himself during the preceding
season by appearing on the stage when drunk and reducing both his
fellow players and his audience to hysterics. Of the one remaining
member of the group, a man named Sullivan, I know nothing.

Such was the make-up of the company which opened the twenty-
sixth season of the St. Louis stage. The Jeffersons were an excep-
tionally gifted and universally respected set of people, and, moreover,
persons of breeding and taste. They were artists by inheritance.
St. Louis may well have extended them a cordial hand.

If the newspaper accounts are to be accepted at their face value,
this cordial hand was not withheld, for the company remained in
town three weeks, giving nineteen perfoimances apparently to
giatifying business, and finally departed only when the arrival of
the "established company" made further lingering injudicious. St.
Louis was not yet large enough to support two companies. The
editorial comments in the Missouri Republican and the Commercial
Bulletin, if not extended, are invariably more or less complimentary.
On Wednesday, March 11, a writer in the former had this to say:
"Messrs. McKenzie & Jefferson's company opened on Monday eve-
ning in Concert Hall, to a very crowded house, and were received
with great applause. The principal characters were, with a few
exceptions, well sustained. Last night they were greeted with a good
house, and the performance went off better than on the preceding
evening The house has been well fitted up for the purpose." Sub-
sequent editorial comments are all in the same vein. On March 19
the paper observed, "We are pleased to see that they are nightly
greeted with full houses. They deserve and receive encouragement."
Equally laudatory comment came from the Daily Evening Gazette,
which on March 20, printed the following commentary: "The
exertions of the company of Messrs. Jefferson & Mackenzie are
such as to entitle them to the applause of play-lovers; and we be-
lieve have been rewarded by pretty full houses. The scenery, dresses
and decorations give evidence that no proper pains or expense has
been spared upon them; the scenery is specially worthy of remark
for its uncommon beauty." So business seems to have been good,

CURTAIN UP! 27

though it would be safer to accept the Gazette's "pretty full houses"
than the Republican's "full houses." Publicity may have been still
in its infancy, but it was old enough to have learned some tricks.
Furthermore, William B. Wood, who was long one of the managers
of the Chestnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia, says in his memoirs
that on only one night in forty-seven years did he ever see a full
house, and that when he was terrified "for fear of a panic." 18

I shall not dwell at length upon all the McKenzie and Jefferson
performances, but shall cite only those which seem to call for particu-
lar attention. The full list appears in the appendix.

THEATRE

Messrs. MacKenzie & Jefferson respectfully announce to the
citizens of St. Louis that they have fitted up the Splendid Ball Room
in Concert Hall, for Dramatic representations.

On Monday, March 9, will be presented

THE LADY OF LYONS
or, Love and Pride

Claude Melnotte ______ Mr. Leicester

Colonel Damas _____ Mr. Jefferson

Deschapelles _______ Mr. Sankey

Madame Deschapelles _ _ _ _ Mrs. Jefferson

Pauline Deschapelles _ _ _ _ " Ingersoll

Dame Melnotte _____ " Mackenzie

After the Play

Song "The Last of Cowrie" _ _ Mrs. Germon
Comic Song _______ Master Jefferson

Sailor's Hornpipe _____ Mr. Burke

To Conclude with
An Affair of Honor

Major Limsky ______ Mr. C. L. Green

Martha ________ Mrs. Germon

"William B. Wood: Pet tonal Recollections of the Stage, 275.

28 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

Doors open at 7; performance to commence at half

past 7 precisely.

Tickets to parquette, 75 cents each; tickets
at back of parquette, SO cents each; gallery
for persons of color, SO cents.

But the editor of the Republican, in whose paper the above spread
appeared, was not without his doubts concerning the "Splendid
Ball Room." In a biief item referring to the prospective enter-
tainment of the evening he observed: "The room, as all must be
aware, is not adapted to pieces requiring much scenic effect, nor
will it in other respects be free from slight objections, for these dis-
advantages the audience will of course be prepared to make allow-
ance." So the public was warned in advance not to expect the lux-
uries of the St. Louis Theatre, where actually each person in the
parquet had a seat to himself instead of having to share a bench with
assorted fellow citizens, a real novelty in theatre conveniences.

So much for the opening night. The bill on the second night,
which, according to the Republican, "went off better," featured
Kotzebue's The Stranger with Mrs. Ingcrsoll and Leicester again
playing the leading business. Most of the others were involved,
Mrs. Jefferson as "Savoyard with a song." This lugubrious favor-
ite was followed by "a variety of Singing and Dancing" and The
Spectre Bridegroom, the cast of which was not announced. The
singing and dancing were included in every bill; the youngsters
must contribute their mites.

On March 12, Leicester appeared as Alessandro Massaroni in
The Brigand "During the play all the original music" and "The
Brigand Gun Waltz by eight Ladies and Gentlemen." The dancers
are not identified in the advertisement, but they were almost cer-
tainly practically "the strength of the company." The second
piece was the Irving-Payne Charles II with Leicester as the amorous
king, Germon as Rochester, Sankey as Captain Copp, Mrs. Mc-
Kenzie as Lady Clara, and Mrs. Jefferson (despite her age) as
Mary Copp "with the song of 'Sweet Home.' " "Home, Sweet
Home" was one of the lady's specialties and was here bodily trans-
ferred from one Payne play to another.

Two evenings later St. Louis Dickens enthusiasts had their first
chance to meet one of their favorite heroes in the flesh, as it were.

CURTAIN UP! 29

Oliver Twist had not yet been three years off the presses In its
original form ; so as a drama it was a distinct novelty. It had been
given at the Park Theatre in New York in February, 1839, though
whether or not in the same adaptation there is no way of telling. 11
It was the custom to entrust boy parts to young women, and so it
fell to Mrs. Germon's lot to introduce the workhouse lad to St.
Louis. Obviously the typesetter of the Republican did not know
his Dickens, for he cast Sankey as "Faguire." The Jeffersons played
Mr. and Mrs. Bumble, and Leicester, Monks. No other characters
are listed in the advertisement in the Republican of March 14. "If
plaudits are any mark of approbation," observed the same paper two
days later, "the performance was well liked."

"The Lady of the Lake was played on Tuesday night, and we
are correct in saying it was never performed better in St. Louis.
The scenery was appropriate and in a style superior to anything we
expected to see." So reported the Republican on March 21. The
comment on the scenery might be taken as damning with faint
praise, because it will be recalled that the same editor had expected
very little, as well he might, in the way of scenic effects in the trans-
mogrified ballroom. At the same time, it should be remembered
that Jefferson was exceptionally clever with the brush, and to his
talents were undoubtedly due the surprising sets. In the per-
formance Leicester was Roderick Dhu, Germon Fits- James, Mrs.
Ingersoll Ellen, and Mrs. Jefferson Blanche. (The paper was
wrong in staling that the Scott opus was done on Tuesday; exam-
ination of the advertisements shows that it was seen on Thursday,
two nights later.)

On March 23, what might in the language of to-day be termed
"the second feature" was Rip Van Winkle or The Demons of the
Catskill Mountains. The sub-title indicates that this was the ver-
sion by John Kerr, an English actor, which had been presented
at the Walnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia, in 1829, and in which
both James H. Hackett and William Chapman had played the
title role. 14 Few plays in modern stage history have gone through
more metamorphoses than this long-popular romance, which held
the stage continuously from 1828 to 1903. This is not the place

"Odell: Annalt, IV, 283.

14 Arthur Hobion Quinn: History of the American Drama from ike Be-
ginning to the Civil War, 326 ft.

30 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

for a detailed account of the various versions, especially as an ad-
mirable analysis is available in Dr. Arthur Hobson Quinn's
History of the American Drama. None except the Kerr version
employed the sub-title named above.

Almost from the first, the play was associated with the Jefferson
family. The first Philadelphia cast included Mrs. S. Chapman,
still another sister of Joseph the Second, and also a "J. Jefferson"
who, Dr. Quinn thinks, was a brother John, but who may have
been Joseph. Both at times played minor roles. In St. Louis, how-
ever, the latter played the lead as he occasionally did, although he
never achieved in the part the success scored by his stepson or,
later, by his son, Joseph the Third, not to mention Hackett. It is
too bad that no St. Louis critic had the foresight to review the
performance so that some conception of the interpretation might
have come down to us. It is interesting that young Burke, later
famous for his own Rip, was on this evening the Demon of the
Mountain. Probably young Joe was one of the children. Their
mother was Dame Van Winkle, and Green was Knickeibocker.
Unfortunately that is all we know.

Only one other production by this company calls for particular
mention. This was another novelty, Planches High Low Jack and
the Game, which, according to the Republican, was marked by cer-
tain unusual features. I quote from the advertisement on March
26: "The music selected from the best hands. The new suits from
original paintings, in the possession of everybody. A deal of ma-
chinery cut by Mr. McCabe. The new scenery dealt out by Messrs.
Jefferson & Schinotti." 18 The cast: King of Clubs Jefferson,
King of Spades Green, Knave of Hearts Germon, Queen of
Spades Mrs. 'Mackenzie,' and Queen of Hearts Mrs. Germon.
This was, according to the records, a "first time in St. Louis."

Unhappily for the itinerant managers, the "established company"
now arrived on the scene and opened its doors, and patently there
was nothing for them to do but bow to the inevitable and resume
their travels. On March 28, the day after Charles Burke's eighteenth
birthday, as a final gesture, they gave repeats of Cherry and Fair

"Undoubtedly J. F. Schinotti, actor and scene-painter, formerly with
Ludlow and Smith (Carson. The Thtaire on the Frontier, 268 and 297).

CURTAIN UP! 31

Star and The Invincible f or Les Femmes Soldats. Mr. Germon
sang a song, and they were off with the journalistic blessings quoted

above.

* # *

THEATRE A CARD

The ladies and gentlemen attached to the St. Louis Theatrical
corps will please meet at the Theatre on Thursday afternoon, 26th
inst. at the following hours, for the purpose of understanding business
relative to the opening of the season, viz;

Carpenters, Scene-shifters and Door-keepers, will meet the Stage
Manager at his office, at 9 the Actors, in the Green Room at 10
the Musicians in the Music Room at half past 11 the officers of
other departments, on the stage at half-past 9 o'clock.

(Daily Bulletin, March 26, 1840)

The year 1840 was not a happy one for Ludlow and Smith, either
as a firm or individually. The reader of their published recollec-
tions gets the impression that it was one they would gladly forget,
for their records for that twelve-month are little more than chron-
icles of woe. The letters and the diary of Smith make even more
melancholy reading. And yet, according to Ludlow in an affidavit
made apparently in 1868 during the course of his legal troubles
with his former partner, it was "not a losing one" even though it
"had not been as prosperous as the three preceding ones." 16

Smith I have already quoted. Turning to his correspondence with
Ludlow, we find that as early as January 21 he was frantic about
money matters, and also about the maddening Ravel family. This
group of acrobats and pantomimists constituted an attraction of
potent drawing power, one to whose engagements distressed man-
agers were in the habit of looking for relief. But the Ravels had, at
least in the opinion of Smith, "stood him up" the previous fall and
still were causing him no end of grief. On January 13 he addressed
a letter to Gabriel Ravel in Montgomery, Alabama, stating that he
expected him in Mobile and expressing the "hope by your performing

"This affidavit is in the Harvard College Library. In it Ludlow states
that, according to this estimate, he and Smith were in 1840 jointly worth
between "70 tc 80 thousand dollars ... at a fair valuation by me of our
property." In another memorandum (also at Harvard) he estimates his
own private fortune at $41,000, "chiefly in real estate in Mobile. 11 He says
the amount may have been larger.

32 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

in our new theatre here you will make up for the disappointment
we experienced by your failure to meet your engagement with us
in St. Louis in Nov. last." But his hopes were vain. On the
twenty-first he wrote Ludlow: "They prefer fitting up places, &
playing by themselves have scenery and everything with them, etc.
say they took $1100 in 3 nights, in Macon. ... I am nearly
crazy." The next day he resumed. The struggle with the liberty-
loving Frenchmen was continuing. They were demanding "out-
rageous terms." Moreover, there was money due on his house in
Mobile, and his wife had the mumps. On April 3, a week after the
opening of the St. Louis season, he wrote: "My house goes to-
morrow for I find it utterly impossible to raise $320 or even 320
cents I am hot for going to Oregon provided a good fire-proof
Balloon is available." Of the Ravels more anon.

Smith, however, was not alone in feeling pinched financially. The
complaint was a national one following the political struggles over
the banking policies of the government in Washington. St. Louis
had not escaped the general depression, nor, on the other hand, the
current political distractions. Writing to his daughter (Mrs. Wm.
Glasgow, Jr.), on May 26, Dr. Wm. Carr Lane, who had just
completed his ninth term as mayor, commented thus on local con-
ditions: "Hereabouts, things are pretty much as you left them
Business dull; rents declining politicks raging; money scarce;
Log-cabbins & hard cider much in fashion ; concerts, Theatri-
cals etc., but no Dancing parties." 17 In another letter, dated two
months later, the Doctor expressed the opinion that better times
lay just ahead prosperity was just around the corner; unfor-
tunately, he was just as dismally mistaken as was a much more cele-
brated statesman nearly a century later. Ludlow and Smith, like
many others, were merely on the threshold of their troubles.

In his Theatrical Management Smith says flatly, "As I was
personally present in St. Louis but a very short time during the sea-
son of 1840, I propose to omit nearly all particulars of its piQg-

17 Dr. Lane had been the first Mayor of St Louis, baring been first
elected in 1823. Re-elected annually for five yeais, he then was out of
office until 1838, when he completed the unfinished term of John H. Darby;
he was thereafter elected twice more. (These letters are in the posses-
sion of the author.)

BIBS. *ARRBN.

MARY ANN FARREN
(Cowtesy of the Theatre Collection, Howard College Libiary)

E. S CONNER

ASRQMJK)

(Courtesy of the Thratit Collection, Haivard College Library)

CURTAIN UP! 33

ress." 18 And he is as good as his word, dismissing the season in a
minimum of lines. When the company came north from Mobile,
it was shepherded by the senior partner, and Sol meiely paid flying
visits from time to time.

Ludlow is not loquacious upon the subject, but he has more to say
than has his colleague, and from his Dramatic Life it is possible
to glean some relevant facts. 19 As I have said, he arrived with his
cohorts while the McKenzie- Jefferson company was still performing
in Concert Hall.

The company which he brought up the river was, irrespective of
the lustre shed by visiting stars, an adequate one; perhaps it would
not have been so considered at the Park, the Chestnut, or the Wal-
nut, but in the hinterland, though not so strong as some later ones,
it was quite acceptable. It would have been more than that had it
had in it all the people listed by Ludlow. As is so often the case,
however, his roll is incorrect. He is right in claiming Mr. and
Mrs. George P. Farren, "Old Joe" Cowell, and Mr. and Mrs.
Hezekiah Bateman. But his memory was playing him tricks when
he included Mrs. W. H. Smith and Tom Placide, neither of whom
appeared on the scene until 1844. Overlooked by him but men-
tioned in the newspaper notices were a number of others with whom
I shall dial as the occasion arises.

Yet, even so, the aggregation embraced considerable ability. In
the first place, both Ludlow and Smith were talented and experi-
enced comedians, old troupers who definitely "knew their way
about," though perhaps Smith should not be counted, since he made
but one appearance in this spring season. They seldom acted serious
parts, never, I think, voluntarily. In the absence of his partner,
Ludlow was very active, in fact more so than was his custom.
What is more, when his name appeared in the advertisements, it
was usually printed in capitals like the stars' ; this too was contrary
to the usual local practice.

The Farrens were probably the most valuable members of the
company. They had joinetl it the previous spring, and were to be
for several years among the managers' most useful adherents. I was
about to say among "the most dependable." That adjective could

"Smith: Theatrical Management, 150.
"Ludlow: Dramatic Life, 521.

34 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

very aptly be applied to Mrs. Farren, the former Maiy Ann
Russell to no one more so but not exactly to her husband, who
is said to have been a son of Percy Farren, "the Dublin manager"
and the nephew of the celebrated English comedian William Far-
ren.* George, who served his employers in the dual role of actor
(especially of old men) and stage manager, appears to have been
a particularly lovable sort of person, but he was not remarkable
for sobriety and was by no means dependable. The partners were
devoted to him as a man, but their correspondence shows that he
tried their patience sorely. He stumbled, repented, was forgiven,
stumbled again, and so on through the yeais. He seems always to
have been forgiven, partly for his own sake and partly for that of
his admirable wife, and neither manager has a word to say against
him in his memoirs. Their affection evidently was duplicated by
that of the theatre-going public.

According to Olive Logan in her Before the Footlights and Be-
hind the Scenes j Mrs. Farren was forty-nine years old in 1869. ai
If her computation is correct, the future star began her career at an
extremely early age inasmuch as she made her debut, at the Chatham
Garden Theatre in New York, in 1824." Many actors and
actresses have accomplished their debuts practically in infancy, but
four is a bit young for the Page in The Purse, and on the basis of
other bits of evidence I venture to doubt Miss Logan's figure. For
a number of years she accompanied her parents in their wanderings
and, together with her younger brother, was seen sometimes, in-
deed, featured in various and sundry juvenile roles. A sketch of
her life in an unidentified newspaper clipping in the Theatre Collec-
tion of the Harvard College Library states that she retired from the
public eye for a while and then returned to the stage as Rosina in
The Barber of Seville "with no little eclat." But she soon aban-
doned opera for the legitimate and was identified with it through-
out a long and honorable career. Says Smith: "Mrs. Farren I
have known from her childhood. She is the daughter of the late
Richard Russell, manager of the Camp Street Theatre [New Or-
leans] . She remained with me for eight years, and I may truly say

*The Autobiography of Clara Fuker Matdtr, 8.

"P. 439.

"Odell: Annals, III, 125.

CURTAIN UP! 35

that this excellent woman and fine actress always did her duty, and
much more." 28 Now in her twenties she had attained the stature
of leading lady. Five years later she and her husband decided that
they were ready to assume the risks and rewards of stardom, and
set out on their own. She met with success and was for many years
one of the important actresses on the American stage.

. . . Mrs. Farren possesses a fine person, a classical head and fea-
tures, the varying play of which is fitted to express every phase of
tragic emotion, while in repose they indicate that high order which
her conceptions of character and her readings of the great tragic poets
attest. Add to this a voice powerful, deep and musical, evincing thor-
ough cultivation, gestures graceful and chastened, and attitudes
statuesque and impressive. . . . Moreover, she never follows the bad
example of some perfoimers of celebrity, who waste all their strength
on the rendering of brilliant points and passages, neglecting the links
that connect them. Mrs. Farren aims rather at massing the details
of a character . . . presenting a harmonious and impressive whole,
rather than bringing into high relief salient peculiarities. Her energy,
in the most, is never exaggerated into ranting, nor does her calmness
subside into tameness. Her physical and mental energies are com-
pletely under the control of a refined taste and severe judgment.* 4
v

A review in The Albion of January 22, 1848, quoted by Dr. Odell
does not, I thi'nlr, contradict this laudatory appraisal. ". . . Her
face lacked 'strong tragic expression,' but should 'light up .charm-
ingly 1 in comedy. 'Her voice is sweetly toned, deep, and singularly
harmonious'; unfortunately, she adopted 'the now almost exploded,
chanting, pompous style'; and her performance in the Gamester
was conventional. Yet 'there was an occasional gleam of the in-
telligent feeling woman that beamed out delightfully.' ""

I have given this much space to Mary Ann Farren because, if
Ludlow and Smith are our leading men, she certainly is our leading
lady.

Old Joe Cowell was in 1840 perhaps one of the best known
actors on the stage in this country. He was a rather crabby codger,
at this time about forty-eight years of age, though, it would seem,
generally regarded as an old man. The first twenty-nine years of

"Smith: Theatrical Management, 136.

"Unidentified newspaper clipping in Harvard College Library.

"Odell: Annalt, V, 338.

36 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

his life had been passed in his native England, the last nineteen in
this country, where he was a familiar figure in practically all cities
and towns with any claim to theatrical importance. His Thirty
Years Passed Among the Players of England and America, pub-
lished in 1844, added some measure to his fame, but scarcely to his
popularity, his barbed and caustic comments upon various associ-
ates causing no little irritation in many quarters. He had joined
Ludlow and Smith the previous fall and had settled down in St.
Louis with the apparent intention of making it his home.

Both his daughter and his son-in-law became eventually figures
of greater consequence in the world of the theatre than he himself.
Sidney Cowell had married Hezekiah Linthicum Bateman in St.
Louis in November, 1839. She was destined for importance in
several roles as herself a clever actress and also a successful play-
wright, as the wife of an important manager, and as the mother
and mentor of two of the most ina edible infant prodigies who ever
caused sensations on the stage when they should have been at home
in the nursery. 86

Bateman himself was a competent, but by no means a sensa-
tional actor, a fact which he appears to have recognized himself
since he did not persevere in the profession. In later years he de-
voted his time chiefly to management, especially to directing the
tours of his daughters. Ludlow credits h'' with the introduction of
French opera bouffe into this country. 27 Eventually he went to
England, where he had the shrewdness to see something in an ob-
scure young actor named Henry Irving. It was he who, rather
reluctantly according to Gordon Craig, launched that young man
upon his great career in The Bells. 96

"Kate and Ellen Bateman. On December 19, 1849, "These piodigies
opened in the fifth act of Richard III, with Kate as Richmond, and Ellen as
Richard." During the same engagement Ellen played Shylock to the Portia
of her sister in the Trial Scene of The Merchant of Venice, and Lady
Macbeth to the Macbeth of Kate (Odell, V, 517). "Eveiy fiesh character
they undertook was a surprise, and waa consideied more clever than any
that had preceded it Lady Macbeth was, perhaps, the most successful of
Ellen's assumptions, while Kate read Portia with amazing skill and pro-
priety; her delivery of the familiar lines was finished, and her carnage
throughout was that of an experienced artist" (Laurence Hutton: Curios-
ities of the American Stage, 242). In 1849 Kate was six years old, and
Ellen four.

* 7 Ludlow: Dramatic Life, 527.

28 Gordon Craig: Henry Irving, 42.

CURTAIN UP! 37

These players constituted the front line of the company. The
rest were, I judge, what in the language of the day was called
"respectable," an adjective applied, not to their morals though they
may have been above approach but to their abilities. Certainly no
aspersions were ever cast upon the virtues of Mrs. Farren's mother,
Mrs. Richard Russell, who was on hand to play dowagers and
other elderly females of any and all stations of society. She was
the widow of an old associate who had tried his hand at man-
agement all the way from Boston to New Orleans, and was a long-
time friend of both her employers. She was forty-eight years old.
Ludlow describes her as "a very pretty woman with brilliant black
eyes." 89 With her daughter and son-in-law, she had become a mem-
ber of the company the previous fall.

A "Miss Stanard" (sometimes spelled "Stannard") was prob-
ably Rachel, one of two sisters listed by Allston Brown. 80 She had
been on and off the St. Louis stage since the days of the Salt House.
He gives the place of her birth as England, the year 1800. Conse-
quently she was in 1840 no slip of a girl, a fact I am not sure that
she grasped. Ludlow, who nevertheless kept on engaging her, goes
so far as to say that, five years before this season, "she was unfit by
age or talents to perform the business to which she aspired." 111 She
not only aspired to roles like Ophelia and Diana Vemon, but also
was given to executing broadsword and Austrian hornpipe dances.
There is absolutely no evidence that she ever achieved the slightest
popularity.

For leads in farces and burlettas, there was Miss Morgan, first
name unknown. As a matter of fact, I seriously question if this
lady really had a first name. I have pursued her relentlessly
through any number of volumes on the history of the American
stage, and, in those in which she gets herself mentioned at all, she
is invariably "Miss Morgan." At least, I conclude that it is she
because she is always (except once) cast in light singing parts.
Whoever she was, she seems eternally to have had a song on her lips.
Both William B. Wood and Dr. A. H. Wilson repoit her as
warbling in Philadelphia, the latter mentioning her as Donna Anna

M Ludlow: Dramatic Life, 216.
*Tht American Stage.
81 Ludlow: Dramatic Lift, 441.

38 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

in Don Juan, if indeed it really was she in this trying role. 88 In
May, 1838, she was imported by the Park in New York to sing
Zerlina in a single performance of Fra Diavoto. 8 * Now she was in
St. Louis, but no such roles fell to her lot in this city.

Three male members of the corps dramatique were cairy-overs
from the preceding season. Only one of these was remembered by
either of the managers in their recollections. This was "Paddy"
Larkin, who had originally been engaged to perform the part of
the Prince in the revival of Cinderella in Mobile in 1837. Ludlow
says he was "a man of considerable musical capacity as a tenor
singer, but unfortunately possessed of a very exalted opinion of his
own abilities, which, in spite of that proverbial modesty attendant
on Irishmen, would at times makes itself apparent, to the discom-
fort of those who might be performing in the same piece with
him.""

The other two men, the ones passed over in silence by Ludlow
and Smith, were Marsh and McConechy respectively. The former
had "joined up" in 1838 and played "heavy" loles to the satisfaction
of all concerned. He had, furthermore, established himself in Sol's
good graces until he had run amok during Forrest's engagement
in the spring of 1839, being hissed for playing his part in what
amounted to dumb show and later cursing the popular ingenue Eliza
Petrie in her dressing-room. He was discharged, but soon was re-
instated and apparently caused no further trouble. 30 As for Mc-
Conechy, in a letter to Ludlow written on the installment plan
April 10 to 14, 1839, Smith characterizes him as "an old steady
sterling stock actor, (tho' a young man) without any particularly
shining qualities about him." But an anonymous writer in the Daily
Evening Gazette of April 15, on noting his return, observed, "Look
out for broad grins the remainder of the season."

So much for the line-up. Now to get on with the spring season
of 1840, which was formally launched on the evening of March 26.

>Wood: Personal Recollections, 403: Arthur Herman Wilion: A. His-
tory of the Philadtlphia Theatre, 1835-1855, 181.
aOdell: Annals, IV, 205.
Ludlow: Dramatic Life, 473.
3B CarBon- The Theatre on the Frontier, 283.

CURTAIN UP! 39

The play selected for the opening was the same as that chosen by
McKenzie and Jefferson for their first night, the redoubtable Lady
of Lyons. E. 8. Conner, appearing as the first star, was the Claude,
and Mrs. Farren the Pauline. The afterpiece was the operetta No!
or The Glorious Minority with Miss Morgan making her local
debut and singing "several popular songs." The performance, ac-
cording to the Missouri Republican, which reviewed it two days
later, was all it should have been. "On the opening of the St.
Louis Theatie," it records, "the company was greeted by a full
house, and welcomed by plaudits long and loud." In this judgment
the other newspapers concurred. A lengthy letter published by the
Gazette on March 28 is in style so typical of dramatic criticism in
the "Far West" during the Fabulous Forties that it is perhaps
worthy of quotation in full. Moreover, it does give some informa-
tion.

THEATRICAJL Mr. Editor: Did you attend the Theatre last
evening the St. Louis Theatre, I mean? No? Well, I did. The
first thing that attracted my attention was the Orchestra familiar
faces all [In a subsequent communication, a few days later, he
confessed to a mistake on that point] the same we had last year, and
that's praise quite sufficient for the present, for they play as well,
and their music is as grand, harmonious, and delightful as ever
if you doubt it go and hear for yourselves. The Overture played
dingle, dingle, gingle "And up rose the yellow" No, red curtain
and there as lovely as ever sat the representative of Pauline, in the
Lady of Lyons Mrs. Farren, and by her side Mrs. Russell, both
favorites. They met with a warm and hearty welcome from the
audience assuring them that they had not been forgotten, as did
each and one of the last years stock who have now returned and
appears. To say that Mrs. Farren played well would be no praise
at all so I'll only say, the performance was in her best style
there hem! Conner played Claude to the life true, in his
description of the Palace by the lake of Como he was not as great
as Forrest but as a whole, he plays the part, and looks the thing,
much better. He has one great secret, which is more than half the
battle, he's a beautiful dresser. Messrs. Bateman, Marsh, Farren
ah I I beg your pardon old friend you play as well as ever, so do
they all, "clever dogs." The play went off remarkably well, and to
the entire satisfaction of a large and respectable audience, with one
exception Farren, your scene shifters make too much noise in chang-
ing wings, &, in some of the most quiet scenes it's very annoying.

40 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

The afterpiece was the Musical Farce of "no I or the glorious
Minority" in which Miss Morgan appeared. She sings sweetly,
very sweetly, and was loudly and warmly encored in one of her
songs she's bound to be a favorite for she had the Majority on her
side. Mrs. Bateman, die pretty little Miss Cowell, that used to be,
and Mrs. Page, also appeared, and received warm receptions they
are welcome.

MORE ANON.

There will be "more anon" from this correspondent. For a while
he keeps us an courant with affairs on the stage at Third and Olive.
I only wish that he had continued to do so throughout the season,
for, whatever the vagaries of his literary style, he did manifest a
critical judgment which comes to our assistance fiom time to time.

The season was off to a good start. The auguries for clear sailing
were auspicious. Conner was, if not quite all some contemporary
blurbs proclaimed him to be, certainly a very competent actor.
Ludlow describes him as "a very fine-looking young man in person
well-fitted for the character; he was tall, well-proportioned, and in
his assumption of the Prince of Como might have been reasonably
supposed to have sprung from an aristocratic stock." 86 Dr. Odell
says "he became a very well-known tragedian, and, if he never at-
tained the highest rank, he was counted for years a very respectable
actor." BT Phelps in his Players of a Century ci edits him with "good
taste, fine head, graceful person and excellent elocutionary powers." 88
If Allston Brown is correct, he was at this time, thirty-one years
old. 89 Obviously the two St. Louis managers had laid hold of a
leading man who was worthy of their company. Moreover, even
if he did not have the box office potency of a sensational star, he was
very well liked in the community and his employers were not un-
aware of his value.

One thing definitely in Conner's favor was the fact that he gave
the public an opportunity to see worth-while plays. During his
fortnight in town he appeared, not only as Claude Melnotte, but
also as Richelieu (a part which Phelps asserts he played 877 times), 40

80 LudIow: Dramatic Life, 541.

"Odell: Annalt, IV, 209

88 P. 247.

89 TA* American Stage. He spells die name Connor,

*Phelps: Players of a Century, 146. '

CURTAIN UP! 4-1

Angelo in Tortesa the Usurer (N. P. Willis' poetic drama),
Richard III, and Coriolanus. We to-day may hesitate to call The
Lady of Lyons: or Richelieu a worth-while play, but a century ago
and for decades theieafter they were certainly so regarded. King
Richard HI also enjoyed a tremendous vogue (pretty well dissipated
today) ; Coriolanus was a complete novelty.

During this engagement Conner was seen fifteen times, his first
appearance being on March 26, his last on April 11. While in St.
Louis he was not an idle man. He took part in fifteen different plays,
in three of them twice, and in one three times. On five evenings he
was featured, not only in the main play, but in the afterpiece as well.
The range was wide, from Coriolanus and Richelieu on the one
hand to Charles Paragon in Perfection on the other. The critics of
the moment were on the job. Possibly I should have said "the
critic," for I am not at all positive that the same enthusiast did not
cast his bread upon many waters.

Conner's second role was Angelo in Tortesa the Usurer With
him in the cast were Farren in the tide role, Mrs. Farren as Isabella,
Mrs. Bateman as Zippa, and Cowell as Tomaso. The afterpiece was
My "Young Wife and My Old Umbrella, in which the principal
business was in the hands of Old Joe and his daughter. Then came
Bulwer's new play, The Sea Captain, a work which had been none
too favorably received elsewhere. The star was seen as Norman,
Mrs. Farren as Lady Arundel, and Mrs. Bateman as Violet. When
it was over, Paddy Larkin displayed his mastery of Irish brogue as
Terry O'Rourke, alias Dr. O'Toole in The Irish Tutor.

Anonymous was ready with his pen and has left us in the Gazette
of March 30, an account of proceedings on both occasions. He
begins with qualified praise for the Willis opus.

Not that it is a piece so very effective, when represented on the
stage; but read it, and if you have a soul for poetry beautiful, not
grand you will not be content with a mere glance at the contents.
. . . The character of TORTESA is decidedly the part and
FARREN, though out of his professed line, played it well and acted
it better; he has a good conception of it. It was, and is, many times,
very difficult to understand him from some parts of die house; he
has a sort of guttural articulation which occasions many of the
beauties of his acting to be lost. It is unpleasant, especially so, in

42 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

speaking poetry. Farren if you can correct it. CONNER'S Angelo
was excellent he played the young enthusiastic artist to the life;
he did not overact, nor docs he ever "split the ears of the ground-
lings" for the sake of eliciting unmerited applause. His conception
of Angelo is original, and it shows him to be a man of mind, and a
discreet actor. MRS. FARREN deserves high praise for the manner
in which she played Isabella not faultless, to be sure, but, "take it
all," it was a most rich and exquisite piece of acting. Space will not
allow me to particularize the beauties as I could wish, but the
picture scene, shall I desciibe it? No, "it beggars all description";
it must be seen my pen cannot do it justice. The whole went off
to the satisfaction of the audience.

He then goes on to commend the orchestra for its playing of the
overture to Der Freischiitz, and to dismiss the farce with " 'The
least said' & you know the rest." By The Sea Captain he was
definitely not impressed; he found it too unnatural. "Mrs. Farren,
Conner, Farren and Bateman, did themselves credit in their several
characters ; the rest were but 'so so !' " Larkin was "well received
by his old friends; and he played the part of Terry O'Rourke in his
very best style, calling forth from the audience shouts and roars of
laughter. We hope soon to hear him sing sing anything you
choose, Larkin, except the 'Coronation.' " What makes Anonymous
valuable to-day is his refusal to limit his critiques to generalizations
and sweet-scented bouquets. After reading one of his effusions, we
can assume that we know at least a little about the nature of the
proceedings.

The critic who reported on The Sea Captain for the Republican
(March 30) did not agree with h"" about Bulwer's latest creation.
He liked it. "It is an admirable thing. The narrative is not inter-
spersed with the brilliant flights of fancy found in Willi's play of
Tortesa but the plot is more ingenious and exciting Lady Arundell,
the most difficult character of the play was nobly acted by Mrs.
Farren ; and the Sea Captain by Mr. Conner was also performed to
admiration. The characters were all well sustained and we hope to
see this beautiful play repeated." This correspondent had his wish,
for The Sea Captain was repeated on April 1, being followed by
Perfection with, as I have said above, the star in the part of Charles
Paragon, and also with Mrs. Farren as Kate O'Brien "(with
songs)," Farren as Sir Lawrence, and Cowell as Sam. According
to an advertisement in the Republican, The Sea Captain was re-
peated by request. Publicity?

CURTAIN UP! 43

Before this repetition, however, Conner had held forth as Richelieu
and Richard III. Unfortunately Anonymous neglected his duty.
But the other papers do tell us who made up the star's support. In
Richelieu Mis. Farren, of course, played Julie, and Bateman was
De Mauprat. The "entertainments concluded" with the comic
opera Of Age Tomorrow with Ludlow making his first appearance
of the season in no less than five different roles, and Miss Morgan,
as Maria, singing "several favorite pieces of music." In Richard III,
on March 31, Bateman played Richmond, Marsh Buckingham, Mrs.
Farren the Queen, and Mrs. Bateman Anne. The Cibher version
was undoubtedly the one employed inasmuch as the unadulterated
Shakespeare tragedy was at that time practically unknown upon the
stage. After the downfall of "the bloody boar," Larkin, Bateman,
and Miss Morgan disported themselves in The Dumb Belle.

The repetition of The Sea Captain was advertised as the "Last
night of the engagement of Mr. Conner." This, according to our
terminology of the day, it simply was not. But theatrical parlance
has changed with the years. In 1840 the "last night" of an engage-
ment did not mean the final appearance, for it was understood that
the star's benefit remained yet to be done. Yet, even making that
allowance, the term was not correct in this case, since the engage-
ment actually had another week to run. If, however, the "re-
engagement" could be made to appear to be the result of irresistible
popular demand, so much the better. Publicity experts did not all
wait till the twentieth century to be born. The benefit came on
April 2, and was composed of Knowles' "late pky of Love or Na-
ture's Autocrat" (called in the Republican of that date Nature's
Aristocrat) and The Promissory Note, with the orchestra playing
the overture to Zampa, and Conner telling a Yankee story between
them.

As for Love, an editorial-advertisement in the Bulletin on the
morning before its first repetition (April 6) asserts: "This play has
been performed in London with more success than any new one
within the last five years." Inasmuch as its premiere was in 1839,
two years after Knowles' own popular The Love Chase and one
after The Lady of Lyons, this is a pretty strong statement. In his
own day James Sheridan Knowles stood in the forefront of his pro-

44 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

fession. He was rated by his contemporaries, including many men
and women of taste and discrimination, as almost, if not quite, one
of the dramatic immortals. I doubt if any other play written for
the English and American stages during the first half of the nine-
teenth century, with the exception of The Lady of Lyons and
Richelieu, both by Bulwer, could approach The Hunchback and
Virginius in popularity. To-day, taste having changed (we hope for
the better), both plays are as the snows of yester-year. It took them
decades to disappear; but Love was gone long before. So the "puff"
in the friendly paper may be taken as just that and no more, even if
it was not actually a blurb straight from the managerial office. Love
fully deserves its fate.

The play is written, like the author's other works, partly in blank
verse and partly in prose (for servants, for example). But, whether
in verse or prose, the dialogue is characterized by artificiality, pom-
posity, and sentimentality. Anonymous did not like it, and he said
so. "It falls," he wrote in the Gazette of April 3, "immeasurably
short of Knowles' former productions. The only two parts are the
Countess and Catherine. Huon is nothing, if you take away his
scene in the fourth Act not even a respectable walking gentleman.
CONNER made as much of him as could any body else, but it was
nothing then. The lines that were written for him were poetry, and
he did not mar them by delivery. I cannot say as much for some of
the characters. Whether the author made their lines as poetical as
he did those of Huon, I cannot say but this I can say, they did not
bear the least semblance to poetry Why, the lines didn't even
jingle. Fie, gentlemen 1 learn your parts better if they are sticks.
MRS. FARREN played excellently well in fact, her acting was
the only redeeming point in the piece. MRS. BATEMAN, though
supporting a character not exactly suited to her powers, played it
well perhaps better than could any other person in the present
company. One thing it was a strange want of thought in her
wearing mustachoes in the fifth act don't you think so ?"

In defence of Sidney Bateman it should be said that Catherine
amuses herself by posing as a boy, and, as is the way with such
young females in dramatic literature, succeeds in "putting it over",
on her most intimate friends. Doubtless, Mrs. Bateman thought

CURTAIN UP! 45

that mustaches would help the cause. At which gentlemen jfnony-
mous's reproaches were aimed, we are not informed, but we can
guess.

Conner continued to win golden opinions. The unidentified cor-
respondent of the Bulletin of April 4 gives us the following account
of his histrionic prowess.

Our theatre-going friends appear to have been highly gratified at
the re-engagement of Mr. Conner. Since his appearance among us
he has made himself a universal favorite ; and we have heard several
remark, that they liked him as well as Forrest. He is a young
actor of fine genius and if he perseveres, and studies as he ought,
we predict for him a brilliant career in his profession. Young men
are sometimes spoiled by too much flattery; but we think that Mr.
Conner will regard commendation as a further incentive to honorable
ambition, and not the summons to idleness, indolence, and luxurious
ease.

His person is tall and commanding his movements graceful, and
his conception of character just and accurate. His genius is de-
cidedly the physical man ; but, he never tears a passion into tatters
and intellect is always predominant.

We have seen him in several characters, in all of which he has
acted in the first style. As Angelo, in Tortesa; as Norman, in the
Sea Captain; as Cardinal, in Richelieu; and as Huon the Serf, in
Love, he has no superior.

The day before this encomium had been spread upon the pages of
the Bulletin, the management had "had the pleasure of announcing a
re-engagement for a few nights of Mr. Conner. Also, for a few
nights Mr. and Mrs. J. Greene, of New York and Philadelphia
theatres."

These Greenes were an interesting pair and, although now for-
gotten, were for many years well-known figures on the stages of
various American cities, large and small. Both were Americans, the
husband having been born, according to Phelps, in Philadelphia in
1795, the wife in Boston five years later.* 1 Being of Irish parentage,
he was, like Larkin, an adept at the interpretation of Hibernian
characters. Phelps quotes Durang*s rather startling description:
"Greene's personal aspect bore a strange contrast to his disposition.
His figure was dwarfish, stout about the shoulders, the breast of

46 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

Hercules; the muscle in the torso was remarkable. His head was
very large; the face marked with iron sternness. When the lady who
became his wife was first introduced to him, she was so struck with
his inhuman expression, that she habitually shunned him; but his
suavity of manner and conversational powers, with his good humor
and merry ways, soon won her affection."* 2 She evidently recovered
from the initial shock, for she was his wife and constant companion
for over forty years. Ludlow reports that his "Irish characters of a
low order were uncommonly true to nature."*"

Phelps continues: "She was, for many years, attached to the
Chestnut street theatre, Philadelphia, and after passing through
nearly every city in the Union, finally settled at Nashville, where
her husband was manager for several seasons. ... A metropolitan
critic says of her: 'She possessed no great diversity of talent, but in
the highest range of walking ladies, the serious mothers, the dis-
tressed wives and stately baronesses of the stage, we have never seen
her surpassed. ... In personal appearance, she was tall and com-
manding, and her costume was generally elegant and appropriate.
Mrs. Greene has been well known at our minor theatres, where she
has often moved like a goddess among the mortals that surrounded
her.' "**

Of such stuff was the couple who now, for the time-being added
their combined strength to the Ludlow and Smith entourage, includ-
ing the popular Mr. Conner. She participated in eight bills, he in
six. She appeared opposite Conner in The Stranger (during the
course of which Miss Morgan sang "I have a Silent Sorrow"), La
Tour de Nesle, Love (twice), Coriolanut (as Volumnia to the
Coriolanus of Conner, the Tullius Aufidius of Bateman, and the
Menenius of Farren), Knowles' The Wreckers Daughter, The
Lady of Lyons (as the Widow Melnotte), and The Love Chase (as
the Widow Green). It will be seen that not in every instance did

**Ibid., 147. Charles Durang: Tht Philadelphia Staff*. From the Year
1749 to the Year 1855.

"Ludlow: Dramatic Life, 287.

"Phelps: Players of a Century, 147. The "metropolitan critic" is
Joseph N. Ireland: Records of the 1 New York Stage. Dr. Wilson in the
"Player List" in his History of the Philadelphia Theatre, 1835-1855 lists
her as a member of the Chestnut Street company only in 1846. Before that
she had played at the Walnut and the Arch.

CURTAIN UP! 47

she displace Mrs. Farren, not even in Love, in which the haughty
Countess would seem to have been more appropriate to her per-
sonality than the kittenish Catherine.

A critic, expressing his views in the Pennant of April 3, says of
Mrs. Greene : "There is a peculiar dignity and elegance in her style
of acting which but few possess ; and adding to this a full and rich
voice, with correct reading, we are confident that all must admire
her. We remember to have seen Mrs. G. some years since, and we
acknowledge ourselves somewhat surprised to find her now looking as
young, and playing with the same spirit as in the pride of her sunny
youth." I wonder just how thoroughly she enjoyed reading this last
sentence.

Only once did "Mrs. G." invade the realm of farce; that was on
April 8 when she played opposite Ludlow in The Day after the
Wedding. Her spouse, however, laid his hand to a variety of tasks.
His forte being Irish comedy he was sometimes called "the Ameri-
can Power" he played Mentoch Debany in The Irishman in
London, O'Shocknessy in the 100 Note, and Teague in Honest
Thieves. In The Love Chase he turned himself into an Englishman,
Sir William Fondlove, and in La Tour de Nesle and The Wrecker's
Daughter he strayed as Landry and Wolfe respectively even further
afield. In The Poor Soldier he was Father Luke.

One might expect, as Ludlow probably did, that with attractions
like these in addition to Conner, business would be brisk on Third
and Olive. It started out well enough, but encountered opposition
from the weather. On April 11, Anonymous once more proclaimed
his opinions through the columns of the Gazette:

ST. LOUIS THEATRE. This splendid 'Temple of Thespis,'
I am happy to say, has been nightly filled by large and fashionable
audiences. This is right just as it should be. Such gentlemen as
Messrs Ludlow and Smith, are not only an honor to their profession,
but to the city, and their merits, both as private citizens, and public
contributors to the amusement of the good people of this town, should
not, and I am confident will not go unrewarded.

He goes on to say that Bateman is ill and that in his absence the
part of Beauseant in The Lady of Lyons was filled by Mr. Wright.
Concerning this man I have little definite information, if indeed any

48 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

at all. Ludlow notes that a James A. Wiight was a member of the
company in 1845-46 and refeis to him occasionally thereafter, but he
never does moie than give his name.* 8 Smith lists Mr. and Mrs.
James Wright among the members of the company in 1841/ In
the firm's Letter Book, under date of August 31, 1842, I find a
baffling summary of a communication addressed to James L. or
perhaps S. Wright. It is not particularly enlightening, but it does
have its points, and I copy it here. "Wiote to him at Fort Leaven-
worth in answer to his offered him $ E P for him and wife here
St. Louis and $ p.p. for them in South or $ p x if Mrs. W.
should prior to the end of the engt be unfit for young girls and

him

breeches characters divided as follows St. Louis $ R X and
her him

R P in the South $ R B and $ R C deduction from her it will
be " No doubt this was as clear as daylight to those who
knew the code, but it does leave even the uninitiated a little wiser
in the matter of casting in the 1840's than before. We have here
what was evidently the contemporary type of insurance against
what is known today as an "act of God." Still we do not know
if this was the same Wright.

But back, briefly, to our friend Anonymous. Once more he
registered his displeasure. He considered The Conquering Game
(which seems to have served as the afterpiece on both the ninth and
the tenth) a slander on Charles XII, even if Conner did play the
part. "The Puppy was decidedly the best part of it." 47

I said above that while during the first part of the Conner engage-
ment business was brisk, the good fortune was short-lived. On April
9 the Republican observed : "The Theatre for a few evenings past
has been rather thinly attended. The evenings have been so cold as
to render it veiy uncomfortable without fire, and the managers
cannot expect persons to attend, particularly ladies, unless they can
be made comfortable."

* B LudIow: Dramatic Lift, 640.
"Smith: Theatrical Management, 156.

47 According to the Autobiography of Clara Fither Maeder, this farce
WRB an adaptation from her pen of Bernard's La Jtwtttte de Charles XII.

CURTAIN UP! 49

Saturday, April 11, saw the close of the worthy engagement just
discussed. His wife and Conner having had their benefits (the
latter's second, of course), Greene took his in The Love Chase and
The Poor Soldier. I have already noted that in the former he
played Sir William Fondlove; Conner was the Wildrake, Mrs.
Greene the Widow Green, and Mrs. Farren the Constance. In the
operetta, there being, properly enough, no reason why she should
not, Miss Moigan donned a pair of breeches and disported herself
as Patrick, Greene being Father Luke, Mrs. Bateman Norah, and
Mrs. Russell Kathleen. Already advertisements -were up proclaim-
ing the glories ahead, and, for the time-being, the "legitimate" re-
tired to a modest position in the background.

Ill

FOUR MUSES
SPRING OF 1840

In their zeal to keep their heads, both personal and professional,
above water, Messrs. Ludlow and Smith enlisted before this spring
season came to a summer close the services of four of the nine ladies
reputed by legend to make their collective home on the slopes of
Mount Parnassus. If the charms of one were not sufficient to lure
the hesitant St. Louisans from their lares and penatcs, perhaps an-
other might exert a more potent lure. At any rate, the managers
were determined to try. So down from their mountain home, one
after the other, they came, Terpsichore, Thalia, Melpomene, and
Euterpe. I think it may be said that they all did their best.

First the citizens were treated to what might be termed "a Teip-
sichorean interlude." For the next two weeks the Theatre was ded-
icated to the art of the dance with brief comedies and farces thrown
in for good measure. But the centre of attraction was not the
acrobatic and versatile Ravels upon which combination Smith had
pinned so many hopes. They had actually started to St. Louis to
fill this engagement, but on April 1 the Republican conveyed the dis-
mal tidings that the steamboat Selma on which they were making
the journey had gone down the week before at the head of Island
Number 66, and they had "lost a considerable portion of their bag-
gage, etc. They went on to Louisville to refit."

Earlier in the year Sol had exchanged several letters with Mon-
sieur Le Compte, husband, associate, and manager of one of the
most eminent danseuses of the day. This gentleman had been very
anxious to open in St. Louis on April 1, but permission had been
refused him unless he could induce the Ravels to exchange dates.
This, apparently, they had declined to do, and Madame had had
to wait until the thirteenth. Monsieur had seen the Ravels do their
acts and he, palpably, had not been impressed. Writing to Smith
from New Orleans on March 2, he averred that "their performances
are of a funny, gay low comic and lafiablc sort (though very cleaver)
ours is of a more classical serious kind." In the same letter Le

50

FOUR MUSES 51

Compte stated his terms and named the personnel of his corps.
"That there may be no mistake my company is composed of : Ma-
dam Lecompte and myself, M. Martin, Mclle Desjardins, Mons.
Kaiffer, and Mme. Martin. 1 ... I shall only perform Masaniello
and in case of indisposition the unknown if you prefer it" 2 His
terms were: twelve performances, including three benefits. He
and the firm were to share the receipts after the deduction of $150
for expenses ; he was to get a dear half of the return of each bene-
fit. These terms apparently were accepted.

But it was not only dancers who gave Sol a headache. He also
had his scene-painter, a very necessary adjunct in any season and
especially in one involving elaborate effects which made demands
that could not be met by drawing, as in the case of most plays, upon
the standard flats stored away backstage or wherever they were
kept. The managers had had trouble in that department before.
They had had when they first opened their theatre in 1837, a good
man named John R. Smith, but for some reason had parted company
with him. They had then considered themselves fortunate in secur-
ing the services of "Young Joe" Cowell, but they had discharged
him at the close of the preceding season. Cause: indolence. Now,
it seems they had a Charlie Smith. But he was in New Orleans,
whereas they needed him in St. Louis. On the last day of March
Sol wrote his partner a long letter full of facts and figures. "It
seems impossible to get Smith off I have tried & tried he prom-
ised to go to-day but at the last moment failed he wanted to col-
lect some money & his wife hadn't got her clothes from the wash!
He says beyond a doubt he will go to-morrow & says if he can
get there only two days before 'La Bayadere' he will have it ready
If he goes, I advise you to put him on some new piece, to get ready
for the last of May, provided there is no Star to follow the Barnes'
& Sinclair & plan it out with Smith yourself (without any new
canvas) for if you leave it to Farren, he will piddle along for a
month, & do nothing at last."

Eventually the obstacles were overcome, and the dancers accom-
plished their debuts on April 13 in the "Ballet Pantomime by

1 Martin was Mme. Le Compte'i brother (Odell: Annalt, IV, 286).
"The Unknown" ii a character in La. Mayadfrt.

52 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

Scribe and Taglioni in two acts, called La Sylphide with new
scenery, dresses, and decorations." 8 Madame Le Compte herself
was seen in the tide role, with Mademoiselle Desjardins as Effie,
Madame Martin as Anne Reuben, Monsieur Kaiffer as Gurn, Mon-
sieur Nerraf as Old Madge, and the Corps de Ballet as Sylphides
and Peasants. It was preceded by a curtain raiser, The Green
Eyed Monster with Cowell and Mrs. Farren. The only local
papers to show any interest in the dancers were the Gazette and
the Pennant. "There was," reported the former on April 14, " 'skip,
hop, and jump,' as a Yankee would say, at the theatre, last night.
Madame Le Compte and Mons. Kaiffer's dancing delighted the
house ; but the piece was neither relished nor comprehended." The
next day the same paper spoke in eulogistic terms of the performance
of the prima ballerina. On the twenty-first it announced that the
theatre had been "crammed" the night before. "Just after the
opening not a spare seat could be found in the parquette or first
tier of boxes; and in a short time the second tier was well filled.
The performances were varied, and the inteiest was sustained to a
late hour. It was fun alive to witness 'Marco Bomba. 1 The
'barber' and the 'recruiting sergeant* were done to the life Mons.
Kaiffer is a very versatile actor; and from his nimbleness one would
suppose he was 'hung on wires.' "

Monsier Kaiffer was obviously a favorite, for the same paper
reported on April 23 that he had delighted the audience at a
repetition of Marco Bomba on the twentieth. "Such postures, at-
titudes, movements, grimaces and versatile changes of countenance
are seldom witnessed. There has not been so much fun, riotous
uproars of laughter and universal side-shaking at any exhibition, as
there was at the first production of this extravaganza bvrletta, since
Dan Marble took the roof off."

Twenty-eight years after these events took place there appeared
in the St. Louis Home Journal what might be termed in the lan-
guage of today a "tabloid history" of the St. Louis stage. The
author, who at first chose to be anonymous, stating merely that his
articles were "written on basis of advice from Sol Smith," in the
March 21 issue of the paper revealed himself to be "Charles

^Missouri Republican, April 13, 1840

FOUR MUSES 53

Spooner, dramatic editor." In the series the part played by Lud-
low is most unfairly "played down," a fact which the old man not
unnaturally resented. Not all of Spooner's history is accurate,
hut most of it is and he does give, whether via Sol's memories or
his own, some pertinent information about this engagement.

. . . Madame Lecompte was undoubtedly a danseuse of great merit,
but with a tendency to embonpoint which in her younger days but
added an additional charm to the voluptuous style of her dancing.
But as she did not quit the stage until comparatively aged, the re-
membrances of her are of a body who danced gracefully in spite
of an unwieldly bulk comparable to nothing but Alboni.* The young
and beautiful M'lle Desjardins, of the troupe, was an immense
favorite, and though in the ballet of 'La Bayadere,' much applause
was showered upon the portly impresario, it was evident that the
youthful Fatima had the hearts of the spectators. This beautiful
ballet was repeated many times; the shawl dance and trial dance
being particularly applauded. In the masked ball of 'Gustavus,'
humorous waltzes, polkas, galops, and mazurkas were introduced
which created quite a furore. The 'Bragging Sergeant, Marco
Bomba,' was also one of their pieces, but perhaps the greatest favorite
was 'La Sylphide,' in which DCS Jardins danced the pas Styrien,
and Le Compte the Cachucha. 8

This is interesting and revealing, but even better are the reviews
written on the spot by an unnamed correspondent of the Pennant
who displayed a really surprising musical awareness. I have come
across in no St. Louis paper critiques of quite the same character
and so shall draw on them rather liberally. The first, in the issue
of April 25, deals with the first performance (on April 21) of
La Bayadere, an operatic ballet by Scribe and Auber.

... By the way, the original Hautboy solo in E flat, which occurs
in the course of the Ballet, was very injudiciously given to the
horn the clarionet or violin would have done much better. . . .

Mr. Farren acted very well, but of his singing 'least said," &c.
Mr. Larkin deserves all credit for his industry in learning and sing-
ing a difficult piece of music as well as he did, though in my humble
opinion the part was not as well adapted to his voice as might be. I
should advise him in another representation to sing his first solo
"Breathes there a heart" which he sang in B flat (as it is originally

'Marietta Alboni (1823-1894), an Italian opera singer.
*Tht St. Louis Home Journal, February 23, 1868.

54 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

written, I believe) half a note lower (in A) so as not to be compelled
to run into falsetto. As it is, it is too high for his voice and an
infliction on the audience. In that beautiful trio "Oh what means
that stranger" he did not count his time quite correct, though it was
throughout too fast. These hints are at his service from a friend
who would be glad to see him make use of them. Miss Morgan in
the part of Ninka, pleasingly surprised and exceeded all expectations.
Although not having a brilliant voice, she knew and sang every note
in her part and the solo in the second act "Near^ the cottagers
door," was among the best things lately heard on this stage. Her
industry and very correct singing must insure her success, as indeed
she was the only one of the stock company, who seemed really
acquainted with the music throughout. The closing scene is really
beautiful and reflects much credit on the scene painter and machin-
ist. Hoping that the next representation will draw a full house
C SHARP IN THE CORNER.

From this same review we learn that Smith's friend Woolf was
the conductor and that he hurried the orchestra. "I am really
sorry to see an opera got up by our enterprising managers in as good
a style as this was, not drawing better houses." To supplement this
last hint, the Pennant of April 28 contributed this bit: "Doings
at the Police Office/Monday morning, April 27th [Saturday night] .
As our readers may remember, it was rather rainy, or so, during
the evening; and about the time that Madame Le Comte was turn-
ing her last pirouette to about two dozen subeditors and printer's
devils," etc. Enough said!

But there is better yet to come from this same outspoken and
useful journal. The following is taken from the issue of April 29.

REPORT
OF THE INVISIBLE AGENTS OF THE

Council of Three

unto whose eyes the good and evil occurrences
of this life are made manifest

.... Mr. Farren did enact "Olifours" and much as we admire
that gentleman for possessing talents of a superior order as an actor,
yet we are bound to infer from the manner in which he executed
the music allotted to him, that he will never become a great singer.
Fearing that he was laboring under a severe cold, or that the sur-
fice [tic] of his tympanum might have contained some obstruction,

FOUR MUSES 55

we dispatched two of our diminutive familiars, each armed with a
pickaxe and spade, for the purpose of removing any obstacle from
that sensitive organ, but they returned without making any dis-
covery. It was also remarked of him that while singing the de-
lightful cavatina entitled "Charming Bayadere" instead of address-
ing vows of love to the "peerless Le Comte," his eyes were riveted
upon the face of the leader; now this conduct was most ungallant
towards the lady, and it gave us an opportunity of drawing a com-
parison any other than flattering to the said leader, who to our
opinion is totally unqualified by personal appearance for the repre-
sentation of a charming Bayadere. We also observed during the
performance of this cavatina, that the countenance of the leader ex-
pressed a variety of contortions; but whether this was caused by the
exquisite strains of the vocalist, or the mischievous propensity of a
familiar whom we observed tickling his nose with a straw we cannot
determine. . . .

Mr. Larkin personified "the Unknown" and sang the difficult
music allotted unto him with much taste and skill ; but we must here
address a few words of admonition, the which, it may be presumed,
may not be unprofitable to him. That Mr. Larkin is an excellent
musician cannot be denied; and that he hath become a favorite with
our citizens we do confess ; yet notwithstanding these advantages in
his favor, we do condemn the taste wherewith he was actuated to
appear upon the stage in a slovenly dress. . . . We do advise him to
hold us in fear, and be more than usually circumspect: nor would
it disgrace his dignity to devote a dollar or two from the salary
which he is receiving for the purpose of renovating the heels of
the Immortal Boots, wherewith his awful feet were encased: we
do also hint to him that "yellow ochre" is not unplentiful within
this city.

Miss Morgan sang her music with one or two exceptions to our
satisfaction. We do take this opportunity of expressing our disap-
probation against a practice which we have more than once observed
of certain vocalists, who being in error during the performance of
a concerted piece of music, have endeavored by a sinister expression
of countenance, to make others appear at fault ; such conduct is most
unbecoming; and let those parties rest assured that on its repetition
their names will appear attached to a decree of our Council, and
accompanied by certain remarks from our Pundit, who is deeply
versed in the mysteries of detecting those rancorous and malignant
feelings, too often cherished within the heart. . . .

The historian of 1868 asserts that the French company created
a sensation. But, as we have seen, contemporary newspaper items do
not report sensational business. On the contrary, on April 25, the

56 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

Republican said: "Last evening the theatre was rather thinly at-
tended, considering the immense attraction presented. Mme. Le
Comte, Mile. Des Jardins, M. Kieffer [tic] & Martin certainly
deserved good houses. . . ." When we find reports of crammed
houses, it is always well to remember that the blurb then known
as the "puff" was not unknown in "the Fabulous Forties."

On April 27 Madame took her farewell benefit with La Sylphide,
The Masked Ball, and Marco Bomba, the members of the company
contributing Nature and Philosophy and The Rival Soldiers. (In-
cidentally it might be fair to say that during this engagement the
regular stock actors had been only less busy than usual, since each
bill contained at least one farce or operetta, generally as a curtain
raiser.) Miss Morgan offered a song, "Meet me in the Willow
Glen," and Miss Stanard, "A Broad Sword Hornpipe," whatever
that was. And that program marked the conclusion of the Terpsi-

chorean interlude.

* *

"Messrs. Editors. I understand that Mr. CHARLES H.
EATON of whom Forrest said, several years ago, 'If that young
man is not spoiled, he will make the greatest tragedian in the United
States,' is in town. If at all consistent with Mr. Ludlow's other
arrangements, I know that a short engagement with Mr. Eaton
would afford the highest gratification to many in this city, and
would, I have no doubt, fill the house. Why could not he and
Madame Le Comte play on alternate nights ? We should see, then,
the exact estimation in which the legitimate is held." And so on.

This in the Bulletin of April 17.

It spoke not alone. The next day, both the Republican (in the
morning) and the Gazette (in the evening) voiced the same hope,
and in not dissimilar strains. I suspect that the tragedian made the
rounds of the newspaper offices and "waited on" the friendly jour-
nalists. But he did not stop at that. He wrote a poem a very
bad poem which, on the twenty-first, the good-natured editor of
the Republican inflicted on his readers. I suspect, however, that
many of them thought it pretty good. Our forebears' tastes in
poetry are often hard to explain.

FOUR MUSES 57

While no arrangement was made for the young man to alternate
nightly -with the plump ballerina, Ludlow did find it possible to give
him a few evenings, and St. Louis audiences had the desired op-
portunity to show "the exact estimation in which the legitimate"
was held. They showed it. That Charles Henry Eaton was a
gifted actor there can be no doubt, whether or not the mighty
Forrest ever gave voice to the encomium ascribed to him; Forrest
being Forrest, it seems very unlikely that he did. If Allston Brown
is right in giving the date of his birth as June 10, 1813, he was at
the time of his St. Louis debut not quite twenty-seven years of age. 8
He had been on the stage nearly ten years, and had from the first,
it seems, played leading roles. So highly was he regarded by Wm.
W. Clapp, Jr., that the latter devoted pages of his Record of the
Boston Stage to a eulogy. For our purposes a quotation will suffice.

He was a decidedly handsome man ; his head and face being strik-
ingly intellectual. The features were what is understood as classical ;
a long, straight, Grecian nose, facial oval contour, chin rather long
and rounded, a mouth made beautiful by a finely curved upper lip,
combined with a clear, light, healthy complexion, will convey some
idea of his pleasing exterior; his dark hazel eyes were full, large,
and expressive, while a profusion of auburn hair, slightly curling,
adorned his manly brow. Charles H. Eaton was not a large man,
being but five feet, six and a half inches in height; but he was very
far from diminutive ; his full, ample chest, the stately carriage of his
head, and the great muscular development of his well-rounded limbs
made him seem above the average size, though not "ex pede Her-
culeum" in grace and dignity of mien he moved an Apollo. . . .
With all the physical essentials of face, form, voice, and natural
grace, he was enabled, thus richly endowed, to convey fully and
forcibly his minutely accurate and scholarly conceptions. His per-
formances all bore an intellectual impress. As a reader of Shakes-
peare he was unsurpassed. 7

Such was the paragon who now burst upon St. Louis. Clapp may
quite possibly have been carried away by his enthusiasm, but all ac-
counts agree that Eaton was no run-of-the-mill play-actor. It is
all the more regrettable, then, that with so much to commend him
and so great a career before him, he should have allowed himself

'Brown: American Stage.

T Wm. W. Clapp, Jr.: A Record of the Boston Stage, 309, ff.

58 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

to become the victim of an intemperance which ended his career in
mid-flight and left him little more than a cipher in history.

The historian who wrote in the St. Louis Home Journal in 1868
erred when he stated that Eaton was "first engaged for two nights
only," but proved to be so popular that he played off and on for
three weeks. During this season the tragedian appeared only four
times, on the last three evenings of April and on May 2. His parts
were Richard III, Sir Giles Overreach in A New Way to Pay Old
Debts, Hamlet, and Sir Edward Mortimer in The Iron Chest.

The Pennant of April 30 is the vehicle for a critique of Eaton's
opening performance which has something very like the aspect of
a "puff."

It [Eaton's acting] differs materially from that of any other
actor on the American stage. It is what may truly be termed the
intellectual style. Apparently violating all established rules, and
sweeping open the chords of the heart with wilci and terrific en-
ergy, or waking with dulcet breathing the gentle harmonies of love,
you are hurried away by the supernatural energy of the mind which
thus sways your soul, as the invisible spirit of Heaven heaves the
tides of the ocean. The man and the stage are lost sight of so com-
plete is his art that you only see a grand simplicity in all he does.
He has that rare and beautiful power of exaggerating all the parts
of a performance without destroying the onginal contrasts and sym-
metry of nature.

This does not to-day appear to describe what we regard as
"intellectual art" any more than it impresses us as intelligent criti-
cism, but it is not altogether unrevealing, Anonymous writing in
the Gazette (April 29) makes it clear that he was not so completely
swept off his feet that he could lose sight of the man and the stage.
"This gentleman was greeted last night by a crowded and fashion-
able audience to witness his representation of 'Richard the Third.'
Being aware that expectation was raised very high in regard to him,
and the rapturous welcome which he received from a host of friends,
threw him off his guard in the first scene, and he did not fully re-
cover himself during the Act. His second and fifth Acts were very
fine. In consequence of not having played for some length of time,
his voice, for want of exercise, gave way. Tfou'll find him quite a
different man in the field to-night.' " In closing, the. critic adds,

FOUR MUSES 59

" 'Might I advise 1 1 would say to him, play more in front of the stage,
and save your strength for the last act, and you will make an impres-
sion which will never be erased." Can this mean that the star was
yelling? On May 2 the Gazette observed that his voice was "much
improved."

On his other performances no one bothered to comment ; or, per-
haps, the papers could not spare the space. But we learn from the
advertisements something of the casts which surrounded him. Of
course Mrs. Farren (who had been the Queen in Richard HI) con-
tinued to play the female leads. In Hamlet her mother played the
Queen, and her husband Polonius, with Cowell as the Grave Digger
(I presume the First). On his last night Cowell played Sampson,
Mrs. Farren Blanche, and a "Mr. Dolman" Wilford in The Iron
Chest. Of the last-named the advertisements say only, "his 1st
appearance, who has volunteered for the occasion." His identity
is not revealed ; nor is the City Directory for 1840 of any assistance. 8

But Eaton was not content to act the great roles of tragedy; he
had a side-line, as it were. He gave imitations of his contemporaries,
a form of theatrical entertainment which had (and still has) its ad-
mirers. These he offered on his opening night after he had died as
Richard on Bosworth Field, and the subjects were Forrest, the Elder
Booth, Kean (presumably Edmund), and Vandenhoff. The writer
in the Home Journal (February 23, 1868) says, "His imitation of
the elder Booth is said to have been very fine." Fine he may have
been, though I fear but little to his material profit, for on May 2 a
gentleman who signed himself modestly "A FRIEND OF REAL
MERIT" remarked in the Pennant after a glowing panegyric,
". . . . while Forrest and others of the great guns receive their one
hundred dollars per night, he has as yet made but about seventy
dollars for his three nights' arduous and almost unparalleled exer-
tions." Whether or not, his benefit rectified this "injustice," Eaton
thereupon disappeared from the local scene, not to return until sev-
eral months had passed.

8 Frofeiaor John Dolman, Jr., makes the following suggestion: "The most
likely person seems to be John Hickman Dolman^ born 1821, an active per-
son of many interests, who went to Texas sometime about 1840, but moved
about a good deal In 1844 he settled in St Louis, but may well have been
there before."

60 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

The theatre-going public having been entertained with the dance
seasoned with a taste of tragedy, Ludlow, a firm believer in variety,
now proffered for its delectation several important songsters. On
April 28 a trio of musical celebrities arrived by steamboat from
New Orleans. 9 They were Madame Otto, a singer who had for
some years been active in New York ; John Sinclair, a Scotch tenor
and the 'father of Mrs. Edwin Forrest; and William Brough, a
well-known basso. According to the Bulletin, "We can truly say,
that we have caught a flock of genuine nightingales."

It would probably not be inaccurate to say that the "nightin-
gales" were quite ready to be caught. They came to St. Louis quite
eager to be captured, provided always that the terms were satisfac-
tory. Only one of the three had a contract in his pocket. This was
Sinclair, who had been conducting epistolatory negotiations with
Smith. On March 21 the latter had written his partner that he
had refused to pay the tenor twenty-five per cent, but had offered
to divide after $200" and give him half the proceeds of a benefit.
"At length he agrees to submit to the deduction of $100 each night,
& then take 25 per cent on the balance with J4 Benefit." There
had been some bargaining in the field of art.

Sol had also dickered with the other two. In his letter of March
31 he wrote Ludlow: "I send them over a written engt. to Brough
& Mad. Otto, offering to give them 2 thirds of half after $200, for
nine nights, & half of two Benefits they singing for Sinclair's Bene-
fit, & he for theirs provided we make the arrangement with Sin-
clair to sing with them I also (much against my will, but as nearly
as I can learn you authorized Foster to close with them on these
terms,) make the condition that if we do not engage Sinclair to
perform with them, the two shall share after $200 & 2 half Bene-
fits 8 nights in all I think you told Foster 10, but I think the
fewer the better for us. You will understand that if I do not en-
gage Sinclair before he leaves Orleans, (& I don't suppose I shall
to perform with them after his own engagement) it will remain
for you to do it & the terms are to be one third of half after $200
for 9 nights, & he sing for their two Benefits, and they for [letter
torn] king in amount dividing with the 3 after $200 & 3 half
Benefits. If Brough does not now close, he may go to Sol Smith."

Daily Bulletin, April 29, 1840.

FOUR MUSES 61

If Ludlow's head did not ache when he finished the perusal of
this epistle, he was a mathematician or else was, as was doubtless the
case, inured by custom to such calculations. The reader is subjected
to them in order that he may have a glimpse of the machinery work-
ing behind the scenes. Just how these particular negotiations worked
out I cannot say. The results probably were not precisely what
Smith had planned, but it is not unlikely that he was satisfied.
Sinclair sang six times, and for no one's benefit but his own. Brough
was "induced" to make a single appearance, on Miss Morgan's
night. Madame Otto evidently would not come to terms with the
resident manager, and contented herself with singing in joint con-
certs with Brough, one of which had to be postponed because the
basso had a sore throat. 10

Sinclair's first bow was made as Henry Bertram in an operatic
version of Scott's Guy Mannenng on May 1. In the course of the
evening he sang four solos and a duet with Miss Morgan, who was
cast as Julia Mannenng. Mrs. Farren must have applied con-
siderable make-up to her youthful features if she was at all con-
vincing as Meg Merrilies; Mrs. Bateman was more appropriately
cast as Lucy Bertram, and Cowell found scope for his talents in the
part of Dominie Sampson. There is extant no review of this per-
formance or of any other though the Pennant did print a few com-
ments on May 13. The writer expressed regret that Sinclair "should
have attracted no more attention in St. Louis. . . . Whatever he
undertakes, is sure to be done well. There is no suspense in the
mind of the auditor no fear of failure." But the critic did deplore
his reliance on "falsetto notes, which it seems to us rather bad taste
for him now to dwell upon. We could wish to hear his sostenutos
and rolades all made within the temperament of his voice." The
contributions of Larkin were approved of, but he is designated as a
bass, whereas Ludlow calls him a "tenor singer." The most in-
structive part of this critique, however, is not concerned with any
soloist.

Of the chorusses &c &c we have nothing very favorable to say.
It must evidently be impossible to get up operas at so short notice,
and with a company of green hands, who generally know nothing of
music; and the only wonder is that, under the circumstances, it went
off as well as it did.

10 The Daily Evening Gatette, May 7, 1840.

62 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

Of Sinclair himself, Ludlow tells us something. After stating
that Ireland gives 1790 as the date of the tenor's birth, which would
make him fifty in 1840, he goes on to say that, when he died in 1857,
the papers gave his age as seventy-five. "In my opinion, the news-
papers were nearest the truth. When Mr. Sinclair performed in
my theatre in St. Louis, in either 1840 or 1841, he appeared to be
a man of at least sixty years of age. His voice was husky and some
notes cracked, and voice and face indicated a man of sixty years
of age. Notwithstanding, his Scotch ballads and other songs were
still delightful." 11 Ludlow also says that he was one of the most
successful stars of the season; yet he is not sure of which season.

On May 4, after a revival of the ever-popular spectacle of The
Ice Witch, Sinclair took part in two pieces : The Spirit of the Clyde,
in which as Kenneth he introduced "those two songs so rapturously
encored on Friday last, 'Spring time of year is coming, 1 and 'Come
sit thee down' "; and No/ or The Glorious 1 Minority, in which he
delivered more solos. 18 The Republican of May 8, announcing his
assumption of another Scott role, Francis Osbaldistone in Rob Roy,
speaks of this as his fourth appearance. There must have been one,
therefore, on the sixth, a day on which, for some reason, no paper
was published. Despite his age, he patently had strength enough
for a full evening's labors, since after Rob Roy, in which he sang
several numbers, he went through the opera Rosina. On both the
eleventh and the thirteenth he sang the title-role in Masaniello, on
the latter occasion, his benefit, adding a repetition of The Spirit of
the Clyde and some miscellaneous songs. There was life in the old
boy yet.

Brough, who was only forty-two, made his sole appearance as
Squire Hawthorne in Bickerstaffe's old ballad opera, Love in a
Village, in which, he sang five songs, and in the afterpiece, No Song,
No Supper, with two more solos. According to the Republican
(May 18), his voice was a "Baritone Bass of the finest order, and
his style pure, and although florid, is a compound of the English ; he
gave great satisfaction to all capable of judging with critical
acumen. As an actor he is far superior to any mere singer we have
seen or heard."

11 Ludlow Dramatic Life, 522.
Daily Bulletin, May 4, 1840.

FOUR MUSES 63

Before the "nightingales" had warbled their final notes, the next
stars arrived in town. These were the Barnes family Mr. and
Mrs. John Barnes and their daughter Charlotte (later Mrs. E. S.
Conner). The parents had come to this country a quarter of a
century before, and Mrs. Barnes, after her debut at the Park
Theatre in New York, had been pronounced "decidedly the best
Juliet on the American stage," and achieved a position of real im-
portance in the East. 18 Barnes himself was a favorite comedian.
During his first season a critical reviewer made this estimate of
his worth: "he has no great variety in his action, and little nicety
of discrimination. He has a knack at raising a laugh, and is content
to practice the same trick as long as it will answer the same end." 14
He raised many laughs throughout the ensuing quarter of a cen-
tury, during which both he and his wife were great favorites at
the Park and elsewhere a well. By 1840, however, their powers
and their attraction had begun to weaken, and they were looking
to their daughter to carry the family torch. Dr. Odell refers to
her as "Charlotte . . . whom her father had tried so hard to make
by art what her mother was by nature a fine tragic actress.""

The Barneses were friends of Smith. I judge for that reason
they were not, at least in retrospect, friends of Ludlow. The violent
quarrel between the two managers not yet having taken place, he
may have entertained no hard feelings at the time, but when he set
about writing his recollections, he used this pleasant family as one
of many sticks wherewith to beat the memory of his dead partner.

Referring to Smith's after-season in Mobile, Ludlow asserts that
he was opposed to it, but that Smith desired it in order to accom-
modate his friends. "Now, the reader should understand that Mr.
Barnes and family Mrs. and Miss Charlotte Barnes were not
among the regular stars engaged by us prior to the commencement
of the season, but they had wandered out to the South, to return
to New York by the West, depending upon such chances as they
could get to play in the cities and towns that lay in the way of
their route. Their main object was to give their daughter, then
preparing to make a start in the profession, as much practice as

"Odell: Annals, II, 453.
w/W</., II, 477.
"Ibid., IV, 303.

64 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

possible before making a grand attempt in the cities of the East."
He goes on to say that Smith "had made the acquaintance of Mr.
Barnes while he was in New York, during the summer of 1835, and
felt flattered that 'Old Jack' should condescend so much as to per-
form in any theatie under his management." 16

This passage is a pietty fair sample of the kind of argument
with which Ludlow marred his in many ways invaluable book in
order to besmirch the character of his former colleague. About his
own disapproval of the after-season, he may be entirely right. But
he is dearly in error when he says that Mr. and Mrs. Barnes were
preparing their daughter "to make a start in the profession." Char-
lotte was at this time twenty-two years old and had been on the
stage since childhood, first as a prodigy and more recently as a lead-
ing lady. She had made her debut in the latter capacity as Angela
in The Castle Spectre at no less a theatre than the famous Park six
years before. These facts are recorded by Ludlow himself in an-
other chapter of his book, a discrepancy he overlooked in order to
make his point." In 1837 her own tragedy, Octavia Bragaldi, had
been produced at Wallack's National Theatre, also in New York,
the authoress herself playing the principal female role, and she had
also played the leading business in other dramas in the same house.
So, whatever her deficiencies, she could scarcely be dismissed in
1840 as a tyro engaged in learning the ropes before trying out her
powers in the East.

Furthermore, only sheer malice can have motivated Ludlow's
sneer that Smith was flattered because "Old Jack should conde-
scend" to act under his management. The latter was unquestion-
ably an actor of standing, but I doubt if Ludlow himself would have
called hfrn a greater attraction than Ellen Tree, Edwin Forrest, or
Dan Marble, all of whom had been glad to appear under Sol's
management. Finally, it was not in the least unusual to engage
stars almost at the last minute.

It is true that Barnes p&re and mire tried to create their daughter
in their own image and failed. Unhappily, they had not the co-
operation of Nature. Ludlow's unflattering description does not,
in the light of other comments, seem to be unfair. "Her face was

"Ludlow: Dramatic Life, 518.
"Ibid., 541.

FOUR MUSES 65

not what is called a good stage face, at any time of her life. Her
voice was unmusical and weak, she was near-sighted, and her eyes
lacked expression." 18 The opinion of Phelps agreed with this view.
"Although she had pretty features, her face was not adapted to the
stage ; neither was her voice nor her figure, and, therefore, although
educated for the position and possessed of talents of no mean order,
she never attained the eminence as an actress, that her many friends
hoped for her." 19 These observations are more than confirmed by
a glance at the portrait by Neagle which hangs in the Players
Club, New York, and is reproduced in Dr. OdelFs fourth volume.

This young lady was presented to the St. Louis public by Ludlow,
perhaps with reluctance, as Julia in The Hunchback on May 5.
Her support was excellent. For once, Mrs. Farren resigned her
leading position to play the decidedly secondary part of Helen.
Farren was the Master Walter, Marsh the Clifford, Cowell the
Fathom, and Ludlow the Modus. Afterwards Charlotte was seen
as Lady Julia in Personation.

Two evenings later the whole family was presented in what should
have been a very good performance of The School for Scandal.
Barnes himself, of course, assumed his great role of Sir Peter with
his daughter as Lady Teazle and his wife as Mrs. Candour. Lud-
low (whose name, like those of the visitors, was blazoned forth in
capitals in the publicity) was the Charles Surface, one of his favorite
roles, despite the fact that as a man of practically forty-five, he can
scarcely have looked the young rake. Joseph was impersonated by
Marsh, Sir Oliver by Farren, Crabtree by Cowell, and Careless,
"with a song," by Larkin. Mrs. Farren did not take part, but
her mother was in her accustomed place as Lady Sneerwell, and
Mrs. Bateman, as might be expected, was the Maria. The comedy
was followed by Family Jars in which Old Jack displayed himself
in another of his prize creations, Delph, with Miss Morgan carolling
as Emily. Between the two pieces Mrs. Barnes recited "COLLINS*
ODE ON THE PASSIONS . . . accompanied with the original
music."

Charlotte's third role was the Countess in Love. The after-
piece was Sprigs of Laurel with Barnes as Nipperkin, one of Lud-

541.
"Phelps: Players of a Century, 174.

66 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

low's special parts. On May 12 "the more or less fair authoress"
(as Dr. Odell calls her) presented herself for her first benefit in
her own tragedy, Octavia Bragaldi, "Founded on facts which oc-
curred in the city of Frankfoit, Ky., in the year 1825." ao The
Gazette of the same date asserts that the facts related to "the murder
of Col. Sharp, by Beauchamp." 21 This work had already been in-
troduced to New York, but its success had not been excessive. On
this occasion it was followed by The Scape Goat or Love versus
Learning, a farce, with the two elder Barneses as Polyglot and Molly
Maggs.

Three evenings later, Sinclair and B rough having finished at the
Theatre and their friend Sol having arrived in town, the visiting
family settled down for a run of six nights, interrupted only by
Sunday. On Friday, the fifteenth, the bill was composed of The
Love Chase, in which all three took part, and Family Jars. The
next evening brought Barnes' benefit and with it, the first local per-
formance of Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors^ the beneficiary and
Cowell appearing as the two Dromios, of Syracuse and Ephesus
respectively, "the latter in imitation of the former." Charlotte
supported her father as Lucinda, and her mother was, according to
the Bulletin, "Abbis " Then the whole family joined forces in
"LAFITTE or the Pirate of the Gulf" with Charlotte as Theo-
dore (a page), Barnes as Marlinspike (a boatswain), and Mrs.
Barnes as Constantia. This play was in the words of Dr. Arthur
Hobson Quinn an "Alteration of Medina's La Fltte" like Octavia
Bragaldi from the pen of Miss Barnes. Louisa Medina's play had
had its premiere in 1836 at the Bowery in New York under the
tide of La Fitte or The Pirate's Home. The version presented in
St. Louis had had its first performance, under Caldwell, in New
Orleans in 1838."

May 17 saw the first local presentation of Mrs. Centlivre's The
Busy Body in nine years. After that, the young lady enlivened
the occasion with The Captive or Scenes in a Mad House, which
Dr. Odell is unkind enough to say reminds him of Miss Snevellici

QDaily Bulletin, May 12, 1840.

81 Quinn: History of the American Drama from the tot ginning to the
Civil War, 260.
**lbid. f 439.

FOUR MUSES 67

in Nicholas Nickleby. But, as an antidote, perhaps to ward off im-
minent nightmares, her elders repeated The Scape Goat.

An anonymous writer in the Gazette not, however, I think,
Anonymous himself liked the "show." "The Busy-body went off
very finely at the theatre last evening. Old Barnes as Gripe was
excellent. Ludlow did up Marplot very amusingly; and shows
that it takes a sensible man to play the shallow-pate well. Mrs.
Barnes enacted her part as Patch with incredible vivacity. Of her
talented and handsome daughter in any part it is difficult to speak,
save in terms of praise, though last night, we were not quite so much
interested in her personation of Miranda as we have been in most of
her other characters. In fact, Miranda has very little to do and
affords no room for display. A little less constant pitching of the
dress would be more acceptable. Marsh, which is unusual, dressed
well, and also, which is unusual, painted too high. But young
Russel who, by the way, acquitted himself very well, presented a
face that looked like a painter's sign-board, intended to show how
deep he could color." He added that the "audience was thin but
many of them discovered a sense of delicacy at one passage of the
play, for which they deserve a leather medal, well turned out of
asses' ears."

This last comment is particularly interesting. Was there in the
making a wholesome rebellion against the prudishness of the day, a
weakness, by the way, from which the managers themselves were not
entirely free? I am afraid, however, that this was merely another
case of one swallow's not making a summer. The "young Russel"
was Dick, brother of Mrs. Farren. Although at times useful, he
never achieved any position in the theatre. At this time he was nine-
teen years old; he died nine years later of tuberculosis.

On May 19 Charlotte Barnes was seen as Letitia Harding in
The Belle's Stratagem, the cast also including her parents as Mr.
Hardy and Mrs. Packet, Ludlow as Doricourt, Cowell as Flutter,
and Mrs. Bateman as Lady Francis. Looking at the advertisement
in the Bulletin, I cannot help speculating on the emotions of Old
Joe Cowell when he scanned it and saw his name and his daughter's
the only ones in small type. I cannot believe that this distinction
"sat well."

68 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

For Mrs. Barnes* benefit on the twentieth The School for Scandal
was repeated with the same cast as before, the afterpiece being The
Two Thompsons with Barnes as Mr. Thompson, 2nd. An editorial
in the Gazette pleaded the lady's cause.

THEATREMRS. BARNES that excellent actress, who, like
precious metal, wears brighter as she gets older who is brim-full
of vivacity and was always a favorite with play-goers solicits a
benefit to-night. . . .

It is really to be regretted by all the frequenters of the theatre,
and shows the pressure of the times, that this highly talented family
with a gem in it like the daughter who unites to handsome natural
gifts great advantages of education should have been so neglected
during their stay here.

The next evening witnessed Charlotte's farewell benefit in "First
and only time, a new drama called CATHARINE HOWARD
Translated from the French by Miss CHARLOTTE BARNES ;
and performed by her with most decided success." 88 The authoress
herself, as would be expected, filled the title role. "Immediately
after the play, MR. BARNES by desire, will sing 'Barney leave the
girls alone.' Following which Mrs. BARNES will recite Collins'
ODE ON THE PASSIONS with appropriate music." There
were on this occasion two afterpieces : The Promissory Note, with
Ludlow, and The Two Thompsons, with Barnes.

And that, so far as St. Louis was concerned, at least for a long
time to come, was the last of the Barnses.

* * *

The prospectus published in the Republican just as the season
by "the established company" was about to get under way, in pro-
claiming the glories of the Ravels, mentions the fact that they had
recently strengthened their company by the addition of "Master
and Miss Wells." Later, of course, they all suffered shipwreck
on their way to St. Louis and retired to Louisville to recover. The

Drama of 'Catherine Howard,' written by the gxeat Fiench
author Dumas, was translated by Miss Barnei last October, and read and
approved by the management of the Park theatre, N. York, where it would
hare been brought out but that Miss Barnes' engagement at the south pre-
vented her from performing it there. It was acted for the first time, with
great success, in the city of Savannah in February last, and the critics
spoke in the highest terms of its all absorbing interest. . ." (Mo. Ret.. May
20, 1840.)

FOUR MUSES 69

Ravels soon departed for the East, but the Wellses lingered on the
banks of the Mississippi and before very long came up to the Mound
City to retrieve as much of their loss as they could. Perhaps they
were not sorry to operate "on their own" without the competition
of recognized favorites.

Dr. Odell expresses the belief that these young people, who were
dancing at the Park in 1837, were "no doubt children of that
Dublin actor who had recently joined the company. According to
Ireland, the boy was afterwards known as Henri Wells, of the
Ravel troupe; the girl [whom Dr. Odell elsewhere calls 'Harriet']
became the wife of Leon Javelli, of the same organisation, and was
a prominent dancer in that galley." 24 It is possible that the father
was with them in St. Louis, because the cast of Flora and Zephyr
included a "Mr. Wells." 28

Contemporary evidence would seem to indicate that the young
dancers were spared the fate of the Barnes family. St. Louisans
have always liked the dance, and still do to-day. Quite obviously
there was something appealing about this youthful pair. The rap-
tures of all the editors and correspondents cannot well have been
entirely synthetic. The first piece offered was The Dew Drop,
apparently a version of La Sylphide, in which Miss Wells had al-
ready been seen in New York and which on this occasion was sand-
wiched in between Is He Jealous? and The Green Eyed Monster.**
This number was mounted three times during their stay, as was
also Flora and Zephyr. La Bayadere was done twice. But the
dancers were not always presented in complete ballets; on several
evenings they were scheduled to do various pas between the light
pieces which made up most of the bills.

Through the reviews in different papers there may occasionally be
seen traces of preoccupations not strictly theatrical or Terpsichorean.

We were agreeably surprised last night at witnessing these tal-
ented young Artists in the "Dew Drop." Modest in deportment

"Odell. Annals, IV, 128. Mrs. John Drew states that the brother and
sister were members of the same party as her mother and herself which
crossed from England in 1827 to join the Park company (Autobiographical
Sketch of Mrs. John Drna, 18).

^Missouri Republican, May 25, 1840.

"Odell: Annals, IV, 204.

70 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

and dress, Miss Wells has studiously avoided those exhibitions of
the figure which gives the blush to modesty. While her aerial move-
ments, graceful attitudes and brilliant execution vie with the boasted
specimens we have seen of foreign artists, Miss Wells flies the stage
"a thing of air" every movement is poetry, every attitude is grace.
Nor does her talented brother deserve less praise."
.... Miss Wells is, without question, the best danseuse that has
appeared on our boards this season, she has not the muscular power
of Le Comte; but, we think, she is infinitely more graceful, and,
withal, modest. Some of the tableaux were exceedingly beautiful.
Master Wells, when dancing with his sister, does all in his
power to assist her and keep the attention of the spectators directed
to her reserving the exhibition of his own powers to a Pas
Seul M

The light comedies, farces, and other afterpieces given during the
Wells engagement can be disposed of briefly. Two spectacles, The
Jewess on May 29, and The Ice Witch alone represent their class.
There were, however, four novelties. One was the younger Col-
man's Ways and Means, given on the twenty-third with Ludlow as
Sir David Dunder. Another, Mr. H. is Charles Lamb's unsuccess-
ful farce about a man who wishes to conceal the fact that his name
is Hoffsflesh. It is interesting to note that in St. Louis it ran just
twice as long as it had done on the occasion of its London premiere
in 1806. It had two performances (on May 30 and June 2) with
Ludlow in the name-part, and then was restored to the dusty shelf.
The two other plays were My Friend and My Wife and Policy
Better than Pistols.

Ludlow was fairly busy, taking part in several performances, as
Sharp in The Lying Valet and as five different characters in Of
Age To-morrow, in addition to Mr. H. Sol Smith made one ap-
pearance during his visit to the city, as Numpo in J T is All a Farce
on the twenty-fifth. "OLD SOL'S NUMPO, Monday night, was
as rich as cream, and kept the audience in a roar of laughter, from
beginning to end," says the "Pennant of the twenty-seventh. The
writer goes on to say that he could not divest himself "of the idea
that he actually was hungry. How is it, sir? Do you eat heartily?
We put you to your purgation." The Bulletin of June 1 announced

"Evening Gazette, May 23, 1840.
"Daily Bulletin, May 25, 1840.

FOUR MUSES 71

that Bateman's appearance in A Roland for an Oliver on that
evening would be his first since his prolonged illness.

The last night of the Wells engagement saw a diversion of an
extraordinary character. I quote the advertisement in the Bulletin.

THEATRE
BENEFIT OF MISS WELLS

The Chief of the OMAHA INDIANS, and a portion
of his tribe, will attend the Theatre; among whom, the
one recently tried for and acquitted of murdering a white
man.

A comedy condensed from five to three acts, and en-
titled

LAUGHING THE ELIXIR OF LIFE

Gossamer Mr. LUDLOW

Mrs. Mortimer Mrs. FARREN

PAS STYRIEN MISS & MASTER WELLS

THE DEW DROP

If dancers would not fill the house, perhaps wild Indians, in-
cluding a possible murderer, might. I wonder what the Chief of
the Omahas thought of Reynolds' Laugh When You Can, for that
was what the rechristened comedy was. In my opinion he was
lucky not to be able to understand the words of one of the silliest
plays ever born of the brain of man, yet one which for our an-
cestors seemed to possess some now incomprehensible charm. The
advertisement has one or two interesting points. For instance it
illustrates once again the penchant of managers for juggling with
the titles of the plays they presented, and the other the nonchalance
with which they compressed a five act pky into three acts.* 9 So
loose was the structure of many a play then current that such tele-
scoping could be accomplished without serious damage either to the
drama or to the audience.

This final program concluded, the young people danced off the
local stage.

Smith: Thsatrical Management, 265.

72 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

Enter the Hungarian Singers. These weie four gentlemen who,
according to Dr. Odell, sang in their national costumes. He gives
their names as Rosen, Koln, Liebenstein, and Reich. 80 The Repub-
lican modified the first to Rosscn, the last to Rich. One of their out-
standing accomplishments was the "imitation of several instruments
v i z Flute, Clarionet, Trombone, & Bassoon (Music by Strilk-
ley." 81 They sang on four evenings, including a benefit, but with-
out setting the Mississippi aflame. Said the Gazette, the morning
after their first outburst: "The warbling, instrumentizing per-
formances of these vocalists are really wonderful. The theatre, last
evening, was, owing to the state of the weather, rather thin. But so
novel and unique is the style of their exhibitions, that we cannot sup-
pose it can be otherwise than highly attractive." Yet it patently
was otherwise, for on June 8 the editor commented that "hard
times" must be responsible for the slim audiences which were greet-
ing the Hungarians. Can it be these same singers that Joseph M.
Field refers to in a letter from New Orleans dated April 30?
Terming them "the Hungry Buggers," he says, "They drew a fine
house for Miss Verity but they are humbugs and the people are
finding 'em out pretty fast."

It was not only the "instrumentizing" singers who were unable
to pull the partners out of the slough into which they were sinking.
No attraction they could offer, not even the popular Edmon S. Con-
ner, could draw good business unless we except the dancers. As the
paper said, times were hard. Money was becoming scarcer and
scarcer, and relief was not in sight. That, however, was not all.
This was, as I have pointed out before, an election year, and not
just any election year at that. Feelings, which in those days were
prone to 1 rise very high at such times, were exceptionally rabid as
the conflict between the followers of Van Buren and of Harrison
saw November growing nearer and nearer. The editors were, even
so many months in advance, so deep in the campaign that they could
spare little space to such inconsequentials as actors.

In the hope that a diet of light 'fare might lure the public into
the great empty spaces the management now presented a series of

s Odell Annalt, IV, 328.
^Missouri Republican, June 5, 1840.

FOUR MUSES 73

comedies and musical pieces with two performers who had not be-
fore been seen in St. Louis, although they were established favorites
in other parts of the Mississippi Valley. One June 10 the partners
announced through the press "an engagement for a few nights of
Mr. JAS. THORNE (kte of the Cincinnati Theatre) and Mrs.
KENT, of the New York and Western Theatres, who will make
their first appearance in this city."

Thorne was an English baritone or bass, now forty years old,
who had been between 1830 and 1834 quite active in New York,
and more recently in the West. Ludlow asserts that his voice had
"great power and smoothness" and that he excelled in such parts as
Figaro, Baron Pompolino (Cinderella), Caliban, and Gabriel (Guy
Mannering) . 8a He is remembered also as the partner of J. M. Scott
in the management of Western theatres. Like so many whose com-
ings and goings are chronicled in these pages, he had almost run his
race; three years later he died at sea.

Mrs. Kent came of a very musical family of German extraction
by the name of Eberle, several of whose members were well known
in the theatres of New York. As Elizabeth Eberle she had been in
1828, as a girl of seventeen, a member of a company under Lud-
low's management which had made a brief stay at the Chatham
Theatre. Since then she had married one William Kent and cen-
tered her activities further west. Ludlow says, "Her style of acting
was piquant and effective, more especially in soubrettes and chamber-
maids." 88

Mrs. Kent and Thorne thoroughly delighted the gentlemen who
wrote the theatrical items for the press, and from that fact, per-
haps, both they and their employers derived some measure of satis-
faction. But, when it came to the material appreciation which they
certainly did not consider unimportant, that was another matter,
and Ludlow must have been dismal indeed when he looked into
his emptying coffers. Yet, assuredly, the public cannot have stayed
away for fear of being bored. There was nothing depressing about
the pieces offered for their delectation.

The stars opened on June 10 in The Englishman in India and
The Loan of a Lover, taking part in both plays. Then came Married

s'Ludkro: Dramatic Life, 558.
**Ibtd., 616.

74 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

Life and Hunting a Turtle; Simpson and Company and The Swiss
Cottage, followed by My "Young Wife and My Old Umbrella, with
Cowell; The Ladder of Love, My Friend the Governor ("first
time"), and Bachelor's Buttons.

This is not exactly an awe-inspiring list, but the critics voiced no
complaints. One of them, writing in the Bulletin on Monday, the
fifteenth, in order to help his stage-friend-in-need, had this to say:
"Not since the dedication of the Temple of the Drama in this city,
have we had better acting in Comedy than has been exhibited in the
last few nights. Thome, the popular manager, late of the Cincin-
nati, Vicksburgh and Natchez theatres and Mrs. Kent (well known
a few years since as the fascinating Miss Eberle,) have been doing a
few of their best parts in their best style and perhaps no two per-
formers ever were so well calculated to sustain each other. In their
line, (which may be termed 'high low comedy,') they are unsurpassed
on the American stage. In such parts as 'Tom Tape' [The English-
man in India], 'Peter Spike' [The Loan of a Lover], 'Natz Teick'
[The Swiss Cottag-e] &c, Thorne is without a superior, and his
'Baron Pompolino [Cinderella] never was equalled. We rejoice
that the managers have returned to something like the true legitimate
drama, and we doubt not they will be rewarded with full houses.
Tonight Thorne appears as 'Billy Lackaday' and Mrs. Kent as 'The
Middy Ashore.' "

Billy Lackaday, although only a subordinate character in Sweet-
hearts and Wives, was a favorite part with comedians and frequently
was emphasized at the expense of a role structurally much more
important. The Middy Ashore rejoices in the cheerful cognomen
of "Harry Halcyon." I wonder just how convincing the twenty-
nine-year-old soubrette was as the jolly tar. Whether convincing or
not, however, she was evidently considered good enough to be
encored the next evening at Thome's benefit as a curtain raiser to
Cinderella.

This opus was not exactly Rossini's opera of that name, but a
strange melange of what might be called "Rossiniana," passages from
several of the works of the popular Italian composer. According to
Dr. Odell, it was "an English adaptation by Rophino Lacy." 8 * But,

"Odell: Annals, III, 497.

FOUR MUSES 75

whatever it was, it had been for several seasons a tried-and-true
stand-by of Ludlow and Smith. According to the latter, the public
liked it very much, but some heretics suggested that it would be
better if they cut out the music. Rossini's rather florid melodies
are not the easiest in the world to sing, and, considering the vocal
prowess of the various actors and actresses who were called upon to
warble them, one wonders if there may not perhaps have been some-
thing to the criticism. Unquestionably the scenery, which was
reputedly gorgeous, had a great deal to do with Cinderella's
perennial appeal.

This production probably was at least relatively good. The
Pennant's reviewer wrote on June 22 that Larkin was one of per-
haps "not more than fix men on the stage in the United States who
can get through with the music, and among these Mr. Larkin cer-
tainly ranks by no means the lowest. Mr. L. is a man who under-
stands his business, and, so far as we are aware, has never assumed
or presumed upon his acquirements, to insult the public by demand-
ing their approbation for attempts actually disgraceful and ridicu-
lous." So it would seem that the role of Felix was in good keeping.
Thome had the requisite voice and his Pompolino was a recognized
accomplishment. Cowell undertook Pedro, and a newcomer named
Carr appeared for that night only as Alidoro. It seems strange that
the difficult part of Dandini should have been entrusted to a tyro
like young Dick Russell ; surely it must have been beyond his limited
powers, but managers cannot always be choosers. Miss Morgan was
the Cinderella, Mrs. Kent the Qorinda, and Mrs. Farren the
Thisbe. There is no record of the performance except that in the
Pennant, which, incidentally, had some kind words for Smith, the
scenic artist.

There now followed two benefits, one each for Mrs. Farren and
Mrs. Kent, whose first one, to use a slang phrase not yet coined in
her day, had proved to be a "flop." Ludlow, struggling to turn the
tide, summoned Conner back to the city and established him as the
company's leading man, though taking good care in the publicity to
preserve the fiction that he was once more a visiting star. For Mary
Ann Farren's night, Ludlow outdid himself. He fired every gun
he had in one overwhelming broadside. In addition to the estimable

76 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

matron herself, he presented Mrs. Kent, Mrs. Russell, Miss Morgan,
Conner, Thornc (usually misspelled "Thorn"), Larkin, Farren,
Carr, and himself in a grand potpourri: Act IV of Richelieu, Act I
of Cinderella, Acts III and V of Tortesa, and Simpson and
Company.

The gentlemen of the press, always ready to break a lance for the
popular favorite, did not fail her this time. It is interesting to note
the difference in the approach between the pleas of those days and the
advertisements of our own time. The one card our contemporary
publicity experts seem to have overlooked so far is the conscience of
the potential playgoer. But that will no doubt be played in time.
Let us take a look at a sample culled from the Bulletin of June 17.

Mrs. Farren's Benefit

Mrs. Farren presents a most attractive bill for her benefit this
evening. We observe that Mrs. Kent who en passant, in her line,
is decidedly the best comedian that has appeared on our boards this
season Thorne, (who has been delighting a small but select audi-
ence for the last few days, and, as Peter Spuyk, stands unrivalled),
Conner, (our new acquaintance but old friend, whose personation of
the characters of Richelieu, Angelo and Huon have not been
excelled), and Ludlow, the manager, will all appear on this oc-
casion. Apart from this galaxy of talent, Mrs. Farren has claims
upon the lieatre-going portions of our community which we hope,
this evening, to see acknowledged. If assiduity in her profession
if always being coirect in her parts if a true conception of the
author, always 'suiting the action to the word, and the word to the
action' deserve encouragement, then to Mrs. Farren should it be
extended. She is, 'emphatically speaking, a fixed star, from whose
continued rays we enjoy more pleasure than from those emanating
from a meteor that sparkles but for a moment and then disappears
in gloom. She is possessed of talents of no common order, and
stands at the head of her profession as all who have had the pleasure
of witnessing her will acknowledge. We hope to see a brilliant
array of beauty assembled this evening, to greet with smiles one of
their own sex, who is so deserving of their patronage, and one who
has always exerted herself to the utmost to win a place in their
esteem. P. C.

Could P. C, be our acquaintance Mr. Carr? There are several
names in the Directory which would fit, including two Pierre Chou-
teaus, but I have no evidence as to who it was. The style is some-

FOUR MUSES 77

what reminiscent of that of Eaton's admirer whose encomiums ap-
peared in the same columns. The next evening he wielded his pen
again, this time in behalf of Mrs. Kent, who, having had "an un-
propitious night on the occasion of her former Benefit," was trying
again. "Mrs. Kent," he averred, "is certainly a very superior actress
reads, dresses, and acts well." This reference to her dressing
reminds us that the players were responsible for their own costumes. 83
The lady presented herself as Ellen Douglas in The Lady of the
Lake supported by Mrs. Farren as Blanche of Devon, and Conner
as Roderick Dhu. Before the piece de resistance, Thome was seen
as Pequillo in My Friend the Governor, and, after it, Conner as
Tristram Fickle in The Weathercock.

With the hope that she did not plead in vain, we now take leave
of Mrs. Kent and her associate, who closed their engagement with
this final bill. By July they were back in Cincinnati, for on the
sixth of that month, Smith wrote his partner that, having fled from
his Mobile creditors, he was about to play an engagement there "in
conjunction with Thorne & Mrs. Kent. The manager takes $120
each night (if it is in} and he, Thorne, Mrs. Kent, & myself divide
the balance equally Fifth, Seventh, & Ninth nights Benefits, at
which we all play gratis. 88 I think the prospect is fair for my mak-
ing at least $50 at my Benefit tho' I am told $100 house is a
prodigy. . . ." St. Louis was not alone in the theatrical doldrums.

The spring season now hurried on to its welcome dose. The
return of Conner brought the return of tragedy, which, one would
think, would have come as a pleasant relief after so much trifling.
But first there was another none-too-serious offering, the melodra-
matic spectacle of The Bottle Imp, new to St. Louis although New
York had known it twelve seasons before. It seems to have been
chosen as a display piece for the scene-designer, Smith. The adver-
tisement in the Republican (June 19) says that this was "the first
entire piece produced in this theatre, by that talented artist." The
Bulletin of the same day asserts that "Great preparations have been

SB Mat Field, for several years prior to 1840 a prominent member of the
Ludlow and Smith company, speaks in his diary for the spring months of
1839 of his efforts to assemble costumes for certain of the parts he was
to play. (Bulletin of the Missouri Historical Society, January, 1949.)

"Sol Smith to N. M. Ludlow, July 6, 1840.

78 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

made during the season to bring it out in fine style." It was
repeated the next evening with a different curtain raiser and after-
piece.

On June 22 came Ludlow's benefit, Conner, and Shakespeare. St.
Louis saw Romeo and Juliet for the first time in a year and, I
believe, for the sixth time in its history. Of course, Conner and
Mrs. Farren were the lovers. Ludlow was a bit mature for
Mercutio, but older men than he have essayed the fiery youth since
then. Farren was probably a worthy Friar Lawrence, and no doubt
Cowell got all there was to be got out of Peter. But I doubt if
Mrs. Russell could be vulgar enough for an ideal Nurse; probably
the broader lines were cut "to spare the blush of Modesty."

There now followed a sequence of standard plays and afterpieces
with one or two inconsequential novelties among the latter. After
Richelieu and NoJ on the twenty-sixth, a new note was introduced
on the next evening by the "Hungry Singers," who, the advertise-
ments promised, "will give an old tune to new words, and show the
secret of the Echo." These gentlemen were apparently burlesquing
the recently-departed Hungarians, and may have been either amateurs
or regular members of the company. Whoever they were, they were
sandwiched in between Reformation, with Mrs. Farren and Cowell,
and Charcoal Sketches, with the latter.

From this date on Ludlow handled his affairs with a heavy heart.
News then reached him of the death of his son William, a small boy
who had fallen overboard from the steamboat St. Louis en route with
his mother to New Orleans. There is no record of another appear-
ance of the unhappy father on the stage during the brief remainder
of the regular season.

The morning before the peiformances of Reformation and Char-
coal Sketches, the following card was printed in the Bulletin.

THEATRE A CARD

FAREWELL
BENEFIT OF OLD JOE COWELL

In staling the above melancholy fact, he don't mean to have it
understood, that he, of his own free will, retires from the stage, but,
that the stage retires from him neither is he going to England to

FOUR MUSES 79

seethe Queen, nor to New York to see Fanny Ellsler 87 but intends
seriously to settle in St. Louis ; therefore, if his numerous friends will
drop in at the Theatre on SATURDAY EVENING, June 27th,
they will probably, for the last time, witness a. pood old comedy,
hear the Hungry Singers see the Echo I! and have lots of fun,"
according to the laws of the land and the Statues of William and
Mary.

As matters turned out, this did not actually constitute his last ap-
pearance on the stage, because, according to the findings of Dr. A. H.
Wilson he was seen as one of the Dromios and in other roles at the
Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia in 1844. 88 On the other
hand, for the time-being he did settle down in St. Louis and was even
candidate for public office. The Pennant (June 27), apropos of his
benefit, had a few words to say about the departing actor. ". . . Mr.
Cowell is one of the best low comedians now on the stage a remnant
of the Old School; and, if occasionally he forgets himself, and
descends to buffoonery, it is, perhaps, more on account of the bad
taste of the public than from any wish of his own. . . ."

I suspect that Old Joe and his family were jettisoned for reasons
of economy. On May 4, Sol had written Ludlow from Mobile :
"Wm. Chapman has applied for an engagement, & I think it will be
to our interest to engage him ; of course the Cowell family are to
go. Chapman's wife is afflicted with Paralysis & is very low at
present." 89 The phrasing of the benefit plea also would seem to
indicate that the retirement was not altogether voluntary. Despite
the fact that Bateman was included in the evacuation order, he
rejoined the firm at a later date. I have spoken before of the dis-
crimination in the matter of capitalizing in the newspaper advertise-
ments. There must have been some reason underlying this policy,
and the whole thing must have left Cowell disgruntled. Ludlow
makes it clear in his memoirs that he did not admire this comedian.
He especially did not like his observations on the subject of the
Ludlow dramatic companies he had encountered in his peregrinations,
recorded four years after these events in his Thirty Years Passed
Among the Players in England and America. "At page 90 of his

8T Fanny Elisler (1810-1884), celebrated Auttrian dancer, who wai creat-
ing a furore in this country.

**A History of the Philadelphia Theatre 1835 to 1855, 684.
"Sol Smith to N. M. Ludlow, March 29, 1841.

80 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

pamphlet," says the senior St. Louis partner, "Mr. Cowell makes a
statement to this effect: that in 1837-8, Ludlow & Smith, as a firm,
took the paper currency of the country only at specie value, where the
paper was at large discount, and then paid it out at par, or as indi-
cated on the face of the paper, by which they made great profits.
Now this was simply and unqualifiedly an untruth. But old Joe was
not particular about what he said when he took a dislike to any one.
He was never known to say a pleasant word about any person
beyond His own family, unless he thought there was a chance of
making something off of him, and then, when he found such a one,
he was the greatest toady in the world."*

The dosing week of the season saw some old favorites, including
The Mountaineers, William Tell, La Tour de Nesle, and The Lady
of Lyons, and also the more recent Love and The Bottle Imp. Wil-
liam Tell (plus Charcoal Sketches) on June 30 was dedicated to
"the Natchez Sufferers," that Mississippi town having recently been
overwhelmed by a disastrous storm. The managers had announced
their plan on the twenty-sixth, offering to "put the expenses for the
occasion much lower than the usual charges."

Conner evidently liked the role of a national hero, for on the
evening of his benefit on July 2 he closed the program as Andreas
Hofer in Hofer or The Tell of the Tyrol, a play new to St. Louis,
after taking part in selected acts from Love and The Sea Captain.
Farren also tried a novelty, a very novel novelty. In the Friday
papers he announced that "Mr. Roper, professor of gymnastics, will
make his first appearance on the stage, in this city in the character of
Jerry Hawthorn" in Tom and Jerry, the Tom being Conner, while
Mrs. Farren, Farren himself, and Cowell contributed their bits to a
rather unorthodox performance. They were not, however, called
upon to face the local gymnast's pummeling, that dubious distinction
being assumed by someone outside the fold. "In the course of the
piece," says the advertisement in the Republican of July 3, "A Set-to,
or Boxing Match between Mr. Roper and an amateur." Probably,
for the sake of dramatic effect, the amateur gallantly succumbed. Any
other conclusion would certainly have been very poor advertising for
Mr. Roper.

*Ludlow: Dtamatic Life, 359.

FOUR MUSES 81

Another grand composite bill marked the close of the regular spring
season after fourteen weeks of not so good fortune and bad, mostly
bad. This involved The Bottle Imp, Act I of The Aethiop, Act I of
Peter Wilkins or The Flying Islanders, and Act I of The Flying
Dutchman f the emphasis being, it will be seen, upon spectacle. Be-
tween the acts, the Hungry Singers were to "give their second, last
and eternal farewell Aria, and . . . their grand secret of the Echo."
About this time Ludlow received from his absent partner a letter
dated from Mobile, June 9: "D n the newspapers, which in at-
tempting to help us, do us an injury by raising the expectations of
our creditors." Thanks to the friendly journalists, said creditors re-
fused to believe that business had been bad. So Sol sold a $120
watch to pay a debt of $40. The watch followed his house.

Normally these proceedings would have marked the cessation of
operations until the opening of the fall campaign late in August. But,
for no good reason whatsoever, this summer was not permitted to
follow the path of normalcy. The cheerful, but none too practical,
George Percy Farren decided to attempt a summer season. Few
details of this misadventure have been preserved for posterity, except
partial casts of two productions, but there is no doubt about the out-
come. The comedian impresario tells us himself through the medium
of the press on July 18.

Mr. Farren begs to inform his friends and the public that having
tried the experiment of keeping the theatre open during the dull
season for their Benefit, he has "gained a loss/' that obliges him to
close it this evening "for his own BENEFIT."

He is happy to announce that Mrs. FARREN has beneficently
tendered her services and that Mr. LUDLOW has given him the
benefit of his and though the Beneficiary has to acknowledge many
kinds of benefits in St. Louis, the beneficence of his friend's on this
occasion will be to him most beneficial.

To dose this chapter I turn back the calendar to July 9 and lift
from the pages of the Pennant an epistle which plays a familiar theme.

The Degeneracy of the modern drama is a fruitful theme of
speculation; and yet, the true cause of it is involved in as much
mystery as that of the aurora borealis or the eccentricities of Encke's
comet. . . . Shakespeare and Johnson and Massinger and Sheridan

82 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

are quietly thrust upon the shelf to give place to blue fire and sheet-
iron thunder or to make stage-room for some capering Dutch prodigy
to cut her indecorous and ridiculous antics upon.

The drama considered as one of the fine arts exists no longer.
Show shops are plenty enough but the green curtain has fallen upon
every thing like intellectual dramatic representation, never, perhaps,
to be upraised. The only prompter who can ring it up is Public
Opinion who, intoxicated with meretricious show and sensual
excitement sleeps upon his post. . . .

IV

THE PLOT THICKENS
FALL OF 1840

Before Ludlow and Smith resumed operations on August 24, they
were anticipated by a "Mr. Newton, Irish Comedian" with a triple
bill given in the Atheneum Hall "over the Bank Exchange," Number
145 Main Street, on the thirteenth of the same month. 1 The plays
offered were William Tell, Bombastes Furioso, and The Secret, with
the promoter singing Irish songs and some unidentified dancers dis-
porting themselves. Newton announced that on this occasion "several
members" of the Atheneum Society will "make their first appearance
in public" and also that a "number of professional gentlemen have
volunteered." There seems, however, to have been confusion. The
Pennant of August 14 printed under the heading "A Card . . .
Theatre ATHENEUM" a plea from one C. W. Russell that the
ladies and gentlemen of St. Louis support his benefit scheduled for
the next evening. But a "Communication" the following day stated
flatly that the card was a mistake and "is withdrawn. ... It is well
known that the Melpothalian Dramatic Association is an entire
private concern that they are quite independent, and do not wish
to make a living by playing it is merely for amusement to them,
and they are only assisted by public performers in the Association.
Mr. Russell has no benefit." All the same, Mr. Russell's plea re-
appeared with the scene shifted from the Atheneum to Xaupi's Salon.

The original notice of the undertaking is rather ambiguous, in-
asmuch as under the heading "THEATRE FOR ONE NIGHT
ONLY," Newton (who had been a member of the regular company
when it had dedicated its new building in 1837) added that he was
opening the Atheneum Hall, a phrase usually employed to designate
the opening of a season. Whatever the "ONE NIGHT ONLY"
may have been intended to mean, the producer did not limit himself
to a single attempt. In the Gazette of the twenty-sixth he announced
Barbarossa and Charles II for the benefit of the Catholic Orphan

^Evening Gazette, August 13, 1840.

83

84 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

Asylum. On that evening, however, the results were patently dis-
appointing, because a card in the same paper three days later informed
play-loving St. Louisans that "in consequence of a mistake by which
the performance for the Benefit of the above Institution was not ad-
vertised in season to be generally known and in compliance with nu-
merous requests by friends of the Association who wish to aid the
Orphans," there would be a repetition of Barbarossa in addition to
"BOMBASTUS FURIOSA." 8 On September 3 Newton adver-
tised "a portion of the National Drama, entitled BRIAN BORO-
IHME OR, THE SONS OF ERIN" plus The Irish Tutor to be
given the next evening, this time for his own benefit, his last appear-
ance "previous to his departure for the South." Exit Mr. Newton.

The 1840 fall season was not one which Ludlow and Smith remem-
bered with pleasure. In compiling his memoirs, the latter dismissed
it with a few words on the ground that he was absent from the city
most of the time. 8 Ludlow also has little to say on the subject, and
what he does say, as is so often the case, is inaccurate. 4 The season
was not without its points, but these were not on the right side of the
ledger. "The money crisis which had commenced in the Eastern
States a year or two before had now reached the West," says Lud-
low, "and the people, becoming alarmed and panic-stricken, had been
drawing tight their purse-strings. During the spring season of this
year in St. Louis, we had thought it our best policy to lower the ad-
mission to the first places in the house from one dollar to seventy-
five cents. But the citizens of St. Louis were anxious and uncer-
tain about the future, and not in the humor, generally, for amuse-
ments." So by the end of October, the managers had had enough,
and the company descended the river to open the new American
Theatre in New Orleans.

The good points of the season were a competent stock company
and four gifted stars, only one of whom, however, proved to be
financially attractive. The regulars still included the Farrens, Mrs.
Russell, Miss Stanard, and Miss Morgan, in addition to the two
proprietors, both of whom appeared occasionally. To these were
added Conner, first still masquerading as a star, but later recognized

Evening Gaxette, August 29, 1840.
'Smith: Theatrical Management, 150.
'Ludlow: Dramatic Life, 525-530.

THE PLOT THICKENS 85

as the "leading actor." New too were Sankey, who had, it will be
recalled, been with the McKenzie- Jefferson troupe, a young man by
the name of H. H. Hamill, and a couple by the name of Maynard.
Hamill had caught Smith's eye the previous April down in Mobile
and he had engaged him on the spot. He reported that the new
recruit seemed "modest & unassuming dont drink a drop. ... He is
better than Bateman, take him all together & if he comes, must
come for much less." 8 Come he did, although he did not take over
Bateman's repertory, but, ironically enough, shortly before the close
of the season, he was discharged for "appearing on the Stage last
night in a State of inebriety." 8

As for the Maynards, they deserve a few words. She, who was
evidently later the wife of Charles Burke, had been acting in the
South for a season or two, since Douglas Hunt notes in his The
Nashville Theatre, 1830-184.0 that she took a benefit in the Tennes-
see capital in July, 1838. T On the previous page a "Miss Maynard"
is listed, presumably the same person. At all events, she was a lady
of mystery, too much so as it turned out for Ludlow and Smith's
code of morals. Together with her current husband if husband he
was she remained with the company throughout the St. Louis sea-
son, but after the opening of the theatre in New Orleans, Smith, as
will be seen, decided that it was time to part, a decision apparently
shared by her husband. Winter says Burke "was twice wedded, but
left no children. Both his marriages were unfortunate. His first
wife, Margaret Murcoyne, a native of Philadelphia* born in 1818,
died in that city in 1849. " 8 Brown contributes more data: "Mrs.
Burke, formerly Mrs. Henry, Mrs. Cuvelier, Mrs. Maynard, and
Miss Booth, but whose right name was Margaret Murcoyne. . . ."
He states that she married Robert Henry in 1834, and that he soon
died and she married Cuvelier. 9 Since in 1840 Burke was only eight-
een, it is not likely that she married him for at least a few years.

On December 11, the junior partner wrote to Ludlow, who was
in Mobile: "I rec'd. thro 1 the P office a sort of 'circular 1

"Sol Smith to N. M. Ludlow, April 14, 1840.
e LudIow and Smith Letter Book, October 16, 1840.
T P. 64.

swilliam Winter: The Jefftrsont, 156.
"Brown: American Staff.

86 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

(printed) about Mr. & Mrs. Maynard and I would send it, but I
don't think it is worth paying 8 3/4c postage for; I will save a
copy it is the same story the papers had last summer. This morn-
ing they were posted all over town! Acting on our agreement of
action on the subject, I sent her a note, saying that 'in consequence
of certain circumstances coming to our knowledge (without our
seeking) we could not avail ourselves of her services in this estab-
lishment any longer.' " In a postscript he adds: "Maynard (I for-
got to tell you) sought an interview with me to ask my advice about
the circular I had none to give but opened the other business. He
said he had discarded her (his wife) & had nothing to do with her
He remains."

The document (which Smith did forward to Ludlow after all),
headed "MR. & MRS. MAYNARD ALIAS GAYNARD 'A
ROSE ( 1) BY ANY OTHER NAME" &, gives an extended ac-
count of their supposed infamies, including illicit affairs and the at-
tempted assassination of a manager. "As regards MRS. MAY-
NARD, she should be considered a more dangerous person to
the community than the public wanton, for with them there is no
disguise, and they can easily be guarded against; but with a person
travelling as she does, among strangers, and affecting so much
modesty is sure to insinuate into the company of persons of responsi-
bility ; and therefore we warn the public against her, and the thing
she calls her husband; the stratagems which they devise, the dis-
guises which they assume and the subterfuges by which their conduct
escapes the eye and evades the vengeance of offended justice.
OPELOUSAS. It is neither fear nor shame, but the fact in law
that THE GREATER THE TRUTH THE GREATER THE
LIBEL, induces the writer to withhold his name." Whoever he
was, he put an end to her connection with Ludlow and Smith. 10

Some weeks before the opening of the season, the managers ad-
dressed to C. H. Mueller, whom they were engaging to lead their
orchestra in place of E. Woolf, who had just left them to take a

10 Mri. Maynard is reported by William Bryan Gates in his 'Terform-
ances of Shakespeare in Ante-Bellum Mississippi," (The Journal of Mit-
tutifpi History, January, 1843) to have played Desdemona in Natchez
in 1838.

THB PLOT THICKENS 87

position with Burton in New York, a letter which throws light on
some phases of theatrical management at the beginning of the fifth
decade of the century. 11 (I cannot tell whether or not this Mueller
was the same man who had occupied the post with the firm previously.
The initials of the first leader are given hy Smith as C. M., but the
discrepancy might easily be due to carelessness in writing." On the
other hand, the letter does not seem to be the kind the managers
would have written to a recent employee who would certainly have
been familiar with their customs.)

You are in great error in regards to terms we gave Mr. Woolf
He was paid no greater number of weeks than the rest of the com-
pany and was subject to the same proportionate deduction for the
summer season. Further, Mr. Woolf's engagement was made three
years ago, when the average receipts of theatres in general were
three times what they are now. Salaries all over the United States
have come down much within the last three years. Music arranged
or composed for us by persons receiving a salary from us for such
services, we always consider as our own property. We cannot prom-
ise to Mrs. Mueller any particular line of business we engage no-
body nowadays for particular or exclusive lines we should expect
Mrs. M. to play such business as may be required of her. With
these understandings we offer for your services as stated in your let-
ter to us of the 27th July twenty dollars per week and for Mrs.
Mueller ten dollars per week (jointly thirty Dolls) for the ensuing
full season here in St. Louis and for the Southern or winter season
twenty-five Dolls for yours and fifteen for Mrs. Ms. services
(jointly forty Dolls.) The Leader with us has never in any in-
stance had a benefit night. It has never been asked, or given. If
circumstances would permit (of which we must be the judges) per-
haps we should not object to your taking a night, provided we could
agree upon the charges; that is a point we cannot determine at this
time. As we have Mrs. Russell engaged to play old women 'tis not
probable that we should call on Mrs. Mueller often for such char-
acters. We do not insure any certain number of weeks during the
year We have heretofore played from forty to fifty weeks as cir-
cumstances in business would justify.

Evidently Mueller accepted their terms because Smith mentions
him as orchestra leader in his recollections. "Mrs. M." is not re-
ferred to in this book, but contemporary newspapers reveal that,

"Smith: Theatrical Managtmint, 156.
133.

88 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

like the other lady of the same name, she pkyed bit parts, even on
occasion more important ones.

The season, originally scheduled to open on August 17, but delayed
by Ludlow's indisposition, got under way on August 24 with a
double bill composed of The Founding of the Forest and The Con-
querinff Game with Conner, announced as "engaged for SIX
NIGHTS," playing the Count de Valmont in one, and Charles XII
in the other. 18 In the melodrama young Hamill, still presumably
living up to his reputation for sobriety, made his first appearance in
St. Louis, as Florian, and Sankey his first with "the established
company" as Bertrand. Ludlow was seen as L'Eclair, Farren as
Gaspard, Mrs. Farren as the Unknown Female, Mrs. Russell as
Monica, and Miss Morgan (no mention of a song) as Rosabelle.
Conner's chief support in the farce was Mrs. Farren, who played
Catherine.

"During the vacation," announced the advertisement, "the Theatre
has been thoroughly cleansed and preparations made for the produc-
tion of much novelty." The "novelty" was to be what we today
know as "horse opera," actually not much of a novelty so far as St.
Louis was concerned even in 1840. Ludlow asserts that the seats
had been removed to make "a clear aiea or circle for ring equestrian
performances." 14 So far he is doubtless correct, because it is very
unlikely that the work of transformation could have been done while
the season was in actual progress, but he is dearly in error when he
says, "Our fall season opened with drama on the stage, and equestrian
performances in the circle instead of a farce." Farce the afterpiece
certainly was, unless the advertisements were completely at variance
with the facts. There is no contemporary evidence that any horses
appeared before September 15.

The next fortnight was given over to standard pieces, only one
novelty being offered, the most important plays She Stoops to Con-
quer (advertised as The Bashful Man), The Lady of Lyons,
Catharine and Petruchio, Romeo and Juliet, and The School for
Scandal. The fiction that Conner was a visiting star was main-
tained through August 31, when he had his benefit. For a few
more nights, his name was featured, but when, on September 8, a

i*Daily Pennant, August 17, 1840; Missouri Republican, August 22, 1840.
"Ludlow: Dramatic Life at I Found It, 526.

THE PLOT THICKENS 89

star of greater eminence arrived in town, he dwindled into a mere
leading man and so remained until the end of the season. His roles
during his brief stardom included, in addition to the Count de
Valmont, Ambrose Gwinette, Octavian in The Mountaineers, and
Halbert McDonald in Glencoe or The Fate of the McDonalds by
Talfourd. The performance of this tragedy was advertised as the
first in America, 18 and it may have been, for, according to Dr. Odell,
New York did not see it until 1848, when it was acted without
success at the Broadway. 18 In all these plays the leading lady was
Mrs. Farren, and the support included her husband, Sankey, and
Hamill.

During these two weeks, Ludlow also was much to the fore, play-
ing his usual line of part, among them his favorite Young Marlow
in She Stoops, which was given on August 28 without benefit of
Conner, and with "Young Dick" Russell as Tony Lumpkin. The
next evening, Conner being still off the stage, he played Mr. Ferment
in Reform. Most of his other appearances were in run-of-the-mill
afterpieces. Smith was seen less frequently. On August 26, he
was Sadi in The Mountaineers, his name like those of Conner and
Ludlow (Killmallock) being printed in capitals in the newspapers.
The managers seldom at this time took part in the same plays. Sol's
second appearance was as Sancho in Lovers' Quarrels on August 29,
when his partner was performing in the comedy of the evening.

In their One Man in His Time, Maud and Otis Skinner call at-
tention to "the haphazard pi eductions of a leading theatre in so
important a city as Boston." 17 "Every actor had a repertory of
characters hidden away in his head, and every manager had the
plays corresponding to those characters on his office shelves." The
Ludlow and Smith institution, although one of the more carefully
operated companies in the country, was no shining exception to the
general rule. The flexibility of the programs and the readiness of
the players to meet an emergency were manifested on August 28
when She Stoops and Ways and Means were hastily substituted
for The Youthful Days of Harrison, which had been advertised
only the day before. No reason for the change of bill was given.

""Missouri Republican, August 27, 1840.
"Odell. Annals, V, 341
"P. 64.

90 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

September 1 saw the advent of the first bona fide star of the fall
season, the comedian George H. Barrett, commonly known as
"Gentleman George," who appears from all accounts to have been
the John Drew of his day. Fhelps in his Players of a Century says
that all who saw him would agree that "he was indisputably the
best light comedian in America." 18 Although six feet tall, he seems
to have been exceptionally graceful in his movements and ideal for
roles which called for what might be termed "drawing-room man-
ners."

As he descended the Mississippi on his way to New Orleans shortly
after the first of October, Smith, depressed by the discouraging trend
of events, whiled away part of his time by writing in his diary, his
notes being colored by his melancholy mood. His entry of October 8
dealt in part with his recent star. "George H. Barrett (latterly
known as 'Gentleman George' played six nights, & had a very good
benefit. This gentleman is very much liked, wherever known, as
an actor, but more so, by a certain class, as a bon vivant. He has
been a favorite in the American theatre for a great many years. In
1837, (I think it was,) he tried London, & failed. He has lately
met with a domestic misfortune, which it was thought would in-
duce him to leave the stage ; but he seems to bear up under it, with
much fortitude he seems in as good spirits as ever hunting, riding,
frolicking, & enjoying die society of his friends, who are numerous
& valuable." He had recently divorced his wife for alcoholism.

Barrett was not new to St. Louis, having played under the ban-
ner of Ludlow and Smith in the spring of 1839. In reckoning the
number of his appearances Smith must have included the benefit, a
rather unusual procedure, as the engagement ran from September 1
through September 7, the house being of course dark on Sunday.
But Gentleman George put in a busy week, and how he found free
moments for hunting and frolicking it is now difficult to under-
stand. For he took part in two plays on each of his six nights.

He was presented first in The Lady of Lyons, not as the romantic
Claude, that role going to Conner, but as Colonel Damas, though
it was made clear in the advertisements that he was the star. Mrs.
Farren displayed her usual Pauline, with Hamill as Beauseant, and
Sankey as Deschapelles.

18 Phelps: Playtrt of a Cintury, 67

THE PLOT THICKENS 91

We are indebted to the Pennant of September 3 for a review
which really tells us something of the performance, of its merits and
demerits.

We were very much pleased with Mr. Barrett's personation of
Col. Damas Tuesday evening, and Mr. Conner's Claude Melnotte,
with the exception of his description of his Italian Home which,
by the way, is about the only good acting portion of the whole part.
This should be done very quietly and elegantly. Melnotte is
acting at that moment with successful hypocrisy for he has just
suppressed his feelings by a strong effort; and not one particle of
real emotion should permit itself to be seen. . . . Beauseant was a
dreadful performance nearly as bad as that of his companion of
the 'diamond snuff-box.' Mme. DeChapelles dressed and looked too
young and rosy for the part. She should be gawdy but not fresh.
The French ladies of that period eschewed health and good humored
cheerfulness, as they would have done poison. It was considered
decidedly vulgar. Mrs. Farren played Pauline in her usual style of
excellence; and, altogether we were very much amused by the eve-
ning's performance.

We must not forget Chailey Smith's new drop a sweet, beauti-
ful thing, with the exception of the bandit on the right, who has
struck a terrific attitude, without any apparent reason, and the
young gentleman and lady over the wall, who have no possible busi-
ness there, except to mar the effect of the scene.

The word drop in the last paragraph is ambiguous. Since the scene
described does not fit any in the play, I assume that the word de-
notes the curtain and that the young artist was not reverting to the
outmoded custom of painting characters on back-drops.

Then, after an overture, the guest played Mr. Tompkins in 33
John Street, the erstwhile Pauline now reduced to Lady Crazy.
On Wednesday the same pair filled the name-parts in Catharine
and Petruchio, probably as well as those roles had ever been filled
in St. Louis. Garrick's tabloid version of Shakespeare's farce was
on this particular evening only the afterpiece; yet it would seem to-
day of more consequence than the main play of the evening, The
Englishman in India, in which Barrett acted Tom Tape to the
Mirza of Conner, the Sir Matthew Scraggs of Farren, the Count
Glorious of Sankey, the Sally of Mrs. Farren, and the Lady Scraggs
of Mrs. Russell.

92 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

September 3 saw the debut of the "dreadful" Mrs. Maynard as
Juliet to the Romeo of Conner. Barrett was the Mercutio, a role
for which he was well fitted except in the matter of age, but, after
succumbing to the sword of an anonymous Tybalt (probably HamiLL),
he re-appeared as Toby Tramp in The Mummy, Mrs. Farren be-
ing the Susan. Mr. Maynard made his bow the following evening
as Herbert in the "excellent comedy of the TWO FRIENDS."
Gentleman George starred as Ambrose, and Mesdames Farren and
Maynard were seen respectively as Elinor and Rose. The after-
piece was Perfection with the familiar team of Barrett and Farren.
Conner, not having been engaged in either play, obliged with "Bucks,
Have at Ye All" between the plays, after Mr. Lavette had danced
a Highland fling.

Saturday evening the managers fired a broadside to dose the star's
regular engagement. The advertisement foretold in capitals the
appearances of "Mr. Barrett, (his last night,) MR. CONNER,
MRS. MAYNARD, MR. LUDLOW, MR. SOL SMITH, MR.
FARREN, MR. MAYNARD, MR. SANKEY, MRS. RUSSELL,
&c, &c." Mrs. Farren was overlooked by the publicity man or the
printer, but she was nevertheless scheduled to be on hand as Sophia
in The Road to Ruin, the piece de resistance of the evening. Things
did not, however, come off as planned. "We were disappointed,"
observed the Pennant on September 7, "in not witnessing the good
old comedy of the Road to Ruin Saturday evening the managers,
having been obliged, for the second time, only, during the opening
of the St. Louis Theatre, four years ago, to change the regularly
announced performance on account of the illness of a performer. 19
The ever acceptable trifle of the Blue DevUs f however, was rattled
off in first rate style. Young Russell and Sankey really did them-
selves real credit. Old Megrim and Annette were well played by
Mr. and Mrs. Farren. The Two Friends, in our opinion, alto-
gether too full of kissing and hugging and crying. There are some
good passages in it, and Barrett's part was well played." The pa-
per expressed regret at the imminent departure of Larkin for the
East. The evening was brought to a close by Mrs. Farren and
the Maynards in The Married Rake. The managers' contributions

19 Thii aiserdon I think is not accurate.

THE PLOT THICKENS 93

were made between the two plays, Ludlow declaiming the hard-
worked "Dissertation on Faults" and Smith offering a "Comic
Medley." What an evening I

Barrett, of course, still had his benefit to play, and for it he chose
The School for Scandal and Three Weeks after Marriage. The
Republican of September 7, the day of the farewell, expressed the
opinion that the cast advertised was stronger "than has ever before
to our knowledge been presented to an audience in this city." This
opinion was probably correct, despite the fact that the Sheridan
masterpiece had fared as well as most plays in St. Louis, if not better.
It had been given about a dozen performances in a quarter of a
century, some of them with notable interpreters. Some sixteen
months before, Gentleman George himself had been seen as Charles
in a galaxy of travelling stars. Discrepancies in the newspaper re-
ports indicate some last minute shifts in the cast According to the
Republican of September 7, the star on this occasion elected to play
the more suitable role of Sir Peter, leaving Charles to Ludlow with
Farren as Sir Oliver. But the review in the Pennant two days later
commended the performances of Barrett in the first part and of
Farren as Sir Peter. "They reminded us more of old times than
anything we have witnessed for a long time." Sankey, originally
slated for Moses, was apparently promoted to Sir Oliver, not with
outstanding success, at least in the opinion of the critic. "Sankey
wants something to complete his representation of a 'fine old English
gentleman* If we knew what it was we would tell him. One
thing was evident he was not easy in the part. He seemed to feel
that he had undertaken rather too much. Sankey has talent, and
will be an ornament to his profession but let him, as far as pos-
sible, get his idea of characters out of the green room, which is un-
doubtedly the worst place in the world for a young actor to look for
instruction or improvement." Unless there were further changes
in the line-up, Mrs. Farren was the Lady Teazle, Conner the Joseph,
Smith the Crabtree, and Mrs. Maynard the Mrs. Candour.

"The public is respectfully notified that the celebrated Tragedian,
Mr. A. A. ADDAMS is engaged for one night, and will appear
this evening as VIRGINIUS." So the managers informed the
public on Tuesday morning, September 8. Whether or not Addams

94 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

really was engaged for one evening only is not revealed. He actually
appeared five times under the aegis of Ludlow and Smith, and once
at the Atheneum. Smith says in his diary that the tragedian filled an
engagement of six nights with his firm and, of course, it is very pos-
sible that his figures are correct. He was advertised in the Republi-
can to perform from the eighth through the twelfth, and there is
no mention of any further appearances except the surprising one at
the Atheneum on the nineteenth. I have, however, been able to find
no paper printed on the sixteenth, and he may have acted again at
Third and Olive on that date. Yet comments entered by Smith in
his diary a short time later make me feel that that explanation is
dubious.

According to the notices in the morning paper, his roles at the
regular house were Virginius, Lear, Damon, Brutus (in Payne's
play of that name), and Macbeth. In all these parts he had Mrs.
Farren as his vis-a-vis. Despite the undoubted ire of his employers
(to be explained later) he was given the best support the company
afforded, except that, because of illness, Conner was missing from
several casts. The latter played Icilius on the opening night, and
was supposed to play Edgar and Pythias. The former part he may
have filled ; in the latter he was replaced by Maynard, who also un-
dertook Macduff, a role which would certainly have fallen to his
lot had he been well. In Knowles' tragedy Farren was the Dentatus,
and Sankey the Numatorius. In King Lear Farren, Maynard, and
Sankey were Kent, Edmund, and Albany respectively, with Mrs.
Farren as Cordelia. Mrs. Maynard was assigned Calanthe in
Damon and Pythias, and Tarquinia in Brutus. The Payne tragedy
was the farewell benefit of "Paddy" Larkin, the star "kindly volun-
teering" for the occasion. One good turn deserving another, the
Irish comedian volunteered for Hecate in Macbeth, a bit of casting
less surprising in "the palmy days" than it would be today. Young
Hamill was entrusted with Banquo. The Witches were none other
than Smith, Farren, and Sankey, as lively a trio, surely, as ever
danced upon the heath. "All the music of the Witches will be
given," proclaimed the advertisements. Is it possible that this
triumvirate sang? Or was the cast enlarged by three nattily clad
"Singing Witches" as often happened ? Of Addams* single perform-

THE PLOT THICKENS 95

ance in the other house, the only notice is to be found in the Gazette
of September 18. "ADDAMS appears at the Atheneum tonight, in
the character of Win. Tell. Mr. Addams is too well known as an
actor to require anything in his behalf from us." A nearby adver-
tisement states that die occasion is to be Mrs. Newton's benefit.

Augustus A. Addams was a tragic figure off the stage as well as
on. According to Dr. Odell, he "missed immortality by lack of
energy and character," and he quotes the Knickerbocker Magazine
of May, 1835, to the following effect: "Physically he is liberally
endowed. His frame is well knit, and his port commanding. His
features, too, are full of expression, and susceptible, in an eminent de-
gree of sudden and powerful change. His voice also is deep and
full." 80 Unfortunately, he resembled Edwin Forrest in appear-
ance. According to James Murdoch, "He began to adopt the
mannerisms of Mr. Forrest at the outset of his career, and fell into
his mode so readily that any one hearing him, in ordinary con-
versation, without seeing him, could not possibly have told whether
Mr. Forrest or Mr. Adams was the speaker."* 1 Murdoch in his
The Stage expresses the opinion that "had he relied on his own
expressive intonation and quality of voice, instead of moulding himself
after the fashion of another, he would have reached a still higher
degree of excellence than that which, in the minds of many, made
him a rival of Mr. Forrest.""

On September 10, two days after his opening as Virginius (which
the paper says "created universal admiration"), the Republican ob-
served that the Theatre had for a few nights been "patronized better
than formerly" and expressed the hope that the managers would be
"rewarded with good houses."

On the same day the Pennant's valuable critic reported that
Addams' Virginius had "afforded the most unalloyed and, for many,
unexpected pleasure. The chasteness of his conception the beauty
of his elocution the depth and power of his style formed a picture
of intellectual greatness which can be seldom looked upon. Many
who were predisposed to tTiinV that this gentleman's abilities have

"Odell: Annals, IV, 18.

"June! Murdoch: Tht Stagi, 348.

"Ibid.

96 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

been overrated, were most agreeably disappointed. In fact, Mr. A.
made a hit, and has forever established himself in the favor of the
St. Louis audience. . . ."

But the writer was better in the role of cntic than in that of
prophet. Monday there was a different tale to tell.

MACBETH. The chorusses in this play went off with unusual
spirit Saturday evening. We have seldom been more highly grati-
fied. [Just how gratified would Shakespeare have been with such
ridiculous interpolations?] Of the playing, we cannot say much
that is favorable, and therefore will say nothing. Mr. Addams, who
appears to less advantage in this play than in almost any other, was,
in many respects, so badly supported as to turn the performance
into absolute burlesque. His 'Come in,' in a pretty considerable tall
totto voce to the Ghost of Banquo, was irresistibly ludicrous. Why
could he not as easily have imagined his Ghostship to be there as an
audience can imagine that the other persons on the stage are the only
ones of hundreds present who can not see them.

Evidently the star, not finding "his Ghostship" on the stage, had
called into the wings. The reason for this strange behavior we shall
see shortly.

Nine days later Addams was performing in a third-rate establish-
ment. At least part of the explanation may be gleaned from Smith's
diary under date of October 8.

A. A. Addams lately performed an engagement of six nights at the
St. Louis Theatre. This person, who can only be thought of now
with a sort of loathing, might have been the rival of Edwin Forrest
at this moment. I consider him a most confirmed drunkard & sot.
. . . Addams attempts to imitate Forrest in all his movements, on &
off the stage but ohl how different are the two men I The one,
by study, perseverance, industry, & correct conduct, has arrived at
the head of his profession in this country, while the other, neglecting
all the means which perfect a man in the profession of an actor, is
groveling in drunkeness & filth frequently in want of funds where-
with to pay his tavern bill. For his benefit in St. Louis he per-
sonated Macbeth. At the conclusion of his performance he staggered
into his Dressing Room, & throwing: himself at full length upon the
floor, "in his armour as he fought" he kyed there until the follow-
ing night, sleeping away the fumes of the whisky which he had taken
in great quantities, during the performance And this is one of our
American Actors!

THE PLOT THICKENS 97

So much for Mr. Addams.

During his engagement, St. Louis audiences had not been sus-
tained by tragic fare alone. Each evening had its afterpiece, each,
with the exception of The Robbers Wife (which followed Brutus)
being of the usual insubstantial quality. This depressing opus was
used to round out the evening's festivities because the occasion was
Larkin's benefit, and he wanted to play Larry O'Gig. The ever-
obliging Mrs. Farren exchanged the Roman robes of Tullia for the
less aesthetic raiment of Rose Redland. As an antidote for all the
gloom, I presume, the audience was promised the last appearance of
the "Hungry Singers," a song "The Hunter's Signal Horn" by
Miss Morgan, and a "national song" called "Patrick's Day in
America" by the benefitee himself. Of the other farces there is no
reason to say more than that in A Day in Paris ("first time in two
years") Mrs. Maynard played five characters, and that in No Song f
No Supper Sol Smith was the Crop.

The star having departed, Mrs. Maynard took her benefit. The
first piece was The Hunchback (the great vogue of which is today
almost incomprehensible) with the heroine of the evening in the
secondary role of Helen. Mrs. Farren was once more in her fa-
miliar place as Julia, a role associated for years with Fanny Kemble.
Conner well again and back in the traces, was the Clifford, Farren
the Master Walter, Sankey the Fathom, and Hamill the Milford.
The entracte was devoted to a comic duet, "Rustic Courtship" by
Mrs. Maynard and Mrs. RusselL The concluding selection was
"a new Burletta," Demoiselles^ Prenex-Garde Maidens, Beware
with Mrs. Maynard in four roles.

Then came the horses.

Apparently they came, so far as the exchequer was concerned, to
little purpose. "The fact was we were not complete in our equestrian
department. Some of our best riders Levi North, the Stones, and
Lipmans had not joined us yet, and did not until we reached New
Orleans. Robinson, and his little boy, Jimmy, were favorites, but
the rest were unpracticed and unskillful." This according to Lud-
low." John Robinson's small boy was subsequently rechristened
"Master Hernandez" in order that he might impress the New

"Ludlow Dramatic Life, 526.

98 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

Orleans public as an exotic. Both managers claim credit for the
inspiration, but Ludlow says Smith "tacked on" the first name Juan.*'
The latter describes him as a "wonderful child, not over eight years
of age" and asserts that he "could execute the most difficult and
dangerous equestrian feats, besides singing comic songs and acting
children's parts on the stage."

In his brief account of the fall's equestrian activities, Ludlow
never refers to "Mr. Lewellen" (Smith writes "Llewellen") or his
Arabian horse, Timour. Yet it was these two whose names were
blazoned forth in all the publicity, no mention of any sort being
made of little Juan, ne Jimmy. Master and steed had thrilled the
St. Louis public two years before, and now were welcomed back
hopefully, but manifestly proved to be disappointing. They opened
on the fifteenth with Mazeppa. What happened the next evening
I cannot say, because, as has already been noted, no papers seem to
have been published on that day. The Tuesday Republican an-
nounced that on Wednesday the opening melodrama would be per-
formed for the last time. Performed it probably was, but certainly
not for the last time, inasmuch as repetitions were advertised for
the nineteenth and (Acts I and II only) and the twentieth, the lat-
ter for Lewellen's benefit. In the meantime the couple were starred
in Timour the Tartar, El Hyder, Conancheotah or The Indian's
War Horse "written expressly for Mr. LEWELLEN," by what
author is not revealed.

The stage effects, according to the Republican of September 15,
were characterized by the usual sensationalism.

In Act 1st Mazeppa is condemned to be lashed to the back of
the UNTAMED STEAD, who is released amidst the glare of
torches, savage shouts and beacon fires, and is seen pursuing his
furious course amongst the almost inaccessible rocky heights of
Poland, constructed by platforms from the stage to extreme height of
the Theatre.

In Act 2nd, the descent of the horse, with the victim still lashed
to his back, into the plains of Tartary.

This is but a modest sample. Moreover, there was no economizing
in the casting, Conner, Smith, the Farrens, and the Maynards being
among those who appeared in supporting roles. The melodramas,

525; Smith: Theatrical Manaoemntt, 155.

THE PLOT THICKENS 99

moreover, were accompanied by the usual curtain-raisers and after-
pieces, in one of which, The Mummy, on his benefit night, Lewellen
took part as Toby. In Conancheotah Huron was enacted by
Schinotti, presumably one J. F. Schinotti who had a year or two
before played minor roles, sung songs, and painted scenery for the
managers.

Lewellen's departure was followed after a hiatus of two evenings
by a return engagement of Charles Eaton. The two intervening
performances were in no way sensational except, perhaps, for the
premieres of two new plays. The first of the open nights was de-
voted to a repeat of Ambrose Gwinette and the "first time" of Mr.
and Mrs. White. This little afterpiece, which was sometimes
labelled Mr. and Mrs. Peter White, and sometimes just Peter White,
is referred to by Dr. Odell as a "long-lived farce," 23 but the author is
not identified. The advertisement in the Republican (September 23)
does not claim, oddly enough, that this was its first local performance,
but I have come across no reference to a previous one. Possibly it
had been done before, masquerading under still another name. The
role of Peter was pkyed by "Mr. Sanders (from the Boston
Theatres, his first appearance) " (Clapp in his Record of the Boston
Stage mentions Saunders who played Gaspard with Forrest in The
Lady of Lyons at the Tremont Theatre in May, 1838). Farren was
seen as Col. Pepper, Maynard as Frank Brown, Mrs. Maynard as
Mrs. White, Mrs. Farren as the Widow White, and Mrs. Russell
as Kitty Clover.

The second novelty, acted on September 24, was obviously in-
tended to take advantage of the Presidential campaign, then at its
height. It was announced in the Republican as The Parole of Honor
or The Youthful Days of Harrison, "founded on events in the early
history of the Western country." To the authorship of this piece,
no doubt a patriotic melodrama, no due is offered. It is not in-
cluded (at least under either of these names) in Dr. Arthur Hobson
Qumn's list of American plays. Nor does Dr. Odell give its author-
ship. It was, however, no impromptu effusion because the produc-
tion referred to by the latter had taken place in New York in Febru-
ary, 1838. The St. Louis cast was made up as follows: CapL W.

"Odell: Annals, IV, 144.
**lbid., IV, 223.

100 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

H. Harrison, Conner ; Gen. Wayne, Hamill ; Gen. Carleton, Farren ;
Gen. Burgoyne, Johnson; Sampson Heartly, Sankey; Corporal
Slink, Sanders; Jane, Mrs. Farren; Ruth, Mrs. Russell. The emo-
tions of the audience having been patriotically stirred, Mr. Sanders
obliged with a comic song, and Mrs. Maynard "sustained" five char-
acters in A Day in Paris.

Eaton's engagement, which commenced on September 25, was for
five nights, plus his benefit and also Maynard's, two evenings later,
for which he "volunteered." He opened as Richard III, a part in
which, according to advance notice in the Gazette (September 25),
"He reveals to you a startling conception of the gloomy tyrant."
Unfortunately, no explanation is given of the unusual features of
his interpretation. His support included Conner as Richmond, Mrs.
Farren as the Queen (no doubt, Elizabeth Woodville), and Mrs.
Maynard as Lady Anne. The afterpiece was The Two Gregories
with Sankey, Sanders, Mrs. Farren, and Mrs. Russell. "SAND-
ERS," reported the editor of the Gazette, is a 'rare bird.' His comic
acting is the best we have had for a Jew's age."

Saturday evening, the star not only enacted Shylock, but also gave
his "imitations of distinguished performers." With him in The
Merchant of Venice were Conner (Bassanio), Ludlow (Gratiano),
Maynard (Antonio), Sankey (Gobbo), Mrs. Farren (Portia),
Mrs. Maynard (Nenssa), and Miss Morgan (Jessica).

The correspondent of the Pennant was on September 29 as often
explicit, and, hence, his comments are valuable. He approved of
Eaton's work but he did have suggestions. "Let him acquire a little
more readiness and ease in the quiet, commonplace parts of the dia-
logue, and preserve untouched and untamed, the fire and energy
of the others and he may hold up his head above the highest." For
most of the others too he had words of commendation, but Sankey
and Sanders elicited a cry for mercy. "For Heaven's sake, gentle-
men comedians, leave grimace, and buffoonery, and the making up
of ugly faces, and the describing in the air of sundry unmeaning
capers with the legs, to the clown of a circus 'tis his vocation, not
yours."

The Republican found his mimicry "very extraordinary." His
subjects were Forrest as Spartacus, Booth as lago, Kean as Sir

THE PLOT THICKENS 101

Giles, Vandenhoff as the Stranger, Addams as Virginius, Pelby as
Hamlet, Charles Mason as St. Pierre, and, by way of humorous
contrast, "Daddy Rice" as William Tell. This assortment dis-
posed of, Conner repeated his William Henry Harrison.

Eaton's third appearance (on Monday, September 28) was as
Jaffier in Venice Preserved, Conner playing Pierre, and, of course,
Mrs. Farren, Belvidera. The next morning the Republican ob-
served that "Mr. Eaton's popularity is gaining strength, he is cer-
tainly an actor of high merit. His favorite characters are some of
Shakespeare's most difficult ones, and he always sustains them with
credit to himself. The company at present is excellent never bet-
ter they can make a strong cast in any piece they undertake. It is
true we would like to see some old familiar faces on the stage again,
for instance, old Joe but for the loss of him we have Mr. Conner,
a favorite with everybody, and then there is Mr. & Mrs. Maynard
and several others, making a first rate stock company. Under the
existing arrangements the Theatre is not patronized quite as well
as we would like to see it, though the houses have been much better
of late than formerly." Tuesday evening the play was Othello with
the visitor as lago, Conner as the Moor, Mrs. Maynard as Desde-
mona, and Mrs. Farren as Emilia, a rather surprising arrangement
so far as the two ladies were concerned. Wednesday's feature was
Shiel's The Apostate, which cheerful drama of the Inquisition St.
Louis audiences had had no opportunity to enjoy for at least nine
years. On this evening in 1840, Eaton assumed the role of Pescara,
with Conner as Hemaya, Farren as Malec, Sankey as Alvarez, and
Mrs. Farren as Florinda. To "conclude the entertainments" the
management revived Mischief Making, a farce which had been out
of sight since 1837, with Saunders (he had now acquired a ) as
Nicholas Dovetail, and Mrs. Maynard as Madame Manette, "the
French Washerwoman" of the sub-title. The advertisements an-
nounced that "Curtain will rise for the remainder of the season, at
quarter past 7."

Being a true tragedian, Eaton selected three acts of Hamlet for
his benefit, October 1. Ludlow, switching from his wonted comedy
to the sombre, donned the armor of the Ghost, the role almost invari-
ably considered in those days the second part and usually played by
the "heavy man," Conner, who, in the presence of a star, ordinarily

102 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

descended to that category, is, oddly enough, not listed among the
participants in this part of the bill. Farren was the Polonius.
His wife played Ophelia, and her mother assumed the crown and
the sins of Gertrude. After dying in the sables of the Prince of
Denmark, Eaton returned to the stage to give an address he had
written and dedicated to the firemen of St. Louis. In order that
the audience might not feel cheated, he added an act of Julius Caesar
for good measure, playing the "lean and hungry" Cassius to the
Antony of Conner and the Brutus of Maynard. But even that was
not enough. "The entertainments of the evening" were at long last
brought to a close with Sylvester Daggerwood and the popular imita-
tions. This program must surely have lasted between three and
four hours. The Pennant of October 3 estimated the house at "not
less than $700."

This melange wrote finis to Eaton's pre-arranged program, but
two nights later, being still on deck, he agreed to lend a helping hand
to Maynard on his evening and "obliged with" his version of Sir
Giles Overreach in Massinger's A New Way to Pay Old Debts,
the beneficiary assuming the juvenile lead, Wellborn. Massinger's
tragedy was followed by another piece by an unidentified local
author. This was described in the Republican (October 3), as "a
new Drama founded on the novel of the same name called CAP-
TAIN KYD, OR THE WIZZARD OF THE SEA written by
a gentleman of this city": Mark Meredith, Maynard; Robert
Lester, Conner; Old Meredith, Sankey; Father Naujan, Farren;
Catharine Bellamont, Mrs. Maynard; Elspy, Mrs. Farren; Grace,
Mrs. Wright. Unfortunately, so far as I know, no critic undertook
to pass on the merits of this work.

Probably on the day after this premiere, Eaton left St. Louis,
heading downstream on the General Pratte. Smith was also on board
and, as has been noted before, in no cheerful mood. The entry in
his Diary under the date of October 5 (the same in which he ex-
presses himself concerning Barrett and Addams) opens with his
views on his latest star.

C. H. Eaton, tragedian, is with us, having just finished an en-
gagement at our Theatre in St. Louis. He is certainly a deserving
actor personates his characters naturally but the curse of our age,
dissipation, renders him what we term 'uncertain'.

THE PLOT THICKENS 103

It will be recalled that before many months had passed, this same
curse had rendered him dead.

It was not, however, only the convivial habits of his stars that
were preying on Sol's mind. He had other worries.

Had a serious misunderstanding with my paitner, Mr. Ludlow,
previous to leaving St. Louis. I consider him, after mature considera-
tion, as an extremely selfish man; when his own individual interests
are concerned, he is not at all particular in making all other interests
bend to his ; He occupies nearly every room in the Theatre, to save
renting a house, or to secure the chance of renting out his own,
(which is unoccupied,) depriving the gentlemen of die orchestra of
a place for retiring between the acts (converting the Music Room
into a kitchen, & filling the house with smoke almost constantly,)
eats breakfast & Dinner (with a large family) in the Green-Room,
permits his servants to go through the house while the audience are
in it uses the front Manager's Room & the Director's Room, for
lodging Rooms & the Dressing Rooms for hen coops in short,
monopolizes nearly the whole Theatre for his own individual benefit.
[The next few lines have been scratched out, and the writing is in-
decipherable.] . . . . and yet when I proposed that we should with-
hold from a woman who was running away from us, her salary
until it should be due on Monday morning (three other boats be-
ing ready to start for the same port,) he flew into a terrible passion
& pretended to think that it would be an act of injustice not to
anticipate the time of payment ! I

I record my feelings on this matter, so that hereafter I may ascer-
tain whether any change takes place in them. I cannot help think-
ing my partner is guilty of the grossest affectation of honesty in this
case, and, as trifles' frequently determine important matters, I
prophesy that this very small matter will lead to a dissolution of our
business partnership. One thing is certain. My wish is for a dis-
solutioneven at a great pecuniary loss. I am no hypocrite & I
cannot assume a friendship which I do not feel.

Whether or not Smith's feelings did change or merely fluctuate
from time to time, we can to-day only guess. He was a warm-
hearted man, and I suspect that when no particular provocation
existed, he was prone to forget his irritations or at least to thrust
them into the background. His diaries, however, provide ample
evidence that he could not always keep them out of his mind, and
every now and then the desire for a break is expressed. The ques-
tion of LudloVs use of the Theatre arose at least once more. Writ-

104 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

ing his partner from New Oilcans the following spring, Smith said :
"In the utmost kindness I say to you don't live in the Theatre with
your family. I have not the least doubt it vitiates the Insurance,
having cooking done, except in the parts set apart for restaurants &
as expressed in the policies. I imagine this advice of mine is un-
necessary, as I suppose you have (for your own sake) made other
arrangements. There are other reasons, which you may guess at.""
Ludlow's diaries reveal that he too was unhappy in the partnership.

Three evenings before starting for the South, Smith made his
last appearance of the season, as All Baba in The Forty Thieves. It
was the last time for Miss Morgan too, Cogia being the final role
of her St. Louis career. Conner played Hassarac, Saunders Musta-
pha, Mrs. Farren Morgiana, and Mrs. Maynard Ardinelle. It
would no doubt be inexact to say that Laughing or The Elixir of
Life (one of the various aliases applied to Laugh When "You Can)
served as a curtain-raiser, but at least it did occupy the first half of
the program, Ludlow playing Gossamer, another of his favorite
parts. Miss Morgan was the Emily, and then sang her last song
on the St. Louis stage, "The Time When We Went Gipsying."
In A New Way to Pay Old Debts and Captain Kyd, the next eve-
ning, the loles which would noimally have been hers fell to Mrs.
Wnght.

The last star of the fall season, Dan Marble, not beginning his
engagement until Tuesday, Tortesa and Captain Kyd were repeated.
Tortesa f which had not been given since spring, was presented with
the same principals as before except that Mrs. Maynard replaced
the absent Mrs. Bateman.

"Sol Smith to N. M Ludlow, May 3, 1841. Smith does not identify the
actress who was the cause of his quarrel with Ludlow, but it was probably
Miss Morgan, since her name ceased to appear in die advertisements just
before this time. Of comae, the absence of her name from the bills actu-
ally pioves nothing, inasmuch as not all paiticipants were listed in the
publicity, and she had not been mentioned consistently. Miss Stanard's
name had also disappeared, but not just at this time. The following May
12, Smith, writing Ludlow about the actors he has engaged for the St
Louis summer season, reports that Dick Russell has "told many persons
he was going to the West Indies with his wife." The name of the wife is
given and, although the handwriting is very bad, looks like "Miss Mor-
gan." Afterwards he married a young actress known professionally as
"Miss Sylvia" (Ludlow: Dramatic Life, 645).

THE PLOT THICKENS 105

Danforth Marble was one of a group of comedians who specialized
in native American characters, others being James H. Hackett,
George ("Yankee") Hill, Josh Silsbee, and Thomas D. ("Jim
Crow") Rice. As Hackett liked to try his hand at tragedy, Marble
at first aspired to romantic heroes, but he soon discovered that, like
Hill, he had a knack for comic characterization, especially of the
Yankee type, and, having begun with recitations between the plays
of the evening, he soon blossomed forth as a regular comedian, and
before long had begun the accumulation of the fortune which, with
true New England thrift, he put by against a rainy day and which,
when he died of cholera in 1849, he left his widow. "In those days,"
says Joe Jefferson, "the stage New Englander was acted and dressed
in a most extravagant manner. I remember seeing Marble play,
and his costume was much after the present caricature of Uncle
Sam, minus the stars, but glorying in the stripes." 28 Such, no doubt,
was Sam Patch, the character in which the favorite returned to St.
Louis for his third engagement in a year. The piece was Sam Patch
in France, a sequel to Sam Patch, one of his earlier successes. But
as he was not wanting in vigor, he followed this on the same evening
with William in Black Eyed Susan. In the cast of the last we find
the first mention of Mrs. Mueller, who came on the scene as Dolly
Mayflower.

Marble certainly did not idle away his days and nights while in
St. Louis. In a little more than a week he appeared in no less than
twelve parts, some of which departed from his usual Yankee pattern.
The performances accounted for the nights, and most of the days
must of necessity have been given over to rehearsals, since these were
not stock pieces in the repertory of the company. As it was, it is
unlikely that any of them had the benefit of more than one rehearsal.
The oddly assorted characters he played included: Sam Patch in
Sam Patch in France, twice; William in Black Eyed Susan, twice;
Philip in Luke the Laborer; Jacob Jewsharp in The Yankee in Time;
Soloman Swop in Jonathan in England, Sampson Hardhead, "a
Ranting Rousing Kentuckian" in The Gamecock of the Wilderness,
three times; Tom Cringle in the play of the same name; Deuteron-
omy Dutiful in The Vermonter; Jonathan Ploughboy in The Forest

38 The Autobiography of Joseph Jefferson, 20.

106 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

Rosej Uzzial Putnam in The Times that Tried Us; and Jack Junk
in The Floating Beacon. In addition to these roles which he per-
formed entire, he also gave for his two benefits single acts or scenes
from other plays, for instance the courting scene from "the original
Sam Patch"; the first act of Born to Good Luck or The Ploughman
Made Lord, and the last act of Therese, The Orphan of Geneva,
John Howard Payne's adaptation of a French original by Victor
Ducange, which saw him as the villainous Carwin. The first bene-
fit, which occurred on October 12 especially featured The Times: that
Tried Us or "Yankees in 1777, "* r the first t" 116 i an 7 Theatre, a
play written expressly for Mr. Marble, by H. P. Conway, Esq." 99
Two mornings later the Republican announced the second. "On the
occasion of Mr. Marble's benefit night before last, there was such
a crowd as had not been there for two years previous and we are
not sure that there was ever a better house." The editor goes on
to say that the new play "is first rate, and was well received." "We
are happy to learn that Mr. Marble has been reengaged for a few
nights." This seems to have been a genuine, not a pre-arranged re-
engagement. The Republican of October 13 announced for that
evening a Marble-less bill, but the next evening Black Eyed Susan
and The Forest Rose (with Ludlow as Young Wilding in The Liar
sandwiched in between) was advertised as the second night of the
re-engagement. There must have been some quick work. Further-
more, it is evident that the management did not lean too heavily on
the publicity in the morning paper.

It was lucky for Ludlow and Smith that the St. Louis theatre-
goers liked Marble, but certainly the popularity of his contributions
does not speak highly for their taste unless we are to assume, as we
must often do, that the art or skill of the player counted for every-
thing, and the merit of his vehicle for nothing. Black Eyed Susan
is of its kind a pretty good sentimental piece, and Therese is a
cleverly contrived melodrama, but the Yankee plays are little, if any-
thing, more than trash. In this connection a comment of Dr. OdelTs

"There is no recognizable reference to this play in either Quinn or
Odell. The correct initials of the author are H. J., not H. P. He served
as prompter at the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia, and Dr. Quinn
names two plays from his pen, The Champions of Freedom and Dred. (A
History of tht American Drama from the Btginntnff to the Civil War,
282 and 289.)

THE PLOT THICKENS 107

upon The Vermonter may be pertinent at this point. This opus
from the pen of Cornelius A. Logan was usually known either as
The Vermont Wool Dealer or The Yankee Traveller. "How the
piece could ever have pleased is a mystery; hut we must not forget
the all-devastating vogue of Yankee plays when this one was pro-
duced. Perhaps nothing about it is more amazing than the cool ap-
propriation of the old device of The Forest Rose, whereby Jonathan
Ploughboy induces a silly ass to run away with a negress veiled;
that trick is played on Deuteronomy Dutiful." 80 What is more,
Marble gave both in St. Louis during the course of one engagement.
In his various performances Marble was, to use the familiar phrase
of the day, "supported by the full strength of the company." But the
pace he set was apparently too much for the ladies, and a general
shuffling of leading roles resulted to an unusual degree. Of necessity
Mrs. Farren surrendered for the time-being her legitimate priority.
The reason almost certainly was the fact that there were so many
different parts to be played opposite the star that it would have been
almost impossible for one woman to assimilate and enact them all
in a week or ten days. Because of the absence of any record of the
events of October 13, that particular evening cannot be accounted for.
On every other evening of Marble's engagement, she appeared and
on all but one (October 8) she played at least one lead. To her lot
fell the following principal roles : Victorine in Sam Patch in France,
Susan in Black Eyed Susan, Elizabeth in Tom Cringle, Melissa in
the scene from Sam Patch., and Marietta in The Floating Beacon.
In addition to these, she played seconds I presume shorter parts
as Nance Butler in The Gamecock of the Wilderness and Julia in
The Times that Tried Us, the heroines of both pieces, Clara and
Rose respectively, being assigned to Mrs. Maynard. This kdy
headed the list also in The Forest Rose. Mrs. Wright had her
chances at greatness in Jonathan in England and The Vermont er.
Poor Mrs. Mueller achieved no leads, but her name is listed in the
casts of four pieces, Mrs. Russell's in three. Of course, there is no
reason to conclude that these ladies devoted the other evenings to

80 Odell: Annals, IV, 370. The same device had been employed at least
nineteen yean before by Alphonao Wetmore in Tht Pedlar, produced in
St. Louii in the Thespian Theatre.

108 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

leisure pastimes. The advertisements were neither complete nor
consistent in naming the participants in an evening's program.

Of the men, Conner was called upon to exert himself on five eve-
nings, as Luke the Laborer, Sir Larry McMurragh in Jonathan in
England, Black Walter in Tom Cringle, Adam Cotton in The Times
that Tried Us, and Fontaine in the Therese selection. Nor
were his associates enjoying a holiday. There was work plenty of
work for all hands.

I think everybody must have been tired when the ebullient Dan,
together with his gaily gotten gains, boarded the steamboat for Cin-
cinnati. But there was no rest for the weary actors and actresses
he left behind him. On the next evening Conner took his benefit
in tragedy and comedy. The former was Nat Lee's Alexander the
Great, better known as The Rival Queens. Of course, he played
the conquering, but sadly bedevilled, hero, and the Queens were
Mary Ann Farren (Roxana) and Mrs. Maynard (Statira). Farren
took the part of Clytus, Hamill that of Hephestion, and Maynard
that of Lysimachus. Then came the comedy, the St. Louis premiere
of "a Dramatic sketch, in one act, from Dickens' (Boz) celebrated
work of the same name called Nicholas Nickelby or Dotheboys HalL"
Conner was Mr. Mantilini with Mrs. Farren as his better half.
Nicholas himself fell to Maynard, Squeers to Saunders, and Newman
Noggs to Sankey. The ladies turned out in full force, Mrs. May-
nard as Kate Nickleby, Mrs. Russell as her garrulous mother, Mrs.
Mueller as Mrs. Squeers, and Mrs. Wright as Miss Knaggs. At the
end of Conner's request for the support of his friends as it is printed
in the Republican, appears this additional plea: "Wanted for the
part of Nicholas Nickleby, FIFTY boys. Apply at the box office
at the Theatre." This last does not exactly make sense, but its in-
tention was doubtless understood. It is certainly to be regretted that
no one thought it worth while to write an account of this peiformance.

The season now sped rapidly on to the close. Most of the pieces
offered were standard fare, including such "war horses" as Richelieu,
The Lady of Lyons, and Tortesa, with more or less familiar cur-
tain raisers and afterpieces, but there were a few novelties. At least
the names were new in the experience of St. Louis; Ludlow was not
averse to presenting wolves in sheep's clothing. Four plays which

THE PLOT THICKENS 109

to all seeming were first-timers were Kill or Cure (October 19),
Will Watch, the Bold Smuggler (October 23), Robert Macabre and
Uncle John (both, October 24). Only one of these can be con-
sidered of any importance. This was Robert Macotre or The
Auberge des Adrets, which was considered worthy of Conner's steel.
He played the title-role with Saunders as Jacques Strop, and Sankey
himself as Germeuil. Mrs. Farren, safely restored to leads, was
Marie, and Mrs. Wright, Clementine. The most popular play of
the last fortnight was no novelty, but Paul Jones, the Pilot of the
German Ocean. This melodrama was offered first on October 17,
and repeated on the three following evenings as well as on the
twenty-eighth. "At the conclusion of the first act, A FULL
RIGGED SHIP will appear descend the whole length of the
stage, tack and stand up again, presenting a correct picture of a ship
in a storm, beating off a lee shore." 81 The cast included : Conner,
Long Tom Coffin; Ludlow, Boroughcliffe; Maynard, Barnstable;
Saunders, Sergeant Drill; and Mrs. Maynard, Kate Plowden.

The outstanding event of the dosing week was the leturn of "Old
Joe" Cowell to the stage of the St. Louis Theatre, which occurred
on the twenty-eighth. It is extremely unlikely that the comedian can
have entertained any great affection for the managers who had jet-
tisoned him and his family after printing their names in small type.
But no one (except Ludlow) seems ever to have resented Mary Ann
Farren or had any occasion to do so. Old Joe was obviously no ex-
ception, since it was for her benefit that he consented to reappear.
The bill is described in the Republican published that morning.

". . . Mr. Cowell 'Old Joe' and Capt. Jack of the 'Shades' [a
saloon] have volunteered their services for the occasion. Who that
has seen the quizzical features and comic gestures of Cowell, on the
stage, can resist this last opportunity of seeing him again?" The
article goes on to say, "If we can afford to give an actor $1000 for
a few nights entertainment, we certainly should be willing to give
equally as good a benefit to one who has been successfully exerting
herself for years, for our amusement. . . ."

The actor who drew a thousand dollars was undoubtedly Marble.
The advertisement refers also to "an Irish gentleman of this city"

^Missouri Republican, October 17, 1840.

110 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

who will appear, but fails to identify him. All three volunteers were
seen in The Review, which closed the proceedings of the evening,
Cowell as Caleb Quotem, the Captain as Deputy Bull, and the
mysterious Irishman as Loony McTwolter. Between the play and
the farce Dick Russell contributed his mite toward his sister's cause
by singing "The Western Steamboatmen (by the author of Clinton
Bradshaw)," and Mrs. Wright and Mr. Lavette danced a Russian
Pas de Deux. Ludlow asserts that Mrs. Farren's benefit was "very
fine." 88 In this respect it appears to have been the exception since
he says that those of most of the others proved "to be no benefits at
all ; but they lost nothing, for the management did not require them
to make up any sum they might fall short in, of the expense of the
night," He was probably correct in this, although he was certainly
incorrect when he came to naming the beneficiaries.

There was, however, moie due the Farrens than any benefit, no
matter how good, could produce. "Finding our firm becoming more
and more involved in debt," writes Smith, "and being considerably
behind with the salaries of Mr. and Mrs. Farren, I proposed to let
them have a beautiful building site I had purchased from Henry
Chouteau, consisting of about three acres, on which I had intended
to build a home for myself, if I should ever have the means to do
so. They accepted, and the deeds were made out in Mrs. Farren's
name, and a clause inserted in the deed of trust to secure the de-
ferred payments, that any debts due to them by the firm for salary
and benefits should go on as so much on the payment. This turned
out to be a good bargain for Mrs. Farren, and she richly deserves
her good fortune, for a better woman does not walk the earth." 88

In listing those who sought to better their circumstances through
the medium of benefits, Ludlow overlooked one, "Mr. Whitaker, the
one armed door keeper and bill sticker of the Theatre." I find no
record that Mueller was permitted to seek to improve his finances
in this manner, but the privilege was extended to this humble em-
ployee, who in the Republican of October 27 "respectfully reminds
his brother cripples that now is the time to extend a HAND to aid
him, as they have previously promised, and those who have no hand
to extend, are expected to put their best foot foremost on the occasion.

"Ludlow: Dramatic Life, 530.
38 Smith: Theatrical Management, 151.

THE PLOT THICKENS 111

Go it ye cripples." The advertisement looks as if it might have been
written by Mr. Whitaker himself, for in announcing the program,
it says: "on which occasion will be played the grand melo-drama,
interspersed with chorusses, called MASANIELLO, OR THE
DUMB GIRL OF PORTIA." He seems to have been thinking
of The Merchant of Venice and so substituted the name of the lady
of Belmont for the correct Portici. It will be noted that the piece
is described as a "melo-drama," and was probably, therefore, an
adaption of Scribe's play, and not Auber's celebrated opera. 84 In this
October performance the title role was assumed by Conner, and that
of Fenella, his voiceless sister, by Mrs. Farren. Mrs. Maynard was
the Elvira, and other important parts were taken by Mrs. Russell,
Farren, and Saundeis. The evening dosed with Mrs. Russell and
Sankey in The Midnight Hour.

The last evening of the season was dedicated to a grand "compli-
mentary benefit" for Conner "as a testimony of the high esteem in
which he is held by this community, both as a GENTLEMAN and
as an ACTOR." Again Captain Jack and the anonymous Irish-
man were on hand to contribute their bits, and when the curtain
fell after Richelieu and The Wags of Windsor, so far as the estab-
lished company was concerned, 1840 became history. Ludlow
promptly led his cohorts South, at least those who had not preceded
him.

The departure of the regular players did not quite round off the
local theatrical activities of the year. The Republican of December
9 announces the opening of a "Dramatic Saloon" in the Museum
at Second and Market Streets by two gentlemen named Koch and
Riley. Brown's History of the American Stage contains a very brief
note concerning one Henry J. Riley, who may or may not have
been the man. "Born in Liverpool, Eng., in 1801. Made his
American debut Oct. 5, 1830, at Holliday Street Theatre, Balti-
more, as Othello. Died in St. Louis, Mo., July 30, 1841."" Koch

**Masanitllo was first performed in St. Louis in 1825, three yean before
the premiere of the opera in Paris. Although the leading roles were then
taken by singeri, the piece obviously cannot have been Auber's celebrated
work. It would seem likely that, as was so often done in those days, songs
were interpolated at strategic points. See Smith Theatrical Management
63.

8B P. 314.

112 MANAGERS nsr DISTRESS

has left behind him a much more enduring record. In an article in
Science he is identified by M. F. Ashley Montagu as Albert C. Koch,
a "fossil hunter and proprietor of a museum in St. Louis, Missouri.
Koch made a living by exhibiting his fossil collections all over America,
in the British Isles and Germany, and by selling to museums. He
was greatly respected by his contemporaries, and tribute to his scien-
tific honesty was paid by no less a person than Richard Owen, the
great English comparative anatomist."* 8 Mr. Montagu goes on to
say that, later, attempts were made to discredit Koch by men who
did not bother to check his findings, but that his "claims have since
been substantiated by similar ones elsewhere. His Mastodon gi-
ffanteum was purchased by the British Museum."

Here we find Messrs. Koch and Riley in St. Louis anticipating
by six months or more the opening of Moses Kimball's celebrated
Boston Museum, and it was even longer before the latter dared to
give real plays in his establishment. 87 The theory underlying the
building of these museums was that many good people who would
hesitate to be seen entering or leaving a structure which brazenly
bore the accursed name of theatre might be lured onto the premises
if only that fatal name were not associated with them and if an aura
of respectability were cast over the whole enterprise by the presence
in the lobby or elsewhere of mummies, stuffed birds, and prehistoric
skeletons. In Boston the scheme proved successful peihaps beyond
the hopes of the proprietors, but St. Louisans were less strict, and,
while the museums remained on the scene, they soon settled down to
functioning in propria persona except for occasional exhibitions of
strength or magic.

But this winter the enterprising pair essayed to fill the vacuum
left by the departure of the regulars. The opening bill was made up
of Nature and Philosophy and The Loan of a Lover with the Trial
Scene from The Merchant of Venice tucked neatly in between. In
this last Riley himself assumed the gabardine of Shylock with a Mrs.
Dyke as Portia, a Mrs. Lake as Nerissa, Schinotti (who had not ac-
companied Ludlow down the river) as the Duke, Dyke as Antonio,

^Science, N. S., Vol. 95, (194-2), p. 380. For a detailed account of Koch
and his varied activities see John Fiancia McDermott, "Dr. Koch's Won-
derful Fossils," Missouri Historical Society Bulletin, IV (1948), 233-256.

"Claire McGlinchee: The First Decade of the Boston Miutum, 38.

-v*' f-.r'.wt JV* ftw n

E S. CONNER

AS FlZARRO

(Courtesy of the Theattc Collection, Harvard College Library)

^^UoMfo lUWH. fr

PACE FROM LUDLOW AND SMITH Lurm BOOK
(Courtesy of the Mutowi Hutotical Society)

THE PLOT THICKENS 113

Lake as Gratiano, and Davis as Bassanio. The casts of the two
short farces were made up of the same persons, who were definitely
not actors of any distinction. Mr. Hunt in his The Nashville
Theatre, 1830-40 records occasional appearances by Riley, the Dykes,
and a Davis, almost ceitainly (except possibly the last-named) the
same persons. On the subject of the Dykes we are not without fur-
ther enlightenment. The previous spring Ludlow had received from
his partner a letter which reads in part as follows :

Cairo Friday 1 o'clock May 29, 1840

. . . There is a strolling company here, just arrived in a flat-boat
headed by a Mr. Dyke commonly called Daddy Dyke, from the
fact that he is the reputed father of 76 children. ... I am told that
Mrs. Dyke plays Mrs. Haller & dances the slack wire very well.
Mr. D. informed me he was wending his way to St. Louis, where he
intended to take an engagement. If he gets one, he will probably
have to "take" it, indeed, for, if I am not mistaken, the business at
St. Louis will not justify any increase of the Dramatic Company at
present.

Among the up-turaings of Mr. Hunt's spade is the following
comment on the artistry of "Daddy's" better half (who never seems
to have been honored with the corresponding soubriquet of
"Mammy") culled from the Nashville Republican Banner on De-
cember 24, 1838, while she was supporting Junius Brutus Booth in
the Tennessee capital : "Mrs. Dyke has a good voice but she fails
in managing it and moderating its tones properly. She also has a
good figure. But she rises upon her toes and totters too much when
speaking." 88

The advertisement for the opening performance states that admis-
sion to "all parts of the saloon" was fifty cents. Two more bills were
announced before the end of the year. For December 10 were prom-
ised Raising the Wind, Old King Cole, and The Lady and the
Devil. Some interesting data were furnished.

No ladies will be admitted unaccompanied by gentlemen.
Good fires and a retiring room have been arranged for visitors of
the Saloon.

The curtain will rise positively every evening at 7 o'clock.

"Hunt: The Nashville Theatre, 68.

114 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

No colored persons can be admitted.

The Museum is open from 9 o'clock A.M. till 6 P.M. when the
dramatic saloon will open.

If performances were given, as the notice implies, every evening,
they have left no trace behind them. The only other bill referred
to in the press is that of December 11 when The Warlock of the
Glen, Punchinello, and The Spectre Bridegroom made up the pro-
gram.

Here endeth the record for 1840.

V

ASSORTED ENTERTAINMENTS
SPRING OF 1841

As was noted in the last chapter, the month of December, 1840,
had seen Messrs. Koch and Rfley offering dramatic entertainment
in their museum at Second and Market. How many performances
they gave cannot be determined; at all events, the papers men-
tioned none after December 11. Apparently, but not certainly,
their establishment remained dark from that date until January 20,
when it was re-opened under the aegis of one W. S. McPherson.
The Republican of that day published a card in which he announced
that he "has purchased the Museum, and fitted it up in a handsome
comfortable style. 11 The cast of the play with which he said that he
would re-open the premises on that same evening shows that he had
taken over more than the building, for in the list appear such familiar
names as those of Dyke, Mrs. Dyke, Miss Dyke, Davis, and Schinotti.
But Riley and Lake appear to have moved on to other scenes. 1 In
their places we find a J. R. Darrow, who took over the leads, Linden,
Wallace ("Walice" in the Republican}, Langdon, Kean, and Her-
bert ("Herburt in the Republican). Who these men were I can
no more than surmise. With two possible exceptions, I have found
no mention of them anywhere. In 1830 in the old Salt House
Theatre in St. Louis, a man by the name of Langton had called
journalistic ridicule down on his head by shedding a perfect Niagara
of tears as George Barnwell; newspaper spelling being what it was
in those days, this may well have been the lachrymose gentleman
back again after a decade. 8 As for Herbert, Mr. Hunt notes that
in 1837 a "Master Herbert" had impressed the citizens of Nashville
in such Shakespearean roles as lago. 8 As he was at that time said

*Lake would seem to have gone to Ludlow and Smith. On May 1 the
latter wrote his partner from New Orleans. "Then Lake cut up a caper,
and did not go up to the Circus some difficulty with Robinson, I kicked him
out of the back door, & sent him about hii business in double quick time."
The next day he wrote: "I send you Lake's Engt so that if you think
proper to do anything with him, you can do so."

"Carson: The Theatre on the frontier j 113.

Hunt: 'The Nashville Theatre," 61 and 3.

115

116 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

to be all of twelve years old, he would now, of course, be fifteen or
sixteen, and I am inclined to suspect that he was the same person.

In the early months of 1841 theatricals were faring none too well
in the United States. On January 12 the Republican reported that
the famous Park Theatre in New York had called off its scheduled
performance on a recent Saturday evening, because only one peison
had turned up to see the play. 4 Yet McPherson was able at least
to keep his head above water until March 2. Indeed, until February
12 he seems to have given a performance every evening except Sun-
day. I have found no advertisement for any entertainment on
January 29, but that omission may have been due to some slip. The
Republican regularly displayed advertisements. For some reason the
Museum was closed on the twelfth, eighteenth, and nineteenth, and
there were at least no references to any activity between the thir-
teenth and the eighteenth. On the twentieth, however, and again on
March 2, the notices reappeared.

Somehow or other, the manager was able also to repeat some of
his plays a number of times. The Castle Spectre, with which he
opened his campaign, achieved four performances, as did also Venice
Preserved and The Robber's Wife. Family JarSj Loverf' Quarrels,
and The Falls of Clyde scoied three. Other pieces in the repertoire
were The Woodman's Hut, The Spectre Bridegroom, The Painter's
Daughter, The Cobbler's Daughter, The Hunter of the Alps, In-
trigue, The Day after the Wedding, The Bath Road Inn, The Lady
and the Devil, Douglas, Pixarro, Libertines Deceived, and Ambrose
Gwinett. Not exactly weighty fare, but little beneath the level of
most contemporary theatres of good repute.

In his memoirs Smith devotes a few lines to a popular but dubious
managerial custom. "Managers of modern times," he writes, "have
hit upon a model mode of making; out their bills, which, in effect,
gives an agreeable variety to the announcements, without in reality
making much change in the performances. Old farces are presented
with new titles, by which very simple means a half dozen pieces are
made to run through a whole season." The effectiveness of this

*OdelI: Annals, IV, 451. On January 8 Simpson closed the Park Thea-
tre for a few nights, reopening on the fourteenth for concerts only. There
is no mention of the audience of one.

"Smith. Theatrical Management, 265.

ASSORTED ENTERTAINMENTS 117

policy, I must confess, I have never been able to understand. Sup-
pose the wily managers did succeed in luring unwary audiences into
their houses in the expectation of seeing something new and fresh,
what must have been their state of mind on discovering that they
had paid out good money to behold, not something new and strange,
but an old chestnut like She Stoops to Conquer or Laugh When You
Can, two which Ludlow on occasion camouflaged? On the other
hand, if the names of the dramatis personae were displayed in ad-
vance and the cat thus let out of the bag, where was the gain? Yet
the policy must have borne fruit, or it would not have persisted.
McPherson was not ignorant of such dodges, for The Painter's
Daughter, as the published cast reveals, proved to be nothing more
startling than Tobin's thrice-familiar The Honey Moon*

Apparently the bright particular star of this aggregation was
Mrs. Dyke, who obviously held a proprietary interest in all the
desirable feminine leads, and also invariably had her name printed in
"caps," no matter how her confreres fared. Darrow as a rule also
enjoyed this capital distinction, and to his lot fell such sugar-plums
as Jaffier, Duke Aranza, Mark Redland, Don Carlos (in Lovers'
Quarrels), John Lump (in The Cobbler's Daughter), Malcolm (in
The Falls of Clyde), Rolla, and Ambrose Gwinett.

Less spectacular roles were turned over to Linden and, later,
to a recruit named Hubbard, probably a former satellite of Ludlow
and Smith. 7 The Dyke family was not represented by the matriarch
alone. "Daddy" was on hand too, though when it came to the cast-
ing he was assigned a rung of the ladder far below that upon which
his spouse was stationed. Not all his offspring displayed themselves,
but at least three, and probably four, are listed from time to time on
the bills. These were Miss Dyke, and Masters George Eugene
(aged six) and William Ambrose (aged four). There was also a
Master Albert, who was first advertised as Diggory Delph in Family
Jars; the name Dyke is never attached to him, but he probably was
one of the clan. To these must be added Schinotti, Clarke (or
Clark) , Kean (or Keen) , Davis (whose chief function was to sing
between the plays), and Miss Robinson (who is listed only as
Georgiana in The Spectre Bridegroom). Finally, there were two

I have found in the Odell Annals no evidence of this comedy's mas-
querading under this alias in New York.

T Carson: The Theatre on the Frontier, 167.

118 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

young women who, the notices said, were St. Louisans. The first of
these was a Miss Thomas, who preceded Miss Robinson as Georgiana,
and was announced as a prospective participant in Mrs. Dyke's
benefit, The Falls of Clyde, on February 6, but whose name does
not appear in the cast. The other is a lady of mystery first desig-
nated as "Miss Lucust" and later as "Miss Lucas." The city direc-
tory of 1841 does not contain the name of Lucust, which can pretty
certainly be dismissed as a misspelling. The Lucases, on the con-
trary, had been among the city's most prominent and respected
families for more than twenty years, and, indeed, have so remained
up to the present time. Unfortunately, the first name of this par-
ticular scion of the family, if such she really was, is not revealed.
The whole thing is a bit puzzling because at that time the daughters
of prominent families simply did not go on the public stage, cer-
tainly not under their own names, nor on the stages of museums.
Such a violation of the current code of behavior could scarcely have
failed to provoke a tempest in a teapot, for deep-rooted prejudices
were not abandoned overnight. Ludlow mentions a man named
Lucas, who, he says, was acting with the Turner company in Cin-
cinnati in 1817, and who later went with Ludlow's forces to New
Orleans, but that connection seems very remote. 8

None of the Museum performances needs detain us long. It is
most unlikely that any set a very high standard, all the more reason
for questioning the identity of "Miss Lucas." Except for the paid
advertisements, the Republican gave these productions little space.
On February 3 it did say that it understood that McPherson had
"fitted up one of his rooms in a neat and commodious manner, for
the purpose of theatrical amusement. We understand he generally
has crowded houses to witness the performances." These crowded
houses did not prevent the father of many from printing a pitiful
plea in the same paper two weeks later.

Mr. Editor

THEATRE AND MUSEUM * OLD DYKE'S BENEFIT.
There are, in this world, many changes of life; Old Dyke has seen
many things he would not tell but the needy man who has known

"Ludlow: Dramatic Life, 116, 118, and 121. William Turner, an
Englishman, -was a pioneering manager in the early theatrical daya of Pitts-
bmgh, Cincinnati, St Louis, and New Orleans. His wife, Sophia, who was
the bright particular star of his little troupe, had once been a very lesser
light at the Park (Carton: The Theatre on the Frontier, 21).

ASSORTED ENTERTAINMENTS 119

better days, one whom tempting friends would pitch upon to do such
deeds as would make the prosperous man lift up his hands and won-
der who could do them but for the wealth of worlds Dyke would
not tread upon the worm in his path. Poverty is no sin, but a very
great inconvenience, it is a common occurence [sic]. When you
see a man sinking you will run to his relief. Now is the time to go
your length for

OLD HARD TIMES.

This was the third benefit advertised, the two before having been
his wife's and Darrow's. The last performance of which I have
found a record was that of Ambrose Gwinett on March 2. Yet this
advertisement promises that "To-morrow Mr. Riley will appear."
Perhaps he did.

Mr. McPherson did not have to rely upon his actors and actresses,
not even on Mrs. Dyke, for he had up his sleeve bigger, if not bet-
ter, things, He had his "sitrecalodeons." On February 27 via
the Republican he addressed a letter to the public in which he as-
serted warmly, under the heading of "BIG BONES," that it was
not true that his predecessor, Mr. Koch, "had taken all the valuable
antedeluvian remains with him." He goes on to say that "that is
so far from being the fact, that I can assure my friends, the patrons
of Natural Science and the public in general, that I have now in the
St. Louis Museum such a valuable collection of fossils as no other
museum in the world can boast of. There is first the remains of the
GIGANTIC MISSOURIOM, which should excite the curiosity
of the literary world ; also the three varieties of the SITRECALO-
DEON, with a most valuable collection of the varieties of the
MASTODONS. If knowledge was more the pursuit of the present
generation than sordid wealth, we should be a more learned and
happy people."

This communication is a bit contradictory because at the begin-
ning it speaks of Koch's departure South "with his gigantic Mis-
sourium" ; then later he lists it in capital instead of small letters
among his own assets. I think it is safe to assume that this was not
the celebrated original.

On March 10 the enterprising proprietor announced that the
Museum, having been closed for a week while repairs were being
made, would re-open on the fifteenth with "a head of equal size of

120 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

the Missourium, with a most valuable collection of the Mastodon
and Titrecalodeon." But that was not all. On the seventeenth he
deckied that he had "at an immense expense engaged for a few
evenings the services of the far famed and justly celebrated MISS
HAYDEN the accomplished American Sybil whose wonderful per-
formances in the beautiful art of polite magic have put to blush all
former attempts of the kind, being the first and only Lady in the
world who has ever attempted those difficult experiments, which
have been the theme of admiration throughout the principal cities of
the Union." The dispenseuse of polite magic was, moreover, to be
accompanied by "GRAND MOVING PANORAMAS of the
cities of Jerusalem and Venice, covering an extent of canvass exceed-
ing 100 square feet, painted by the celebrated artist Banvara" and
"Beautiful Mechanical Automatons, which are the largest and most
natural ever exhibited in this country." There are no further refer-
ences to his dramatic corps.

McPherson did not, however, have the field to himself. There
were plenty of rival attractions. St. Louisans had no occasion to
complain of enforced ennui. On March 1 the Theatre ended its
winter season of darkness with an "UNRIVALLED ATTRAC-
TION" in the person of "MONS. ADRIEN, SR.", who there
exhibited his "Temple of Illusions, Metamorphoses and Wonders,
Feats of Legerdemain and Natural Magic" and his "Illusions of
the DOUBLE PHANTOSCOPE," the last-named probably mii-
ror-tricks. The advertisement in the Republican is long and elabo-
rate, but even more details were promised in the small bills. Just
how many demonstrations this gentleman gave, I do not know, but
he stayed in town for two weeks, bringing his engagement to a close
on March 16 when, according to his announcement, he was to cut off
a man's head by way of showing St. Louisans just how a guillotine
functioned, no doubt another illusion of the "double phantoscope."

But that was not all, not near all. Space piohibits a complete
catalogue of the delights offered local amusement-seekers, but a few
must be heeded. On March 3 a Mr. Shaw announced that he and

8 John Banvard (1815-1891) achieved celebrity with his "three-mile
painting" of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers from the Yellowstone to
the Gulf, reputedly the largest painting in the "world. It took three hours
to unroll! He purchased the St Louis Museum, but failed.

ASSORTED ENTERTAINMENTS 121

his daughters, aged fourteen and twelve, having come to town for the
purpose of giving a few concerts, had been disappointed in finding
the Concert Hall occupied and so had "left for Alton to return
later." Return they did on the nineteenth, and gave the first of
a series of at least five musicals. On the twenty-second the editor
of the Republican, who seems to have been a perennial friend in need
to the artistically bent, crowned them with wreaths of verbal flowers.
"To the lovers of the divine art, we would say, if ye would drink
at the fountain of pure music, go and hear the Misses Shaw." Ac-
cording to the advertisement, although gentlemen were required to
pay a dollar to hear the young warblers, "Ladies' tickets will be
placed at 50 cents." These children, Mary and Rosina Shaw, were,
it may be said, approaching the threshold of success for in after years
they were, especially Rosina, to become personages of consequence
in the world of the theatre. The latter as Mrs. Charles Howard
and, later, Mrs. Harry Watkins, became a popular star, making a
favorable impression even in London. 10

When the youthful Shaws knocked in vain at the door of the
Theatre and were compelled to retreat across the Mississippi to the
hills of Alton, they had been forestalled by another of their own
kind, one of the most celebrated of infant phenomena, indeed the
one who, through Charles Dickens, bestowed that title on the strange
race.

This lady was Jean Davenport, the reputed original of Dickens*
Infant Phenomenon in Nicholas Nickleby. To her dying day she
denied the identity, but the evidence in support of the story is strong.
At this time she was always accompanied by her father, who made
himself a nuisance by locating himself in lie audience to applaud
his daughter's efforts and by hounding newspaper offices for publicity.
In every particular he was the redoubtable Vincent Crummels [sic] .
Although far past her childhood when she came to America her
parents dressed her in absurdly infantile garments and put her for-
ward at the Park Theatre, New York, as a prodigy playing Little
Pickle, Sir Peter Teazle, Shylock, and, save the mark! Richard III
and Sir Giles Overreach! It was all in the spirit of the gorgeous
Crummels Family tradition.

These words were written of the "starlet" (as she would probably
be called today) nine years after this St. Louis visitation, but they

10 Maud and Otis Skinner. One Man in His Time, XIL

122 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

are just as apposite as if written of that occasion. They are quoted
from One Man in His Time, the entertaining little volume in which
Maud and Otis Skinner presented the diary of Harry Watkins, the
second husband of Rosina Shaw. 11

In this diary, under the date, apparently, of May 6, 1850, Harry
tells us even more. 1 * "Her father goes around among the editors
and pays them to puff bis daughter, and stations men in different
parts of the house to call her out between the acts and at the end
of the play, until the audience, not being acquainted with the tricks
of the trade, imagine her acting must be something extraordinary.
Well, you're a lucky girl in having such a father. His tactics are
more valuable than your merits as an actress." In 1841 T. D.
Davenport, alias Vincent Crummies, was, as we shall soon see, al-
ready a skillful manipulator.

The first shadows cast by coming events appeared in the pages of
the local press on February 26.

A CARD

The guardians of MISS DAVENPORT, from the Theatre
Royal, Drury Lane, and Haymarket, the first juvenile actress of the
age, have the honor of announcing that they have arrived in this
city, but find the Theatre let for exhibition they had arranged to
leave today on the Platte, but several gentlemen have persuaded
them to engage CONCERT HALL, and not go without introducing
Miss Davenport to the

ST. LOUIS AUDIENCE

as it is the only opportunity of doing so previous to her return to
Europe therefore, Miss Davenport will appear for two nights only.
Miss Davenport is so well known as almost to render it superfluous
to speak, that after her performance of Richard III in London, she
was presented with the last hat worn by the late Kean ; and by the
citizens of New York with a splendid gold watch and chain, as a
tribute to her talents. She has now returned from a rapid tour to
the West Indies, being the first Dramatic Star that ever visited them.
[This is not true.] At Damarara the boxes were raised to $3, and
crowds turned nightly from the doors. At Barbadoes and Jamaica,
Miss Davenport was received with enthusiasm.

"Pp. 81-82.

ASSORTED ENTERTAINMENTS 123

Miss Davenport's first night is Tuesday next, March 3d. The
sofas will be numbered and let as boxes. A plan will be ready at
Concert Hall, by 10 o'clock Monday morning. Tickets $1. Par-
ticulars will be advertised.

The same issue of the Republican printed an editorial congratulat-
ing the citizens "that she has not left without performing, as it is
seldom we have a visit from one of so high repute for extraordinary
talent," and added, "We do not think she has any thing to regret
in not obtaining the Theatre at this cold season of the year, in our
opinion, the Concert Hall is now by far, the most comfortable, being
well warmed and lighted with gas, and we mistake, if it will not
hold 600 persons. We anticipate a rich treat."

But the rich treat had to be postponed. The young lady had a
cold. "We have no doubt," wrote the gallant editor when Tuesday
came around, "our readers will join with us in regretting Miss
DAVENPORT'S indisposition, having so lately left a broiling
climate like Jamaica, great care ought to have been taken to prevent
cold. However, we have made inquiry and find that there is no
doubt she will appear on Thursday evening, to which the opening
night is postponed. We have also heard there have been a great
many applications for seats." (Meanwhile, the hardy Mons. Adrien
was still "performing his wonders" in the chilly Theatre.)

According to the Dictionary of American Biography, Jean Mar-
garet Davenport was born May 3, 1829. If this date is correct, she
was when she first burst upon the St. Louis public not quite twelve
years of age. Whether or not her father, Thomas Donald Daven-
port, actually was Dickens' model for Vincent Crummies, there was,
as Otis Skinner points out, a suspiciously marked family resemblance.
He had first presented his child to the theatrical world on the stage
of the theatre at Richmond, England, of which he was the manager.,
in 1837, her debut role being the suitable one of Richard III. Just
how sensational was her success it is difficult now to determine, such
was the avalanche of superlatives under which her father buried it in
his publicity. Harry Watkins gives us the measure of his reliability.
There can, however, be no doubt that succeed to some extent she did,
for she played repeated engagements both in London and in the
provinces until she came to this country the following year. It

124 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

should be understood that, phenomenon or not, she certainly was not
unique, because she had been preceded on her home territory by the
celebrated Master Betty and Clara Fisher (later Mrs. Maeder),
and in this country by the latter favorite and also by Joseph Burke;
and she was a few years later to be outdistanced by the even more
incredible Bateman Sisters, Ellen and Kate, daughters of our old
friends, Hezekiah Linthicum and Sidney Cowell Bateman, who
swept all before them as Lady Macbeth, Shylock, and Richard III,
and Macbeth, Portia, and Richmond respectively at the ages of three
and six. 18 One of the things about the stage of the "Palmy Days"
which we today find it more than difficult to comprehend is the
pleasure which our forebears, presumably persons of noimal intelli-
gence, took in such spectacles and their acceptance of them as serious
histrionic efforts. Yet seriously they did take them, and the critics
analyzed the "interpretations" of these children with all the solemnity
they brought to bear on the efforts of the Kembles, Keans, and
Booths. It seems to me that the chief sufferers must have been the
adult actors who were constiained to support these tots in secondary
roles.

Just who suppoited Jean Davenport when on Thursday, March 4,
having sufficiently recovered from her cold, she made her bow to St.
Louis audiences is not altogether clear. When she had appealed in
New York, at the Park and the National, she had had the backing
of regular stock companies, the actors being compelled, willy-nilly,
as Professor Odell puts it, to "stoop to inches so low." But in St.
Louis she was on her own. The Ludlow and Smith forces were not
here to play second fiddle. According to the advertisement on Febru-
ary 27, "opposite characters" were to be filled by her mother, an
"actress of celebrity from the London theatre's" and her father
"formerly stage manager of the Strand Theatre." But these par-
ents, however zealous in the cause, can hardly have played all the
other roles in Richard III, The Merchant of Venice, Douglas, and
The School for Scandal, whatever they may have done in the after-
pieces. Yet the only mention of any further support, found in the
notice of Douglas (March 9), is the revelation that Lord Randolph
was to be played by "A Gentleman." It is, of course, not at all im-

18 Laurence Hutton* Curtosittts of the American Stage, 238.

ASSORTED ENTERTAINMENTS 125

possible that she attracted Daddy Dyke and his satellites into her
orbit, the Museum having apparently brought its theatrical season to
a dose. But why is there, then, no mention of these actors in either
the advertisements or the reviews? Mrs. Dyke at least was not one
to hide her light under a bushel. Another possibility is that the
Davenports gave, not complete dramas, but only those scenes in which
the daughter of the house was to shine ; yet even this concession would
inevitably involve embarrassments. How, for instance, could the
Trial Scene from The Merchant of Venice be done with only four
persons ?

The plays on the first night were this last-named tragi-comedy
and The Managers Daughter, a specialty concocted by Davenport
himself. Two days later the Republican indulged in a lengthy
panegyric from which I shall quote :

. . . Miss Davenport is the most talented actress of her age we have
ever seen. Indeed, she seems to carry her audience with her as if
she wielded the wand of the enchanter Merlin, and notwithstanding
the public mind expected much, yet in her case those expectations have
been fully gratified. Nay, surprise and astonishment were elicited
from all, that one so young could give effect to the deeply poetical
inspirations of Shakespeare her Richard III was classically true to
nature her elocution was pure and elegant, and destitute of that
start and stare sudden pause and transition for effect, which char-
acterizes the generality of actors. No every word had its due em-
phasis every sentence seemed to flow naturally and gracefully, and
the action of the tragedy alone, seemed to produce that whirlwind of
passion which Miss Davenport so beautifully illustrated in the dying
scene.

This all sounds wonderful. But it is hard not to recall Harry
Watkins' observations.

The Manager's Daughter is a protean farce of the type dear to the
hearts of infant prodigies or, perhaps, of their promoters. In this
case the assortment of parts ostensibly "interpreted" by the marvel
were: Hector Earsplitter, a young gentleman from Weatherfield,
Connecticut ; Effie Heatherbloom, a Scottish lassie ; Fergus O'Bother-
well, an Irish youth; Paul, a French minstrel; Sapinella Thespis;
and, finally, Jean M. Davenport. The last-named is the only one
in the effectiveness of which I at this late date can feel much con-
fidence. Her parents played Mr. and Mrs. Dictator.

126 MANAGERS IK DISTRESS

The second night was to have been devoted to The Merchant
of Venice and My Country Cousin, another protean piece, which
calls for no comment. But the performance does not seem to have
been given, perhaps because of inclement weather, perhaps because
of a return of the star's indisposition. At least, I have found no re-
view of it in the Republican, March Q, and the comment on the same
bill, given on March 8, indicates in no way that this was a repetition.

Miss Davenport appeared again last night. Her performance of
Shylock was one of the most astonishing representations of char-
acter we have ever witnessed, and her changes in the Country Cousin,
were equally talented. We should say all heads of families should
take their younger branches to see her in Norval.

Why one of the most astonishing?

The advertisement in the same paper informed her clientele that
at "the request of several citizens" the young lady was delaying her
departure in order that she might be seen again, on Tuesday and
Wednesday (March 9 and 10), "Whatever the state of the
weather." On this occasion she filled a part slightly more suited to
her years if not to her sex, the youthful Norval in Home's Douglas f
and so had a chance to show the local schoolboys just how the famous

"My name is Norval ;
On the Grampian Hills my father feeds his flocks."

should be declaimed. Mrs. Davenport played Lady Randolph, Mr.
Davenport Glenalvon, and, as I said above, "a Gentleman" Lord
Randolph. Apparently the same bill was repeated the next evening;
that is unless the promise concerning the weather was ignored.

The next day the editor reported that that evening would, he be-
lieved, be "decidedly the last night but one that Miss Davenport will
appear." The bill was to be the same as that advertised for the two
preceding evenings, What had happened to them? Had they come
off as planned or, despite the earlier boast, had bad weather again
interfered? Then on the next evening, the young lady was to have
her benefit, and presumably had it, for thereafter the pages of the
Republican were innocent of the record-breaking deluge of publicity
which had swept across them for a fortnight. Here is what hap-
pened again, presumably on the occasion of her final adieu.

ASSORTED ENTERTAINMENTS 127

ATTRACTION! LAST NIGHT 1
FOR THE BENEFIT OF MISS DAVENPORT

And decidedly her last appearance in St. Louis
On this occasion Miss Davenport will perform

SIR PETER

being a character never attempted by any other young lady; recite
"Collins* Ode on the Passions" with all the original music, and
personate m OLD AND YOUNG, various characters, sings three
songs, dances a National dance, performs the British manual exer-
cise and fires a rifle I

What greater display of versatility could be asked?

In The School for Scandal her mother was the Lady Teazle and
her father was Joseph Surface. What an exhibition that must have
been! And who, incidentally, played all the other roles?

The installment of the "Dramatic History of St. Louis" (previously
referred to) which appeared in the St. Louis Home Journal of
March 1, 1868, soon after a visit to the city of Mrs. General Lander,
the former celebrated prodigy, gives us a glimpse of her first en-
gagement here from the point of view of the chief actress herself.
"Her reminiscences of St. Louis were scanty indeed. All that she
could possibly remember was a crowd of fiery faces, as it seemed
to her, which roared at her, and threw her bouquets. There was,
indeed, one circumstance which she distinctly recollected, probably
because it would seem to mark an era in the feminine mind. She
wore her first long dress during her brief stay in St. Louis, and it
is probably owing to that important fact that she remembers us or
our Concert Hall in the slightest measure."
* *

I now come to a mystery. Just where did Ludlow get the data
for his account of the St. Louis season of 1841 ? For said account
bears precious little resemblance to the facts as revealed in the con-
temporary press or in his own correspondence. Apparently it was not
just a case of confusing his dates, for I have been unable to find any
other season which his version would really fit. One thing he did,
however, get right; the spring season was, despite the utmost efforts
of the partners, pretty close to a total loss.

128 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

He says that the opening play was The Dramatist and that the fol-
lowing performers took part: N. M. Ludlow, George P. Farren,
Richard Russell, Jr., Mrs. Russell, and Mrs, Farren." "The second
night introduced Mr. James Thorne and Miss Eliza Petrie both
returning to us after a year's playing in Vicksburg and Natchez,
Mississippi." To these he adds Ben De Bar. "After a few nights'
performances of good plays and farces of the stock company, the
horses were introduced and dramatic and equestrian performances
were given in conjunction, for a few nights the receipts were fair,
but afterwards began to dwindle, becoming 'small by degrees and
beautifully less.' The fact was, that about this time the financial
difficulties of the West had just reached a climax, and as the pres-
sure in the money market became heavy the people's purses became
tight, and very few felt like spending more money than absolute
necessity demanded. We saw plainly that we, too, must reduce our
expenses, or we could not avoid losing heavily during the season ; so
we sent away our troupe of equestrians to perform under canvas dur-
ing the summer and early fall."

He goes on to say that J. H. Hackett played a brief and un-
profitable engagement early in May, followed with somewhat gi eater
success by Mrs. Fanny Fitzwilliam and J. B. Buckstone. "The
season had now reached the first of June, and not being likely to im-
prove with the approaching hot weather, we commenced the benefits
for all such as were entitled to them." Most of this is "of imagina-
tion all compact."

Nor is Smith of much greater assistance; his version is too brief
and indefinite to yield much real information.

Both managers state correctly that the season began on April 26,
but it did not do so with either the play or the actors specified by
Ludlow. Except for himself and Mrs. Russell, none of the persons
he names was even in town. Nor were Eliza Petrie, Ben De Bar,
and James Thorne among those present. On May 3, Smith wrote
his partner that he had received a letter from Miss Petrie. "You
will see she does not accept our offer, & invites further offers. She
appears to be dazzled by the name of high salary at the East (and
only got one-half of it!) but I think she leans very much to the

"Ludlow: Dramatic Life, 543.

JEAN DAVENPORT

AS LITTLE PICKLE
(Courtesy of the Theatre Collection, Howard College Library.

3 U N ,1 U K 1 'I E H v 1 ( j rf A WO

'-** -I /, .1 4 / A I ft

vis R ri m > OT 32 y i, Y .

r IO NANO
(Courtesy of the Thcatic Collection, Haivaid College Libiary)

ASSORTED ENTERTAINMENTS 129

West & South." 18 De Bar did not come up the river until the end
of summer ; Thorne came not at all. The Farrens were not on hand
for the opening; and Mrs. Farren's brother, Dick Russell, was not
engaged. 16

An Englishman who visited this country during the worst of robot
bomb attacks on London asserted that the strain of anxiety was much
greater when he was over here away from the actual scene of the
bombardments and his imagination had free play than it had been
when he was actually on the spot and could see with his own eyes the
horrors about him. So it was with Smith and Ludlow during this
spring season. Ludlow toiling away in St. Louis where one woe did
tread upon another's heels seems for once to have ridden through the
storm with equanimity. "Glad to find you in such good spirits in
spite of the unpromising commencement of your season," wrote his
new son-in-law, Mat Field, from New Orleans on May 20."
Smith, on the other hand, who had remained in New Orleans to
wind up the winter's affairs and do what he could to help his partner
by long distance evidently gave rein to his imagination, and worried
himself into a state of distraction. He had as a matter of fact plenty
to worry him. They both had. For one thing, as Ludlow notes,
times were bad and people were spending but little of their scanty
cash on entertainment. Then there was the circus.

This troupe, under the management of Messrs. Fogg and Stickney,
according to Ludlow's version, arrived in New Orleans late in
February or early in March, and threw Smith into a panic. 18 So
fearful was he of their rivalry with the American Theatre that he
persuaded his partner that the firm should engage them for their
own establishment. Smith records in his diary (May 3) that they

"She was acting in the company of William E. Burton at the New
National in New York (Odell. Annals, IV, 469).

""Remember Dick Russell is not engaged* The understanding with
Farren was */ he applied m a proper manner (having positively declined)
in the course of a week, he was to be engaged at the rate we offered him.
He has not said a word on the subject on die contrary, has told many
persons he was going to the West Indies with his wife (Miss Morgan [?])
Now I vote don't engage him at all. If you think differently, wait at
all events till I arrive, & we can talk it over" (Sol Smith to N. M.
Ludlow, May 12, 1841).

17 Matthew C Field had married Cornelia Burke Ludlow in February.

"Ludlow: Dramatic Life, 540.

130 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

were to be paid $700 a week until April 1, performing wherever
Ludlow and Smith wished them to. After that, they were under
contract not to do business elsewhere in New Orleans or in St. Louis
"except under our direction or in connection with us." The theatrical
firm sustained a great financial loss, paying this circus in addition to
their own equestrian troupe, and Fogg and Stickney broke their
agreement by setting up their tent in the neighborhood of the
American. When threatened with legal action, they fled, Smith
thought, to St. Louis, and his agitation was intense.

There was, furthermore, Fanny Fitzwilliam, who was supposed
to pull them out of their hole by main force. She did draw crowds,
but her fees made Smith wince, and then she was taken sick.

Mrs. Fitz is still laying on her back. When you may expect her
at St. Louis, the Lord only knows I should say (in honest truth)
not a moment before 1st June . . . We hope she will play next
Tuseday. If she does, & continues to play, she will close on the
following Monday (10th) & probably leave here on Wedny 12th
for Natchez & Vickburgh, at both of which places I think she will
certainly play.

Thus Smith wrote his partner on May 1, the letter being but one
of a series of "chronicles of woe." "I have a way of elaborating upon
my subject," he had written on April 23, " particularly when
writing to you as we are partners, I feel a sort of fiendish pleasure
in making you share my miseries. Isn't this a horrible propensity?"

To the communique" of May 1 he added a postscript.

I see the tent of Fogg & Stickney is struck & they are off for
St. Louis in the boat which carries this package 11! I can't get the
contract out of the Court today, but will send it immediately but
if you think it is worth while to try to stop them, you can swear to
the facts, & have the contract to show afterwards. For my own part,
I doubt whether they will not get round it somehow, as they did
here If I were you, I would put the Govr. in possession of the
facts of the case, so that they may get no countenance from the
Pennant. 19

They will no doubt play h-11 with our business in St. Louis for a
while

1B I have not been able to identify "the Govr.," but he seems to have
been someone connected with the Pennant.

ASSORTED ENTERTAINMENTS 131

I think you can stop Stickney, at any rate but I don't know as
its worth while to try You can judge better, being on the spot.

I am sick sick of dealing with rogues & I think if we can get
rid of all Equestrians (after a while) we had better.

The next day he wrote again.

"Desperate measures demand desperate remedies." I have been
thinking all night of the infernal conduct of Stickney, & have pic-
tured to myself their confounded troupe riding over you in St.
Louis, 'rough shod.' Well, I have come to this conclusion: To
send up the Equestrians immediately without stopping on the way.
But as they would be of no use there until the Theatre was fixed to
receive them, I shall make them play in the 3rd Municipality until
the dose of their engagements, or until Monday next, & then up
they go! So now I advise you as soon as you receive this, to close
for 3 nights for the purpose of making the circle, & preparing for
the horses. With force enough, the alteration can easily be made in
3 days & by that time, the troupe will arrive. "I take the re-
sponsibility" for this step, for many reasons which must be obvious
to you but the two main ones are 1 to fortify you against the
traitors, F. & Stickney & 2d because Mrs. Fitz must play at N. &
V. & will gag on the way, which will delay her till 1st June
or later, Ranger will not trust St. Louis 30 H. Nano is sick &
in short, unless something Bold & desperate is done, F & S. will just
walk over the course.

There is much more about the circus and the measures he suggests
that Ludlow adopt to defeat the enemy, but there is, I think, no
necessity of copying it in its entirety. Just what action Ludlow did
take is not revealed, but evidently the hostiles did invade St. Louis
though under another name. The contemporary press shows that
early in May a circus did show up, the name of the proprietor being
given as G. B. Johnson. I have come across no mention of either
Fogg or Stickney, but that they were present is revealed in a letter
from Mat Field to Ludlow dated May 14.

Sorry to hear of your bad business, but I did not anticipate much
better. Your season might depend upon Fitzwilliam and the horses.
Sol tells me that Fogg & Stickney are running against you. Open
your ring at once with a handsome flourish, and cut their ungrateful
throats! Have it made so as to put the seats down again when

M Ranger was an American actor of English training. Dr. Odell
describes him as "a gentlemanly interpreter of gentlemen." He played in
New Orleans, but not in St. Louis. Of Hervio Nano, more later.

132 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

Fitz comes. I think your prospect is safe and good, but I never
looked upon it so sanguinely as you seemed to do.

Apparently Ludlow had trouble of some sort in trying to defend
himself because in his letter of May 3, Smith says: "As for your
difficulty with the officers as / am living yet, I consider it a fair
supposition that you are at any rate, if they have blown you into
'tother world, 'tis likely this letter will not follow you there So I
will suppose the 'gentleman* let you live, as Stickney did me The
prospects in St. Louis are gloomy in the extreme."

Meanwhile, amid these alarms and excursions, the season somehow
got under way. The opening bill comprised Mademoiselle de Belle
Isle or A Night in the Bastille, "for the first time in this city, trans-
lated from the French of Alex. Dumas; adapted to the English
stage by J. M. Field," and the farce of My Aunt.* 1 Joe Field and
his wife, the former Eliza Riddle, returning to the city after an
absence of three years, appeared as stars in the theatre in which they
had formerly played as regular members of the stock company. Both
were very talented and both had enjoyed great popularity in St.
Louis, and this popularity they and the managers hoped to capitalize
on now. In the Dumas piece, one of a number he adapted, he was
the Chevalier d'Aubigny, and she filled the title role. The ad-
vertisement names only two other participants, Maynard (back with-
out his wife) as the Marquis de la Pris, and Mrs. Wright as the
Marquise. Field also played the lead in the afterpiece, but his vis-a-vis
this time was, not his wife, but a Mrs. Warren, who was, according
to the card in the Republican, making her first appearance in St.
Louis. This lady I have not been able to identify except that Ludlow
includes her name in his list of the New Orleans company in 1843."
They were supported by Mrs. Russell and Saunders, both earned over
from the previous year. The performance started at seven-thirty,
and the prices remained what they had been the year before.

Of Joe Field's adaptation I have found no other mention. The
advertisement states that it had been done at the St. Charles Theatre
in New Orleans and in Mobile, but neither Ludlow nor Smith
alludes to it. Years later, another translation of the same play, this

^Missouri Republican, April 24, 1841.
"Ludlow: Dramatic Life, 561 and 570.

ASSORTED ENTERTAINMENTS 133

time from the pen of Fanny Kemble, was, according to Dr. Quinn
staged by Julia Dean under the title of The Duke's Wager** But
Field's version, like most of his works, seems to have evaporated.
Joe Field was an ardent author and a few years later achieved a
national reputation in journalism under the pseudonym of Straws.
He was also for several years one of the editors of the St. Louis
Reveille, founded by him in 1844 in conjunction with his brother
Mat (who died soon after) and Charles Keemle, but none of his
many plays enjoyed enduring success. As an actor, he was probably
superior to Mat, but, when it came to writing, the younger brother
was the more gifted.

The Fields remained for six more performances, including their
respective benefits. On the twenty-seventh day they were seen as
Claude and Pauline in the inevitable Lady of Lyons with Mrs.
Russell mothering Eliza Field, instead of as usual her own daughter,
Saunders as Damas, and Maynard as Beauseant. Both husband and
wife took part in The Dumb Belle with Johnson and Sankey. The
following evening saw a triple bill made up of a repetition of
Mademoiselle de Belle Isle, 33 John Street (in which Field appeared
with Maynard and Mrs. Warren), and The Two Gregories, with
Sankey and Saunders in the name parts, supported by Mrs. Warren
and Mrs. Mueller. On Thursday the piece de resistance was
Lucile or The Story of a Heart ("the first time in three years").
This stage version by W. R. Bernard of one of Bulwer's sentimental
tales in Pilgrims of the Rhine gave Joe a chance to show how well
he could simulate blindness, and Eliza to show her mettle in a role
associated with the popular Mrs. Keeley. 2 * When they had finished,
Ludlow entertained with his version of Nipperkin in The Sprigs of
Laurel ("with Comic Songs") and Mr. Lavette danced a Highland
fling. The curtain had been run up on Saunders and Mrs. Warren
in Intrigue. This was certainly enough for one evening, in quantity,
if not in quality.

On the thirtieth Mrs. Field took her benefit in Bulwer's Money,
playing of course the part of Clara Douglass, a few days less than
three months after Clara Fisher Maeder had introduced it to New

"Quinn: American Drama from the Beginning to tht Cited War, 253.
*OdeU: Annals, IV, 114.

134 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

York audiences. This comedy, according to Dr. Odell long a
popular favorite, had, therefore, not been slow in making the journey
to the West. Field himself was the Evelyn, with Sankey as Sir
John Vesey, Maynard as Sir Frederick Blount, Saunders as Graves,
Mrs. Russell as Lady Franklin, and Mrs. Wright as Georgiana.
The afterpiece was A Day After the Wedding, both visitors par-
ticipating. The play was repeated the following evening coupled
with a farce called The Haunted Inn in which some anonymous
"young gentleman of this city" made "his first appearance on any
stage."

The Field engagement was brought to a close with the St. Louis
premiere of Sheridan Knowles' latest tragedy, John of Prodda (ad-
vertised as John de Prodda} or The Bridal of'Messina^ which had
been produced for the first time at Covent Garden the previous year
with Ellen Tree as Isoline. Oddly enough, it seems never to have
reached New York, for I can find no reference to it in the Odell
Annals. It is no work of genius, written as it is in the author's most
turgid style, and so has never enjoyed the vogue of Virginius or
The Hunchback. Frocida himself, the Sicilian father who un-
wittingly kills his own son, was entrusted to Maynard, with Field
as Fernando, the rebellious son, with his actual wife as his stage
wife also. The popular, if undependable, Farren made his seasonal
entrance as Angelo Martine, and Sankey played the Governor. How
the many other roles were disposed of is not revealed. Now that
Mrs. Field was departing, Mrs. Farren arrived on the scene, welcome
as ever, as Kate O'Brien in Perfection.** Joe Field said good-bye as
Charles Paragon, and Farren was Sir Lawrence.

"Just reed, yours by the 'Meteor* oh! What is to be done?
$214 & $100 the 1st nights of the season!" So exclaimed Smith in
a letter to Ludlow written at half-past nine on the evening of May 3.
"There is no use whatever," he continues, "in attempting to make
Stars of Stock actors be their merits ever so great (Mr. & par-
ticularly Mrs. Field, for instance) the public will not stand for it."
In their earlier capacities Joe Field and Eliza Riddle had been prime

* B "I have thought it beat to send F. & wife the instant she ia able to
travel as yon must be badly off for females, after Mrs. Field leaver"
(Sol Smith to N. M. Ludlow, New Orleans, April 23.) "All is square with
Farren & you begin with him on the summer saly. I loan him $25 &
send the due bill to you. He says he will pay it out of hit first week."

ASSORTED ENTERTAINMENTS 135

favorites in St. Louis, but they were apparently too much like
members of the family to be accepted in the role of honored guests.
On April 29 the editor of the Republican printed his apology for not
having been on hand to welcome his old friends. "The first night,
we understand, was greeted with a full and fashionable house, and
Mr. and Mrs. Field were welcomed back to the St. Louis boards
with a hearty round of applause." This does not tally exactly with
Smith's rueful exclamation. But the editor soon found it necessary
to exhort his fellow-citizens to do their duty by Ludlow and the
Fields, and to extol the virtues of the latter. But his seems to have
been as a voice crying in the wilderness. On May 9 Mat Field wrote
his father-in-law: "Sol has told me how badly your season has
commenced, and I must say it looks monstrous discouraging; but
you will be sure of business with Fitzwilliam, and then the horses
ought to be a strong card very strong the first season; for you
remember the French, who are so fond of this amusement, make up
a large portion of the St. Louis population."

But Mrs. Fitzwilliam and the horses were not yet over the hori-
zon. In the meantime the managers offered a week's engagement
of a different type of newcomer. Could elegance compete with
circus performers and a menagerie?

"Brown, the Comedian," observed the Republican on May 7, "is
making smashing work of it at the Theatre. The young gentlemen
who go to see him in one of his best characters have to unbutton their
straps to laugh at his comicalities. Tight lacing won't do for the
ladies just now. Tonight is one of his best performances."

This laugh-provoking entertainer was one James S. Browne, an
English comedian who had made his American debut at the National
Theatre in New York three years before, and who was especially
associated with the role of the gentleman-thief, Robert Macaiie, the
legitimate paternal ancestor of Raffles of later days, of which part
he had been the creator. According to Allston Brown, he cut quite
a wide swath. "A fine, handsome, jovial, joyous, and spirited fellow,
with vitality enough for six in him, and a heart 'as big as an ox.'
Perhaps he was the most popular man, in his day, upon the stage.
Commanding money in abundance, he spent it like a prince. He
rode, he drove, he ate, he drank, like one born in the lap of luxurious

136 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

fortune, scattering his easily gotten means with a lavish profusion
that surrounded him with all the butterflies of fashion, and attached
to him an army of friends. The women idolized him, the men
copied and envied him. The public he magnetized. The mana-
gers he enslaved. The profession loved him, and the world pane-
gyrized him. . . I>M

Of such stuff, according to his namesake (minus the final e) was
the meteor who flashed across St. Louis skies during the early nights
of May, 1841. Yet Ludlow does not even mention him, and Smith
merely includes his name in a list of Caldwell's stock actors in
New Orleans. 37 As a matter of fact, for a man of such transcendent
charm and celebrity, he has left surprisingly few "footprints in the
sands of time," for few writers so much as mention him in their
pages. Allston Brown concludes his sketch with the statement that
eventually this brightly colored bubble of popularity and wealth
collapsed and he spent his last days in poverty. His St. Louis so-
journ, although it apparently delighted at least one of the local
editors, clearly failed to set the Mississippi ablaze. There is certainly
no record of any increase in the number of shekels which found
their way into the managerial till.

He opened on May 4 in "O'Keefe's beautiful comedy of WILD
OATS, or THE STROLLING GENTLEMAN," playing the
part of Rover. To support him, he had the Farrens, as Sir George
Thunder and Lady Amaranth, Maynard as Harry, and Sankey as
Ephraim. The afterpiece was My "Young Wife and My Old Um-
brella in which he was joined by Mrs. Warren. Wednesday, after
first playing Sergeant Austerlitz in The Maid of Croissy or Theresa's
Vow (Mrs. Farren doing the vowing), he presented himself in his
greatest part, Robert Macaire (alias Redmond) in Robert Macatre
or The Two Murderers. The next evening this play was repeated,
with the star joining Mrs. Wright in a pas de deux (as he had, as a
matter of fact, also done the evening before) . But one part was not
enough for a man of his vigor; so he helped raise the curtain as
Phantom in the "petit comedy" of Frightened to Death.

Friday's bill was made up of A Way to Get Married with prac-
tically everybody except Ludlow in the cast. Browne himself was

"Brown: American Stage.

ar Smith: Theatrical Management, 153.

ASSORTED ENTERTAINMENTS 137

the Tangent with Mrs. Farren opposite as Julia Faulkner. Saturday
saw The Maid of Croissy again with the "comic piece" of A Nabob
for an Hour, Browne and Saunders playing Sam Hobbs and Dick
Dumpy respectively.

The next week opened with Jacques Strop, "a few more passages
in the life of that renowned and eccentric thief ROBERT
MACAIRE" and the Nabob again. Tuesday was a big evening,
for, not only was the audience regaled with a repetition of the sequel
just mentioned, but Charles Eaton, having again drifted into town,
put in his oar as Sir Edward Mortimer in The Iron Chest. Just
how enthusiastically the public responded to this double-barrelled
attraction I do not know, but I do know that there was strong
competition. "A splendid ball," reported the Republican on Monday,
"is to be given at the Planters House tomorrow evening. The beauty
and fashion of the city will be there. There is no question, from
the known abilities of the hosts, that it will be a little the tallest
affair ever seen in these parts." So, if all the elite were to be en-
joying the square dances in the city's newest and most elegant hotel,
and Messrs. Eaton and Browne were left dependent on the prole-
tariat and the westward-bound transients, they probably enjoyed
"slim pickin's" in the Theatre. Of one thing I am sure, and that
is that Mr. Browne would far rather have been disporting himself
with the beaux and belles than playing to half-empty benches. (I
dare say he hurried over to the Planters House as soon as his part
was played.)

The next evening he took his benefit and made his farewell bow
in a blaze of glory. The first of the many attractions offered was
Dance's comedy, The Old English Gentleman, described by Dr.
Odell as "one of the most successful of recent English comedies one
of a delightful, but (to the Twentieth Century) defunct and in-
sincere school." 38 The title role, Squire Broadlands, was entrusted
to Farren, while the star displayed himself as Horace Ametrius,
"the most exquisite of exquisites," a part for which he was no doubt
exceptionally well fitted. Mrs. Farren performed Fanny, and hei
mother was Temperance. After this comedy Eaton "obliged with'
his imitations of Forrest, Booth, Vandenhoff, C. Kean, Addams, and

M Odell: Annals, IV, 217.

138 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

Barnes. Next on the bill of fare was a new farce, A Gentleman
in Difficulties, with Browne as Mr. Sedley. The evening was finally
terminated by "the tragic Burlesque Opera of BOMBASTES
FURIOSO," Browne and Farren being the chief participants. Once
more the editor proffered his aid : "Tonight Browne the Comedian,
takes a benefit. There will be lots of fun and, we trust, lots of
people there. There is no two ways about it, that Browne is a
huckleberry above anything we have seen in these diggms in genteel
comedy. If you wish to see a crowd, and laugh and grow fat, go
tonight."

So much for Browne.

A favorite device of American managers when they found them-
selves in a tight place was to proffer a benefit for the local firemen,
who were at that time still strictly amateurs. Of course, they did
not profit directly from these affairs, except that they could be sure
that for one evening at least expenses would be met, but the per-
formances could usually be counted upon for dividends (sometimes,
it is true, very meagre) in good will and publicity and occasionally,
as we shall see later, they did not cast their bread upon the waters
in vain. They liked to be regarded as public-spirited citizens and
also to acquire a little additional armor to meet the shafts of the
dwindling, but still vigorous, Puritanical opponents of everything
theatrical. 88 So now Ludlow, who was certainly in trouble, ad-
dressed a letter to Edward Smith, President of the St. Louis Fire-

"Upon the death of President Harrison, the Reverend Artemus Bullard,
Pastor of the 1st Presbyterian Church, saw fit to pi each a sermon in which
he denounced all those from among his fellow-countrymen who chanced
to have displeased hu" and to be in his opinion the causes, of this tragic
exhibition of Divine ire. Among the guilty (although they had by some
years preceded old Tippecanoe from this world) were the wicked per-
petrators of that monstrous crime, the Louisiana Purchase. But special
excoriation was reserved for the members of the theatrical profession. "Our
theatres," he asserted, "have become too degraded for any purpose but
the- exhibition of brute animals and the most abandoned of the human
family, male and female." This diatribe he was not content merely to
utter by word of mouth, but he published it as well in an appropriately
yellow-backed pamphlet. Sol Smith was not a man to suffer such attacks
in silence, and he promptly sat himself down and, using his legal experi-
ence and his innate good sense and fairness, penned a rebuttal which
might well serve as a model for similar defences. This he not only sent
to the clergyman, but caused to be printed and also included in his last
volume of memoirs. It is marked by logic, and also by the restraint of
its tone and its deep indignation. (Smith. Theatrical Management, 157.)

ASSORTED ENTERTAINMENTS 139

man's Fund Association, offering such a benefit, which offer was
promptly accepted. Almost as promptly the tented enemy followed
suit.

"So you have roused up one good house out of them, hey, with
your 'Firemen's Fund Ben. 1 " This from Mat on May 20. The
bill which "roused" them was a good one, being composed of A New
Way to Pay Old Debts and The Liar. In the former Eaton was
seen and heard as Sir Giles Overreach (one of the "fattest parts"
and one of the noisiest in any tragedian's repertory). In the farce
Ludlow was the young Wilding and Sankey the old one. Between
the two Mrs. Farren recited a Fireman's Address "written by a
gentleman of this city."

Meanwhile, far to the South, Smith was having his problems.
Nor was he cheered by the intelligence that Mrs. Field's benefit had
been a failure. His chief concern was to get the horses off to St.
Louis where they could enter the fray and meet Fogg and Stickney,
as it were, on their own sawdust. But all was not clear sailing.

I engaged the passages on board the Tlatte,' thinking of course
all would go on her $17 each cabin passenger & $10 for the
grooms, (cabin) & $7 for the Horses dog cheap! & now I find
Bailey [tie firm's chief clerk] & wife & nearly all the rest go on
another boat! Bailey gave as a reason that he would not go with
Mrs. Whitlock & now I find she goes in the same boat with him!
Indeed, I don't believe there will be any but Robinson, the Stones,
& the Evans to go in the Platte. 80 They agreed to take our baggage
for nothing, in consideration of the great number of passengers they
were likely to have, (for I only actually engaged such as we had
control of,) & now Nelson & the rest go to other boats & tell
what the Platte takes them for, (which by the bye was to be a
secret but was of necessity tbld to those interested, those who had
to pay their own passages) & die other boats, to get them away,
won't be outdone, & offer to take for the same It is very disagree-
able. I'm sure they'll kick when they see the small number of
passengers & the great quantity of baggage. We are to have 90 days
credit.

While the horses are en route, we return to St. Louis.

80 Mt8. Whitlock is unidentified. The name is, of course, the same as
that of Mrs. Siddons' sister, who had died in 1836. Mrs. Whitlock -was one
of the leading stars of the American stage before and after 1800, and
this may have been a daughter-in-law. The equestrians were John
Robinson and Baton Stone. Who Evans was, I do not know.

140 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

THEATRE

In as much as this day has been nominated by the President of the
United States, as one of general humiliation and prayer; and on
such an occasion it is desirable that all business and amusement
should be suspended the management of this Theatre feel it a duty
incumbent on them to close the establishment for this night. There
will be a performance on Saturday evening next, on which occasion
Mr. C. H. EATON will appear again.

SIGNOR HERVIO NANO

The celebrated METEMPSYCHOSIAN actor, more generally
known as the

GNOME FLY

From all the principal European Theatres, is engaged for a few
nights, and will appear for the first time in this city on SATURDAY
NEXT.

This notice was displayed in the press on May 14. A month before
the New Orleans theatre had been closed out of respect to the late
Wm. Henry Harrison, but this day of humiliation seems to have
been general in theme.

As a matter of fact, Eaton appeared twice more, as Carwin in
Theresfj The Orphan of Geneva on Saturday, and as Shylock for
his benefit on Monday. Mrs. Farren, of course, was the Portia,
and Ludlow was seen as Gratiano, one of his favorite parts. Eaton
included among his imitations one of the imminent Mrs. Fitzwilliam
as the Widow Wiggins. That was the last St. Louisans saw of
this talented young man. Two years later, having had a few more
drinks than he could take care of, he fell from a high gallery in a
Pittsburgh hotel and suffered fatal injuries. "I thought him then,"
says Ludlow, "the most promising young tragedian of the day; but
he was too fond of company and the 'social glass,' qualities that have
been the ruin of hundreds of the most brilliant intellects, in various
positions of life." 81

As for "Signer Hervio Nano," neither of the St. Louis managers
mentions his name in his published recollections. Perhaps they were
a little ashamed to do so. The vogue enjoyed by this unfortunate

"Ludlow: Dramatic Life, 574.

ASSORTED ENTERTAINMENTS 141

creature reflects no credit on the American stage or, rather, the
American public which patronized it.

I shall try to get Hervio Nano to go up with Smith. 83 If he
does, you can let him play 4 or 5 nights while the carpenter work
can be going on thus if he arrives on Wedny or Thursday, he
might play till the middle of the following week, & you could then
close till Sunday, & bring out the Equestrians on Monday 24th but
remember if you can spare him 4 nights (in all) you will have the
right to keep him, but in that case you are bound to get up 3 of his
pieces which you can do, having Smith, whom I send (if he can
get off) by this boat.

So wrote Sol on May 3. Three days later he added that he had

engaged him for five nights with the privilege of reducing to four.

Who was this "metempsychosian actor" ? Let Dr. Odell answer.

This freak was not, like Farsloe or Cony or Blanchard, a normal
mortal dressed in animal skin and aping the manners of a monkey
or what not; as Ireland puts it, "the real name of this unfortunate
individual was Harvey Leach, and he was a native of Westchester
County, N. Y., born in 1804. Deformed from his birth, his legs on
reaching manhood not being larger than a child of two years old,
while his body was of the average size, he had been connected with
various circus companies, and his success in making up and represent-
ing such characters as those above mentioned [a gnome, a baboon,
and a fly] gave him profitable employment for several years. Mr.
Wemyss states that he died in London, March 16, 1847, from mal-
treatment received at the hands of the populace, on whom he at-
tempted (clothed in a close-fitting dress of hair-work) to palm him-
self off as a newly discovered nondescript." 88

Those of us who today are irritated by the "super-colossal" brand
of publicity issuing from the halls of Hollywood might find some
consolation, if not actually reassurance, by examining the correspond-
ing outpourings of the inventive minds of the first half of the nine-
teenth century. For example:

Signor HERVIO NANO

whose celebrity in illustrating that fanciful doctrine, which must,
in his person, be called the TRANSMIGRATION OF BODIES,
has for many seasons in succession, attracted the crowds to the

"C. L. Smith, the scenic artiit
"Odell. Jmtals, IV, 368.

142 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

Theatre Francais, Paris; the Theatres Drury Lane and Covent
Garden, London ; the principal Theatres in Italy, Germany, Holland,
Belgium, and before all the Courts of Europe. Hervio Nano's per-
sonations have been termed by the critics miraculous performances,
and throughout Europe he has been announced and considered

THE GREATEST WONDER OF THE DAY!
He is engaged for FOUR NIGHTS ONLY"

The notice goes on to say that he will appear in "an eccentric
Melo-Dramatic piece called / BIBBO THE APE OF THE
ISLAND / founded on incidents in the adventures of the renowned
navigator LA PEROUSE." It identifies the island-ape as an
ourang-outang.

Bibboo proved to be sufficiently popular to call for two repetitions.
After all, he was a pretty suitable rival of the hostile menagerie.
The editor of the Republican was so impressed that he observed on
the nineteenth that bis "personifications of that character exceeds
all belief, and cannot be described. An ape itself could not do it
better." Which is high praise, indeed. This editorial was a blurb
for Nano's appearance on that evening in perhaps his most celebrated
character :

Last night of Hervio Nano

For the first time in this city, a Dramatic Tale of enchantment
written expressly to display

SIGNIOR HERVIO NANO'S

wonderful powers, called the

GNOME FLY

In which he will successfully embody the semblance
of a GNOME, A BABOON AND A FLY

Enchantment of the Tower, of the wind

WONDERFUL FLIGHT OF THE FLY, Magical deliverance
of the Princess

Entertainments to commence with the petit comedy
of the CONQUERING GAME

The whole to conclude with the comic opera of
NO SONG NO SUPPER

^Missouri Rtpubtican, May 15, 184L

ASSORTED ENTERTAINMENTS 143

And finally, on Thursday, the farewell benefit. Ludlow had used
only four nights; the fifth, of course, was Nano's.

This time as the "Demon Dwarf" he performed his "great flight
from the ceiling of the Gallery, crossing the Box, Parquette and
Orchestra, to the entire depth of the stage a distance of 150 feet, an
act never attempted by any but himself." For the very last he re-
served another astonishing feat, "by the mere strength of his arms"
ascending a column to the Gallery, traversing the third tier by walk-
ing on the front rail of the Boxes, and descending to the stage by the
same means that he had used in going up. Who in the circus could
compete with this?

Whether or not he did succeed in luring the St. Louisans away
from the tent to the Theatre, this monstrosity at least filled up the
hiatus between Eaton and the horses, which at last trotted into the
ring on the twenty-seventh. They were expected to bring financial
relief, but they also brought problems. "If you find there is going
to be difficulty about the Insurance in consequence of stabling the
Horses in the Theatre I advise that you build a rough shed on my
lot adjoining I will not be very hard in the way of rent & if I sell
(as sell I must) I can reserve the shed for a time." The postscript
already quoted. Smith closed with this advice: "wouldn't alter the
Benches of the 2d Tier & Gallery let them lean over, if there is
more than can see without it."

The horses and their riders need not detain us long. After all the
hopes pinned to them and despite Mat Field's hopeful prediction,
they failed completely to produce the profits anticipated. The truth
is the public had probably had enough of that sort of amusement.
Ludlow asserts that "for a few nights the receipts were fair, but
afterwards began to dwindle, becoming 'small by degrees and
beautifully less.' .... so we sent away our troupe of equestrians to
perform under canvas during the summer and early fall, with in-
structions to begin in Kentucky, proceeding South through that
State, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana, and meet us in New
Orleans early in November." 80 Smith in his very brief account says
that on their first night in St. Louis they attracted only $169, and
on their second but $41. '* Another case of "best laid plans." "To

"Ludlow: Dramatic Life, 544.
"Smith: Theatrical Management, 157.

146 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

farces, saying, as an inducement, that he would draw a gallery audi-
ence for us, and would not be displeasing to other portions of the
house. As his demand for the services of die boy was modest don't
start, reader 1 yes, modest; Barnum's demands in those days were
modest ; he was not the "great showman" then j well, as I said, his
demand being modest, we engaged the boy for five or six nights, with-
out ever seeing him dance, and the result was what Mr. Barnum said
it would be. 40

Smith, on his part, does not mention this engagement. Nor is
there any reference in the recollections of either partner to the fact
that he filled an engagement with them in St. Louis. Was that how
he happened to desert Barnum? Or was the St. Louis dancer the
real article? May he not have been the Pittsburgh impostor ? There
is no way of telling. The latter had been exposed in March, but the
future "greatest showman on earth" had gone East, leaving Francis
Lynch and Jenkins at large. Dr. Odell testifies that the boy con-
tinued to be known as "Master Diamond," and at no time do the
St. Louis advertisements designate him as Jack, or Frank either, for
that matter. He is sometimes referred to as "Little Dimond," and
it will be recalled that Barnum gives Lynch's age as twelve, and
Ludlow the real Diamond's as "about sixteen." These statistics prove
nothing, but I know which way my own suspicions point.

Whoever he was, he stayed as long as the horses did, and ap-
parently gave his all, including a burlesque of Fanny Elssler, the
most celebrated danseuse of the day. With the departure of the
equestrians, he faded into thin air, leaving his little mystery behind
him.

During these diversionary excursions the dramatic corps had not
been altogether idle, but had contributed a farce or a petit comedy
to the program of each evening. What is more, whether or not
Ludlow surrendered the stage-management to him, Smith, having
come up the river, began a series of appearances. He was seen as
Carlitz in Love in Humble Ltfe f Sancho in Lovers' Quarrels, and
Pierce Dubois in Assignation or What Will My Wife Say? The
other dramatic pieces were stock ones, and the various players fitted
into their familiar niches.

"Ludlow: Dramatic Life, 533.

ASSORTED ENTERTAINMENTS 147

But even the concentration of all the attractions listed above
proved insufficient to fill the coffers, and the partners (or possibly
Smith alone) kept their eyes and ears I am tempted in the light of
subsequent events to add "their noses" open for other allurements,
and on one rare day in June, one walked uninvited into the mana-
gerial office. It might just as truthfully be said that he walked right
into the managerial trap, and was captured without a struggle,
though, according to Old Sol, with plenty of ceremony. What hap-
pened thereafter was not an event to shape the destiny of the Ameri-
can stage, but it is illustrative of the tastes of the times and of the
expedients to which desperate managers occasionally resorted. It
might be noted too that the 1841 variety was "good clean fun." The
telling will occupy some little space, but I think it worth while and
for most of it, I shall turn to Solomon in all his glory.

He records that in 1826 there was formed in Cincinnati a "Com-
mittee of Authors and Amateurs," of which he, Smith, was elected
chairman for life. 41

To entitle a person to membership, it was not absolutely essential
that he should belong to the theatrical profession. The press has been
largely represented in it, the law has furnished many members and
the healing art has contributed its full quota to the very droll organ-
ization.

The objects in view by the founders of "the committee" were :

1. The cure of individuals afflicted with stage madness.

2. To relieve managers of theatres from the sometimes dangerous
responsibility of directly rejecting worthless pieces offered for repre-
sentation.

3. To extract (incidentally) from the proceedings of the com-
mittee as much fun and amusement as the nature of each case would
admit of.

The nature of what occurred in the sanctum sanctorum of Ludlow
and Smith on that June morning of 1841 can now be guessed.

In the summer of 1841, which was an extremely dull one in our
business, among the numerous candidates for theatrical honors, wish-
ing to learn the "trade, art, and mystery" of acting, came one morn-
ing a weak, trembling, peaked-nose individual, who looked as though
a tolerable breeze would blow him to pieces. With a hesitating,

41 Smith: Theatrical Management, 251-259.

148 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

tender voice, he asked to see "the boss of the show." I instantly dis-
covered a "subject" for the committee, and asked him, in a loud
voice, his name.

"Macumber Jeems Macumber," he answered, his knees fairly
knocking together when he discovered who it was that addressed
him.

"What canst thou do?" I inquired.

After a moment's hesitation, and making two or three vain at-
tempts to swallow something, he gasped twice, and got out this
answer: "I can speak orations, and I think I could learn to act out
plays in a short time."

"Speak orations? What orations canst thou speak?"

"Mark Antony's, John Quincy Adams's Fourth of July, Hannibal's
Address to his Army, Patrick Henry's Give me Liberty or Give me
Death, Clay's speech on the Declaration of War, Washington's Fare-
well, Webster's Union Speech, Hayne's "

"Stop!" I cried: "enough-~jnor than enough. And you wish to
speak these orations on the stage?"

"Ye-es," he answered ; "I am told that I can make heaps of money
by speaking 'em."

Smith promptly came to terms with the aspirant for fame, who was
duly initiated in "secret ceremonies." Allowances being made for
inevitable slips of memory and certain rhetorical embellishments, his
account of the neophyte's debut is extremely amusing; but he seems
to be in error when he says that it was "duly heralded by the press
(nearly all the editors being members of the committee)," for I can
find no reference to it in the faithful Republican, the only sheet pub-
lished in these particular months to which I have had access. But
subsequent appearances were well advertised under the heading of
"Hycondorific Hycondorocums" (June 8 and 9) and other headlines.

.... the Fourth of July Oration of Adams was chosen for the
occasion. Fioper scenery and costumes were selected, and, at the
appointed time, Macumber, strictly guarded by the sergeant-at-arms,
was stationed back of a cave-flat, which at a given signal, opened,
and the debutant appeared bodily in the presence of the audience, with
a bound, amid tremendous flashes of lightning, the flat instantly clos-
ing behind him and such an appearance as he made I Dressed in a
suit of regimentals "a world too wide," and considerably too long for
him, after the manner of Colonel Pluck or Bombastes Funoso,
flourishing a sabre as long as himself, Macumber stood in an at-
titude of stern defiance (according to instructions) until the awful
yells and shouts which greeted bin> had in some degree subsided ; then,

ASSORTED ENTERTAINMENTS 149

sheathing his sword with a dang, he strutted to the front, made three
bows or salaams in the Turkish fashion, gave a stamp with his right
foot, and proceeded with the oration, every word of which he spoke,
to the very last line, receiving abundance of applause during its
delivery from the committee-men stationed in front, as well as from
the general audience, all seeming, after a little while, to enter into
the "fun of the thing." At the conclusion of the speech, according
to orders, the orator placed himself upon a certain place previously
chalked out for him, drew his immense sword, and, poising it in the
way of a salute, was let down through a trap, and so disappeared, a
sudden flash of lightning flaming up through the opening in the
stage. Cries of "encore'" were now heard from all parts of the
house, mixed with cries of "Macumber I Macumber 1" This call not
having been anticipated calls were not so common then as they are
now no provision had been made for getting him out of the cellar
except by means of the very trap which let him down ; so an order
was hastily transmitted through the speaking-trumpet to place him
upon the trap, and to caution him to hold himself firm and steady.
All being ready, the signal was given for the trap to rise quickly,
when Macumber was projected through the stage and shot up into
the air at least two yards! The brave fellow, however, lit upon his
feet, and resumed that same defiant attitude, with sword drawn,
which had brought down such bursts of applause on his appearance
through the flats. After stamping two or three times, and bowing
low to the audience, he took his stand upon the chalked square, and
was again lowered out of sight.

So far as I can tell, this luminary lighted up the stage on seven
evenings, June 7 to 12 inclusive. The advertisements are of a piece
with the performances. On the eighth, "Mr. H. S. McCumbers,
from the Lead Mines, will make his second appearance as Major
Downing and recite one of his Letters;" on the ninth, "Third ap-
pearance of the hereafter-to-be-celebrated Mr. McCUMBERS from
the Lead Mines, who will deliver Gen. Wolfe's Address to his
Army;" on the tenth, the benefit of Eldred, the Clown, "As the 4th
of July is fast approaching and the destinies decree that he (the
Clown) shall not celebrate the National Anniversary in this city, he
has engaged (at an enoimous expense) the celebrated Mr. McCum-
bers, from the Lead Mines, to deliver a 4th of JULY ORATION,
this night, after which he will vanish in a blaze of alary; on the
eleventh, "Mr. McCUMBERS, the rapidly becoming celebrated and
popular ORATOR, from the Lead Mines and elsewhere, will sing

150 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

a song entitled I walked out one evening, one evening in spring.
After which he will make one of his peculiar exits; and, finally, on
the twelfth, "Mr. McCumber, the popular and never-to-be-suf-
ficiently-applauded Lead Mine Actor is engaged at heavy expense,
and will make his first appearance in the Circle, as Col. Pluck, going
through with equestrian feats never before attempted by himself or
anyone else ; being positively his last appearance."

Having been paid in secret conclave the large sum of twelve dol-
lars, this oratorical genius disappeared forever from the scene, and
Smith testifies that he never saw or heard of him again. But he had
played his part, and presumably pkyed it to the satisfaction of all,
including himself. His pay was certainly not bad for those days,
inasmuch as thirty dollars a week was considered an excellent salary
for a leading stock actor or actress, and surely he had realized his
greatest ambition. The sound of the plaudits which greeted him
must have rung happily in his ears for years to come.

Being faced now with a gap of a week before the arrival of the
next star, the managers resorted to spectacle and devoted six evenings
to tie fairy opera Cherry and Fair Star, which Ludlow had intro-
duced to St. Louis audiences in his Salt House days back in 1831
and which the McKenzie- Jefferson troupe had given in 1840. How,
with the limited facilities of those days, scene-designers and stage-
carpenters managed to achieve the effects described I have never
been able to comprehend, but that they did accomplish surprising
things I also believe we cannot doubt. Perhaps probably the
visions which seemed so grand to our great-grandparents would be
far less impressive in our eyes, accustomed as we are to the wonders
wrought by electricity and revolving-stages; yet, even so, they are
astonishing, and testify to great ingenuity on the part of the tech-
nicians.

Dr. Odell quotes a contemporary description of a New York
performance of Cherry and Fair Star in 1825, which must have been
of a piece with the one under present consideration except that the
waterfall in the first scene caught fire and burned up.* 2 The St.
Louis production involved birds of various colored plumage singing
in a fairy grotto, an aloe which opened and expanded its leaves, a

"Odell: Annals, m, 146.

ASSORTED ENTERTAINMENTS 151

harbor scene in which the whole stage was (apparently) filled with
water and "a superb Grecian galley" sailed down the stage "amidst
the acclamations of the spectators on the pier and ramparts," and a
burning forest containing a fountain of real water and a dragon. The
musical portion of the performance included such numbers as: the
Chorus of the Fairies, "Morning Dews the Sun Dispelling"; the
Chorus of the Hunters, "Hark, Hark in the Valley and the Dell;"
and "Wave the Grecian Flag on High."

It would seem not improbable that in the midst of all this resplend-
ent scenery, human beings would have been lost But, whether they
were or not, they were on hand in force, Mrs. Warren as the noble
hero, Cherry, and Mrs. Farren as Fair Star, plus Maynard as
Sanguinbeck, Farren as Hassanbad, Smith as Topac, and Miss John-
son as Fapillo. Of their efforts there is extant (so far as I am
aware) no review, but on the fifteenth, the Republican observed of
the opera: "It was highly applauded last night the evening being
cool the Theatre was very pleasant," and on the next day reported :
"The play itself is good, and the scenery is the most rich and beau-
tiful that has ever been presented in this theatre."

Even all this was not considered worth the price of admission, and
so was accompanied by the usual brands of farces and petit comedies.
By the end of the week these attractions found themselves competing
with the Menagerie and Circus of Waring, Raymond, and Weeks,
which offered the public nothing less than a "Rhinoceros, or unicorn."
Whether or not this was the same or another circus, I do not know.

Then came June 21, and enter at last "the Widow Wiggins."

The Widow Wiggins was a protean comedy in which Mrs. Fanny
Fitzwilliam played six different parts, and, when writing Smith, she
sometimes playfully used the name in lieu of her regular signature.
(Once she saluted him as "Sol Topac Smith.") Mrs. Fitzwilliam
appears to have been an exceptionally delightful actress, and a woman
of unusual charm and character. Although at first irked by the terms
she exacted, both St. Louis managers capitulated with the best of
grace and looked back on their relations with her as among the
pleasantest of their careers. Dr. Odell quotes from the Knicker-
bocker Magazine for December, 1839, and since the St. Louis papers

152 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

fail us where she is concerned, I shall draw upon this source for a
comment upon her and her art.

.... There is a spirit of humor about her, which displays itself in
every sentence she utters, and in every movement of her expressive
countenance. Her manner is all mirth and joyousness, and is ever
pure, natural, and true to the character which she assumes. . . . 48

She had turned up in New Orleans unexpectedly early in January
under an engagement with Caldwell, but, once they met, they failed
to hit it off, and she turned to Ludlow, who was operating his firm's
new American Theatre in competition with "the Emperor." At first,
Ludlow held off, telling her that he and Smith planned to get along
without stars, but he could not long resist her charms and the sus-
picion of the effect they might have on the paying public. So she was
soon, to use Smith's phrase, "cramming the American every night,
and throwing from 900 to 1,000 people into fits (of laughter), and
causing ftem to forget the hard times, short crops, and everything
else of a disagreeable nature."**

At first, before he had met her in the flesh, her demands had out-
raged Old Sol's frugal soul, and he spread his ire all over the pages
of his diary on January 29, 1841, "Reed, intelligence from my part-
ner in N. Orleans that Mrs. Fitzwilliams & Mr. Buckstonc have
arrived in that city. She has the modesty [to] demand $250 per
night for 10 nights; & Half the receipts of two Benefits, which would
yield her for ten nights services $2,500, besides the Benefits, which
would be about $1,000 more. Truly professional people nowadays
hold themselves at their full value" On February 14, he had this to
say: "Mrs. Fitzwilliams, an English actress of considerable note,
has been and is playing at our Theatre with great success. Her
Benefit produced a receipt of $1,262.501 Half of which went into
her pocket, with about $800 more, which constituted the considera-
tion for performing Six nights 1 [Less, however, than $250 a night.]
I should say she is tolerably well paid for her services. She is a most
charming actress, that's a fact." A week before, writing Woolf, he
had exclaimed, "Isn't she a darling of an actress?" Sol was no un-
yielding block of granite. The little lady further won his friendship

"Ibid., IV, 348.

"Smith: Theatrical Management, 155; Ludlow: Dramatic Life, 535-536.

ASSORTED ENTERTAINMENTS 153

by remaining loyal to the American when Caldwell tried to lure her
away for a special benefit at his St. Charles. "I do glory in the spunk
of little Titz' in sticking to the American."* 8

Once in St. Louis, "Fitz" stayed till the end of the season, playing
ten nights, including two benefits. On six of these she starred it
alone ; on four she shared the spotlight with John Baldwin Buckstone,
the English playwright-comedian with whom she had been making
joint appearances in the South and with whom she was to be as-
sociated professionally throughout the greater part of her career after
her return to London.

Buckstone was certainly one of the most prolific of playwrights,
having to his credit at least a hundred and fifty plays, including such
favorites as Luke the Laborer, Ellen Wareham, Agnes de Vere, The
Ice Witch, The Irish Lion, and the farce of Damon and Pythias. He
had also a long career as an actor and as a London manager both
before and after his not over-successful tour of this country. He
made a most favorable impression upon Smith, who pronounced him
"a very chaste, excellent actor" and added "I positively reverence the
little fellow." 48 Ludlow also was more than pleased, especially with
the comedian's joint appearances with Mrs. Fitzwilliam. "It was
really a treat to see these two artists perform. They had so fre-
quently acted together, and understood each other so well, that they
mingled pleasantly their comic touches of humor and facial expres-
sion, producing a combination that quite charmed their hearers, and
rendered them insensible to every thing but the exquisite acting
before them." 47 This was in New Orleans. St. Louis, which was by
no means the theatrical centre the Louisiana city was, had only
four opportunities to enjoy this teamwork.

Mrs. Fitzwilliam opened in Garrick's farce, The Irish Widow,
and Buckstone's The Widow Wiggins, in both of which she sang a
number of songs. On her second evening she played and sang Clarisse
in Bayleys "elegant petit comedy of the BARRACK ROOM," and
repeated The Widow Wiggins, described in the Republican as a
"monologue." The paper reported (how reliably I cannot say) good

Sol Smith to N. M. Ludlow, May 12, 1841.
*Diary of Sol Smith, February 14, 1841.
"Ludlow: Dramatic Life, 538-539.

154 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

business. "To judge from the audience last night, we would say that
Mrs. Fitzwilliams' engagement will piove equally as successful as at
New Orleans. The house was crowded with a fashionable audience,
and her debut was greeted with very flattering applause." On Wed-
nesday came MoncriefFs Foreign Airs and Native Graces in which
"she played Emily Staples, obliged to assume seveial disguises, in-
cluding that of a French danseuse and that of an Italian opera
singer." 48 Dr. Odell points out that when she appeared in this play
(which had been written especially for her) in New York, the
Knickerbocker pronounced her singing "a brilliant exhibition of the
most difficult music, to come up to which, the best prima donnas with
whom we have been blessed since Mrs. WOOD might strive in
vain." She also repeated The Irish Widow. The Republican re-
ported that there had been "a perfect squeeze both nights of her
appearance." On Thursday she pkyed Miss Peggy in The Country
Girl and Madame Manette in Mischief Making, two more of her
star roles. For her benefit on Friday she repeated Foreign Airs and
The Widow Wiggins.

An editorial in the Republican on Thursday, doing spadework for
the benefit, proved a dead give-away of the reliability of the ordinary
blurbs. Had the previous notices accorded with the facts, the
Theatre would have been crowded, but this is what the editor had
to say when he got down to business:

THE THEATRE We are aware that from some cause or other,
probably the hardness of the times, the theatre has not, until a few
nights past, been very liberally patronized. Mrs. Fitzwilliams' pres-
ence has, however, infused new life, and the houses have been better
than during the preceding part of the season This is pretty good
evidence that she is known and appreciated by the public. But there
is still space for more and we are surprised not to see more present.
At no time has there been a greater attraction on our boards. . . .
The repeated encores which greeted her from a fashionable house,
manifested, in a language not to be misunderstood, that she was a
favorite in no ordinary estimation. In this piece her singing was
encored eight or nine fames, rather too great a draught on her ability;
but nevertheless a manifestation which could not be otherwise than
flattering to her.

"Odell: Annals, IV, 348.

ASSORTED ENTERTAINMENTS 155

This is all very complimentary, but how about the "perfect squeeze"
a few nights before? But we have even more positive evidence.
" 'Things go most execrably here in Syracuse, my Pythias' or,
rather, in St. Louis in the theatrical line. We have sustained heavy
losses during the season just closing; and if we experience no favor-
able change during our fall season, the 'fortune* every body insists we
made in New Orleans, and every body can't be wrong, will be soon
swept away by the expenses of this extensive establishment. . . . Fanny
Fitzwilliam has brought us up a little during the present week. She
and Buckstone 'go it* together next week, and then we dose for the
season." 49 Ludlow says in his book that Mrs. Fitzwilliam and
Buckstone "played a two weeks' engagement [not exactly a fact] to
very fair business, considering the times, but not equal to what they
would have done under more favorable circumstances." 50 Writing to
Mat Field on June 23, he said: "Mrs. Fitz second night (last
night) one hundred less than the first night only 'think of that
Master Brooke' Every body delighted with her *but bless you they
wont pye.' "

About Buckstone's brief visit there is little to report. I have come
across only one brief comment, a few of the familiar editorial kind
words to the effect that the performance of the preceding evening
(June 29) was "the best thing we have seen for a long time," the
truth of which assertion there seems to be no good reason to doubt.
He opened on the twenty-sixth in two of his own works, Married
Life, a comedy, and A Kiss in the Dark, a farce. In the former he
was supported by Mrs. Farren. On Monday he and Mrs. Fitz-
william 'went it' together in two novelties. The first was a farce
entitled My Little Adopted in which the lady pkyed Laurette Sey-
mour, and sang "The Fox and the Grapes" and "Robin Adair" to
her own harp accompaniments. Buckstone was John Dibbs and Mrs.
Farren, Rose. Then came the former's "last new piece," Snapping
Turtles or Mr. and Mrs. T. T. Timms, in which they assumed all
the roles. Ludlow in The Promissory Note brought down the cur-
tain.

*Sol Smith to E. Woolf, June 25, 1841 (Smith: Theatrical Manage-
ment, 160).

BO Lndlow: Dramatic Life, 544.

156 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

The Tuesday bill which pleased the editor was made up of Lemon's
Out of Place with Mrs. Fitzwilliam as Sophy Sollikens, and a
repetition of Snapping Turtles. Between the two, Mr. Lavette, ac-
cording to his wont, danced this time a sailor's hornpipe. The fol-
lowing evening they introduced what was termed "a new Farce,"
The Christening. It was new to St. Louis, but New York had seen
it more than five years before.* 1 The names of the characters played
by the stars are intriguing Mrs. Dolly Lovechild and Mr. Hopkins
Twiddy. There were also repetitions of Out of Place and My Little
Adopted. Thursday was devoted to Foreign Airs and Native Graces
"(positively) for the last time," and the "comedy altered from the
SOLDIERS DAUGHTER entitled WIDOW McKENZIE,"
which gave the lady a chance to sing several Scotch songs. Buck-
stone played Timothy Quaint, Ludlow Frank Heartall, and Farren
Governor Heartall. On Friday Buckstone took his benefit in his
new three-act drama The Banished Star or A Leaf from the Life
of an Actress. In this little piece, written especially for her by her
associate, Mrs. Fitzwilliam, as a former prima donna disguised as a
peasant, gave imitations of the great soprano Malibran, the singer
Rubini, and the famous danseuse Fanny Elssler. (Was there any
connection between Mrs. Fitzwilliam's song, "O could I from my
Prison Break," and the escape from jail of four Negro murderers ? It
will be noted that on the evening of the day of their execution the
Theatre featured the Hanging Scene in George Bamwell.) Then
the beneficiary displayed himself as Inkpen in Tom Noddy's Secret,
"his original character," opposite Mrs. Fitzwilliam. The joint en-
gagement was brought to a dose with the spring season in the form
of Mrs. Fitzwilliam's benefit made up of selected scenes from her
various pieces plus The Deadshot in which both she and Buckstone
took part. This was on Monday, July 5.

On Saturday the stars had had a night off while Smith played his
great role, Mawworm (what a name I) in The Hypocrite. As this
was the eve of the Fourth, the band contributed a "Grand National
Overture," and a "Grand Transparency" was "exhibited in front of
the Theatre."

Annals, IV, 80.

ASSORTED ENTERTAINMENTS 157

Officially the season had now closed. But this fact did not preclude
further performances. A number of the most prominent and respected
citizens, aware, as they said in a letter addressed to the managers,
that the season had been a disastrous one, proffered them a compli-
mentary benefit. (Perhaps they had not forgotten the firemen.)
This gesture meant that these gentlemen would undertake to sell out
the house. Back in St. Louis on a visit, Mat Field lent his services
to the cause and was billed as the star of the evening as Feter Spyk
in The Loan of a Lover > with the two Farrens. Each manager was
also featured, Ludlow as Sir David Dunder in Ways and Means,
Mrs. Russell playing Lady Dunder, and Smith as Sancho in Lovers
Quarrels.

But the end was still not yet not quite.

On July 10 there was a big outdoor event in St. Louis, in its way
far more dramatic than any show in the Theatre or the Museum.
It was free and it attracted a much larger crowd than could have
been squeezed into any house of entertainment. People came not
only from the city itself, but from the surrounding countryside. Per-
haps St. Louis had never before been so crowded. The Republican
of the twelfth noted that in the crowd were many fine equipages with
"ladies" in them, who later turned out to be not what they had
seemed.

The occasion was nothing less than the public execution of four
Negroes. The affair was carried off in the grand manner of those
days. There was a procession to the gallows. Then a clergyman de-
livered a sermon, after which each of the condemned made a few ap-
propriate remarks, more or less on the theme that "crime doesn't
pay." These ceremonies completed, they were launched into eternity.
(The severed heads were later exhibited in a local pharmacy.)

Among those present was Smith. Perhaps he went to get a pointer
or two. At all events, that evening the Theatre regaled "a large party
of ladies and gentlemen from ALTON, who had selected this eve-
ning to attend the Theatre, (not being aware that the season had
closed)," with the tragedy of George Barn-well with (for the first
time) the Hanging Scene. To take any possible bitter taste out of

^Missouri Rtfubllcan, July 10, 1841. Alton is located about twenty
miles above St Louis on the Illinois side of the river.

158 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

the mouths of the guests from Illinois the program was concluded
with Turn Out, in. which farce the partners made one of their rare
joint appearances, the senior as Restive, the junior as George Red-
tail. "The steamer Eagle will remain to convey the Alton party
home after the performance." 8 *

The complimentary benefit was not the only relief accorded the
hardpressed managers. The stockholders of the Theatre also con-
tributed, for Smith noted in his diary on the tenth that he had at-
tended a meeting at which these gentlemen had reduced the rent "to
6 p.c. on the cost of the property provided we would extend our
lease four years."

VI

"WISE MEN NE'ER SIT AND WAIL
THEIR WOES"

FALL OF 1841

The spring season having resulted in serious losses to the firm,
Ludlow and Smith were faced with the necessity of making these
good before departing down the river for their winter season in the
South. Not being men to accept defeat, they set about employing
their long and rich experience to better their circumstances, and prob-
ably there were in the country no two men better equipped to tackle
the job.

On August 25 they opened their fall season in a blaze of fresh
paint. The young "scenic artist," C. L. Smith, had transformed into
new splendor the auditorium originally decorated by his namesake,
J. R. Smith. The Republican of the twenty-fourth contains a long
and detailed description of the new glories, from which I quote a few
lines.

In searching for his leading feature and grand effect of the tout
ensemble, Mr. Smith has aimed at once to be national and local.
Likenesses of the various Presidents of the Union adorn the panel
work of the first and second tiers, that of Washington occupying the
centre place in front of the stage. The, third aide is decorated with
the old mythological devices expressive of the connection with the
drama. The dome above is also wrought out with much ingenuity of
design. The arms of the Union form a beautiful centre, from which
nine richly executed panels divulge, each representing miniature na-
tional emblems, born aloft by flying Zephyrs and Cupids.

The curtain was most impressive, depicting a statue of Washington
modelled after Canova's figure with "the proper costume" substituted
for the Roman toga, standing in the opening of a massive arch
through which could be seen a sweeping panorama of the Mississippi
and St. Louis. On a piece of painted drapery from the dome to the
proscenium arch was "the bust of Missouri's venerable Governor,
Gen. Clark, the early mountain traveler, now no more." The editor,
or whoever was responsible for the article, was nothing less than

ecstatic.

159

160 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

Somewhat less aesthetic and more practical was another feature of
the new season. "During the vacation," says Ludlow, "we came to
the conclusion to try the experiment of reducing the prices of admis-
sion to the theatre, from seventy-five cents to fifty for dress-circle and
parquet, from fifty to thirty cents for second tier or family-circle,
leaving the gallery at the old price, twenty-five cents." 1 Of this
expedient he expresses his disapproval. "Such a course generally in-
creases the number of visitors, but not the aggregate amount of cash
receipts, and invariably shows a diminution in intelligence and aver-
age respectability of the audience. Such was the result with us in
this instance." This account does not accord with Smith's version set
forth in a letter to Edwin Woolf dated October 21, two weeks before
the end of the season. "The half-price system successful gained
$600 or $700 on the season, in place of losing as many thousands, as
we did in the spring season." 2 This letter was written at the time,
and I am inclined to accept it as more reliable than Ludlow's written
many years later, especially in view of the many other errors in the
latter's narrative. On the other hand, it is not impossible that the
situation changed during the last two weeks of the season, though I
think that in such a case Smith would have commented on the fact
when he published the letter in question.

The Ludlow and Smith establishment was a very considerable one.
Smith in one of his letters calls attention to a difference between the
practice of the Western firm and that of those in the Eastern states,
with the possible exception of Niblo's in New York: ". . . they all
(it appears to me) close whenever it suits the convenience of the
managers, without the least consideration for their companies, while
we go on sometimes at a loss of thousands." 8 These facts should in
all fairness be borne in mind when we recall the accusations of
closeness aimed at the partners.

There were also changes in the personnel of the company. This
was strengthened very considerably by the addition of Benedict,
better known as "Ben," De Bar and his wife, better known as "Mrs.
Conduit." The former was an English actor, at this time thirty-two

iLndlow: Dramatic Life, 544.

"Smith: Thtatncal Management, 160.

8 Sol Smith to Edwin Woolf, June 27, 1841. Ibid.

WISE MEN NE'ER SIT AND WAIL 161

years old, who had come to this country in 1834 and made his Ameri-
can debut at the St. Charles in New Orleans the following year. By
this time he had attained a reputable place on the stage, both as an
actor and as a stage-manager. In later years he was to be closely
identified with St. Louis, when in 1855 he stepped into the vacancy
created by the retirement of Ludlow and Smith four years before,
and carried on as the proprietor of one of the outstanding stock com-
panies of the country until his death in 1877. (He had taken over
the St. Charles Theatre in New Orleans on the dissolution of his
predecessors' firm in 1853.) As an actor he was especially famous
for his Falstaff. Smith, who died before De Bar won his fame in that
iole, thought Strapado, the drunken corporal in The Dumb Girl of
Genoa, his greatest part. "I do think I have gone to the St. Charles
Theatre at least twenty times to see this truly wonderful per-
formance, and, moi cover, I have no hesitation in saying that if Ben
had not grown so fat and unwieldy, I would go twenty times more
to see him play the same part."* His wife was a singer and actress
who had come into some notoriety a few years before when Mr. and
Mrs. Joseph Wood, the celebrated English singers, had got them-
selves into very hot water by failing to volunteer for her benefit at
the Park Theatre, and, instead, giving a concert of their own at the
same hour. This occurred before her marriage to De Bar. 3

New too were Mr. and Mrs. J. C. Germon, who, it will be re-
called, had been members of the McKenzie- Jefferson company which
had played a brief engagement in Concert Hall in the spring of
1840, and which had already contributed Sankey to the corps. Mrs.
Germon was a niece of Joseph II and a first cousin to the most famous
of all Rip Van Winkles. Neither of these young people occupied an
exalted post, being rarely entrusted with leading business and not
infrequently seeing their names omitted from the published casts.
(By this I do not mean that they did not act, but merely that they
were not regarded as important enough to be advertised.) Finally,
throughout this season Smith remained on deck and played a more

4 Smith' Theatrical Management, 156.

I believe that Hyde and Conard's Encyclopedia and History of St. Louis
errs when it says that De Bar first appeared in St Louis in 1838. Not
only have I found no reference to any such appearance, but the advertise-
ment in the Republican of August 25, 1841, states definitely that this ia
his first.

162 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

active part in the performances than he had done for some time.
What is more, he and his partner were often seen on the stage to-
gether. Other newcomers were unimportant, some of them not
identified by either partner.

Some few pages back I quoted Ludlow as having informed Mrs.
Fitzwilliam, when she applied for an engagement in New Orleans
during the previous winter, that he and Smith had resolved to try to
get along without stars. We have seen that when it came to that
lady, the managers broke down and engaged her as well as a few
other guests. In their fall season they endeavored to go it on their
own, and to some extent succeeded. About sixty performances were
given, only twenty-eight (so far as I can tell) involving outsiders.
Of these, one was Mat Field, the other a demonstrator of hypnotism,
each participating in a single bill. At first, De Bar, who was an
uncommonly good actor, served well in lieu of a star; in fact, in
the advertisement for the first night his name is printed in capitals
(as is his wife's on the following evening).

De Bar's debut was accomplished, on the opening night, in the
role of Robert Macaire, which had been played during the spring
season by J. S. Browne. Mrs. Farren was again Marie; this time,
Saunders and Sankey were announced as Jacques Strop and Germeuil
respectively.

During the 1840's, St. Louis, like many other American cities,
was in the throes of a grand controversy on the subject of hypno-
tism, or "animal magnetism" as it was still often termed. Was it or
was it not valid? It had its proponents and its opponents, who
argued back and forth in meetings and out of meetings. Public
demonstrations were held and leading men lined up on one side or
the other. Would it or would it not prove the answer to the prayer
for some form of anesthesia? Now, as has been shown before,
Ludlow and Smith were not the gentlemen to overlook opportunities
at their very doorstep. So from time to time they resurrected Mrs.
Inchbald's old, but ever-popular farce, Animal Magnetism or Doctors
Will Differ, which had been introduced to St. Louis nearly a quarter
of a century before in the old Thespian Theatre on Main Street.
So out it came again on the opening night of this season, and, to see
that justice was done and no favoritism shown, each partner under-

WISE MEN NE'ER SIT AND WAIL 163

took the part of a disputing physician, Smith as Doctor Press-on, and
Ludlow as Doctor La Fleur. Maynard played Mr. Editor. A
Miss Johnson was the Ella, and a Miss Warren, the Lisette. The
performance started at eight, and the season was on.

Evidently the public enjoyed the burlesque, parody, satire, or what-
ever one wishes to call it, for it was repeated on the thirty-first. But
the management could do better still. On September 14, it engaged
a professional hypnotist, one "Doctor" Preston, to "Magnetize a
Lady in presence of the audience in order to establish the verity of
the mysterious faculty of Animal Magnetism and rebut the redicule
[.sic] and burlesque attempted to be cast upon it by unbelievers." 8
This defence, wjhether sincere or of the tongue-in-the-cheek-variety,
having been bodily laid before the audience, what did the managers
do? They again presented themselves as the two doctors afore-
mentioned. "During the piece, Doctors L. & S. will give some
peculiar EXPERIMENTS of their own, which will be calculated
to convince the most sceptical that 'SOME THINGS CAN BE
DONE AS WELL AS OTHERS.' " The curtain-raiser of the
evening was The Old English Gentleman, with Farren as Squire
Broadlands, Mrs. Farren as Fanny, and De Bar, still following in the
footsteps of Browne, as Horace Ametrius. Mrs. De Bar made her
bow on the second night of the season as Lisette in The Swiss
Cottage, which shared the bill with the comedy of Alice in which
Sol was the Dingle. I have found no newspaper comments on
either of the De Bars.

The next seven performances since I have not seen a copy of
the paper of September 1, I cannot tell what happened then were
given over to more or less tried-and-true pieces, the two partners
and the De Bars being active participants. On August 28, St.
Louisans had their first chance to enjoy De Bar's inimitable Strapado,
his wife playing the dumb girl of the title. In fact, this lady appears
to have been very versatile, ready with pantomime or song, whichever
was required. The night before she had played the mute Myrtillo
in The Broken Sword. But when a musical piece like Guy Manner-
ing; for instance (September 3), was on the bill, she was on hand
with Julia Mannering and her song. And in two months she was

^Missouri Republican, September 14, 1841.

164 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

dead of tuberculosis I It was in the Scott opera that Germon first
stepped on the stage of the St. Louis Theatre, appearing as Bertram
("with songs"). The advertisement in the Republican presents an
unusual and surprising feature: the name of Maynard, who played
Mannering, is printed in capitals, whereas those of Smith, the
Farrens, and the De Bars were not so distinguished. Explain that
who can.

Although most of the plays given between August 25 and Sep-
tember 6 were old stand-bys, three were at least almost novelties,
the first and most important being Bulwer's Money, which was done
on August 30 with the following cast: Evelyn, Maynard; Sir
Frederick, De Bar; Sir John Vesey, Farren; Graves, Sankey ; Sharp,
Saunders; and Lady Clara, Mrs. Farren. The new comedy would
seem not to have interested St. Louisans as much as it did playgoers
elsewhere, since it was not repeated unless on one or both of the
two evenings for which I have no record. The other two "first-
timers," which were offered together on September 4, obviously
fared no better. The first of these was The Conscript or The
Emperor and Soldier (which had been done years before at the
National Theatre in New York under the title of Napoleon, the sub-
title being the same). T The part of Napoleon in this petit comedy
was assumed by Germon, others on the roster being Maynard, De
Bar, Sankey, Farren, Saunders, and Mrs. Farren. In The Merry
Loafer, with which the program ended, both Ludlow and Mrs. De
Bar contributed songs.

On September 6 came the first star, "Gentleman George" Barrett,
returning just a year after his first visit. He played six nights, not
including his benefit, which occurred on the thirteenth. His first
role was Ambrose in The Two Friends, Maynard being the Herbert,
Germon the Valentine, and Mrs. Farren the Elinor. Rose, which
in 1837 Mrs. De Bar (still Mrs. Conduit) had played to Barrett's
Ambrose in New York was here assigned to Mrs. Germon. 8
Barrett was also in the cast of the after-piece, His Last Legs
(another novelty) as O'Callaghan, supported by Mrs. Russell and

T Odell: Annals, IV, 467.
L, IV, 168.

WISE MEN NE'ER SIT AND WAIL 165

De Bar. On Wednesday he took part in another new piece, The
Irish Attorney or Galway Practice in IJJO.

Thursday (September 9) brought another of the probably very
creditable performances of Tine School for Scandal which it was the
good fortune of St. Louisans to see during the first half the nineteenth
century and which, I suspect, we should have difficulty in duplicating
today. Barrett, there is every reason to believe, was well equipped
to interpret Sir Peter, and Mrs. Farren was probably a very com-
petent Lady Teazle. In all likelihood Farren if "steady" did a
good job as Sir Oliver. Ludlow was, of course, too old to be wholly
convincing as Charles, but he was an experienced comedian and
thoroughly at home in the part. Smith certainly was more than
equal to Crabtree, and De Bar to Sir Benjamin Backbite, the role
of his American debut. We have Smith's testimony that Sankey
was exceptionally good in old men's parts, and there is good reason
to conclude that Rowley was well taken care of. These, I should
surmise, were the pillars of the performance; about the others I am
more hesitant to hazard an opinion. They were Maynard as Joseph,
Mrs. De Bar as Mrs. Candour, Mrs. Russell as Lady Sneerwell
(I should think an instance of bad casting), Mrs. Warren as Maria,
Germon as Careless, Saunders as Moses, and Sutherland, Wright,
Johnson, Rose, and Lavette (the dancer) in smaller roles. (Miss
Johnson and Mrs. Germon were reserved for the after-piece, The
Cave-Ite.)

In one respect I am quite ready to qualify my appraisal of this
performance. Despite the talents and the experience of several
members of the cast, I cannot think that everything can have
"clicked" (to use a modern word) nearly so well as would one of
ours today. It will be remembered that Ludlow was delighted with
the teamwork of Mrs. Fitzwilliam and Buckstone, based on their
long association in the parts they played or in similar ones. Such
can hardly have been the case in the present instance. Some of the
people, it is true, had worked together for some years, but others
were new to the aggregation. Furthermore, The School for Scandal
had not been acted for months, and there can have been no more
than one rehearsal. So it would be to expect a miracle if one looked
for a smooth, well-integrated performance.

166 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

Barrett next essayed Tom Tape in The Englishman in India
and, for the last night of his engagement, Goldfinch in The Road to
Ruin, one of the most popular of the current dramatized sermons.
De Bar undertook Harry Dornton, and Farren his father, with Mrs.
Farren as Sophia, Sankey as Silky, and Saunders as Jacob. "Theie
are many," quoth the Republican (September 11), "who are already
to [sic] well acquainted with the broadroad, in reality; but as this
is only a fancy sketch, it may be more interesting to those than to
any others; at any rate, it is an excellent play, that has a moral in
it, from which may be drawn very beneficial lessons, and may cause
some heedless youths of our acquaintance to pause in their downward
course." The question is, would they pause long enough to come
to see a play which they knew beforehand to be a stern warning
aimed at their brotherhood ? Perhaps they may have been enticed
to Third and Olive by the after-piece, the little musical play of The
Poor Soldier, long a favorite, with De Bar, Smith, Farren, Mrs
Russell, and the Germons.

On Monday, the thirteenth, Gentleman George said au revoir in
three plays, not an unusual procedure at benefits, his three parts
being Belmour in Is He Jealous* (opposite Mrs. De Bar) , Charles
Paragon in Perfection (opposite Mrs. Farren), and O'Callaghan in
His Last Legs.

Two nights later over the horizon rose the so-called "Star of the
West." This was the celebrated Mrs. Alex Drake, who had now
for nearly twenty years reigned as the great tragedy queen of the
Western stage. She and Ludlow had started their careers together
when, as tyro-members of the company of her future father-in-law,
Old Sam Drake, they had travelled by wagon and flatboat from
Albany to Kentucky twenty-six years before. She was Frances Ann
Denny then. Later, soon after her marriage, she had established
herself as an actress of great power and become a star of considerable
magnitude. Although Ludlow was mistaken when he wrote that
she was with the Drake company when it visited St. Louis in 1820,
she had paid the city several visits during the 1830's; she had, how-
ever, been absent since 1837. 9

B Ludlow: Dramatic Life, 188 and 191. In my The Theatre on the
Frontier, p. 201, I express the miitaken opinion that her visit in 1837 was
her lait to St Louii.

WISE MEN NE'ER. Sir AND WAIL 167

As a matter of fact, Mrs. Drake had been in town the previous
spring and, after reaching Louisville in April, wrote Smith ex-
pressing her regret that she had not had the pleasure of seeing him,
"as it might have led to making some arrangement, for my playing
a farewell engagement with you in that aty. I have settled my
family in Covington, and shall travel most of the summer myself.
If you have any nights open I wish you would reserve them for me
either immediately after my engagement here or after my return
from the north." 10 What had been the matter with Ludlow? Why
had she not treated with him? Or is it possible that she had and that
they had not come to terms ? But if she had, she would surely have
said so. In the end she did get her nights, but not until September.

She made her re-entry in that most depressing of roles, Mrs.
Haller in Kotzebue's The Stranger, Ludlow assuming the title role
and Smith that of Peter. De Bar and Farren also took part, as
Francis and Solomon respectively. There was one member of the
cast, a debutant, who did not get his name into the published ad-
vertisements. "Master Thaddeus Smith aged 16 months dressed
in a jacket & trowsers made his first (and probably his only) appear-
ance on the stage, in the character of William Wintersen." 11 This
may not have been the only time he braved the footlights, but he did
not, like his half-brothers, Mark and Sol, Jr., make the stage his
vocation; he became, instead, a civil engineer. 13

On her second night Mrs. Drake was seen in one of her most
successful roles, Madame Clermont in Dimond's Adrian and Orilla
or A Mothers Vengeance, a sentimental melodrama which no one,
seemingly, had attempted in St. Louis since 1838. Her support in-
cluded Maynard as Adrian, Mrs. Farren as Orilla, De Bar as
Lothaire (with a song), and Saunders as Michael. When she had
last enacted this part, a "communicant" had poured out restrained
encomiums in the Republican, but this time no critic, enthusiastic or
not, lifted his head or, rather, his pen. 18 All we know is that the
afterpiece was, appropriately enough, Frightened to Death, with De

"Frances Ann Drake to Sol Smith, April 24, 1841.

'"Missouri Republican, September 15, 1841.

"Smith: Theatrical Management, 235. Thaddeus Sanford Smith was
one of Sol's three sons by his second wife, Elizabeth Pugsley Smith,
whom he had married in 1839.

"Carson: The Theatre on the frontier, 201.

168 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

Bar and the Farrens. In what, if anything, the star appeared on
Friday, I cannot say, since I have found no paper of that date, but
for her benefit on Saturday, September 18, she chose Tobin's The
Honey Moon, than which no other "old war hoss" was more staid
and reliable, taking, of course, the part of Juliana. Ludlow was
the Duke Aranza, and Smith, the Mock Duke. (I wonder who was
putting the "ads" in the papers with Ludlow's name in "caps" and
Smith's in lowercase.) Perhaps as a sequel to The Honey Moon,
Mrs. Drake recited "The Scolding Wife Reclaimed," and concluded
the evening with The Wedding Day. Quite a matrimonial evening!
I wonder if these ladies really believed all these opera had to say
about the proper submissiveness of the distaff side?

The interregnum which ensued after Mrs. Drake's departure and
which lasted about two weeks was not without its interesting features.
One of these was the new and lavish production of Louisa Medina's
dramatization of Bulwer's The Last Days of Pompeii, which was
first given on Septemer 20, ran for six consecutive evenings, and had
a seventh performance (on October 2) before the scenery was finally
sent to the storehouse. This work, which had been introduced to
the New York stage in 1835, enjoyed a great vogue perhaps as much
because of the public love for spectacle and display as for any other
reason. 1 * Smith had put it on with the New Orleans contingent
of the company the previous spring with great, if with understand-
ably surprising, eclat. "This morning," he wrote Ludlow on May 1,
"was the first rehearsal, & tomorrow will be the last, as we must
play it tomorrow night 1 We may stumble through it decently I
don't know." He must, therefore, have been somewhat startled by
the critical reaction of two men who assuredly knew whereof they
spoke, for two days later he added this bit : "Bucfcstone & Scott high
in praise of Last Days. They say that the last scene excels anything
they have ever seen in the same piece." 15

"Odell: Annalj, IV, 31.

U J. M. Scott, actor and manager. "J. M. Scott is here, staying with me
a few days. He ia not ao genteel a figure as he was 22 years ago but I
Believe he is a good fellow, I like him; & have endeavored during the
past season, to show him some little civilities in the way of business
Sending him the 'stars,' making engagements for him, etc. He is about
my own age, but looks much more reverend. He has contrived, (and I
am glad of it,) to preserve from the wreck which. Theatricals have experi-
enced a snug & comfortable home for himself Sc interesting family. May
he live long & prosper T" (Diary of Sol Smith, May 8, 1841).

WISE MEN NE'ER Srr AND WAIL 169

The advertisement in the Republican (September 20) gives, not
only the names and roles of the chief actors involved, but also those
of the technicians, an evidence of the importance ascribed to the
spectacular nature of the production. The scenery was, of course,
from the hand of C. L. Smith "and assistant." The music was com-
posed by C. H. Mueller. Even those in charge of the machinery,
dresses, and properties were identified, C. W. Crannels, Nelson, and
De Gentzen. As for the dramatis personae:

Arbaces - Farren Niger - Johnson

Glaucus - Maynard Saga of Vesuvius - Mrs. Farren

Lydon - De Bar Nydia - Mrs. De Bar

Burbo - Sankey lone - Mrs. Warren

Although the press was full of recriminations on the subject of
President Tyler's second Bank Bill veto, the Republican did find
space for a brief notice. It began with the statement that the
"splendid drama of the Last Days of Pompeii is received with un-
rivalled success. On Monday, at least one thousand persons were in
the Theatre, indeed we have seldom seen a better house." Ob-
viously, as is evident from what follows, this is a legitimate review
and not a "blurb" fathered by the management of the Theatre.
"The scenery, decorations, &, have been got up in a style creditable
to any Theatre ; and the acting, though not faultless, is good. It is
a pity that Mr. Farren cannot pronounce his words so that they can
be understood by his audience. In this he is more in fault playing
Arbaces, than in any character we have ever seen him attempt."
Had George Percy been tippling again? Probably. Usually the
tale of the blind Nydia was saved to serve as the piece de resistance
of the evening, but on the twenty-third it was given first "in order
to allow the younger branches of families to witness it and retire
early."

On the twenty-fourth the managers announced that the " 'ex-
periment' having demonstrated that the HALF PRICE SYSTEM
operates favorably to the establishment, it will be continued until
further notice the managers still reserving the right to restore the
old prices whenever they shall deem it expedient to do so." Three
nights later, Sol had a benefit as Dominee Sampson in Guy Manner-
ing. He even joined in the singing, for instance, in the first act

170 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

finale, "A Fox Jumped over the Parson's Gate." Henry Bertram
fell to the lot of Gennon, Dandie Dinmont to De Bar, and Gilbert
Glossin to Farren. Who played Dirk I cannot tell, but Mary Ann
Farren tried her luck with the part of Meg Merrilies, not yet
identified with the great Charlotte Cushman. "In order to give
effect to this splendid composition, the whole Vocal strength of the
company will be called into requisition, including the members of the
company which perform characters in the piece." This statement
apparently refers, not to the "opera" as a whole, but to the con-
certed number of "The Chough and the Crow" and "a full chorus
of Gipsies." It does not seem to have mattered whether or not
these various players could really sing. I doubt if Smith was any
mastersmger, but he had compensations to offer, and so between ''the
pieces he threw in "the once popular song of the PLOUGHMAN
TURNED ACTOR." In conclusion, Ludlow came to the aid of
his partner as Sir David Dunder in Be Quiet / Know It.

Then, after two nights of Cherry and Fear Star with a few
changes in the cast, De Bar taking over Topac, and his wife, the
Fairy Queen, came one of the most interesting features of the fall
season. At least, it seems, for certain reasons, interesting to me; it
patently did not so impress St. Louis audiences. This was the local
premiere of Quasimodo, the Bell Ringer of Notre Dame, an "operatic
Drama, from the French of Victor Hugo, with appropriate scenery,
dresses and appointments." Whether or not this novelty was the
melodrama generally known as "Esmeralda" with music added, I
have no way of telling, but a note in the paper suggests that mortals
too may move in mysterious ways their wonders to perform. "The
music of the piece," says the Republican, "is selected and adapted
from the popular German operas of C. M. Von Weber, by C. H.
Mueller." The scenery, dresses, and appointments may quite pos-
sibly have been wholly appropriate, but I can scarcely say the same
for the music. Just why Von Weber's characteristically German
scores should have been considered suitable accompaniment for this
Gallic play, perhaps Mr. Mueller knew. If so, he probably had a
monopoly of the understanding. But, whatever the incongruities,
the "operatic drama" was given and almost as promptly withdrawn.
It served Mrs. De Bar as a benefit the following evening, and then

WISE MEN NE'ER SIT AND WAIL 171

was seen and heard no more. She probably liked it because Esme-
ralda fell to her lot, and the hunchback to that of her husband. Let
us hope she did and that she was given a good send-off, because she
was almost at the end of her road. After three more appearances,
she too was seen and heard no more. With her in the cast were
Farren as the Arch-deacon Frollo, Saunders as Gringoire, and Mrs.
Farren as St. Gudule.

On October 4, Mrs. Farren had the pleasure of singing (for her
first benefit) "Home Sweet Home" in Payne's Clan, the Mead of
Milan, supported in her performance of the tide role by her husband,
Smith, De Bar, and Saunders.

Then, on the next evening, Dan Marble returned to St. Louis
for another fall engagement. It was a short one, only five nights,
and his repertoire was almost identical with that of the year before.
But his visit did lead to a controversy and, apparently, to some hard
feelings. For his benefit on October 11, a bill composed of scenes
from his favorite plays, plus a one-act piece called sometimes Ad-
vertising for a Wife and sometimes Ebenexer Venture, the prices
were restored "to the old standard." According to the Republican
(October 9), this move was made "in compliance with numerous
requests from the friends of the gentleman, and other well-wishers of
the establishment." To this action the paper took exception. "Had
the change been made for one of our stock actors it might have been
tolerated ; but for a star, for an occasional visitor, however celebrated,
we think it unfair, and on this account alone wish him a 1"*i house."

On the thirteenth the editor returned to the charge.

MR. MARBLE'S BENEFIT. It is probable that this gentle-
man's benefit, on Monday night last, was, in dollars and cents, quite
equal to what it would have been if there had been no change of
price, but in point of numbers it was far below what it would have
been had no alteration been made. While we were constrained, by a
sense of right, to approbate the decision of the public, we confess our
regret that it was so. Mr. Marble is deservedly a favorite with the
St. Louis audience; the spontaneous call after the curtain fell, suf-
ficiently attests the high place he has in the regard of this com-
munity it was an honor we have never seen conferred on any other
actor, on the first night of his engagement. If he is re-engaged, or
if he takes a Benefit here, under different circumstances, he will find
that it was the principle, and not him, that the public disapproved.

172 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

The writer concludes with a defence of the managers, who, he
says were ill advised, not perhaps so much in making the change as
in not taking the public into their confidence. They should have
explained "that their engagement was made with Mr. Marble long
previous to the reduction of the prices, and without any expectation
of their being changed." He also added that the firm had suffered
severe losses during the first part of the season, and that they had
thought, not unreasonably, that the occasion was a good one on which
to do some recouping.

P. S. Marble did play a re-engagement of two nights and a benefit,
and the prices were not raised.

Before this amende honorable was made, the Theatre was the
scene of a production such as we today, for better or worse, seldom or
never see. In the first half of the nineteenth century elaborate bur-
lesques of even the most tragic plays were not at all uncommon and
often participated in by the foremost actors and actresses of the
day. This one, a travesty of the ever popular opera Cinderella, the
work of Mat Field (now assistant editor of the New Orleans
Picayune} was much the most elaborate staged in St. Louis up to
that time.

SCHINDER ELLER

This piece, produced on Tuesday night, at the Theatre, is a
native travestie, and one of the first, we believe, distinguished by
genuine paternity in the Far West. It was written in this city,
designed for representation in this city and New Orleans, and the
Author is a well known son of the buskin, who was for several
seasons a student of the Drama amongst us, and graduated honorably.
All parodies and burlesques labour still under the inconveniences
and difficulties of prudish frowns and hypocritical objections; but
the humorist who has furnished us with the present dish of fun,
seems to possess a spirit which can conceive a soul existing in the
Ludicrous as well as in the sublime. . . .

The conceit of the piece is entirely built upon the late agitation of
Animal Magnetism in this city, and the author carries out (in fancy)
the romantic clairvoyance of Mesmer to the fullest extent that its
German originator, or any of his followers, ever dare advocate. The
thing, throughout, is a pure bit of humor, harmlessly using the ques-
tionable science as a vehicle for dramatic merriment, and showing no
indications of satirical censorship levelled at those inclined to faith in
the extraordinary revelations of Mesmerism. . . .

WISE MEN NE'ER. Srr AND WAIL 173

Meaner, himself, is prominent in the piece, occupying the position
of the Fairy Queen of the old opera. He benevolently assists the
loves of Stillman [a well-known New Orleans manufacturer of
sarsaparilla] and Elssler, magnetizing them both, and bringing them
together in that yet unappropriated territory known as Fairy Land.
A famous wag of New Orleans fills the position of Dandini, know-
ing what Stillman is about, and following him in a similar state of
magnetic clairvoyance. Here also appears at the Baron's castle
(who?) why, no less distinguished personages than Miss Martineau
and Lady Blessington!

"Both dead in love, and dying for the Doctor 1" and both having
come 'full split' from London, beautifully asleep, to set their caps
and catch Prince Sarsapanlla in Fairy Land 1 The oddity of such a
mixed assemblage, in local costume, usurping the fairy scene of
Cinderella, is truly laughable, and the effect irresistably comic. Col.
Umbrella, we have before heard of thro' the columns of the Picayune.
He is a highly distinguished individual of the Second Municipality,
New Orleans. He is a gentleman of great wealth and honor; is a
professor of cane-and-umbrellaolooy. His profession is the first, and
he is the first of his profession. This is the personage selected by the
author to travel, in magnetic slumber, to Fairy Land, and take
temporary possession of old Baron Pompolini's castle.

Poor Schinder Eller is successfully magnetized in the last scene,
and dances the celebrated Elssler cracomenne beautifully asleep. . . .

So much for the Republican's dramatic critic (October 14). He
ends by saying that he had planned to comment on the scenery and
decorations, but he lacked the space. Fortunately, however, Smith
fills in this gap in a letter to Woolf published in his memoirs.

.... It was highly successful here for four nights, and we expect
great things of it in New Orleans, where the scene is laid, especially
if Ellsler goes to the St. Charles again. She is the Cinderella, and
Dr. Stillman, the sarsapanlla man, the Prince. It is very funny. It
plays an hour and a quarter in one act. . . . Only think of Dr.
Mesmer (in place of the Fairy Queen) being projected out of an
alligator's mouth, head foremost, and alighting on his feet in an
attitude! Schinder ella comes up standing in a tub of sarsaparilla I
Frogs (very large ones, with glistening eyes, made of any quantity
of foil leaf) are seen swimming in the swamp; steam-boats passing
and repassing in the lake beyond; railroad cars running down and
from the lake, etc., etc. In the last scene a magical change takes
place. The doctor's laboratory is transformed into the ballroom of
the St. Louis Exchange Hotel, and, after the Cracovienne by Eller,
a pas de quatre takes place between two bottles of sarsaparilla sirup

174 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

and two boxes of sarsaparilla pills! I take some credit to myself foi
the "effects," which are mostly of my own contriving. . . , 16

Taken for all in all, Schinderella, must have been quite a show.

As for the actors who took part, I think they too deserve recogni-
tion. So I append the cast as it is given in the Republican of
October 12.

Dr. Stillman, Prince of Sarsaparilla _ _ _ _ De Bar

Col. Umbrella __________ Farren

Ricardo ____________ Sol Smith

Doctor ____________ Germon

Philosopher ___________ Sankey

Umbrella Rangers singing ______ Gentlemen of the

Company
Schinder Eller, a magnetized danseuse _ _ _ _ Mrs. Farren

Lady Blessington _________ Mrs. Wright

Miss Martineau _________ Mrs. Russell

Magnetized Girls _________ Ladies of the

Company

As Smith says, the burlesque was given four times. The third was
designated as "Author's Night," in other words, Mat's benefit. As a
curtain-raiser, there was The Heir at Law with Field himself as Dick
Dowlas, Ludlow as Dr. Pangloss, Farren as Lord Duberly, and Mrs.
Farren as Cicely Homespun. Between the two pieces, Mat the
Actor recited a lengthy "Rhyme about the Stage" (of course in
heroic couplets) by Mat the Poet. (Three years later, when Mat
was dying, his brother frantically besought Ludlow to try hypnotism
in the hope that somehow it might effect the cure medicine had
failed to bring about.)

The fourth performance followed by three nights the conclusion of
Marble's second engagement. During the interim between this and
the arrival of the next star, the Theatre occupied itself chiefly with
selections from the standard repertoire, plays in which the actors
were supposed to be "up" and which required a minimum of re-
hearsal and that was a minimum indeed. But it did present an-
other bit of "home-work," a "new local farce written by a Gentleman
of this city, entitled PETER PUNCTILIO, or THE GENTLE-
MAN IN BLACK, being an *m#-erfect sketch of an im^-ortant

"Smith Theatrical Management, 160.

WISE MEN NE'ER SIT AND WAIL 175

character, whose zm^-lied reality may imp-art to an im^-ortunate
public, some more correct irnp-ressions of an imp-pudtnt [sic] and
hitherto impenetrable and imp-era.ti.vc personage. . . . The scene of
this piece is laid at the Planter's House, and at a country residence,
near the city of St. Louis." There is no clue to the authorship nor
to the identity of the butt of his ridicule, if ridicule it was. Why
were the amateur authors so zealous in putting bushels over their
lights? The first explanation to occur to the mind is that they feared
the condemnation of the narrow-minded who still regarded the
theatre with horror. But, after all, the leading citizens had no
hesitation in openly supporting Ludlow and Smith, and other play-
actors as well. It is true that even the Reverend William Greenleaf
Eliot, the liberal pastor of the Unitarian Church and, later, one of
the founders of Washington University, whose character and works
won the enthusiastic acclaim of the critical Dickens, fulminated
against the theatre as a place of evil resort for the young, but his
admonitions seem to have had little effect. As a matter of fact, Smith
himself and his family later joined the Unitarian Church, and it was
Dr. Eliot who buried them. So fear of puritanical condemnation
cannot have staid them. Perhaps, it was just convention.

Whoever the author, the play was given twice with Ludlow in the
title role and Mrs. Fatten as Sally Tucker. Once it was sandwiched
in between Cherry and Fair Star and The Last Days of Pompeii*
and once, for Ludlow's benefit, after Speed the Plough.

About the engagement of the next and last star of 1841 there
seem to have been difficulties. In the Ludlow and Smith Letter-
book, under the date of September 28, there is a copy of a communica-
tion addressed to J. H. Hackett in reply to one received from him
ten days before.

With all the desire we have to shake you by the hands we cannot
recede from the terms we proposed in the first instance to you.

We have therein suggested to you such as we only name to the
best talent in the country and such as the best talent has been fairly
compensated on

We have played twenty-nine nights since we opened for our fall
season and we assure you (confidentially) that our receipts have
averaged a trifle over One hundred and Eighty a night and without
any very extraordinary attraction.

176 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

We mention this to show you, that we deem the position we have
taken, a liberal one and at the same time permit us to say that we
think you have lost sight of your interest in declining to pay us a
visit We shall now proceed to fill up the nights offered you, in
another way.

Should you feel disposed to look in upon us at New Orleans
shall be happy to hear from you. We close about the first November.

James Henry Hackett was at this time one of the bright luminaries
of the American stage. The scion of prominent New York families,
he had abandoned the mercantile business for the stage when in-
judicious investments had swept away his savings about twenty years
before. At first unsuccessful, he had, however, before long won
popular favor with his Yankee and Kentucky characterizations, and
later with his Falstaff, which before long became the accepted ver-
sion. As Walter Prichard Eaton states in the Dictionary of Ameri-
can Biography, "it was undoubtedly the best Falstaff of its time both
in America and England." According to William Winter it "was a
symmetrical and extraordinary blending of intellect and sensuality.
. . . He interpreted a mind that was merry, but one in which merri-
ment was strongly tinctured with scorn. It cared nothing about
virtue, except that some persons trade on that attribute ; and it knew
nothing about sweetness, except that it is a property of sugar and a
good thing in sack." 17 But Dr. Eaton continues, "Much more than
his Falstaff, however, the racey native character types he depicted,
evidently with careful realism of external detail and copious broad
humor, were what made him an important figure in the early
theatre."

He was certainly important enough for the managers to want him
if they could have him without loss. What is more, he wanted them.
At least, he wanted St. Louis, and St. Louis he resolved to reach by
one means or another. If Ludlow and Smith would not pay the
piper, he would fend for himself and see what happened. Or, per-
haps, he decided to see what a little judicious bluffing would accom-
plish. At all events, on October 19 he inserted in the Republican
and, I presume, the other local papers an advertisement which in
length rivals the Davenport blasts of the spring season. Having
identified himself, although he begins by saying that he is "perhaps

"Thr Wallet of Time, I, 98.

WISE MEN NE'ER SIT AND WAIL 177

not entirely unknown by reputation," he announces that he is "de-
sirous of availing himself of the only opportunity he may ever have
of visiting St. Louis" and that he "proposed in the apprehended event
of the previous engagements of the Theatre precluding his appearance
upon their stage, during the week commencing Monday, 25th
October, current, to deliver A SERIES of DRAMATIC READ-
INGS, both Serious and Comic, and principally from SHAKE-
SPEARE, and intended to illustrate ELOCUTIONARY EX-
PRESSION." There follows a lengthy and detailed program which
there is no space to copy here.

Whether or not his maneuver was all bluff and he eventually
capitulated to the demands of the managers or they surrendered to
his, there is nothing to show. Whatever the course of their negotia-
tions, it was in the Theatre that he opened on October 25, playing
Falstaff in Henry IV. Ludlow, yielding to his penchant for youthful
roles for which he can hardly have been suited, was the Hotspur I
cannot think a very good one. Maynard was more properly cast
as the Prince, with Sankey as Worcester, Mrs. Farren as Lady Percy,
and Mrs. Russell as Dame Quickly, the last named probably a little
over-refined. Smith did not take part in the Shakespeare perform-
ance, but did bring down the curtain as Swig in The Svnss Swains.
The management, daring neither to brave the wrath of the public
by raising the prices nor to risk ruin by leaving them alone, hit upon
a compromise which seems to have satisfied all concerned. They
raised the dress circle to a dollar, but left the second tier boxes and
the pit at fifty cents, and the gallery at a quarter "Private Boxes
50 cents extra " This device evidently worked, for the Republican
reported the next morning that the "dress drde was handsomely
filled, and the pit and third tier were crowded with the same persons
who heretofore preferred those seats." The editor added : "By the
way, if the managers will lower the stand of the Orchestra one foot or
so, it will prevent much of the standing and confusion in the pit. As
it is, the Orchestra and their music stands, are directly in the way of
persons in the rear of it." As for Hackett's Falstaff, it met with the
editor's hearty approval.

On Tuesday the star was seen in two more of his most famous
roles, Colonel Nimrod Wildfire in The KentucKan, and Monsieur

178 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

Mallet in Moncrieffs farce of that name. With the latter, the
editor was especially delighted. "We have no hesitation in pronounc-
ing this piece of acting one of the cleverest and most perfect dramatic
impersonations, that may be witnessed at the present day. The
audience, and particularly the French portion of it, on Tuesday
evening, were electrified with something entirely beyond their ex-
pectations. Tears and laughter were provoked by turns, and admira-
tion grew each moment stronger until at one of the touching points
of the inimitable histrion, it burst forth in one spontaneous expression
of prolonged applause." This on October 28. Yet on November 1,
the editor or the firm's press agent speaking through him expressed
pained surprise that, when this playlet was given for the second time,
so few of the French citizens turned out to see it.

Because of his success as Monsieur Mallet, Hackett also performed
Monsieur Morbleu in Monsieur Tonson or The Bewildered French-
man, by the same author, Mrs. Farren supporting him as Madame
Bellegarde. But first he demonstrated his mastery of Irish brogue
as O'Callaghan in His Last Legs. The repetition of Moncrieff's
first-named little play was accompanied by Solomon Swop with
Hackett in the title role.

Some eighteen months before, St. Louis theatre-goers had seen
Joseph Jefferson II as Rip Van Winkle, a part later to be im-
mortalized by his son and namesake. Now, on October 30, they had
an opportunity to see what Hackett could do with the same character,
of which he was one of the first exponents. When discussing the
Jefferson production, I pointed out that the version then used was
almost certainly the work of John Kerr, an English actor. "J. H.
Hackett," says Dr. Arthur Hobson Quinn, "played Rip in a modifica-
tion of this version at the Park Theatie in New York on April 22,
1830. While he was in England he became acquainted with the
revision, probably of Kerr's play, which W. Bayle Bernard had al-
ready made for [Frederick Henry] Yates, and on September 4, 1833,
he played at the Park Theatre in Kerr's version altered by Bernard." 18
Presumably that is the one he used in St. Louis in 1841. Yet the
sub-title of the Kerr dramatization was The Demon of the Catskill
Mountains; that of the one played by Hackett on this occasion was

"Quinn: American Drama from the Beginning to the Civil War, 328.

WISE MEN NE'BR Srr AND WAIL 179

A Legend of the Katskill Mountains, which was similar to, but not
identical with, A Legend of the Catskills later used by Charles
Burke. 19

Ludlow's opinion of Hackett's interpretation throws some light on
its nature. "After the death of Mr. Charles Burke, Mr. Joseph
Jefferson came out with his representation of 'old Rip' and this was
formed on a mould of his own, containing the best points of Mr.
Hackett and Mr. Burke, not so unsophisticated and good-humored
as Hackett's, nor yet so low and sharp-witted as Burke's. . . ."*
Smith asserts "I should despair of finding a man or woman in an
audience of five hundred who could hear Hackett's utterance of five
words in the second act, 'But she was mine vrow,' without experi-
encing some moisture in the eyes."* 1

On the same bill with Rip was "the ludicrous scene of the Militia
Training?' with the star as Major Joe Bunker.

For his benefit on the following Monday, Hackett selected The
Merry Wives of Windsor, which then had its first performance in St.
Louis. Ludlow, instead of playing Ford as one would have expected,
elected to be the Slender of the evening, leaving the other role to
Maynard. Farren was cast as Dr. Caius and Saunders as Hugh
Evans ; how well they handled their respective dialects, we are left to
surmise. Meg Page naturally fell to Mary Ann Farren, and Mrs.
Page to Mrs. Warren. I take it for granted that Mrs. Quickly fell
to the lot of Mrs. Russell, but her name does not appear in the
advertisement. With this Shakespearean novelty was linked Monsieur
Mallet, and in the character of the old Frenchman Hackett said
good-bye.

The next evening was officially the last of the season. It was
turned over to Miss Johnson for her benefit, and she took advantage
of the occasion to show herself in "her classical representation of the

"Both Dr. Quinn and William Winter (The Jefferson*, p. 187, n.) men-
tion Ludlow's claim that he had produced Rip Fan Winkle with Charles
Parsons in the title role in Cincinnati six months before its premier* at the
Park on April 22, 1830 I have not been able to check Ludlow' B claim
against records in Cincinnati, but I should hesitate to to accept it without
verification because of his inveterate inaccuracy in the matter of dates,
and his determination to show that he had done everything first, even
when an examination of the facts would show his claim to be without basis.

*Ludlow: Dramatic Life, 392.

Theatrical Managtment, 213.

180 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

MARBLE STATUES." But that was not her only contribution.
She also danced Taglioni's Waltz and enacted the wicked reprobate
himself in the pantomime of Don Juan with Smith as Scaramouche
(for the first time in several years, as he noted in his diary) and
Mrs. Warren as Donna Anna. The curtain-raiser was the farce
not Banim's drama of Damon and Pythias, enlisting the services of
Maynard, Sankey, Saunders, Mrs. Farren, and Mrs. Germon. Mr.
Gennon, as his mite, contributed a song, "The Feast of Roses." And
so the fall season of 1841 came to an official close.

The curtain rose, however, once more. On Wednesday Mrs.
Farren was given a complimentary benefit by a number of the leading
citizens. Behind this friendly move lay the belief that she was
bidding St. Louis farewell, and they wished to demonstrate their
regard for her as an actress and as a woman. Smith did not think
highly of such benefits, which were, he thought, too often little more
than fakes and frequently resulted in actual losses to those who were
supposed to profit by them." This one, however, seems to have been
the real article, and he noted in his diary that the receipts were over
$400. The two plays on the bill were The Belief's Stratagem in which
Mrs. Farren of course played Letitia Hardy with Ludlow as Dori-
court (another juvenile), Farren as Hardy, Maynard as Sir George,
and Sankey as Saville; and The Swiss Swains in which she was the
Rosette with Smith as Swig.

The farewell proved, however, a trifle premature, because she and
her husband did not sever their connections with Ludlow and Smith
until four years later, and she was to return to St. Louis more than
once in her present capacity before she undertook the thrills and
risks of stardom. At the same time, there was probably good reason
to believe the end was near. With her neither partner could have
any quarrel, and in their memoirs utter no word in her disparage-
ment. But with George Percy it was a different matter. Fond as
both men were of him personally, both as actor and stage-manager,
he was a thorn in the flesh, and in his case at least a break was cer-
tainly contemplated.

But one member of the company did take a permanent leave. The
name of Mrs. De Bar is missing from the published casts after the

id. t 250.

WISE MEN NE'ER Srr AND WAIL 181

final performance of Cherry and Fair Star on October 4. Her hus-
band's is missing after the twenty-third. In Smith's diary under the
date of November 1 is the following entry : "This evening heard of
the death of Mrs. De Bar, one of our Dramatic Company. She died
on her way to N. Orleans, & was buried at Cape Girardeau, 140
miles below St. Louis Disease, consumption. . . . Poor De Bar I He
will feel her loss most sensibly!"

How did she keep going so long?

Here end the theatrical annals of St. Louis for 1841 ; for this year,
at least so far as the records show, there was no one to keep the fires
burning in the Museum. One item in the Republican of November
12 does, however, deserve notice. It advertises the fact that, because
of the inclement weather, one Mr. Valentine is postponing his con-
cert till the fifteenth. "In addition to assistance already named, he
has the pleasure of announcing Mr. Bateman, formerly of the St.
Louis Theatre, who has also kindly volunteered for the occasion."
So the future discoverer of Sir Henry Irving was still in town.

In closing the chapter it is, perhaps, not unfitting to quote a few
lines from Mrs. Farren's defence of her profession spoken from the
stage during her benefit.

Say, did the Mighty Mother nurse her child
In arts deserving but to be reviled?
Believe it or not : it is a glorious art,
Worthy of favor from each generous heart.

Though to the Drama there perhaps may cling

Some evil, as to every earthly thing,

Yet if the good the evil far outweighs,

Why should it meet reproach, instead of praise?

VII

"HARD TIMES, COME AGAIN NO MORE!"

1842

The story of 1842 is not a long one. It is not that nothing hap-
pened, for the usual spring and fall seasons were carried on in the
Theatre at Third and Olive, but the events were neither exciting nor
especially heartening, and they have left but a meagre record behind
them. They are glumly disposed of in much the same cursory manner
by both the managers, 1 and, for some mysterious reason, the usually
reliable Republican chose to pass over affairs theatrical in silence.
Perhaps the business office could not come to terms with the managers
of the Theatre in the matter of publicity, for the usual advertisements
are strangely missing from the pages of the morning paper, and there
are few references among the news items. Fortunately, however,
Ludlow and Smith did strike a bargain with the staff of the Peoples
Organ, a journal which was distinctly, as its name implies, an organ
of "the peepul." There we find almost daily publicity and, -in addi-
tion, a considerable number of reviews.

The St. Louisans of 1842 were not, however, entirely dependent on
Messrs. Ludlow and Smith for their evenings' diversions. A few
samplings from the winter and spring issues of the Republican make
that fact abundantly clear. No one had of necessity to spend all his
leisure moments by the family hearth. For those on culture bent
there were the Lyceum lectures given in the new Lyceum Hall just
one block south of the Theatre. The hour was seven-thirty, and the
admission for gentlemen 12% cents; the management was too gallant
to thint- of making any charge for the ladies, who were not permitted
to come unescorted anyway. A season ticket might be had for a
dollar. On January 14, Mr. Charles C. Carroll discoursed on
"Poverty its uses and claims." A week later, the Reverend I. T.
Hinton discussed and compared the English, French, and American
Revolutions; the next week, Mr. J. McKean Duncan was heard on
'Money, or a Peep at Society," and on February 25 Mr. J. B.

a Lud!ow: Dramatic Lift, 551; Smith: Theatrical Management, 167.

182

HARD TIMES, COME AGAIN No MORE 183

Crockett took as his subject the improving theme of "The acquisition
of wealth, its influence upon characters and its proper employment."
There were other series too, for instance one on the virtues of tem-
perance, and another by the celebrated Dr. Joseph McDowell, who
undertook to justify the institution of slavery, stressing the differ-
ences between the white and black races, and to demonstrate that
abolitionism, born in England, was the fruit, not of philanthropy,
but of cupidity. 2 Scientific subjects too such as astronomy also came
in for their share of attention, and there were, of course, the in-
evitable discussions, pro and con, of hypnotism. In fact, if the
citizens did not improve their minds, they had no one to blame but
themselves.

Nor were the fine arts overlooked. February, according to the
Republican, saw at Concert Hall a display of "GRECIAN AND
ROMAN STATUES . . . WITH APPROPRIATE MUSIC."
These were obviously tableaux representing famous groups of statuary
and also paintings, those announced for the 24th being "DAVID
praising GOD, from Reuben's great picture which has called forth
plaudits as well as that of Paul preaching at Athens, from a painting

of the celebrated American Artist, BENJAMIN WEST, Esq "

The entrance fee was 50 cents. "Children and Schools [whatever
that meant] 25 cents." Evidently tableaux came higher than mere
lectures. There was, moreover, no dearth of concerts of one sort or
another, too many to be noted here, though mention might be made
of the Masters Hughes, boy harpists, of Signer Nagle and Madame
Sutton, and of the Hungarian Singers, all of whom offered them-
selves and their wares in May and June.

To these assorted diversions, -whether aesthetic or intellectual,
there was presumably no objection so long as they were limited to
weekdays, but woe betide anyone who had the hardihood to amuse
himself on Sunday I The Republican of February 15 printed a
solemn "CAUTION TO SABBATH BREAKERS."

We understand that a young gentleman of this city, who had been
on a riding expedition on Sunday afternoon, was thrown from his
buggy and one of his thighs so badly broken that amputation will be
necessary. What an awful warning to those who will indulge in
scenes of pleasure on that holy day I

^Missouri Republican, January 29, 1842.

184 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

It is difficult not to believe that the editor had his tongue in his
cheek when he wrote this admonition, and yet the 1840's saw some
of the old Calvinistic prejudices in surprising places. One of these
was the diary of none other than Mat Field, who on April 24, 1839,
bitterly reproached himself in his entry for that day for having done
this very thing gone for a ride on Sunday. 8 Mat was at this time
seriously considering a change from the stage to the ministry. In-
stead, he turned to journalism.

The real sensation of the spring months was the brief visit of
Charles Dickens and his later discarded wife, who stayed at the
elegant new Planters House and were entertained royally. The
Republican (April 11) announced that they were to be tended a
soiree. "This mode has been adopted in preference to a ball as it
furnishes to all an opportunity of gratifying the feelings [i.e., the
curiosity] which call them together, and will not interfere with the
scruples of propriety of any." Inasmuch as the Theatre was not yet
open, the festivities did not include dramatizations of any of the
guest of honor's novels, and so again the "unco guid" were spared.

One of the few contributions to our enlightenment on the subject
in which we are really interested vouchsafed us by the Republican
was printed in the issue of May 31. Under the familiar heading of
THEATRE (usually the sign-manual of a blurb) it was announced
that the spring season would begin "on or about SATURDAY
NEXT, June 4th, with a good and efficient company of actors and
musicians. The Farquette seats will be restored and other arrange-
ments made for the comfort and convenience of the auditors." That
"puffs" of this type were sometimes of managerial origin is attested
by the entry in Ludlow's diary on July 25, 1843 : ". . . wrote an
editorial notice of the Opera for the Organ."

As it turned out, the season did not open until Monday, June 6.
This fact is substantiated by a brief notice in the Republican of that
day, which effectively disproves Ludlow's assertion that the time was
"early m May." Except for this one error, the brief narrative of
the senior partner is in the main correct. As for Smith's account, it
is nothing if not succinct.

The St. Louis season of 1842 was a miserable one. The first
night's receipts barely reached $200, and those of the closing night

^Missouri Historical Society, Bulletin, V (1949), 163.

HARD TIMES, COME AGAIN No MORE 185

[apparently in the fall] to only $75.75. Mrs. Sefton (now Mrs.
Wallack) and E. S. Conner played a tolerable engagement, and Mr.
J. H. Kirby a very poor one. Martin Van Buren, on his visit to
the house, though well advertised, only drew $477.50.

Ludlow's version amounts to little more than a paraphrase of his
partner's. He too mentions Mrs. Sefton and Conner, who, he says,
"played a two weeks' engagement with us ... but it did not yield
them or the management enough to pay them for their trouble." He
adds that a "few other 'stars' straggled along, played, and departed
pretty much in the same plight as the above-named persons." His
assertion that the spring season ended during "the latter part of
June" is disproved by a notice in the Republican of July 27 which
calls for support for Smith's benefit scheduled for that evening as
well as by many advertisements in the People's Organ. He is also
weeks off in giving the date of the opening of the fall season as
"about the 1st of September."

The chief preoccupation of both partners seems to have been with
the worthless currency which was then flooding the country and
incidentally their own managerial till. To this infliction both devote
considerable space. Ludlow groans that they opened "with a good
comedy and farce to two hundred dollars, paper currency, worth on
an average about fifty cents on the dollar, specie standard. The
principal circulation was city corporation money, with a small amount
of a few banks in the Western States, but a trifle better than the
above. Thus did we begin a season in a fine theatre, and a good
company of actors, with the prices of admission fifty, thirty, and
twenty-five cents, and obliged to take a currency that actually re-
duced the rates to twenty-five, fifteen, and twelve and a half cents,
specie standard." These figures do not tally with those Smith en-
tered in his diary on June 6 : "The St. Louis Theatre opened for the
season. Prices of admission reduced to the following rates: Dress
Circle 75 c Pit & 2d Tier 50c. Gallery 25 cents."

The Repitblican of that same date expresses the hope that "the
play-going community are prepared to welcome back their favorites.
Several of whom, it will be seen by the advertisement, make their
appearance this evening." The hopeful editor probably assumed that,
as heretofore, advertising copy, with perhaps accompanying pufis,
would soon be in his hands, but, if he did, he was soon disillusioned.

186 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

"As the times are rather bluish, the best remedy we know of is to go
and laugh the 'devils' off at the Theatre." The times were "bluish"
all right, but so also were the managers, and it would seem that they
concluded that they had no cash to spare for publicity in the Republi-
can at the rates stipulated when playbills (which could also serve as
programs) , and the People's Organ would turn the trick.

From the publicity in the Organ we are enabled to piece together,
if not the entire personnel, at least the names of the chief performers
of the spring season. For one thing, both managers were not only
in town but active on the stage, Smith unusually so. The advertise-
ments include also such other familiar names as those of the Farrens,
Mrs. Russell, and Maynard. James Thome was back, not as a star,
but as a regular, and the wandering Newton had returned to the
fold. There was also young Richard Russell. For the first time we
encounter Bingham, Mack, Mathews, Reid, Eddy, Cook, and Miss
Mathews. The Cook was probably A. B., who was soon to assume
the post of clerk and treasurer of the firm. Of Bingham, Mack,
Reid, and the two Mathews' I can tell nothing save that the names
of Bingham, Mack, and Miss Ellen Mathews appear on the roster
of the new St. Charles company in January, 1843.*

Finally we come to Eliza Petrie and Edward Eddy. The former
was a young lady who had enjoyed great popularity in ingenue roles
while with Ludlow and Smith in Mobile, and during their first
seasons in their new house in St. Louis. Ludlow says she "was con-
sidered a very fair singer in her day, and although her voice was not
powerful, it was very sweet, and of considerable compass. She had
very little power as an actress, yet she pkyed a great variety of busi-
ness very passably."" In those early years she had usually been cast
opposite young Mat Field, and so convincing had been their per-
formances that the sentimental public had assumed that their love-
making was not wholly artificial, and poor Mat was, to his intense
embarrassment, frequently rallied on the subject. The truth of the
matter was, as his diary reveals, that, although he was uneasily aware
of a certain physical attraction, he actually disliked his supp'osed
inamorata, especially her voice and her rather effusive manners. But

'Ludlow: Dramatic Life, 561.
559.

HARD TIMES, COME AGAIN No MORE 187

those days had passed. Mat had married and left the stage, and
Eliza had been playing in the East, chiefly in New York and Phila-
delphia under the aegis of William E. Burton. 6 As for Eddy, he was
born to fame of a sort. Dr. Odell describes him as "long a popular
hero of tragedy, romance, and melodrama." But now he had his foot
no higher than the lowest rung of the ladder which was to lead him
to fame and fortune as actor and manager.

As I hinted in beginning this chapter, 1842 was, so far as the St.
Louis stage was concerned, a year of little yield. For the most part
the repertoire during the spring season offered little that calls for
more than passing mention. The plays were, with perhaps one
rather notable exception, of the stock variety and the performances,
I suspect, though by no means bad, rather humdrum. The managers
did what they could to attract audiences, but people were not in a
play-going mood.

We learn from the Organ that the season was opened on June 6
with The Heir at Law and The Yotmy Widow, both partners con-
tributing to the entertainments of the evening, Ludlow as Dr.
Pangloss in the comedy, and Smith as Splash in the farce. In the
former Thorne was seen as Zekiel Homespun, Farren as Lord
Duberly, Maynard as Dick Dowlas, and Mrs. Farren as Cicely.
The paper had a representative on hand, and two days later he
delivered his verdict.

THEATRE. We were present at the opening of the Theatre,
and received a Panacea for the blue devils from Dr. Pangloss. Mrs.
Farren, who is decidedly a favorite with the St. Louis audience, re-
ceived a hearty welcome on her appearance and she still maintains
her position as a chaste and correct actress. Both pieces went off
well. "Old Sale," as the Creoles call him, was there, but since he
has been among the Spaniards his soubriqua [sic] has been altered
to "Don Sobero."' We were disappointed at not seeing his mustaches
on, for we were told they hung below his breast, and were braided

'Odell: Annals, IV, 469 and 520; A. H. Wilson: A History of the
Philadelphia, 105.

^Earlier in the year Smith had led a hidden equestrian expedition to
Havana. On his return he wrote his friend Woolf: "... I had inad-
vertently permitted my mustaches to grow to such an enormous length
while t>n the island of Cuba, that; when returned to the States, I found
I could speak and write nothing but Spanish . . . They came off yesterday
evening about gunfire" (Smith: Theatrical Management, 165).

188 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

like a horse's tail in rainy weather. We think he has cut them off
for fear Miss Petrie would pull them. By the bye this charming
actress appeared last night, after an absence of three years. She has
lost nothing of her sprightliness. Jemmy Thome looks as natural as
ever; and upon the whole, the company were welcomed back with
applause, on the appearance of each well known face.

The next evening "Don Sobero" was in the cast of the main piece,
playing the pleasant part of Captain Copp in Charles II while the
fair Eliza, as Mary, plied him with songs. She sang more songs in
The Loan of a Lover, Thorne being this time the lucky man. And
so the season got under way, albeit somewhat modestly. This
modesty, by the way, met with the hearty approval of the editor of
the Organ. On the day of the opening he observed, not without some
relish: "The price of admission has been materially reduced to
nearly one-half the former prices. This is right; although it will
compel these gentlemen to break up their old, and we might say,
ruinous custom of engaging in the 'starring* business to that extent
which they formerly indulged in. . . ."

I referred a few lines back to one exception to the uninspiring eve-
nings on Third and Olive. Perhaps I should add a second of a
minor sort. This was the visit of Ex-President Van Buren to the
Theatre on the evening of June 22. Smith felt a bit ill-used because
the magnifico had attracted only $477.50 to the house. The Organ
and one of its correspondents, not having any financial stake in the
business, saw the evening with less jaundiced eyes. I shall skip the
editorial comment of June 23, but quote from the longer one of the
following day.

THEATRE. We had barely time to say yesterday that the pres-
ence of Mr. Van Buren at the Theatre on Wednesday evening was
quite favorable to Old Sol's pocket. We can safely say that it was
not merely "a trump card," but decidedly "a lone hand" The old
building was crowded from pit to gallery, and numerous bevies of
fair ladies graced the boxes, and gave zest to the entertainment by
their presence and their smiles. The middle box was appropriately
ornamented with flags bearing the stripes and stars of die Union,
and when Mr. Van Buren was seen to enter it, followed by his
friends, all eyes were turned to the spot, and every hand greeted him
with rounds of applause that made the old theatre ring again.

The acting in the good old comedy of "The School for Scandal"
was generally excellent; though it struck us that, Mr. Maynard

HARD TIMES, COME AGAIN No MORE 189

would have made a much better Charles and Mr. Ludlow a much
better Joseph Surface. We heard others suggest the same thing.
The Ex-President seemed to enjoy the entertainment, and appeared
to watch the play attentively and with interest. At the end of the
first play he quietly slipped out.

The exception to which I referred was Dion Boucicault's London
Assurance, which was given its premiere on June 29 and achieved
before July 13 no fewer than nine performances. Furthermore, when
putting it on the stage, the managers took the unaccustomed liberty
of dispensing with the usual afterpiece. I give the cast entire.

Sir Harcourt Courtly ________ Farren

Max Harkaway __________ Mathews

Dazzle ____________ Ludlow

Charles Courtly __________ Maynard

Mr. Spanker ___________ Cook

Mark Meddle __________ Thorne

Cool _____________ Eddy

James ____________ Mack

Lady Gay Spanker _________ Mrs. Farren

Grace Harkaway _________ Miss Petrie

Pert _____________ Mrs. Warren

This production was greeted with rapturous enthusiasm by the
Organ, which "went all out" in praising the comedy and found the
performance almost everything it should have been. In fact, it
devoted a whole column to the subject. ". . . The present company
have performed the same characters in New Orleans that they do
here, and are therefore at home in their parts. Mrs. Farren's
personification of Lady Gay is unexceptionable, and it is worth one
dollar at least to listen to her enthusiastic relation of the particulars
of a steeple chase. It is perfect. . . Mr. Farren's representation of
Sir Harcourt is good, but has not quite enough of the 'dem foine*
a la Mantilini, according to our conceptions of the character. We
think he could give 'the exquisite* a 'little finer touch' in the way
of mouthing his words." But best of all the critic liked Thorne.
All in all, he went home a happy man, and he urged his fellow-citi-
zens to share his delight Apparently they took him at his word, for
on July 6, the day of the fourth repetition, he exclaimed, "... the
demand for seats does not abate. The legitimate' takes admirably

190 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

no large posters no stars no puffing no humbug I" What is
more, afterpieces seemed to have been found to be superfluous. No
one apparently missed them. Nevertheless, as soon as the sensational
new piece began to falter, and other comedies were given, the after-
pieces returned to their accustomed places on the bills. But on July
18 the Organ resumed its campaign for their abolition. "We heard
no complaint of the omission of farces during the run of London
Assurance. The fact is, people do not wish to be kept from their
beds beyond the 'noon of night. 1 "

In spite of all this concentrated enthusiasm, there was at least
one dissenting voice. In the Republican of July 1 we do detect a
faint murmur.

THE THEATRE. A criticism on the stage is well enough
when honestly made, but to say, as the Mound City does, that "Max
Harfcaway," in London Assurance, was well personified, or well per-
formed on Wednesday evening, is not justice. We thought the
actor a poor representation of a "good old English Gentleman," and
ignorant of his part.

That success does not come cheap is hinted by the following letter
now reposing in the archives of the Missouri Historical Society.

New York, Oct. 29' 1841
Messrs. Smith & Ludlow
Gentlemen

I know of a marked copy of "London

Assurance" which has been doing wonders for us. Knowing that it
will be an impossibility to procure a copy on acct. of the anxiety of
the parties in possession to keep it I have thought that perhaps you
would be glad to obtain this. You can have it & I will forward it
immediately on the receipt of a letter from you f or fifty dollars 1

Pray oblige me by return Post &
believe me

Your obt. svt.

Charlotte Cushman

Miss Cushman, America's greatest tragic actress, was, oddly
enough, the Lady Gay of the original New World cast at the Park
in New York on October 11, 1841, and, what is more, scored in it
one of her outstanding successes. According to Dr. Odell, Henry
Placide had brought the script* of the play with him from London

HARD TIMES, COME AGAIN No MORE 191

and turned it over to Simpson for use in New York. It was prob-
ably, therefore, to him that Ludlow and Smith's 50 dollars went.
To the production at the Park Dr. Odell applies the adjective
epochal. He calls Boucicault's work "the best new comedy for many
decades," and says that the elaborate realism of the scenery had a
revolutionary effect. "Staging was probably never again so shabby
or so stereotyped in London or New York, after London Assurance
pointed the way to stage rooms which actually copied details of
contemporary housefurnishings. ... A room with three walls became,
from that date, a necessity in fashionable playhouses; furthermore,
this room must be luxuriously furnished in the latest mode." 8

It would be gratifying to be able to assume that the St. Louis
production lived up to specifications, but I fear that would be a
rash conclusion. As we know, Ludlow and Smith were not at this
time burdened with excess cash, and I think it very unlikely that they
were in a position to indulge in lavish stage-sets, however much they
may have wished to do so. But they did bring in reinforcements
or, at least, a reinforcement. They engaged Gentleman George
Barrett to take over Sir Harcourt on the last two evenings of the
run (on July 11 and 13) and release Farren for Max Harkaway.
How much money they spent on this novelty, there is no way of
telling to-day, nor how many cents on the dollar they got back.
They did not achieve the Park's three consecutive weeks; yet in
St. Louis in the early '40's nine performances, if they did not break
a record, at least approached it.

Barrett lingered on till July 25, bolstering up the casts of such
"good old comedies" as The Rivals, The Englishman in Indta, Wives
as They Were, John Bull, The School for Scandal, Three Weeks
after Marriage, and The Road to Ruin. It is, I think, safe to assume
that everything he touched was well done, for there seems to be no
room for doubt that the man was a gifted artist.

One interesting feature of the season was the unusual activity of
Smith. Again and again his name appears in the casts listed in the
Organ. I have already mentioned Splash and Captain Copp. There
followed Crop in No, Song s No Supper, Maximilian Schlopper in
The Sentinel, Peter in The Stranger, Malkins in Of Age To-

"Odell: Annals, IV, 534,

192 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

morrow, Martin in The Maid and the Magpie, Dominie Sampson
in Guy Mannering, Francois in The Ladder of Love, Sancho in
Like Master, Like Man, Thomson in The Secret, Mawworm in
The Hypocrite (his great part), Darby in The Poor Soldier, and
Puff in The Critic. "During London Assurance," wrote the Organ
on July 9, "Sol did not ever show his face before the curtain. 'Come
out, old fellow, and let's see how you look, once more.' " He came.
Before he appeared as his beloved Mawworm on July 16, the same
paper announced : "OLD SOL is the Mawworm, and we expect his
speech in the last scene will even excel that recently given by a
celebrated M.D., at the political meeting on Wednesday evening."
It would be interesting to know who the "celebrated M.D." was.

Ludlow too had been busy on the stage, but he was less of a
novelty. Nor does he seem ever to have lighted fires under his
audiences as his partner did. I suspect that on the stage as off he
was more restrained. Sol, I also suspect, did not always consider
himself bound by the admonitions directed by Shakespeare (through
the mouth of Hamlet) at all "clowns" in general and, probably, at
William Kemp in particular. Offstage he was an inveterate prac-
tical joker, and on stage he was prone to indulge in considerable
exuberance. He no doubt kept his finger on the pulse of his audience,
and gave it just what it wanted. Ludlow, more on his dignity and
perhaps often closer to the intent of the author, stirred up less ex-
citement. Nevertheless, I think that Sol, when he thought the
occasion called for a display of real artistry, could meet the demands
of the situation.

Perhaps the richest yield of the Organ is to be found in a very
long editorial which appeared in the issue of June 17. It really tells
a great deal, and for that reason I shall quote from it in extenso.

We cannot withhold the expression of our entire approbation of
the course pursued by the Managers of our Theatre, in excluding
every thing like puffing from their bills and advertisements. In
days gone by, they found it necessary to follow the lead of the Park,
and other Eastern theatres the public seemed to require something
extraordinary to be announced at least to induce even a respectable
attendance. Some person's name must be paraded at the head of
the bill in large capitals, as a star; and if a real, out-and-out two
hundred dollar a night individual did not happen along, some of
the "stock" were forthwith promoted to the top of the bill; or,

HARD TIMES, COME AGAIN No MORE 193

worse than that it was not unusual to see a thirty line pica em-
ployed, to make play-goers acquainted with the important fact, that
some back-door keeper or stable boy would dance "Jim along Josey,"
accompanied by a modern Payanini on the banjo I It is to be hoped
that all this is over that humbug is banished from the boards of
our Theatre forever.

The gentlemen having the direction of the Theatre have seized
upon the occasion of reducing the prices of admission, (a very ju-
dicious move, by the by,) to introduce a new system with regard to
announcements. We see no puffery in the bills no ''last night but
seventeen," of this or that performer no "only night" of such and
such a play no appearance of a favorite performer in a certain
character "for that night only" and finally, no distinction in the
size of the type employed to print the names of the company, from
first to last. This is right. The people who compose the audience
in a Theatre, have no business to know nor do they care to know
for how long a term each actor is engaged whether he receives ten
dollars per week, or is engaged "at enormous expense, for a few
nights only!" or whether he will ever appear again in the same
character. It is enough to be made acquainted with the fact that a
certain play and afterpiece will be performed on a certain night, with
a certain cast of characters, (and that cast satisfactory,) and to
feel assured that all announcements will be strictly fulfilled, to
secure the confidence of the play-going community, and such an
attendance as the merits of the entertainments (the times considered)
shall claim. . . . The public are coming to their senses in theatrical
matters, as well as in money and other matters. Good plays, a
good stock company, low prices of admission, and a strict adherence
to promises made in the bills, are taking the place of melo-dramas,
dumb show, blue lights, fiery dragons, negro dancing, six nights 1 en-
gagements, and humbug I

I wonder just how thoroughly the managers relished this some-
what back-handed compliment. It reminds me of the hoary-headed
old joke about the first mate on a sailing vessel who avenged himself
on the captain for entering in the log "The first-mate drunk to-day"
by making this entry the following day : "The captain sober to-day."
The editor concluded his remarks with the hint that as long as the
managers continued their present course, they might "calculate on
the steady and honest support of the People's Organ."

Just how deep an impression did the warning make? On July 11
the Organ itself printed this notice: "Mr. G. H. Barrett is engaged
for a limited period." But in the line-up the star's name is not

194 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

printed in large type. And on July 26, apropos of Alive and Merry
and The Forest of Rosenwald, the editor wrote: "A new comedy
entitled 'Alive and Merry,' with a blood-and-thunder melo-drama,
to-night All tastes must be consulted; and those who delight in
daggers, blue-lights, robbery and bloody murder, will be gratified
to their hearts' content on this occasion."

In their autobiographies both partners bemoan the dire financial
conditions of the times and of themselves in particular, but I am
inclined to think that these looked worse in retrospect than at the
moment. On June 5 Mat Field, as usual in New Orleans, wrote
his wife: " . . . . Your father has written me a doleful letter from
St. Louis. He advised me to stop Smith and tell him not to bring
the company up at all, but Smith was gone. I don't think they will
open the theatre, as if they do, it will be 'open and shut' with them."
But this was written the day before the actual start of the season,
and, of course, Ludlow's "doleful letter" must have been dated
some days before that. Later correspondence paints a more cheering
picture. On July 12 Smith's friend Woolf wrote: "I am rejoiced
to learn that you are 'getting along 1 so well in St. Louis, and sincerely
hope that you have a prosperous summer season." 9 Even better
evidence is provided by an epistle from the pen of Ludlow himself
addressed to Mat and dated July 12 just before the end of the
run of London Assurance "Our houses continue still to pay there
being very little variation in the receipts of the five different weeks
we have been open. But I am apprehensive that the six next follow-
ing weeks will fall below our expenses they surely will if the
weather should be hot and oppressive so far we have had cool and
generally speaking, pleasant weather should it continue such
through the summer, the result may prove more favorable to us,
than my present anticipations picture to me. . ." This is mystifying.
Never had Ludlow and Smith attempted to operate straight through
the summer; they invariably had closed for a rest during August.
It seems unlikely that under the circumstances a change of so radical
a character was under contemplation. But, whatever Ludlow had
in mind, his fears concerning St. Louis temperatures turned out not
to be groundless. On July 25 Smith wrote in his diary. "Hot very

Edwin Woolf to Sol Smith, July 12, 1842.

HARD TIMES, COME AGAIN No MORE 195

hot weather! Thermometer 82 in the shade; Dullest of times here
just now. Money extremely scarce." Nor should the political com-
plications, seldom absent as they were, be overlooked. On July 21
the Organ commented, "We hear of only one political meeting to-
night. We expect to see the dress circle and parquette well filled."
So, whatever tentative schemes they may have had, the managers shut
up shop after Sol's benefit on July 27.

If the situation in St. Louis was depressing, it was by no means
unique. The whole country was in the doldrums because of the
unsettled banking and financial conditions. Mat Field in the letter
quoted above told his wife of the situation in New Orleans. "Things
are growing worse here every day, and the distress is as universal
as it is severe. What little good money there is in the city, is hidden
away and locked up, while all are struggling to push off the shin-
plasters upon one another." On April 25 the gossipy Woolf reported
to Smith on the state of affairs in Philadelphia. "Theatricals are
in a wretched condition here now; but that is not to be wondered
at, when the state of the times is considered, and the great competi-
tion going on. In Philadelphia three theatres are now in full force,
besides nightly Concerts, Lectures, and Temperance meetings, in
addition to which every body is becoming bankrupt."

In August, while the professionals rested, I presume in the shade,
zealous amateurs braved the high temperatures. The annual exam-
ination at St. Louis University included two plays, La Mart de
Caesar in French on a Tuesday, and Filial Love in English on
Wednesday. Julius Caesar himself was enacted by Lucien Tischel, and
Antony by Alexander Garesche; also in the cast were Alfred H.
Kernim, Felix Valle, Louis Bourgeois, and Charles Downer. With
the exception of Garesche, these seem to have been out-of-town
"boarders." Filial Love involved the services of Edward Win-
chester, Richard Barrett, Henry B. Kelly, John Hemkin, Edw. L.
Jennings, Isaac J. Cooper, and Gustave and Louis Brazeau. 10 I
tJiinV- that after acting in heat that prostrated the professionals, these
gentlemen deserve to have their names handed down to posterity.

For information concerning the fall season we are again indebted
chiefly to the People's Organ without whose daily advertisements

"Afu/oun Republican, August 20. 1842.

196 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

and occasional articles our cupboard would be almost bare. From
Ludlow it is possible to pick up a few facts, but not many. "We
had," he says, "a few 'stars' during the fall season, who played to
average receipts somewhat better than those of the spring , but after
paying these transient luminaries, we generally came off minus." 11
From the Organ and one or two items in the Republican we can, I
think, safely conclude that the yield of the fall was of decidedly
better quality than had been that of the spring. The latter had
little to distinguish it save the success of London Assurance, which,
strangely enough, was not given even once during the fall months ;
but these months did have several features worthy of at least passing
mention.

Events got under way on August 13 with a bill composed of the
ever-popular She Stoops to Conquer and the farce of My Neighbors
Wife, nothing especially startling about that. Nor was there any
striking novelty in the composition of the company, which was almost
identical with that which had shut up shop in July. Both managers
were again on deck, but only Ludlow throughout the season. He
was unusually active even for him, and availed himself of his
strategic position to take over the roles which he found particularly
delectable, even though some of them were not exactly suitable to
his years or appearance. But this was the accepted procedure of
actor-managers and, despite subdued grumblings, was taken as a
matter of course; so it would be unfair to single him out for blame.
Nevertheless, he certainly did "have himself a wonderful time," and,
in view of his continuing perplexities, I think we need not begrudge
him his enjoyment, especially as we did not have to see his per-
formances in such roles as Young Marlow, Young Wilding, Charles
Surface, Gratiano, Petruchio, and Cassio, though we may in our
time have seen just as youthful roles in the hands of men con-
siderably past forty-seven. With Smith it was, according to his
wont, touch and go. He paused briefly on one of his flights, took
a few bows, and was off again. Maynard was still on hand, at
least until October, but then he seems to have surrendered his place
for the time being to a newcomer of greater promise aiid ability.
Better luck attended Eddy, for he fared extremely well, being cast

" "Ludlow: Dramatic Lift, SSI.

HARD TIMES, COME AGAIN No MORE 197

in a great number of highly desirable parts. However, as we shall
see presently, his good fortune would seem to have overshot his
deserts, and he did not win golden opinions on all sides. In fact,
if the critic is as just as he is persuasive, Mr. Eddy's shortcomings
reflect not a little on the efficiency of the management. Farren was
in his accustomed place, as were also his wife with her mother and
brother, and Mr. and Miss Helen Matthews. This last-named
young lady had me for a time in a quandary because there seemed
to be two of her. Sometimes the advertisements listed "Miss
Matthews" by this time she had picked up a second t and just
as frequently "Miss Helen Matthews" and it took me almost the
whole season to decide that she was alone in her glory. Nor should
I forget Mrs. Eddy and Mrs. Warren, who on occasion led her
little girl on by the hand. Most of the small fry were back, and
once in a while under the press of necessity would be promoted
temporarily to higher walks than their usual ones.

After the opening, night after night, familiar plays followed each
other across the boards, plays long since forgotten and now reposing
under layers of dust on library shelves. If there was every now and
then a modest novelty, it was modest indeed, and boasted little in
the way of prestige. During these early weeks the curtain rose at
eight, but as the shades of night descended sooner and sooner, the
performances began earlier and earlier, by October 24 as early as
seven. There is no way of computing with any certainty the hour
at which the final thud of the curtain was heard.

On August 20 a correspondent who signed himself "THESPIS"
addressed a letter to the editor of the Organ in which he ardently
promoted a play by "a young gentleman of this city" which he had
recently seen in manuscript form. "The piece is entitled 'MOR-
MONISM,' and is, in some parts, couched in such phrase as gave
me great amusement while reading it. It represents the schemes of
the Mormons at Nauvoo, but is stripped of every thing which would
be objectionable to female delicacy. 9 ' The writer is convinced that,
if given the chance, the managers would seize it with avidity and
reap a fortune thereby. But, whatever the reason, they missed their
chance, and Mormonirm has joined the ranks of the unseen.

198 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

September 5 was marked by the return of Barrett, who, as we
shall see, had other business in town, but was not averse to spending
a few leisure evenings on the stage at Third and Olive. He began
as Goldfinch in The Road to Ruin, and lingered on until the nine-
teenth, when he took a benefit as Durimel in The Point of Honor,
Sir Charles in Three Weeks after Alaniage t and Toby in The
Mummy. On the preceding evening, the theoretical last of his
engagement, he had taken part in another triple bill as Colonel
Ferrier in The Barrack Room, Smith bowing himself on and off as
Walter in The Children in the ff'ood Sol, Junior, playing the Boy
to the Girl of "Miss" Warren and Ludlow contributing Teague,
Honest Thieves. Departing from his usual type of character, he ap-
peared on the twelfth as Belcour, the sentimental hero of The West
Indian^ a role which, however, had been in his repertoire for over
twenty years. 12 This was only the third perfoimance in St. Louis
of Cumberland's romantic comedy, the only previous interpreter of
the leading role having been J. S. Balls. It was during Barrett's
engagement that Smith had made his seasonal re-entry on the four-
teenth as Sim in Wild Oats (Barrett as Rover) and as Philip
Garbois in 102.

On the same day as Barrett's benefit the Organ announced that
"Dan Marble and Mr. Darrow will both make their appearance
upon the boards of this city, during the present week. Look out for
good acting, fine sport, plenty of fun, full houses and everything
that is calculated to interest and amuse the theatre-going public."
All these pleasant things may have come to pass as predicted, but if
Darrow had a hand in them, I have found no trace of it. Maybe he
acted on some unheralded minor stage. Marble, however, did show
up for his annual fall visit which was of its usual complexion. He ran
through his established successes though he did vary the diet a little
with one appearance as Tom Cringle (presumably in Tom Cringle's
Log though in the advertisement the last word is omitted) and two
as William in Black Eyed Susan.

Smith evidently had a friend on the staff of the Organ because
on the twentieth, the day of Marble's opening, that daily gave forth
a long drawn-out encomium upon the virtues of the junior partner

"Odell: Annals, III, 150.

HARD TIMES, COME AGAIX No MORE 199

whicn rntoi nave made the senior grit his teeth. A polite compliment
tossed the latter in an off-hand manner probably made it even harder
to swallow. Sol is depicted as a white-haired philanthropist his hair
was black or dark brown who from youth to old age "has been
laboring hard day and night in storm and sunshine through
prosperity and adversity through sickness and health through good
and evil of every name and nature to keep the public in good
humor." There follows the casual reference to Ludlow as "one of
the most gentlemanly, high-minded, generous partners that could be
picked between sunrise and sundown." Bitter as must have been
to the taste of Ludlow, the laurels with which Sol was crowned
more galling still must have been the calm assumption that he was
little more than an appendage. It was Sol who was planted front
centre as the deux ex machine.

And how have we all requited the generous efforts of the venerable
old fellow? Does nobody's conscience accuse him? Do we forget
the thousands which have perished by fire? 18 Have we any bowels
of mercy? Any sympathy? Any generosity? Any gratitude ? How
many of us think of him nightly and his unwearied efforts to make
the drama what it is in St. Louis chaste, spirited, entertaining,
instructive and moral? We fairly blush when we think of his
nightly audiences Oh mention them not I

Will any body propose a rousing benefit for him?

I wonder if Ludlow was to be allowed to lick the platter.

As soon as Marble had gone his ways a newcomer was introduced
to such St. Louis audiences as could be found in the near-empty
spaces of the Theatre, the newcomer who seems to have been re-
sponsible for Maynard's temporary eclipse. This was J. A. J.
Andrew Jackson Neafie, described in the paper (September 28)
as "a performer of good standing in the Eastern Theatres," The
correspondence of the firm reveals that he had been in treaty with
the managers for a position under their banner for something over
a year. On April 21, 1841, he had, at the suggestion of Edwin
Forrest, made the first approach, expressing a wish "to play seconds
to stars, and the leading heavy business." Forrest wrote of him,
"Mr. Neafie's moral character is I believe unblemished, he is sober,

18 On July 30, 1842, Ludlow and Smith's American Theatre in New
Orleans had been burned to the ground. (Ludlow: Dramatic Life, 55L)

200 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

and industrious, and with theatrical ability to discharge very credit-
ably the heavy business of the stage. Such characters as Gesler,
Appius Claudius, &. On all occasions where Mr. Neafie has been
engaged with me, he has been very perfect in the text." 1 * The
Letter Book shows that negotiations were resumed the following
spring (1842), but that his reply to the managers' offer had not
been received soon enough, and they "had been obliged to make
other arrangements." At the same time, they offered him a place in
the fall at a weekly salaiy of no more than $20."

Neafie is described by Dr. Odell as "a mere beginner, who made
a pretty success, and started on a career that was to place him high
in the second rank of tragedians." 16 This was in February, 1838,
and contradicts the assertions of Allston Brown to the -effect that
his debut was made in 1839, when he paid Simpson $300 to be
allowed to act Othello at the Park." According to Phelps, he had
been a carpenter, and the necessary sum was subscribed "by a military
company, of which Neafie was commander." 18 It is evident that
he had for the time being put by thoughts of stardom, perhaps in a
wise attempt to gain experience, and for about two years remained
with Ludlow and Smith, "and became a favorite."

Yet it was as a star that he was first presented to St. Louis, as
Julian St. Pierre in Knowles' The Wife, supported by Mrs. Farren,
Maynard, Eddy, Farren, and Lake. He pleased the representative
of the Organ, who on the thirtieth, commended his dear enunciation
and his reading. This stardom, as it turned out, was of short dura-
tion, for he soon took his place among the regular members of the
company in the capacity indicated in his letter. But before this
occurred, he was allowed to show his mettle as Shylock and as
Clifford in The Hunchback.

After October 1 Neafie's name lingered on in capitals for a few
days, but it was no longer by itself, and soon it was relegated to the
commonplace. October saw the arrival of two stars, the first an
old friend, the other a stranger. The former was E. S. Conner,

"Edwin Forrest to Ludlow and Smith, May 26, 1841.

"June 5, 1842.

"Odell. Annals, TV, 202.

1T Brown: American Stage.

"Phelpi: Players of a Century, 269.

HARD TIMES, COME AGAIN' No MORE 201

returning to the scene of his earlier conquests, the latter Mrs. Ann
Sefton, better known as Mrs. James Wallack, Jr. She was a scion
of the famous Placide family, being a daughter of Caroline Placide
by her first husband, Leigh Waring. For many years she was a
prominent figure on the stage, but never achieved the position
achieved by some of her blood relatives or by those of her second
husband. This couple was first seen in The Lady of Lyons with
Conner once more in the familiar costumes of the gardener's son,
and Mrs. Sefton ousting Mary Ann Farren from her usual refuge
in his arms at the final curtain. But, to show her versatility, the
lady ended up the evening as Harry Halycon in The Middy Ashore.
She had a good figure, and she saw no reason why she should not
make the most of it. Their second bill was composed of Richelieu
and The Loan of a Lover with Smith, as Peter Spyk, joining in the
fun of the latter, and Neafie and Eddy as De ilauprat and Baradas
respectively in the former. Conner was seen only as the Cardinal.

Perhaps the best feature of this joint engagement, as in the case
of Conner's first, in 1840, was the improvement in the quality of
plays produced. Among them were four of Shakespeare's, the first
(except Catharine and Petruchio) the St. Louis public had had a
chance to enjoy all year. First seen was Romeo and Juliet with Mrs.
Sefton, still conscious of her shape, donning the tights of Romeo to
make poetic addresses to Mrs. Farren. Ludlow surrendered his be-
loved Mercutio to Conner, Neafie, I suppose as 'leading heavy,"
taking over "the bloody Tybalt." For the only account of this per-
formance extant we must turn to the weekly, instead of the usual
daily, edition of the People's Organ in its issue of October 12.
"When Mrs. Farren (as Juliet) repeated the line 'Oh Romeo,
Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? 1 an auditor in the gallery set
the house in a roar by answering 'Because, ma'am, Old Sol thought it
would be a strong cast and draw a good house.' "

Richard III (on the eighth) brought the lady star a much less
showy role, merely the Queen, but Conner was restored to primacy
and had his chance at one of the most popular of all hero-villains.
Richmond was assigned to Neafie, Buckingham to Eddy, the Lady
Anne to Mrs. Farren, and the Duchess of York to Mrs. RusselL On
this evening Ludlow contented himself with the very unspectacular

202 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

role of Tressel. Three nights later Conner and Neafie were pitted
against each other as Othello and lago, while Mrs. Sefton, oddly
enough, elected to play Emilia, leaving Desdemona to Mrs. Farren.
Ludlow was back in the kind of role he liked best, this time Cassio.
The twelfth saw the end of the all-too-brief Shakespearean interlude.
The play was Macbeth with the stars in the leads, and Mrs. Farren
this time as the First Singing Witch 1 Neafie was the Macduff, and
Ludlow the Banquo.

Thus was the Bard of Avon accounted for, for the time being.
There were, however, other works of greater substance than recent
fare, and some of these the visitors took down from the shelf.
Pixarro, Damon and Pythiar, Tortesa the Usurer, A del ff it ha, La
Tour de Nesle, and The Lady of Lyons (some of which had been
seen recently) may not impress us as dramatic masterpieces, but they
must have been welcome after the insubstantial offerings which had of
late been dominating the stage. A puff on October 6 assured the
readers of the Organ that the "community seems fully alive to the
merits of the performances now nightly advertised at our theatre.
Crowded audiences assemble to witness the representation of the
good old tragedies and comedies." Perhaps.

Weaker in a literary sense were three novelties, The Carpenter of
Rouen, The Six Degrees of Crime, and The Avenger or The Moor
of Sicily, in which the stars also were presented. The first of these
enjoyed three consecutive performances with two more later on, one
of them with a different star. Both the others were given twice
during the engagement, and The Six Degrees^ a horrific sermon if
there ever was one, was revived once again with Eddy, instead of
Conner, treading the primrose path which led to the scaffold. But
Mrs. Sefton and Conner did not limit themselves to the serious;
they also lent their best efforts to various attendant after-pieces,
ranging from The Poor Soldier to Nick of the Woods, though not
always in the same casts. Their engagement extended from the first
to the twenty-fifth.

During this period the whole company as well as the visitors, took
one evening ofi to come to the aid of an unfortunate colleague. James
Thome was approaching the end of his earthly career, and his
friends united to help him as best they could. On the thirteenth the

HARD TIMES, COME AGAIN No MORE 203

Organ published this item: "Jemmy Thorne Baron Pompolino
Mark Meddle Peter Spyfce and ever so many other Aliases" was
to have a benefit.

.... it is highly creditable to Old Sol, and the smiling gentleman,
his partner, and to all the theatrical corps, that they have volunteered
on the occasion. . . . Jemmy, alias etc., etc., etc., has been for a long
time laid up with severe illness, and is now just able to move out.

The Republican espoused the invalid's cause, saying that "it will
please the old man's heart, and assist his depleted purse, to find a
full house on this particular occasion." So on October 14 the fol-
lowing "unparalleled and most powerful cast" joined forces in The
School for Scandal: Sir Peter Barrett; Sir Benjamin Backbite
("for this occasion only") Conner; Sir Oliver Surface Farren;
Charles Surface Ludlow; Joseph Surface Neafie; Crabtree ("for
one night only") Thome; Careless Eddy; Rowley Newton;
Moses Lake; Snake Bingham; Trip Russell; James Mack;
Lady Teazle Mrs. Sefton, Mrs. Candour ("for this time") Mrs.
Farren; Lady Sneerwell Mrs. Russell; Maria Miss Helen Mat-
thews. The next summer Thorne died at sea en route to England.

October 29 might have been a notable date in the stage history of
St. Louis, but I fear it was nothing of the sort. On that evening a
new original tragedy from the hand of "a gentleman of this city"
(the author of Mormonism!) first saw the glow of the footlights,
but it was doomed to see them only twice and so not to go down to
posterity as "the great American tragedy." Yet I wonder if any other
tragedy ever had quite the build-up given it by one D who used the
Organ as the medium for his style of publicity.

Hip, hurrah hubbaboo whack away goes "Berilda" to night at
the Theatre I "The Saint Louis Tragedy" comes off certain and sure
them's 'urn ! Now boys get your gals and march and dont forget
to have the bustle behind and the way this play is going to take the
shine off is a caution. The way that Neafie wUl do up "Rho-
dolpho," is a sin, and Mrs. Farren's personation of "Berilda," will
be a thunderbolt to Eastern dramatists. Wonder why they dont
bring out the author or may be he is not willing to let it come out-
no matter we'll all go and see the show any how, and I'm certain
that the house will be crowded from parquette to gallery. Now boys

204 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

dont forget to go. Ladies, dont forget to ring up your beaux [a very
modern-sounding phrase] ; and old literati of St. Louis, make good
your promise, and let the St. Louis Tragedy go off with a perfect
rush.

After this blast anything would be an anti-climax, but it may be
worth noting that this was Neafie's night, and that one W. R. P.
assured the public that in "private life Mr. Neafie is without a
blemish." 19 Furthermore, the cast of this masterpiece included Neafie
himself as Rodolpho, Eddy as Prince Beppo, Farren as Geraldi, Lake
as Antonio, Russell as Vicenti, Mrs. Farren as Berilda, Mrs. Warren
as Cephania, Miss Matthews as Lucretia, and "Ladies of the Court,
by the company."

The season continued on its course in the rut of "normalcy," the
only unfamiliar piece which seems worth mentioning being Buck-
stone's "new drama" of A Dream at Sea in which Mary Ann Farren
had the pleasure of depicting a lady by the entrancing name of Biddy
Nutts. Beyond the fact that the usual principals were involved and
that there was a single repetition, I know nothing more of this relic
of the past.

But from the Organ of November 2 we do glean a trifle of some
consequence. This is a comment upon the nature of the proceedings
at Third and Olive which really comes down to brass tacks and tells
us something. I am sorry that the writer signed himself only M
because I should like to be able to give credit where it is due.

Indiscriminate praise and flattery have been bestowed by the press
upon the Theatre, and upon every thing and every person connected
with it. The untiring zeal and industry of Messrs. Ludlow & Smith,
is well known, worthy of praise and deserving of success. We despise
that criticism made for the vain purpose of showing exquisite taste,
or affecting superior discrimination; and that sometimes made by
the press, not receiving the advertising patronage, through spleen;
but things exceedingly faulty, may be remedied by candid censure.

The entertainments given at the Theatre for the last few months,
"take them all in all," have been very good but some of the actors
during the entire season, have been tolerated, night after night, to be
imperfect in their parts, and villainously to murder the original, and
the King's English by their own miserable substitutions.

^People's Organ, October 25, 1842.

HARD TIMES, COME AGAIN No MORE 205

Mr. Eddy, who has many good qualities as an actor, and whose
ambition should lead him to better things, is, perhaps, most at fault
in this respect in fact, he is seldom at ease out of hearing of the
prompter, and his substitutions are grating to one at all nervous.
Those who witnessed the Lady of the Lake on Saturday evening,
will bear witness to this: "I knows it" is exceeding bad grammar
as Mr. Eddy ought to know, and "injust," a word not found in any
of the dictionaries a hundred other cases of olden date might be
named, equally faulty. He should "reform them altogether," and
at the same time learn how to dance. The audience expects Mr.
Newton to be imperfect, and are seldom disappointed. One or two
others might justly be censured for the same faults, but enough has
been said for all guilty, to take the hint.

It is pleasing, after being made uncomfortable by such excrutiating
readings, to see Mrs. Farren appear. It serves to put one in better
temper, and is, sometimes, all there is to make the whole performance
tolerable. It is but justice to say that Mr. Neafie is a good reader
and a sterling actor.

I should think this outspoken criticism would have been as em-
barrassing to the managers as to the actors. What had become of
their rules and regulations, their fines and penalties, their vaunted
discipline ? It would be dangerous to lay the blame on either one to
the exclusion of the other. Their arrangement was that they were to
alternate between the direction of the stage and the management of
affairs "in the front of the house," but how scrupulously they ad-
hered to this not even their diaries reveal. We do know that, so far
as St. Louis was concerned, it was usually Ludlow who handled
everything, because most of the time Smith was out of town, but the
latter was here throughout most, if not all, the spring season and for
a while in the fall. Of course, if Ludlow was in charge of affairs
backstage, there was, according to their agreement, little his partner
could do, though we do know from their diaries that quarrels did
occasionally arise on the stage. Whoever was to blame, at this dis-
tance at least, I can see little excuse for such flagrant solecisms.

"About the middle of November," says Ludlow, "our audiences,
which had not been very extensive for some weeks, began to show
evident signs of shrinkage, and a sensitiveness to the touch of Jack
Frost; and the wild geese sensible birds! were flying southward,
and I determined to follow their example." 20

20 Ludlow: Dramatic Life, 555.

208 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

Late. On the first night it was preceded by The Wedding Ring
(with the two Farrens) as a curtain raiser, an honor accorded the
next evening to No/ On the twenty-fifth, for some reason or other,
the tragedy was permitted to stand on its own feet, but on the last
night of the season it was coupled with Perfection, and, what is more,
George Barrett assumed the kingly robes of Gustavus. It is too bad
that the local critics missed their chance. Surely, M., D., or W. R.
P., might have taken the pains to pass on to us some account of what
actually happened, but none of them did, and so we are left in the
dark. It seems to me that, had his experiment met with resounding
success, the happy manager would have had something to say about
it in his memoirs, but he is as silent as the initialed gentry. So maybe
the scheme was not as good as it had promised to be.

At all events, he had now finished his chores in St. Louis and
followed the wild geese in the direction of Vicksburg, where he re-
mained until summoned by Sol to move into their handsome new
home in New Orleans.

So far as St. Louis is concerned, 1842 was of little consequence in
the careers of Ludlow and Smith. The scene of their major calami-
ties and achievements was hundreds of miles to the south, and, since
this book is not primarily a chronicle of the ups and downs of this
famous firm in its various habitats, but chiefly a record of local events
dramatic, a lengthy discussion of their fortunes in other settings
would be out of place. Yet what happened to them elsewhere did
have its effect upon their St. Louis endeavors. On July 30, 1842,
their New Orleans theatre, the American in Poydras Street, went up
in flames. The owners of the ground assured them that by the time
they were ready to open their winter season, they would find a new
building ready to house them. One of the owners, however, played
them false, and secretly leased the new structure to their deadly
rival, James H. Caldwell. So, suddenly in the midst of their
anxieties, they learned that, with a full company and a full comple-
ment of stars under contract, they had no place to go. But such a
crisis was a challenge to a man of Smith's courage and shrewdness,
and by skillful maneuvering (to which Ludlow pays his tribute) he
succeeded in having a new theatre erected in no more than forty days
on the site of Caldwell's St. Charles Theatre, which had burned down

MRS FANNY FITZWILLIAM
(Courtesy of the Theatre Collection, Harvard College Library)

J. A. NEAFIE

AS RICHARD III

(Courtesy of the Tkealic Colliction, Harvard College Libtary)

HARD TIMES, COME AGAIN No MORE 209

a short time before. He also showed that he was cleverer than the
enemy when it came to maneuvers and tactics, and the outcome was
the complete discomfiture of the latter, who even before the new St.
Charles opened its doors, retired from the field never to return.
This outcome left Ludlow and Smith in a very strong position, the
more so as they shortly took over CaldwelTs Mobile house as well,
and so occupied an unusually strategic position when they talked
turkey to stars and other actors.

It so happened that during the fall of 1842, on November 1 to be
exact, the partnership had expired. Had the two men been masters
of their fates, this day would assuredly have marked the end of their
unhappy association, but, since the firm was in debt, they were un-
willing to dissolve it. In their respective diaries both partners
recorded their grievances and their doubts, distrusts, and vexations.
Yet both felt that for a time all these must be borne. In the end
that time turned out to be eleven years more. Near the end of his
book Smith gives some of his reasons for remaining so long in a
distasteful position. He says that, had he withdrawn from the
theatrical business in 1838 when the St. Emanuel Theatre in Mobile
burned, and embarked on the journalistic career he at least had
thought he craved, he could have paid all his debts and "had some-
thing handsome left, say twenty thousand dollars in money and
lands."

.... If the burning of the theatre had occurred before I sold out
my printing-office, I should probably have resigned the reins of
management and taken up the editorial pen; but the conflagration
happened a few days after my. sale of die newspaper, and I was
doomed to slavery for many years, for my business then began to sink
me into debt, which I did not get entirely out of until 1848 and to
be in debt is to be in slavery, as every body knows who has tried it.
So I struggled on on on, year after year, all the time dreading
that I should die IN DEBT, and leave my family unprovided for
(and oh I what a thought is that\}, until at last, under the blessings
of a kind Providence, I achieved my liberty.

In his diary, under date of October 19, he made the following
entry:

Previous to leaving St Louis, had an informal understanding with
my partner, Mr. Ludlow, that our partnership, which expires on the

210 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

1st of next month, shall be renewed, with the stipulation that as soon
as our debts shall be paid, we shall dissolve, one of us retiring from
the concern, on the principle of "give or take" that is one of us
shall make the offer, and the other shall give or take. . . .

That Ludlow shared Smith's sentiments, page after page of his
diary supplies the proof. So, though informally, the firm continued,
and the two unwilling partners floated down the Father of Waters,
though not at the same time, to face the problems which awaited
them near its mouth.

VIII

DARKNESS VISIBLE
1843

... Your father is lying on the bed cursing his luck for the theatre
is to be sold in half an hour from now.

So wrote Mat Field to his wife, the former Cornelia Ludlow, on
April 29, 1843.

To such a sorry pass had Fate and hard times brought the dis-
tressed managers of the St. Louis Theatre. Their stronghold was
sold "under a deed of trust for 20,000, being a sum borrowed in 1837
to pay the cost of doing the work of the building so far as to allow
it to be opened for business, though not enough to finish it entirely
in accordance with its design." 1

. . . The property was bought by Mr. George Collier of St. Louis,
for the amount of the debt; the property that had cost the stock-
holders $78,000. By this sale Ludlow & Smith lost 37,000, the
amount of the stock held by them.

Collier was a prominent businessman, who appears to have been
not unfriendly to the managers, but at the same time naturally was
concerned to see that he was not left "holding the bag." He at-
tempted to organize a new company to absorb the stock, and Ludlow
too evolved a scheme of his own, but both, came to naught In the
end Collier rented the building to the tenants for $3,000 a year.
This was a new and unpleasant arrangement to which the latter had
to adjust themselves. They did not relish it, and Ludlow's diary
for the summer months of 1844 reveals various maneuvers to arrive
at a different agreement.

Messrs. Ludlow and Smith would probably, if it were possible to
consult them, find in the year 1843, so far as St. Louis was con-
cerned, even less to recommend than they had found in its immediate
predecessor. Though to the South their fortunes improved, up the
Mississippi the pattern was much the same.

1 Ludlow: Dramatic Life, 572.

211

212 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

The year started off with the same abundance of lectures and con-
certs, and an even more intense discussion of mesmerism, this time
with Dr. Joseph McDowell entering the lists to debunk the revela-
tions of one "Dr." Boynton, who had recently given demonstrations
at Concert Hall. 8 That he was not altogether successful in persuad-
ing the public that animal magnetism was a hoax is proved by a
communication addressed to the editor of the Republican and printed
on March 31, attesting to the faith of such eminent citizens as Henry
T. Blow, Daniel D. Page, Edward Charless, and Joseph Stettinius.
On January 9 McDowell himself had been the subject, if not the
butt, of the humor of a certain C. Whitney, "Lecturer on Oratory,"
who had on that evening treated his audience, for the sum of 25
cents, to imitations of the eminent surgeon. "There will be fun in
this, for the Doctor will not stand it if he is not truly represented.
So the audience may have more than they expect." 8 In March
George Field, whoever he was, gave at Mechanics Hall a series of
lectures on the Creation, that on the seventh, for example, treating
of "THE CREATION OF THE SUN, EARTH, AND
OTHER PLANETS."* There was also a steady stream of singers,
dancers, ventriloquists, and Italian Fantoccini. In other words, there
was no dearth of entertainment.

One surprising item gleaned from the press is that our old friend
Gentleman George Barrett had for the time being abandoned his
lifelong profession he was now forty-nine years old and had been on
the stage since infancy and taken up a new one, that of restauranteur.
His establishment stood at 21 Chestnut Street. Just how talented the
famous comedian was when it came to providing culinary delicacies, I
cannot say, but of one thing there can be no doubt: the tone of his

^Missouri Republican, March 4, 1843.

*Ibid. t January 9, 1843. Joseph Nash McDowell (1805-1868) had come
to St. Louis from Cincinnati in 1840, and soon founded the medical de-
partment of Kemper College (later McDowell's Medical College, and
ultimately the Medical School of Washington University). "He was not
only one of the most skillful surgeon* of his day, but was a polished
orator, and had a happy faculty of adapting himself to any audience"
(Hyde and Conard: Encyclopedia History of St. Louis). One of his
eccentricities was his endeavor to preserve the bodies of his deceased
relatives in alcohol, and then hang them like stalactite* from the roof of a
cave (St. Louis Globe-Democrat, April 29, 1945).

*Ibid. t March 7, 1843.

DARKNESS VISIBLE 213

restaurant was one of gentility and elegance, with assuredly no
"EAT" in crimson neon lights over the sidewalk. Of Barrett, says
Laurence Hutton in his Plays and Players: "His manners both on
and off stage were elegant; he had a courtly old-fashioned style about
him that was inimitable, and he certainly deserved the appellation of
which he was so proud. . . ."* So as Mine Host he must have been
in his element. But he could not wholly divorce himself from his
old associations, and he took pride in drawing up his menus elabor-
ately in the form of theatre programs.

BARRETT'S
NO. 21 CHESTNUT STREET

In wishing my friends and patrons a Happy New Year, it may
not be amiss to say something of my late change of character. Having
left the STAGE for the BAR, I am ready to attend all cases that
may be entrusted to my care. My FEES will be moderate, and my
attentions to my CLIENTS unremitting; and though I have not yet
completed my study of BACON, I have a new treatise on beefsteaks.

"If it were DONE, when 'tis DONE,
Then 't were well that it were DONE quickly."

I have done forever with "Love a la mode," but for the Beef a la
mode I yield to no man in wielding the KNIFE. I hope my "Cure
for tie Heart Ache" will [not] prove the "Road to Ruin," and may
the 'Two Friends" never prove "Inconstant," to the "Poor Gentle-
man," who in "Raising the Wind" has "Secrets worth Knowing,*'
which, the ["] Deuce is in Him" if he'll not convince the "Drama-
tist" he's no "Liar," and that it is not "Much ado about Nothing ;"
and though on "His Last Legs," he is determined to "Speed the
Plough" and renounce forever the "School for Scandal," with the
sincere hope that the "Good Natured Man" will always have
"Money" to out do "London Assurance" and receive everything in
my way "As You Like It." 9

A generous host, Barrett believed in scattering his blessings, and
in the issue of March 10 the editor of the Republican testifies to the
delights of a pie sent over as an unburnt offering to the toiling
journalists.

P.114.

^Missouri Rtpublican, January 2, 1843.

214 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

One welcome aid to our understanding of the two seasons of
1843 is the unaccustomed accuracy of Ludlow's account of them.
For some unexplained reason he got most, though by no means all, of
his facts straight, and so his narrative for that year has unusual
value. On the whole, it gibes, not only with the version from the
pen of his partner in this instance so laconic as to be of negligible
assistance but also with the data furnished by the newspapers and
by various letters and diaries, of which last his own is the most im-
portant, still extant.

"We are in the dead vast and middle of the night. Probably the
worst theatrical season financially in the range of New York
history is now to be recorded. Business depression shut pocketbooks
to an almost unprecedented degree. The playhouses suffered
frightfully, reducing prices of admission to an almost ridiculous
minimum, and paying the actors, when paying at all, a wage that
would have been scorned by a skilful mechanic."' It is, of course,
of New York that Dr. Odell is writing here, but Ludlow and Smith
would probably claim a share in the title of his chapter, "The
Nadir." Ludlow records only failing engagements from May to
November, and concludes his story with the statement that they
lost hundreds of dollars. 8 All Smith troubles himself to say is that
the season "closed on a considerable loss." 9 Both men were interested
in other phases of their careers and were content to let this profitless
season pass with little comment.

With the season opening under the depressing circumstances it
did, Ludlow turned for help to the city officials. He invited Mayor
John M. Wimer and Recorder M. L. Clark to the Theatre. What
the latter replied, I don't know, but Ludlow wrote in his diary on
the thirteenth that His Honor had declined the invitation because
"he belonged to the church," an answer which I am sure did not sit
welL Such an attitude was unquestionably responsible for the
manager's pronounced aversion to organized churches and clergymen.
He had heard the profession to which he had dedicated his life sub-
jected to too many unjust attacks to be expected to feel otherwise.
(Before his death, however, he did join the Episcopal Church.)

Annals, IV, 603.
"Ludlow: Dramatic Life, S73-579.
Smith: Theatrical Management, 175.

DARKXESS VISIBLE 215

On May 16 the Republican informed its readers (as did also the
Missouri Reporter the following day) that the theatrical corps was
to have started from New Orleans on the eleventh, and named some
of the players who might be expected : ". . . . among those engaged
are Neafie, the Misses Chapman, Mr. and Mrs. Eddy and others.
Kirby plays an engagement of six nights at the commencement, and
the comedians De Bar and W. Chapman are also engaged." All of
these persons, except the last two, presumably were on the High-
lander when it shoved its nose into the levee on the seventeenth.

The St. Louis spring season of 1843 commenced on the 20th of
May, with the comedy of the "Honeymoon," and the ''Actress of
Allwork" [sic], Miss C. Chapman in the Actress. Receipts of the
night a trifle over $150. There was a large mass-meeting at the
court-house, which doubtless kept many persons from going to the
theatre; they preferred amusement that cost nothing. 10

Details of this performance are supplied by the advertisement in the
Reporter once more we find the Republican for the most part stand-
ing aside and from it we learn that Ludlow himself played the
Duke Aranza with, inevitably, Mrs. Farren as Juliana. Neafie ap-
peared as Rolando, Caroline Chapman as Volante, and Farren as
Lampedo. New to us are "Mr. H. Chapman" and "Mrs. Hamil-
ton." About the former we shall hear more, but, although the
latter is occasionally mentioned in later publicity items, she is never
identified, unless we are to conclude that she was the wife of a Mr.
Hamilton who had played with the company at the St. Charles a
few months before.

Ludlow goes on to say that Caroline Chapman played a two weeks'
engagement as a star, "taking a benefit on her last night. This last
night of hers was given to a house tolerably well filled; indeed, it
might be said to be a good house, considering the times. This ex-
cellent actress, although highly pleasing those who witnessed her
acting, could not draw full houses, owing to the general stagnation
existing at the time." This really talented young lady unintention-
ally led her manager into one of the relatively few errors in his
account of the year's proceedings, for she did not, as he certainly
implies, depart from the scene after her fortnight. This we know

"Ludlow: Dramatic tife, 573.

216 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

because on July 17, the Republican mentions in laudatory terms the
contributions of "Miss Chapman" to a performance of La Bayadere,
and I am sure it was not referring to Theresa, the elder sister being
"Miss Chapman." Furthermore, when the Seguin opera troupe was
in town in August, Caroline refused to "go on in Choruses and
said she was willing to cancel her engagement at any time." 11 In
September she was still on hand, and "Miss Chapman found fault
because she was not cast for Kate O'Brien in Perfection left her
out of Susan Put her into Mary in Dumb Belle, which she ob-
jected to took her out of it." This last from the diary on Sep-
tember 5.

The Chapmans were quite a family. The pater familias, William,
Sr., came out of England with his brood in the 1820's and, after
some more or less successful years in New York, constituted himself
as probably the original prototype of Miss Ferber's Captain Andy
Hawks, for, if not actually the father of the show boat as he prob-
ably was he was certainly one of its first promoters. Ludlow
thinks he first encountered him and his offspring on their ancestor
of the Cotton Blossom on the Ohio River in 1831 or 1832. At all
events, the boat, whatever its name, plied that stream and the
Mississippi until the "old man's" death, which, according to Ludlow,
occurred in 1840. Of his five children, William B., Jr., and Caro-
line lived to attain enviable places on the stage of their adopted
country. Of the latter, who must have been about twenty-five at
this time, the St. Louis manager says: "She got her early training
performing in her father's floating theatre on the Western waters,
and excellent training it proved to be; she has never been equalled
in versatility and finish, in her lines of business by any lady that has
appeared upon the stages of America, excepting only Clara Fisher and
Mrs. Fitzwflliam."" William, Jr., was a comedian of uncommon
skill and a great favorite. Theresa we have already mentioned.
Young Henry was a nephew, the son of the late Samuel Chapman.

Smith is clearly in error when he declares that "Yankee" Hill
was the star of the opening night. We have already seen the casts
of that occasion, and his name nowhere appears. Actually the first

"Diary of N. M. Ludlow, August 1, 184-3.
"Ludlow: Dramatic Life, 570.

DARKNESS VISIBLE 217

star was Joseph Hudson Kirby, to whom Sol assigns second place. 18
Seemingly not discouraged by the failure of the pit to rise at him
the previous fall, this paragon returned expectantly to give the St.
Louis public another chance. To put his best foot forward once more,
he opened his proceedings with his version of Richard III. I suspect
that to have seen that classic interpretation once was never to forget
it. At the same time at least two of the local critics seem to have
found it possible to control their raptures. On May 24 he of the
Republican gave its readers the benefit of his judgment.

We witnessed Mr. Kirov's performance of the Crook Back Ty-
rant, on Monday evening, and barring some slight defects which
time may cure, it was a fair representation. Mr. Kirby, by nature,
possesses many good qualifications for an actor his voice is deep,
full and sonorous, and he has studied its modulation well his actions
are graceful and suited to the words he utters, which by the bye
should be, and is the greatest study of an actor. In his reading of
some sentences, he destroyed the full force of the author's meaning,
by not minding his stops this fault seldom occurred, however, and
the general correct style of his reading would easily persuade the
reader to overlook them. We confess that the appearance of Richard
on the eve of battle, with a book in his hand calmly reading while all
was excitement and bustle around him, looked to us the introduction
of something new and out of place we may be in error it is a
novelty, however, for often as we have witnessed Richard the Third,
we have never seen it introduced before. The effectiveness of Mr.
Kirby's closing scene was destroyed by the miserable combat swords
which he cast the stake of his soul and body on; the first broke at
the commencement of the combat, and the second became almost a
useless defence before he had struck half a dozen blows.

The efforts of Mr. JL were well supported by the other characters
in the piece, all being in theatrical parlance "up in their parts."
Mr. Eddy's Buckingham was a much more correct performance in
words, than his last appearance on the St. Louis boards in the same
character, but we cannot observe much improvement in his style of
acting. Mrs. Farren, of course, was correct she does justice to
any character the management casts her in.

One of the most vivid descriptions of Kirby's Richard was printed
in the St. Louis Reveille, reprinted from die London Observer, some
eighteen months later. Since it probably is a fairly accurate depiction

"Smith: Theatrical Management, 174.

218 MANAGERS IK DISTRESS

of his histrionic display on the present occasion as well, I shall quote
a part of it.

.... It may be American to call a creature a "critter," and a
squirrel a "coon;" but until now no one in this country ever con-
ceived the idea of calling a horse a "hearse," until Mr. Hudson
Kirby came among us

"A hearse, a hearse, my Kingdom for a hearse" he shouted, and
the reply was a peal of laughter. He had no "mutes" in attendance,
even among his own friends. His most striking passage, however,
was his last scene namely, the single-handed fight between him and
the representative of Richmond. It was a regular Yankee "gouging"
match. First, he fought with his sword, next he fought on his
stumps, like Widdington, in the ballad of "Chevy Chase," and
again he fought on his legs three several times round, handling his
iron the while, as "young Jabeth Dollar" did his "Arkansas tooth-
pick" in the hall of Congress; and finally, when he fell, he turned
himself on his back like a bottle-nosed whale, and kicked while he
had a kick left in him . . . ."

Making all due allowance for British "superiority," we should
still remember Kirby's soubriquet, "Wake-me-up-when-Kirby-dies,"
before we dismiss this as straight exaggeration, though it is, of
course, possible that when in St. Louis the star had not as yet built
up his effects to their full potency.

Leaving him for the moment, I should like to call attention to the
line commending the actors for having memorized their parts before
coming on the stage. That compliment is not without its significance.
And as for Eddy, this was of course the Edward of that name later,
in Dr. Odell's words, "the idol of the Bowery boys, and not without
honour in the Broadway Theatre in 1847. He had every attribute,
in looks, voice and manner, to ring and stride through the vast stage-
spaces of those early houses." 10 Can it be that early association
with Kirby had left its mark upon the aspiring tragedian?

The afterpiece to Richard was The Married Rake, which "drew
forth rounds of laughter and applause" due chiefly to the Mrs.
Trictrac of Caroline Chapman, who, it was predicted by the Re-
publican, would soon become a great favorite, for "there is mirth
and mischief in every lineament of her countenance. The present

u&. Louis Reveille, January 7, 1845.
"Odell: Annals, V, 218.

DARKNESS VISIBLE 219

company," concludes the critic, "in our opinion, is one of decided
talent, and we hope it will receive from the St. Louis public a liberal
support." This hoost despite the lack of advertising shows good
will on the part of someone.

The gouging Richard may not have proved a profitable invest-
ment, but in his diary on May 23 the manager wrote, "Notified
Kirby that we should extend his engagement for 5 more nights."
The question is, why? His second role was Sir Giles Overreach in
A New Way to Pay Old Debts, which attracted only $97.00. "No
other attraction against us this night & weather favorable & 3 d night
of the season (Oil!)." So, dejectedly, did the unhappy manager
appraise his situation before trying to forget his troubles in sleep.
On the next night's The Lady of Lyons he passed no remarks, but on
the twenty-fifth, after Damon and Pythias^ he added, "Kirby's 4th
night. He does not attract night clear & no counter attraction."
On his opening night there had been a "counter attraction," and
again on the twenty-sixth; these were concerts at the Planters
House by Max Bohrer, violinist to the King of Wurtemberg, and
L. Rakemann, "pianist from New York." In his diary on the latter
evening (for which, by the way, there were no advertisements in
the papers) Ludlow ruefully entered the proceeds which had on
those two evenings found their way into the wrong tills ""'about
$150" and "about 130." Incidentally he also noted that, his month
at the Planters being up, he "Commenced Sleeping at the Theatre
last night."

On May 27 the piece de resistance was Pizarro, and on the next
evening the star took his first benefit The Republican's critic once
more helps us to further understanding.

THE DRAMA Kirby played Lear middling on Monday night,
to a middling house for his benefit. If a number of those who per-
formed the minor characters in the play, had made themselves a
little more familiar with the text, it would have added much to the
general performance of the piece, and their individual reputations.
Among; those correct may be named Mr. Neafie, whose performances
in his rounds of characters, gives general satisfaction. The only
fault we have with Mr. Neafie is his too forcible manner he rushes
through everything', or in more common parlance is disposed to rant.
If his manner and action were a little more subdued, it would add to
the effectiveness of his acting. Mrs. Farren's performance of Cor-

220 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

delia was good she seldom performs a part bad. If Kirby would
stimulate a little less he would become a favorite; dissipation detracts
from body, mind and reputation, and we thought the rebuke he
received in Cincinnati would remain a lasting lesson in his memory.

The afterpiece of the Pirate Day afforded much amusement the
Yankee character performed by Mr. H. Chapman drew rounds of
applause, and is deserving of praise Chapman has the true comic
humor to him. Kirby plays the sailor well in our opinion better
than Marble.

Ludlow's diary confirms the suspicions of the critic concerning
the star's sobriety or, rather, lack of it. "Kirby drunk during the
Farce in my opinion. Indeed he is seldom otherwise before he gets
through the nights performance." Can this explain the marvelous
death throes? But Kirby's habits can not have taken the manager by
surprise. Nearly three years before, when the firm first opened a
correspondence with him, the subject was alluded to. "As you are a
perfect stranger to us, you will excuse our intimating to you that
any person who neglects his Business, either from Intemperate habits
or other cause, is Liable to be Discharged without a moment's notice,
from our employment. On the contrary, those who are attentive to
their Duties & correct in their Habits receive all proper encourage-
ment from us." 18 It was probably no coincidence that this letter
was written immediately after the visit of Augustus Addams. Why,
then, was Ludlow so lax now? I am beginning to suspect that he
lacked the energy and strength to control those in his employ. In
this connection it wll be observed that the charm had been broken.
No longer are the ladies and the gentlemen complimented on being
"up in their parts." Again this fact seems to me to denote weakness
in the manager.

On May 30 manager and star joined in blazing forth a moral
which was not without its appositeness. This was the thriller en-
titled Six Degrees of Grime with a sub-title (given by Dr. Odell)
which should have curdled the blood of all those who were con-
templating the first downward step, Wine, Women, Gambling,
Theft, and the Scaffold. Look before you leap, Mr. Kirby! This
chef d'oevmre was repeated the next night with The Mountaineers
Kirby as Octavian as an antidote. Incidentally, as the annalist of

"Ludlow and Smith's Letter Book, September 21, 1840.

DARKNESS VISIBLE 221

the New York Stage points out, there is more than a soupfon here of
George Barnwell. Then this star engagement sped its way to a not
unwelcome conclusion via The Iron Chest and The Pirate Dey,
William Tell and The Two Drovers, and Richard III and Jackets
of Blue. June 3 saw the last of Kirby.

Before dismissing him altogether, however, I shall quote a few
observations set down by the emissary of the Reporter, whose review
is very restrained, well written, and intelligent. He begins by saying
that, while he has been attending the performances, he has waited
to give the company "time to settle down" before passing judgment
upon their efforts. Kirby, he avers, "certainly possesses real genius ;
his conception of the characters which he personates is generally good,
but his enunciation is indistinct, hurried, and careless. The modula-
tions of his voice are too violent, parts of sentences being uttered
with great clearness and force and the remainder in so low and feeble
a tone as to be wholly inaudible. Occasionally he indulges in a
senseless rant, although we must in justice say that in this respect he
is less faulty than most stars of greater celebrity. . . ." 1T This last
observation may well give us pause. "So important do we regard
distinct enunciation to be, that we should dislike much to rank
Neafie, with his clear and full voice, below Kirby with his rapid
utterance and sudden changes of intonation. In person and in ar-
ticulation Neafie is superior to Kirby. His voice sometimes appears
stiff and somewhat inflexible." To Eddy he can concede no im-
provement. "His voice is clear and rich, yet apparently beyond his
control. We have been at a loss to decide whether his chief fault
proceeds from an inflexibility of voice, or from an incorrect idea of
the parts he represents. He rushes from one extreme to the other,
regardless of propriety of action or of the sentiments he is uttering,
as if mere rant was alone necessary to make a good actor, or as if it
were impossible for him to raise his voice gradually as the change
in feeling requires."

On Monday, June 5, Smith made his seasonal entry as Mr. Dingle
in Alice or Love and Reason and as Philip Garbois in 102 or A
Veteran and his Progeny. But his fellow-citizens did not rush out

^Missouri Rtporter, June 7, 1843.

222 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

in crowds to greet him, the receipts, according to Ludlow's diary,
amounting to a sorry $68.50. Between the two pieces the Chapman
sisters contributed a duet, "Lightly May the Boat Row."

The way was now clear for Ben De Bar and William Chapman,
who took over the stage, but regrettably (and, no doubt, regretfully)
to what the Republican of June 10 describes as "rather thin houses."
They merited a better reception. "The performance of Robert
Macair by Mr. De Bar," asserts the same paper, "we consider equal
to Brown's representation of the character; and Jacques Strop by
W. Chapman far surpasses Billy Williams 1 efforts. 18 Those who
witnessed this performance were frequently convulsed with laughter,
not by the grimaces of the actor, for Chapman is not of the buffoon
school, but the downright humor in look, words and action forced
from the spectators rounds of applause."

The character of Strapado in the Dumb Girl of Genoa, was
sustained on Wednesday evening by Mr. De Bar with signal ability
we are of the opinion that his Drunken Corporal cannot be sur-
passedthe fight between him and young H. Chapman was inimita-
ble, and displayed comic powers of a high order. 10

The critics may have laughed to their hearts' content over the
antics of Mr. De Bar on the stage, but I doubt if the managers, singly
or jointly, even smiled at some of his off-stage actions. On June 4
Ludlow recorded in his diary an agreement with his partner to the
effect that "henceforth Stars should never be allowed any other than
our usual bills for the Benefit of which they could have an extra
number if they choose to pay for them & a card (at their expense)
two days before the play day of their Benefit." Two days later we
find this entry in the same journal: "De Bar had bills (against our

The
Rules) out on Monday announcing in this manner Artful " I

Dodger,
wonder if he was penalized.

Incidentally, in his diary on October 19, 1842, Smith had jotted
down an observation to the effect that he believed "Ludlow notes

"Presumably W. H. Williams, an English comedian who had made his
American debut at Wallaces National Theatre, New York, in 1838. (Odell:
Annals, IV, 212.)

I'Mtstouri Republican, June 10, 1843.

DARKNESS VISIBLE 223

down every conversation or transaction which takes place between
us." Half a month later he had written: "Mem. The Partnership
of Ludlow & Smith expires with this day. As our affairs require
that we shall continue together as partners, I have resolved to keep
a book for our mutual use, to put down any resolution we may here-
after make in regard to business, which may lead to disputes in the
future. I find this necessary, from the fact that one of uf perhaps
both seems to have lost his memory; at all events, some disagree-
ments have taken place within the last two or three years, as to
certain facts. The Book which I propose to open tomorrow will
remedy these little lapses of memory." 20 What happened to this
record, if it was ever started, I do not know. Ludlow kept his
diary regularly and into it went the kind of items to which Smith
refers, but the latter never was able to hold to his course very long
when it came to his projected "line o* day."

But to return to St. Louis in the year 1843 and the two comedians
who elicited the compliments quoted above. Compliments or no com-
pliments, neither of these charmers could charm shekels into the
managerial till, and they sadly followed Kirby out through the exit.

If the financially pinched St. Louisans did not feel like laughing
(at a price), perhaps they might like to improve their minds. The
apparent success of the innumerable lecturers and pseudo-educators
who had been following hard upon each other's heels suggested that
they did. So the two managers decided to give the public what it
wanted. The result was Dr. Lardner.

Dionysius Lardner was quite an institution in England and the
United States in the mid-nineteenth century. A professor of science
at University College, London, and a prolific writer and lecturer
on scientific subjects, and also a member of the Dickens-Macready
circle, he was in 1840 indiscreet enough to elope with a married
woman by the poetic name of Heavy side, and so thought it the part
of wisdom to take flight to this country, where his escapades might
be either unknown or overlooked. Once here, he set out on his
peregrinations, sugar-coating the pills of culture with "dissolving
views" manipulated by the later beloved comedian, George Holland.
Omitted from his publicity was all reference to the similarity between

*Diajy of Sol Smith, November 2, 1843.

222 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

in crowds to greet him, the receipts, according to Ludlow's diary,
amounting to a sorry $68.50. Between the two pieces the Chapman
sisters contributed a duet, "Lightly May the Boat Row."

The way was now clear for Ben De Bar and William Chapman,
who took over the stage, but regrettably (and, no doubt, regretfully)
to what the Republican of June 10 describes as "rather thin houses."
They merited a better reception. "The performance of Robert
Macair by Mr. De Bar," asserts the same paper, "we consider equal
to Brown's representation of the character; and Jacques Strop by
W. Chapman far surpasses Billy Williams' efforts. 18 Those who
witnessed this performance were frequently convulsed with laughter,
not by the grimaces of the actor, for Chapman is not of the buffoon
school, but the downright humor in look, words and action forced
from the spectators rounds of applause."

The character of Strapado in the Dumb Girl of Genoa, was
sustained on Wednesday evening by Mr. De Bar with signal ability
we are of the opinion that his Drunken Corporal cannot be sur-
passed the fight between him and young H. Chapman was inimita-
ble, and displayed comic powers of a high order. 10

The critics may have laughed to their hearts' content over the
antics of Mr. De Bar on the stage, but I doubt if the managers, singly
or jointly, even smiled at some of his off-stage actions. On June 4
Ludlow recorded in his diary an agreement with his partner to the
effect that "henceforth Stars should never be allowed any other than
our usual bills for the Benefit of which they could have an extra
number if they choose to pay for them & a card (at their expense)
two days before the play day of their Benefit." Two days later we
find this entry in the same journal: "De Bar had bills (against our

The
Rules) out on Monday announcing in this manner Artful " I

Dodger,
wonder if he was penalized.

Incidentally, in his diary on October 19, 1842, Smith had jotted
down an observation to the effect that he believed "Ludlow notes

18 Presumably W. H. Williams, an English comedian who had made his
American debut at Wallaces National Theatre. New York, in 1838 (Odell:
Annals, IV, 212.)

Republican, June 10, 1843.

DARKNESS VISIBLE 223

down every conversation or transaction which takes place between
us." Half a month later he had written: "Mem. The Partnership
of Ludlow & Smith expires with this day. As our affairs require
that we shall continue together as partners, I have resolved to keep
a book for our mutual use, to put down any resolution we may here-
after make in regard to business, which may lead to disputes in the
future. I find this necessary, from the fact that one of us perhaps
both seems to have lost his memory; at all events, some disagree-
ments have taken place within the last two or three years, as to
certain facts. The Book which I propose to open tomorrow will
remedy these little lapses of memory." 20 "What happened to this
lecord, if it was ever started, I do not know. Ludlow kept his
diary regularly and into it went the kind of items to which Smith
refers, but the latter never was able to hold to his course very long
when it came to his projected "line o' day."

But to return to St. Louis in the year 1843 and the two comedians
who elicited the compliments quoted above. Compliments or no com-
pliments, neither of these charmers could charm shekels into the
managerial till, and they sadly followed Kirby out through the exit.

If the financially pinched St. Louisans did not feel like laughing
(at a price), perhaps they might like to improve their minds. The
apparent success of the innumerable lecturers and pseudo-educators
who had been following- hard upon each other's heels suggested that
they did. So the two managers decided to give the public what it
wanted. The result was Dr. Lardner.

Dionysius Lardner was quite an institution in England and the
United States in the mid-nineteenth century. A professor of science
at University College, London, and a prolific writer and lecturer
on scientific subjects, and also a member of the Dickens-Macready
circle, he was in 1840 indiscreet enough to elope with a married
woman by the poetic name of Heavy side, and so thought it the part
of wisdom to take flight to this country, where his escapades might
be either unknown or overlooked. Once here, he set out on his
peregrinations, sugar-coating the pills of culture with "dissolving
views" manipulated by the later beloved comedian, George Holland.
Omitted from his publicity was all reference to the similarity between

"Diary of Sol Smith, November 2, 1843.

224 - MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

his name and that of Dionysius Lardner Boucicault, the famous
actor and playwright, who was almost certainly his natural son.
But perhaps the omission was due to the fact that Boucicault was
not yet a celebrity in his own right. In the future too were
Thackeray's satires on "a literary quack advertising his cyclopaedia
at dinner-parties" and of "Dionysius Diddler." 81 But, as it was,
Ludlow and Smith evidently hoped that he had fame enough for
their purposes, and sandwiched him in on alternate nights between
the comedians until they departed, after which they presented him
consecutively on the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first.

This was not the first contact between the two high contracting
parties. The Doctor had already dispensed learning under the
partners' auspices in their new theatre in New Orleans. But he
came to St. Louis distinctly on his own. This he did on June 3,
but he could find no suitable room available, and on the sixth the
Republican announced that he was leaving for Louisville. But here
Ludlow stepped into the picture. One thing is certain : the Doctor
appreciated his own value, and in his opinion the laborer was
worthy nay, more than worthy of his hire. His reply to the
first overture of the Western managers before the St. Charles en-
gagement is marked by a hauteur rivalling that of his friend Mac-
ready himself.

I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 20th. The
propositions therein contained are so entirely incompatible with all
my engagements at other Theatres that I cannot for a moment en-
tertain them. The lowest engagement I have ever accepted has been
half the gross receipts, the Managers paying all the expenses & I
will not consent in going South & West to accept lower terms.
My audiences as you are probably aware (even in cases where the
whole House has been raised to box price as at Chestnut Street)
have been larger than any dramatc performer except Ellsler.

Should none of the Theatres accept these terms my lectures can
be delivered with nearly as much & in some respects with greater
advantage in other places different from Theatres."

As it turned out, however, this haughty mien could not be pre-
served without the loss of something more tangible than "face,"

^Dictionary of National Biography.

"Dionyiius Lardner to Ludlow and Smith, August 1, 1842.

JOSEPH M. FIELD
(Courtesy of ike Theatre Collection, Harvard College Libiary)

GEORGE PERCY FARREN
(Couitesy of the Theatre Collection, Harvard College Library)

DARKNESS VISIBLE 225

and, in the presence of hard facts, the Doctor could condescend to
accept terms somewhat less exalted. I don't know what he got in
New Orleans, but his St. Louis dealings have left footprints in the
sands of time. At first, negotiations were carried on through the
medium of Holland, but to no purpose. Then Dr. McDowell be-
came the intermediary, and an accord was made. 28 He and the
firm were to share after "$50 per night charges, he to pay his own
printing, which was generally an expense of considerable amount." 2 *
Smith says, "The only thing I remember about the doctor's engage-
ment is that my old friend George Holland . . . now appeared as
Dr. Lardner's business agent and generator of his gases." 3 " Ap-
parently the programs in St. Louis included no skits, as the Republi-
can announced: "As no dramatic or other theatrical performances
will be produced on the same evening, it is hoped that the Theatre
may be regarded on this occasion, merely as a building devoted to
the diffusion of useful and elevating knowledge." The prices an-
nounced were : "Course rickets to admit a gentleman and two ladies,
$8.00; a gentleman and one lady, $6.00; and one person, $3.50.
Nightly admission to boxes and parquette, 75 cents." The lectures
treated of "the most important discoveries in Astronomy and Physics."
There seems to have been in some quarters a fear that the local
public would not rise to its opportunities, but might ignore the intel-
lectual feast spread before it. A letter published in the Republican
of June 12 says that St. Louis is reputed to take so little interest in
science that it will not support a man of learning. But the writer
defiantly picks up the gauntlet. "Now, my opinion is, that there is
more sound intelligence in St. Louis, in proportion to its population,
than any city in the Union ; and now is the time to show it. ... If
there are those who would lavish eulogy on such a man as Dickens,
we should show that there are others who are capable of appreciating

"Diary of N. M. Ludlow, June 3 and 6, 1843.

a*Ludlow: Dramatic Life, 575.

"Smith: Theatrical Management, 175. George Holland was the genial
and kindly comedian who is responsible for the designation of the Chnich
of the Transfiguration in New York as "the Little Chinch Around the
Corner." When on his death in 1870 his son and Joseph Jefferson III re-
quested the Rev. Dr. W. T. Sabine to read the burial service, the clergy-
man refused because Holland had been an actor. On Jefferson's inquiring
where he might find a someone to officiate, the minister replied, "Oh, mere's
a little church around the corner where they do that son of thing."

226 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

the higher order of intellectual culture." Dickens versus Lardner.
Luckily they were friends. I find this communication somewhat
suspect. The ways of publicity could be just as devious in 1843 as a
century later. However, St. Louis evidently did show the doubting
Thomases that there were brains within its confines, for on the
fourteenth the same paper reported that the first lecture was "fairly
well attended" by an audience which included "intelligent females."
"The lecture," continues the account, "was throughout deeply in-
teresting, and was listened to with marked attention." The "philo-
sophic portion of the evening's entertainment" was followed by "an
exhibition by Mr. Holland of a series of beautiful views."

Thanks to the Reporter of June 12, we can learn something of
what the Doctor's auditors learned on that first evening. Here is a
part of the advertisement :

THE SUN

Its magnitude, weight, density. What are the sources of its light
and heat? How does it affect the atmosphere? Explanation of the
seasons. The Sun more distant in summer than in winter. Solar
eclipses: explanation of their causes. The manner in which a due
supply of sokr light and heat is secured to the earth. To be illus-
trated by Telescopic Drawings and Diorama of the Solar system.

There then followed: The Moon; the Planets; the Comets; the
Present Comet; 26 and the Fixed Star. Says Ludlow, "His lectures
were well attended, for the time, and I think he cleared some money
during his stay in St. Louis." His diary yields up a few more de-
tails. "Recpts first night. For the whole Series $197.50. For the
night 120.75. Recpts. of the night taking average of the series
$153.33. Our share $101.67." This on June 12. Later he paid
Lardner an additional $51.67.

During the month which followed Ludlow was out of town, hav-
ing gone down to New Orleans to negotiate with Caldwell the lease
of his theatre in Mobile, and to see his wife and children in the latter
city. On his return in mid- July with the lease, which by giving the
firm the control of three theatres greatly strengthened its position,
Smith set out for the East to make engagements for the fall and
winter.

"'The Great Comet of 1843," observed February 28 to April 19.

DARKXESS VISIBLE 227

Meanwhile the St. Louis stage was unprofitably occupied, for the
most part by a youthful danseuse named Emma Ince, who disported
herself to little purpose in La Bayadere and other ballets, and nearly
got herself killed by being thrown from a horse while on a jaunt in
the country. She hailed from Philadelphia, and would not be
fifteen until next month. The terms of her contract as set down in
the Letter Book (June 26, 1843) were: "Miss Ince to dance 14
nights in all commencing on the 5th of July (next month) unless
prevented by some accident from arriving in time for the sum of
One Hundred and Eighty Dollars the Management to have the
use of her name for such Benefits (within the time named) as they
shall choose to announce." Ludlow calls her "a pretty American
girl, but not sufficiently clever in her profession to draw full houses.
Her benefit was not good."

On the evening of the eighteenth arrived the next star, a very
different one from the little dancer, who had almost finished her
stint. "Mrs. Brougham," wrote Ludlow in his diary on that evening,
"arrived from Cincinnati to play here came at night with Captain
Beard: Handsome woman Pretty appearance." Despite the am-
biguity of Ludlow's phrase, no scandal need be scented. Beard was
the captain of the steamboat Valley Forge, and so far as I know, a
perfectly respectable man. The next evening, the manager wrote:
"Saw Mrs. Brougham at 9 a.m. Understood that she plays on
Friday next Eight nights share after $125 & Half Ben on the 9th
night." So in "the Palmy Days" was theatrical business transacted.

This lady was the first wife of the famous comedian, manager, and
playwright, John Brougham. (Allston Brown errs in stating that
she was the second. ) She had been a Miss Emma Williams, and had
quite a reputation as a beauty. Ludlow is ungallant (and probably
truthful) enough to remark that she had "a moderate share of talent
and a considerable share of temper." 37 He seems not to have shared
the enthusiasm of the Spirit of the Times, which said, apropos of her
debut with her husband at the Park In 1842, that "She is a lady of
extraordinary personal attractions, and even if she were an actress of
but ordinary abilities, her rare beauty alone would attract troops of
admirers." 88 The St. Louisans of 1843 must have been blind to

27 Ludlow: Dramatic Life, 584.
"Odell: Annals, IV, 60S.

228 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

feminine beauty, for, unless Ludlow's memory is playing him tricks
again, there was no troop of admirers, but only $77.25 in the house
on July 21, when she made her bow as Lady Teazle. Perhaps the
"beggarly array of empty seats" explains her temper. The Republican
tried to help beauty in distress by giving space to an enticing editorial.
"We have seldom seen the character of Lady Teazle, in the good
old comedy of School for Scandal, more ably sustained than it was
on Friday evening. Mrs. B. has a chaste, winning style, and
identifies herself with the character she personates. The illusion is
never broken by straining after efEect. If this talented lady fails to
fill the theatre, the manager may despair." I don't know whether
Ludlow despaired or not it is not unthinkable that he was himself
the author of this puff but he set down his own appraisal of her
artistic merits. "She is a pleasing actress, yet not great but being
a pretty woman will always be a favorite." 20

In this evaluation he was probably correct enough, but he was not
correct when he wrote in his memoirs that the Seguins opened their
engagement on the 24th, at least implying that the beauty had de-
parted. On the contrary, she remained to the end of the month,
though she did surrender one evening to her successors (in return
for which they "volunteered" for her benefit). After the Sheridan
comedy she was seen in The Honey Moon,, The Hunchback, The
Love Chase (twice), and London Assurance (twice). Apropos of
the latter, Ludlow observed in his diary that she had "attempted
Lady Gay Spanker but could not do it justice." What part she
essayed for her benefit is not revealed. As a box office lure she was a
distinct disappointment, the largest sum she attracted being $90.00
for The Hunchback^ the lowest $39.75 for the repetition of London
Assurance. Her benefit drew only $111.25.

On June 15 Ludlow had written W. H. Chippendale, who acted
as one of the firm's Eastern agents, giving hi authority to engage
the operatic troupe of the Seguins, the terms to be "}4 Recpts for
nine nights & 3 half Bens & $20 a week for Mr. Archer." 80 Whether
Chippendale failed to establish contact with them or they did not
like what he had to offer is not clear, but, when they reached St.
Louis on July 22, there obviously had been no agreement because

"Diary of N. M. Ludlow, July 21, 1843.
, June 15, 1843.

DARKNESS VISIBLE 229

Ludlow wrote in his diary that he had heard they intended to give
concerts. "We shall see." The next day a conference with Mr. and
Mrs. Seguin and Mr. Shrival, the tenor, was unproductive of re-
sults, but on the twenty-fourth common ground was established, and,
after all the discussion, on the original terms, the only difference
being that the engagement was extended a day. During a great part
of this engagement Ludlow was ill with influenza, or, as it was
called at the time, "Tyler grippe" ; yet he managed to carry on.

Arthur Edward Sheldon Seguin was an English basso of consider-
able experience at home who came to this country in 183S with his
wife, the former Anne Childe, and soon established himself as one of
the ablest operatic artists in the field; Mrs. Seguin, who also had
made a name for heiself before crossing the Atlantic, soon gained
recognition as a prirna donna of exceptional competence. After their
initial appearance in the East, the}' organized a small, compact
troupe, and toured the country, filling engagements with the various
stock companies, which, as in St. Louis, provided the singers for the
minor roles, choruses, and orchestras.

Not forgetting his error in the matter of the date, I turn again to
Ludlow.

July 24th, the Seguin Opera Troupe, highly popular in that day,
commenced an engagement for a certain number of nights with "La
Sonnambula ;" receipts only $159.50. This company, although limited,
was good ; and what they undertook was given in a very clever and
artistic manner, and at any other time would have drawn houses that
would have put money into their and the managers' pockets; but as
it was, both parties lost money. Paid Seguin for six night $356.50,
Ludlow & Smith getting for the same number of nights $26 over
the actual expenses.

Seventh night, the "Postillion of Longjumeau," for the benefit of
Mr. Shrival Tenth night, Mrs. Seguin's benefit, "La Gazza
Ladra" and "Olympic Revels." Paid Seguin for the last six nights
$445.60, and Mr. Thomas Archer's salary, $20 more. Out of this
engagement of two weeks, Ludlow & Smith did not get their actual
expenses. On the 12th of August, benefit of the managers being put
up, the Seguins volunteered. . . - 81

In his diary he wrote after the opening performance ". . . very few-
ladies. So much for the people of St. Louis who have been at us for

Dramatic Life, 577.

230 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

two years to bring an opera company here." But, even so, there was
some compensation. On the previous evening, before he knew the
worst, he had entered this moving item in his journal: "Had a
pretty good rehearsal of the music of La Sonnambula. Oh! how
beautiful is the music of this piece I can never hear it without
shedding tears there is a mysterious cord in almost every strain that
thrills to my very heart & soul Great Bellini/ I wish I could have
known you personally I think there is a strange affinity in the quality
of feeling with which you were and I am possessed." The opera had
in all three rehearsals.

To the St. Louis New Era, an evening paper, as well as to the
invaluable diary, we are indebted for information concerning the
repertoire. In addition to those already mentioned, the following works
were given: Cinderella (whether the original or the perversion, there
is no way of telling), The Marriage of Figaro, and The Barber
of Seville. Both papers, the New Era and the Republican, bespeak
public support, but the former goes further and reports that it was
forthcoming, a fact which Ludlow disputes. "A well-filled and
fashionable house witnessed the performance of an excellent Opera
[The Barber}, in an excellent manner, last night, at the theatre. It
was a treat seldom offered ; and the managers and the actors should,
while they are in this humor, be encouraged-" 82 On the sixth the
same journal said that on the previous evening The Postillion was
"witnessed" by a fine, though not crowded house. Declaring that the
same opera was to be repeated that evening, the writer Ludlow (?)
urged his readers to attend. On the tenth again it reported
that for Mrs. Seguin's benefit (La Gaxza Ladra and Olympic
Revels') "The Box book was opened yesterday, and we learn that all
the boxes in the first tier were taken in the fore part of the day. This
gives assurance of a full house." In his diary on the same day Ludlow
wrote, "Great rush for seats for Mrs. Seguin's Benefit tonight."

One statement in the press, in this instance the Republican, is
definitely incorrect. The writer states that this " is the first effort
to introduce Opera here." St. Louis had heard opera before, even
if the hybrid Cinderella is not counted, for in 1838 La Sonnambula

**Ntv> Era, August 4, 1843.

DARKNESS VISIBLE 231

had been sung twice with the English soprano, Mrs. Gibbs, as
Amina. 88

After their season at the Theatre, the singers tried to pick up a few-
odd dollars and cents by means of a concert at the Planters House.
Ludlow took his son Dick, and shook his head over the outcome. "I
should suppose recpts about $60 or 70. License S25 Room S15." 8 *

"After the Seguins left," says Ludlow, "having very little attrac-
tion to offer the public, save what might be in our stock company,
and that did not seem to draw, I gave three or four benefits and
closed the spring season." 85 He did nothing of the sort. The notice
in the Republican of August 12 refers to the managerial benefit, in
which the Seguins participated, as the last night of the statement, and
in his diary Ludlow lists no more performances. This raises the
question as to how he could make such flagrant errors when he had
his diary before him as he wrote. He apologizes for omitting the
details of his activities during October, on the ground that he had
misplaced his diary for that month. 86 (It is still missing.) Pre-
sumably then he did have the others. The record of each month for
many years is contained in his own little notebook. It is to be re-
gretted that he failed to follow them more closely when writing his
book. At all events, the spring season came to an end on August 12.

After a hiatus of about three weeks, the Theatre reopened on
September 2, according to Ludlow on the "hottest night of the sea-
son," with The Wandering Boys and the farce of JKve and Merry.
In this case he hits the nail on the head. He then outlines the fall
season on the whole correctly, but, while he mentions the various
stars who trod his boards for better or for worse, he fails to identify
the regular members of the company. Fortunately the New Era,
even though the editor was by bis own assertion no playgoer, comes
to our aid with an almost complete set of advertisements. The man-
agers seem to have executed a complete about-face. During the
spring season, so far at least as I have been able to determine, they
had eschewed advertisements altogether. Now they went to the
other extreme in the New Era with paid notices which go to the

88 Canon: The Theatre on the Frontier, 24-9.
"Diary of N. M. Ludlow, August 14, 1843.
88 Ludlow: Dramatic Life, 578.
579.

232 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

length of naming all but the most unimportant members of the
dramatis personae. Why not in the Republican f Possibly because
it was a morning paper, whereas the New Era came out in the eve-
ning. At all events, the management of the older paper obviously
took no offence, since it published more theatrical items in the fall
than it had in the spring. Probably its printing-office had the con-
tract for providing the programs and playbills.

These advertisements make it possible to compile a rather full list
of the significant members of the corps. The Fan ens, Neafie, Caro-
line Chapman and her nephew, Maynard, and Mrs. Russell were
still on hand. On August 31 the Republican, apropos of the im-
minent opening, observed: "We notice that the managers have
engaged Mr. and Mrs. J. M. Field, Mr. Silsbee, H. Russell, W. H.
Brown, H. Davis, T. Placide, G. Holland, and La Petite Carline.
They will appear at intervals during the season." Ludlow says that
Smith while on his trip East also engaged Forrest, Henry Placide,
and Mr. and Mrs. Brougham as " 'stars* for our three theatres; and
also engaged some performers as 'stock actors.' "" As will be seen,
not all of these reached St. Louis at this time.

After a sort of Saturday evening prologue consisting of The
Wandering Boys and Alive and Merry, the fall season really got
under way on Monday, September 4, with the first stars, and very
feeble ones at that. These were the pantomimists Russell, Davis, and
Brown, and "la Petite Carline" (frequently misspelled "Carliene"
and "Carleine") evidently, like the unregretted Emma Ince, a
juvenile emulator of Fanny Elssler. The card in the Republican of
September 16 which announces her benefit says: "She is a mere
child, apparently about 9 or 10 years of age, and her grace and pre-
cision is astonishing. Her strength of limb and body enables her to
dance with all the ease of a practised adult." This quartet opened
in an elaborate program made up of A Husband at Sight, a cachuca
danced by the prodigy, and a comic pantomime, "first time here,"
called Harlequin or The Fairy in the Wheat Sheaf > in which last, in
addition to the three men named above, Carline and Miss Chapman
took part. There is really no necessity of lingering long with all this
small fry. They themselves did linger on through the sixteenth,

nd., 578.

DARKNESS VISIBLE 233

presenting various pantomimes (of which, one called The Night Owl
was done four times) and "favorite dances." In order to give some
savor to these untempting bills, the managers added some standard
comedies and farces. In these, of course, the regular members of the
company were employed. But nothing sufficed. "Our entire receipts
for the week of the pantomimists was only $418.25. Miserable
business; nothing seemed to draw." Ludlow forgot that they staved
two weeks. Before they had finished and they themselves were
finished, the managers called for help, seeking it in a restaurant.

Said the Republican on September 15: "On Wednesday evening
Sept. 13 the sterling comedy of 'The Dramatist,' introduced upon
the boards of our theatre that excellent actor GEORGE BAR-
RETT, after an absence of a year from the profession. His return
was hailed with enthusiasm by his friends, and he stepped the boards
as if he felt he had returned home. . . . On this occasion, his Vapid
drew forth merited peals of applause. His short respite from the
profession appears to have recruited his powers, and he now steps
upon the stage refreshed with the determination of showing his old
friends a finished representation of character in those old sterling
comedies which modern taste appears to have laid almost aside. . . ."

Gentleman George was not yet fifty, but a century ago that age
was often regarded as practically the threshold to Shakespeare's
seventh age of man. Despite his advancing years, he made a suc-
cessful comeback and remained active in his profession for approxi-
mately a decade. On this occasion he contracted "to play for 6 or 9
nights Ben % if it amounts to $400 or share after $100."* B He
was seen as Doricourt in The Belle's Stratagem, O'Callaghan in His
Last Legs (for la Petite Carline's benefit), Ambrose in The Two
Friends (for Sol's benefit), Goldfinch in The Road to Ruin, and
Sir Peter Teazle (for his own benefit on the twentieth). These add
up to only five. He was also to have been presented as Gossamer in
Lauffh When You Can, but was too hoarse to be heard, and was
replaced by Ludlow. On the nineteenth he shared the program with
an unidentified "Mr. Reeves," whom I take to have been the Irish
actor John Reeves, who, according to Brown, had made his debut in
Philadelphia the year before as Dr. OToole in The Irish Tutor, and

"Diary of N. M. Ludlow, September 12, 1843.

234 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

who was accidentally killed in Cincinnati. 89 The much more im-
portant John Reeve was by 1843 already dead, and W. H. Reeves
had not yet come to this country. Whoever he was, he proved to be
no magnet, since the intake added up to only $55.25.*

Barrett too was quite ineffective as a pulmotor. Before his return,
the receipts of the pantomimists' engagement had averaged $69.50 a
night, as we learn from Ludlow's diary; now they dropped even
lower. (I cannot estimate the average because there is no record for
one evening.) Of course, on benefit nights they tended to rise, but,
at that, Gentleman George, if he peeked through the hole in the
curtain on his night, can have counted only $154.75 in the house.
Two nights before, Smith had done better, reaching the sum of
$215.50. Ludlow was patently "tickled" that his partner had fared
no better than that. "There is," he wrote in his diary on the eighteenth,
"to be a Bible and Shakespear presented to Sol Smith tonight on the
Stage for his address to Doctor Beecher bought by subscription ob-
tained among the citizens No go! It was not done; money couldn't
be raised 'I guess.' Performance Sol Smith Ben $215.50 himself &
friend P. M. Johnston to raise a big house no go 1"

I cannot think that Barrett's visit to his old surroundings, not
taking into accounts its financial failure, can have been very enjoy-
able. This was one of those periods when the relations between the
two partners were more strained than usual. Ludlow's diary for
these weeks is full of bitter complaints, the reasons for which he does
not always make clear. I think the basic one was that he owed Smith
money and that the latter was insisting on payment. As early as
August 31 he had commented sourly on an article in a recent issue
of the New Orleans Picayune which expressed wonder that Smith
had abandoned the profession of journalism. "I think its a pity he
ever did. He may have made a tolerable Editor in time He never
was never can be an actor: he hasnt genious enough to form an
actor As far as low cunning can go he will be successful." Entries
throughout September record quarrels, one over Smith's purchase of
$350 worth of costumes from the Tremont Theatre (Boston) and the
manner in which he expects to be reimbursed "He's a dam'd mean

89 Brown: American Stage.

"Diary of N. M. Ludlow, September 19, 1843.

DARKXESS VISIBLE 235

man & no mistake!" and another over the employment of a boy
named Edwin who had some unexplained connection with Ludlow,
as office boy at the St. Charles. This on September 17.

Sept. if. Another talk or quarrel with Sol Smith . . . showed some
more of his meaness of which I will make a full record. . . . Mem.
Sol Smith said in our conversation Sunday 17th that he would never
advance another dollar for the concern I said I hoped he never
would unless he was content to take it of the first receipts of the
theatre or at least the first good business. . . . Reed, from Sol
Smith proposals for dissolution of partnership at the end of the
Spring Winter Season.

Smith's diary yields no information concerning his side of these
particular quarrels, but there are many bitter entries in 1841 and 1842.
Most of these, like most of Ludlow*s, I have seen no particular
reason to include in this book, but one under date of November 12,
1841, does seem to have some bearing on the present tension which
must have complicated the operation of the St. Louis season, and I
shall insert at least a part of it.

Memorandum

When I sold out the Mercantile Advertiser office, Mobile, I
reed, in part payment a note drawn by Broadnax & Newton, for
$5,000, endorsed by C. C. Langdon & J. O Harris. Newton was
dead, but Broadnax was then Director of the State Bank of Alabama,
(Branch) & was good for the amount. Had the note been deposited
in said Branch for collection, it would have been paid at maturity
beyond a doubt, as Broadnax could not have sat as Director while
under Protest. But the Emanuel Street Theatre burning down that
fall, (1838) the firm of L. & S. became somewhat embarrassed &
there was a difficulty in obtaining a renewal of a certain note in the
Bank of Mobile for the previous year's rent. Collateral security
was required by the bank, & I immediately offered to endorse $5,000
note to the firm, & let it be used as security. The result is that I not
only lose the amount of the note, but / lose two houses & a lot
which cost me $11,000!! The proceeds of that note being the only
means I had to take up a mortgage for a trifle over $3,000.

The comfort of it all is, that when, after the note laying in the
Bank nearly 3 years, entirely out of my power to make any use of
whatever, (during which time the surviving drawer put everything
out of his hands, I mentioned the fact to my partner, Mr. Ludlow
not expecting or asking to be remunerated for the heavy damage I
had sustained he laughed at me* saying it was my own offer!

236 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

The 1st of Oct. 1842, is not quite a year off and if I continue a
connection with N. M. Ludlow after that date, it will be my own
fault.

I have not got even a memorandum of the fact that the above-
mentioned note is mine & if I should die, it would appear to belong
to the firm, the firm being the last Endorsers 1

I may have been a fool for many years. I intend to throw off my
folly if possible, and so far as I can do so honestly take care of my-
self & family for the future.

While I have been impoverishing myself by bad speculations &
attempts to save the credit of the firm, my prudent partner has en-
riched himself, & placed all his property in the hands of his daughters
so that if an execution should issue against Ludlow & Smith none
of his property could be touched.

And so the season festered on. On the twentieth Barrett had his
benefit, for which he delayed his departure for New Orleans in order
to participate. The two pieces of the evening were The School for
Scandal and John Jones of the War Office^ in the first of which Sol
played Crabtree, in the second, Guy Goodluck. Gentleman George
was the Sir Peter of the evening vis-a-vis Mrs. Farren. Ludlow as
usual was Charles with Neafie as Joseph, Farren as Sir Oliver, May-
nard as Sir Benjamin, Caroline Chapman as Mrs. Candour, and
Mrs. Eddy as Maria. I doubt if the company did anything better
than this good old comedy. With it out of the way, both the star and
the junior partner soon betook themselves to other scenes, and prob-
ably life in the Theatre was more serene.

Early in the summer Smith had received a letter which had prob-
ably provoked a smile, perhaps a bit rueful, perhaps hopeful. At
least it has its points. The author was one Josh Silsbee.

Buffalo, June 26th '43
Gent.

I have Jest arrived in this city from the East, where I made the
greatest hit in the Yankee business in Boston, Phila, N. Y. Tre-
mont Walnut & Chatham Theatres So the Managers & the
public thought that ever was made there I played several Engts
at each Theatre at 20, 25, & 30 per cent nightly & % Benft I
shall play a few nights here with Rice & then should like to come
to St. Louis I have a good set of new Yankee pieces and should
no doubt be a strong card for you I have a better set of pieces
than Marble besides they are generally new You may think I

DARKNESS VISIBLE 237

am boasting but I can bring letters from Joe Jones Thome
Charlotte Cushman & others if necessary that they consider me
No 1 Easy I play with Hill, as I have all the bill etc. yet in
Boston on the same nights for 4 nights & Hill withdrew & I
was engaged. . . .

To which Smith responded, Ludlow being out of town:

St Louis, July 6, 1843
Dr. Sir

Yours of the 26th inst. is received You are perfectly correct in
supposing that we may think you are a little given to "boasting"
But never mind business is business. We are willing to give the
people a change, and therefore will receive you on the following
terms Divide after $200, Stock nights, and benefit divide after
$50. If you are considered here better than Marble, (as you say
you have been elsewhere) you will do well. As to time, if you
come by the Lakes, we will endeavour to make an opening for you
on your arrival if not immediately, Soon as possible 6 nights and
Benefit new pieces as many as possible . .

This modest violet seems to have taken his time in replying, be-
cause the only other letter under his hand of which there remains
a trace is a brief epistle dated September 4 in which he announces
that he will be in St. Louis "on or about 20" ready to go ahead on
the terms offered, and also quite receptive in the manner of a re-
engagement. He concludes with the surprising news that he is
playing Yankee engagements with his wife and, of all people, Dan
Marble! Inasmuch as he had a fondness for some of the latter's
favorite pieces, said latter must have been a good-natured man off
the stage as well as on.

The last letter does not harmonize too well with LudloVs version
of the course of events. 41 "Mr. Dan Marble and Mr. Sflsbee, both
representatives of Yankee characters, arrived in the city about the
same time; both came unexpectedly, and both wished to perform in
our theatre. All we could do was to give them alternate nights.
The style of representing the genus *Yankee* was quite different with
these two gentlemen, and it was very amusing to note this difference."

On another page Ludlow quotes from Tallies Magazine comments
upon the peculiarities of the Sflsbeean art as manifested in London

Dramatic life, 579.

238 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

in 1850. "His style of acting differs considerably from either Hill's
or Marble's, and is indeed so far peculiar that it may be said to form
a new and original school. Faithfully as he performs the Yankee
character, his performances are permeated with the natural humor
of the man. His looks, gestures, and actions, even the arch twinkle
of his eye, impress the spectator with ludicrous emotions, and his
inflexible countenance, rigidly innocent of fun while his audience are
in roars of laughters, gives an additional zest to the humor of the
language and the absurdity of the situation. 42

Josh Silsbee came by his Yankeeism legitimately, since he was a
native of Connecticut, though, oddly enough, he made his debut on
the stage at Natchez, in the Deep South. His particular flair was
discovered by accident three years before his St. Louis visit when at
Cincinnati he volunteered a Yankee story at a benefit of James M.
Scott. Since then he had met with success, success which was to
grow, both in this country and abroad, until his career was cut short
by his sudden death, according to Ireland, in 1855. In 1843, if
Ludlow is right and he leans heavily on Ireland he was about
thirty; if Brown is right, two years younger. 48

There is something baffling about this joint engagement. The two
men came on the same boat and, as we know from Silsbee's letter, had
teamed up ; yet, even so, they took chances with each other, blithely
exchanging roles as they did. Perhaps it would all seem less strange
if the younger man had not so brashly asserted his superiority. The
newcomer got in the first shot, appearing as Lot Sap Sago in Cor-
nelius Logan's "Yankee Land, which he brazenly claimed had been
written "originally and expressly for him." 44 How can he have hoped
to get by with such an assertion? How can Marble have stomached
it? Dr. Quinn says that Hackett played Lot Sap Sago at the Park
in 1834, four years before Silsbee set foot on the stage. 4 * Of Hack-
ett's performance Dr. Odell makes no mention, but he refers to
Yankee Land as Marble's property. Apropos of Silsbee's appropria-
tions, he says: "I must say I do not know under what legal right

"Hid, 588.

^Brown: American Stage.

"New Era, September 21, 1843.

Amtrican Drama from thi Beginning to the Civil War, 301.

DARKNESS VISIBLE 239

Silsbee could thus take Marble's plays to his own use." 46 That was
in June, 1843; and Marble was at the Park, and his rival at the
Chatham. In St. Louis they were in the same theatre, and the pur-
loining, if purloining it was, was done right under Dan's nose.

With Silsbee in the cast were Neafie as Lieutenant Ostrand, May-
nard as Harvey Ashton, Farren as Senil, and Mrs. Farren as Jose-
phine. The Farrens and Neafie were involved also in the afterpiece,
The Youthful Queen. The next evening, Marble took over as
Jonathan in The Forest Rose and "William in Black Eyed Susan.
A special guest of the evening was Marshal Henri Gratien Bertrand,
one of Napoleon's generals. Ludlow asserts that during the course
of the performance, no doubt of The Forest Rose, the guest of honor
observed to someone that "the character represented by Mr. Marble
was, as he supposed, a class of Americans he had yet to meet with."
The Frenchman's visit was profitable to the house since there was
no less than $314.25 in the cash box.* 7 "The curiosity of our
American people," ruminates the manager in his book, "is very
great I They will go to the theatre to see a live marshal, when they
.will not go to see a good performance."* 8

It will be recalled that Silsbee had promised to bring new pieces
in his baggage. In that category he can scarcely have hoped to in-
clude "Yankee Land. But in it did fit a comedy (or, perhaps, it was
a farce) called Redwood or Connecticut Curiosities, which Ludlow
declares to have been founded on a novel, and Dr. Quinn assigns
to J. Addams.* 9 "Silsbee and Marble both appeared this night, but
they could not make it a success," observes Ludlow. This sentence
is misleading if the it was intended to refer to Redwood; more prob-
ably it referred to the program as a whole. Marble made his con-
tribution as Deuteronomy Dutiful in The Wool Dealer (also known
as The Vermonter}, a character St. Louisans had seen him interpret
before. As a matter of record, since this was a "first time in St.
Louis," the cast of Redwood included: Silsbee as Josh Doolittle,

"Odell: Annals, IV, 6*6.

Diary of N. M. Ludlow, September 22, 1843.

* 8 Ludlow: Dramatic Life, 579.

4B Quinn: American Drama from the Beginning to the Civil War, 45L
The novel probably was Red-wood, Tale of Neva England in the Early Days,
by Katherine Maria Sedgwick, 1824.

240 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

Lake as Old Doolittle, Farren as Colonel Morse, Neafie as Mr.
Redwood, Maynard as Clarkson, Mrs. Farren as Ellen Morse, Mrs.
Eddy as Caroline Redwood, Caroline Chapman as Mahitable Dodge,
and Mrs. Russell as Mrs. Doolittle. Ludlow noted in his diary
that the play ran two hours, to one for The Wool Dealer, and ihat
the income was $178.25.

September 26 saw a revival of Noah's The Plains of Chippewa or
She Would Be a Soldier (first played in St. Louis in 1821) with
Marble as Jerry Mayflower. This was followed by a new farce,
Speculation or The March of Intellect* very imposing title with
Silsbee as Freeze-Up-Wrinkle.

The visit of the two comedians was concluded with a repetition of
Redwood plus The Yankee in Time with Marble as Jacob Jewsharp,
and the two benefits, in which each visitor lent a helping hand
to the other. For his, Silsbee offered some of his vaunted novelties :
Bumps or The Magnetized Yankee, playing Old Hartshorn himself ;
The Boston Tea Party or Yankees in 1773, playing Jacob Fellar ; and
The Yankee at Niagara, playing Hector Grizzle. He also treated
his hearers to "Yankee stories without number." In the midst of all
this farrago of nonsense, Marble did his bit as Lot Sap Sago. The
senior comedian did not have such an array of new pieces to offer on
his night, but he did stray once more from his beaten path to show
what he could do with Diggory in All the World's a Stage and
again as William in Black Eyed Susan, as well as the more usual
Uzziel Putnam in The Times that Tried Us. Silsbee "obliged" with
his version of Deuteronomy, providing another opportunity for com-
parison. This dramatic olio marked the conclusion of another dis-
appointing engagement. On the last day of the Month Ludlow
entered in his diary: "Settled with Marble his Engt. yielding h?m
$276.75." I have no further figures, not even the terms of this
particular engagement. I wonder how Silsbee's ego stood up under
it; probably it was proof against such buffets of neglect. (Inci-
dentally, it was not St. Louis alone that failed to do homage to
genius. Ludlow says that Silsbee's Mobile visit the following
January was also a failure, "he having in no instance the expenses
of the night in the theatre. . . ." 80

"Ludlow: Dramatic Lift, 587.

DARKNESS VISIBLE 241

Until October 6, when the next star was due, the management
marked time, taking advantage of the lull to dispose of several
necessary benefits, the performances, except in one case, being devoted
to numbers of the tned-and-true variety. The exception was The
Carpenter of Rouen or The Confrerie, a new melodrama. In this
the role of Marteau was entrusted to Neafie, Mary Ann Farren
being the Madelon. In the cast too were Eddy as de Saubigne, May-
nard as Antoine, Harry Chapman as Nykin da Nippe, Farren as
Grondu, and Miss Chapman as Julie. The saddest of the benefits
was young Chapman's, on September 30: "H. Chapman's Benefit.
Cold & windy Recpts. $104.00 share after 100." Poor Harry!
$2.00. The exclamation point is mine. Ludlow was in no frame of
mind to shed tears of pity for others on the pages of his diary.

The Carpenter was presented for the benefit of the Firemen's
Fund Association, an annual good will gesture on the part of the
management which this time had a more humorous slant than usual.
Ever since the first of June the managers had been bedevilled by the
presence in town of one Otto Motty, a German strong man and an
erstwhile member of their recent equestrian corps who had made
serious trouble for Smith during the abortive expedition to Havana.
Ludlow says that he "arrived in St. Louis, put up a large canvas
tent, and gave the public 'chariot-racing,' what he termed 'Olympic
games.' " 51 "But," he continues, "trying it out for a few nights,
and finding it did not pay, the fellow had the impudence to ask me
to engage him. . . I quietly invited him, in a very marked and sug-
gestive manner, to depart at once through the door he had come in
at; and he did so." Thus in his memoirs, but the account in his
diary (June 10) is less dramatic. "Otto Motty applied through
Walker for an engagement." But maybe he came in person later
I should like to have seen the slender Ludlow confronting the
German Hercules. But Herr Motty was too strong a man to be
downed and he lingered on in St. Louis throughout the summer,
giving various sorts of exhibitions, outdoors and in, sometimes
assisted by his three little daughters who, on August 12, were hailed
by the gracious Republican as paragons "who bid fair to outrival the
famous Ellsler." During the hot summer weeks, the husky Teuton

., 575.

242 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

was in and out of the papers, especially the Republican, which gave
him more space than it did the Theatre. I suspect that his feats
(of "activity" and otherwise) must have sorely tried the harassed
managers because every St. Louisan who went to the Concert Hall
or the Olympic Circus on Second Street to revel in the delights af-
forded by the Motty family definitely did not come to the Theatre
on Third Street. The laws of physics forbade. Then to add insult
to injury, on September 27 he deliberately stole a. march on them by
giving a benefit for the Firemen's Fund. No wonder they hurried
to repair damages and with a lurid melodrama at that! Nor can
Messrs. Ludlow and Smith, whatever their feelings toward each
other, have looked with other than jaundiced eyes at the Planters
House, where John Sinclair seeded down early in August to give
concert after concert. There went more cash into the wrong till.
October 6 saw the advent of the next star, Mrs. W. H. Smith.
This lady had associations with both managers which easily ante-
dated those of anyone else now connected with their establishment.
As Sarah Riddle, she with her mother (as well as Edwin Forrest)
had been in 1823 a member of the first theatrical company that
Smith ever managed, a decidedly modest little corps which en-
deavored, futilely as it turned out, to get red blood out of a white
turnip in Cincinnati. 53 The next year found the Riddles in Nashville
under the aegis of another tyro manager, Noah M. Ludlow. 58 Since
those early days, Mrs. Riddle had disappeared from the dramatic
scene, and her two daughters had achieved an honorable status on
the stage. Sarah, now Mrs. Smith, had made a name for herself by
her skill and charm in soubrettc and "Abigail" roles, which she had,
of course, by this time outgrown, but which she was reluctant to
relinquish. The younger sister, Eliza, now Mrs. J. M. Field, was,
after years as leading lady for Ludlow and Smith, a star. Despite
the fact that in his book Ludlow states that Mrs. Smith was a
member of the St. Louis company in 1840, there is no contemporary
evidence to corroborate his assertion; furthermore, the advertise-
ment in the New Era (October 6) refers specifically to her "First
appearance in this city."

"Smith: Theatrical Mavagmntt, 29.
"Ludlow: Dramatic Lift, 256.

DARKNESS VISIBLE 24-3

The card identifies her as "MRS. W. H. SMITH, lately of the
Tremont Theatre, Boston, who is engaged for a few nights." She
was from Boston indeed, most of her long career was identified
with that city but she stayed more than "a few nights." In fact,
she stayed till the end of the season on October 30, though not to
the end in the position of star. Her debut was accomplished as the
Widow Cheerly in the long-lived old comedy of The Soldiers
Daughter, adding to this role that of Nancy Strap to the Sir George
Howard of Eddy in The Pleasant Neighbor.

There then followed a procession of the "good old comedies" and
farces with Mrs. Smith assuming such roles as Julia in The Welsh
Girl, Cicely in The Promissory Note, Helen Worrett in Man and
Wife, Miss Hardcastle (with Farren as her father, Mrs. Russell as
her mother, and Ludlow as her evasive lover), Estelle in Crossing
the Line, the Duchess of Torrenueva in Faint Heart Never Won
Fair Lady, and the Widow White in Mrs. White or Which is the
Lady? (Mr. and Mrs. Peter White by another name). Then on
the twelfth came the Broughams, and this little star was outshone by
two brighter ones.

This was in the autumn of 1843. Writing thirty-three years
later, Laurence Hutton said of John Brougham: "He is personally,
and in his profession, undoubtedly the most popular man on the
American stage to-day, a popularity he achieved on his first appear-
ance, and which he has steadily maintained during the thirty or more
years of his residence among us." 84 Dr. Odell calls him "one of the
most popular stage performers known in New York, a wit, a writer,
a citizen (at least in spirit) almost unmatched in genial scope and
sway. The world," he goes on, "was waiting for John Brougham
when he appeared ; and richly did he reward in fun and frolic, often
irrelevant but irresistible."' 13

At this time he had been in the United States almost exactly a
year, his New York debut having occurred on October 4, 1842, and
he had only just initiated his long participation in American life,
but already he was well in character. "Whatever line of part at-
tacked by John Brougham," continues Dr. Odell, "one grew to

M Hutton: Playt and Players, SO
"Odell: Annals, IV, 08.

244 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

associate hipi with Irish character; indeed it is doubtful if a rich
brogue was not indigenous to his speech." By many he seems to have
been expected to step into the shoes left empty by the loss of Tyrone
Power, but, says Dr. Odell, "Too often John Brougham was but
John Brougham under another name in the play; Power's Irishmen
were varied and completely differentiated, one from another."

True to his type, Brougham during his stay in St. Louis empha-
sized Irish character parts. The first was Sir Patrick O'Plenipo in
The Irish Ambassador (a role formerly played here only by Joseph
Burke, the youthful prodigy) and Tom Moore in The Irish Lion.
His wife also participated in both pieces, as Isabella in the first, and
Mrs. Fitzgig in the second. Unfortunately, despite the undoubted
excellence of Brougham's performances, neither paper took enough
interest to comment upon them except for a rather perfunctory notice
of his wife's benefit in the Republican of October 17, and a good one
in the New Era of the sixteenth. Smith, as I have said, to all intents
and purposes ignores the fall season, and Ludlow, having lost his
diary, could recall nothing about the events of October. "I do not
remember our having any 'stars' of consequence during October; and
our fall season in St. Louis closed with that month, leaving us minus
several hundreds of dollars." Yet in the next paragraph he does
recall the fact that the Broughams and Mrs. Smith had borne him
company down the river. Where did he think they had been? In the
absence of other sources of information, then, I must depend en-
tirely on the advertisements in the New Era with the result that my
narrative will, I fear, resemble nothing so much as a famous cata-
logue.

October 13 was marked by a revival of The Hunchback, which,
naturally, afforded Mrs. Brougham an opportunity to display her
beauty in one of the most highly prized roles in modern drama. Mrs.
Smith filled the secondary part of Helen while the usual Julia, Mary
Ann Farren, enjoyed a brief respite. After the reconciliation of
Julia and Clifford, on this occasion Neafie, Brougham went on as
O'Callaghan in His Last Legs, the role of his debut at the Park. On
the fourteenth the personnel was rather belatedly strengthened by
the arrival of Tom Placide, who turned up as Peter Spyk in The
Loan of a Lover, Farren helping with Swyzel and Mrs. Smith with

DARKNESS VISIBLE 245

Gertrude. He followed this with Mr. Timid in The Dead Shot to
Mrs. Brougham's Mrs. Lovetrick, and Tom Dobbs in The Omnibus
to the Pat Rooney of Brougham. Having come late, he allowed no
grass to grow under his feet.

For her benefit on the sixteenth Mrs. Smith chose The Rivals,
which, incidentally, was not given here as often as was The School
for Scandal. I think the good lady was a little mature for Lydia
Languish, but she apparently did not think so, and maybe her audi-
ence agreed with her. Sir Lucius, of course, was Brougham's meat,
while Farren did Sir Anthony, Neafie was his son, Placide was Bob
Acres, and Mrs. Brougham hid her beauty in the make-up of Mrs.
Malaprop. Fag was taken by a Mr. Russell, presumably the late
pantomirnist, since his initial is given as H. a few days later. Mrs.
Brougham, by the way, was careful to have inserted in the publicity
a statement to the effect that she had volunteered to play "this ec-
centric character." After the comedy, the Broughams disported
themselves in The Married Rake.

The same evening saw the only really good publicity the latter
netted during their stay in the city. For it, they were indebted to
someone who signed himself "Q. E. D."

Mrs. Brougham, all life, spirit and vivacity with a pleasing
exterior, possessed of manners entirely removed from the forwardness
usually observed in theatrical performers [How delighted her con-
freres must have been with this little tribute I] an educated lady
wins for herself alike our tribute of applause and esteem. Mr.
Brougham as much of an Irishman (in his personation of character)
as though the green isle had been his birthplace [it had] ; refined in
his tastes, a gentleman in every sense of the word, un citoyen du
monde, and a scholar in equal degree with his accomplished lady,
deserves our admiration. . . .

Q. E. D. deserved at the very least a complimentary ticket. (And I
have given but a sample of his panegyric.)

We are now in what was announced as the last week of the season,
and the plays continued in a light vein The Irish Ambassador (re-
peated by "request"), The Irish Tutor, The Irish Lion, Our Irish
Friend, The Nervous Man, Teddy the Tiler, and Born to Good
Luck or The Irishman's Fortune. (Surely the Theatre must have
been treated to a coat of green paint.) Three other plays of a

246 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

different calibre calibres, I should say gave this week slightly
greater weight. Of these, by far the most important was As You
Like It, which Mrs. Brougham selected for her benefit. This Shake-
spearean comedy had not been seen in St. Louis since the hilarious
performance in 1839 when the actor cast as Duke Frederick, un-
familiar with the text, departed from the stage and also from his
costume and make-up before his last scene, and Sol in proprta
persona had to come before the curtain and banish Rosalind by
managerial fiat. ("I thought Miss Tree would burst her cor-
setts," he wrote Ludlow.) 58 By a strange coincidence the first Rosa-
lind to be banished (more formally than Ellen Tree) from the St.
Louis stage was none other than Annette Nelson, who after an inter-
lude as Mrs. Hodges, was very soon to oust the present lady-star
from her bed and board, and take her place as Mrs. Brougham the
Second. On this particular evening in the fall of 1843, unaware of
this concatenation of circumstances, the bearer of the title assembled
about her the following cast: Jacques, Neafie; Orlando, Maynard;
Duke (which one?), Eddy ; Oliver, H. Russell; Touchstone, Placide;
William, H. Chapman; Adam, Farren; Celia, Mrs. Farren; Phoebe,
Miss Chapman ; and Audrey, Mrs. Smith, who was certainly too old
for her part. On the whole, this looks like an extremely good cast.

The other two plays of a more serious nature were Bulwer's
Money, which was given with Brougham as Sir Frederick Blount,
and his wife of the moment as Clara. The so-called "Last night of
the Season" was given over to Brougham for his night, his better
half contributing Donna Violante in The Wonder, while he followed
in Born to Good Luck.

But the adieux were a bit previous. On Monday, the twenty-
fifth the New Era printed a notice of a change of plans. Because of
unfavorable reports concerning health conditions in New Orleans
and Mobile and the satisfaction expressed by the St. Louis public,
the season was extended one week. I suspect that, like the famous
flowers that bloom in the spring, the satisfaction of the local citizens
had nothing to do with the case. Actors are just as allergic to yellow
fever as anyone else ; and, furthermore, while it is in the ascendancy
audiences are reluctant to gather.

"Carton: Tht Thiatrt on the Frontier, 275.

DARKNESS VISIBLE 247

So the curtain was hauled up again, and the ladies and gentlemen
of the company presented themselves in The Love Chase, Mrs.
Brougham being the Constance of the evening, and her chief col-
laborators Mrs. Farren, Mrs. Smith, Farren, and Neafie ; and also in
Turning the Tables with Brougham as Jeremiah Bumps, Flacide as
Jack Humphries, and Mrs. Smith as Patty Larkb. The fare of the
few remaining nights was what might he termed "staple," with a
single "first time here," How to Pay the Rent, with Brougham as
Rattle and Mrs. Russell as Mrs. Conscience.

Inasmuch as the penultimate performance was a joint benefit for
Mrs. Smith and Placide, one is constrained to wonder just where
they would have found themselves if the season had not been ex-
tended. On the other hand, benefits were not the impromptu prod-
ucts of spontaneous combustion. Is it not thinkable that Ludlow
had had his suspicions about New Orleans for some time, and that
the lengthening of the season was not impromptu either? Whatever
it was, said season did at last reach its terminus on October 30, and
Ludlow, surrounded by his stars and his satellites, was off down the
river in the good ship Caspian, Captain Freeland.

IX

THE DEPTHS OF THE RED SEA
1844

In the archives of the Missouri Historical Society repose two lean
and battered ledgers, long, narrow books with frayed edges and an
appropriate appearance of dejection. These two relics are the "re-
turn books" of Ludlow and Smith for the spring and fall seasons of
1844. They ought to tell in their own way the whole story of that
unhappy year, but within their covers are locked who knows how
many secrets? Many more are, I suspect, locked outside. To at-
tempt to unravel the financial snarls of this theatrical enterprise
baffles even a most expert accountant today.

In these volumes were entered the daily receipts and expenses of
the firm and, except for a few pages which obviously were subjected
to some sort of deluge, everything is quite legible. Nevertheless,
some of the entries might almost as well so far as we are concerned
have been written in Sanskrit. The pages follow throughout the
following pattern, this specific example being the one dealing with the
affairs of April 13, the fifth night of the spring season and the fourth
night of the engagement of William Charles Macready:

First Price 500

146

Second Price
C. Marks

Specie $17463

Paper 201 00

C. Keemle 7 00

(7 Box tickets)
Curtains for Othello
Postage for L & S
Postage on Letter to Forrest
Dr. McDowell 1 ticket
Tom Pratt cash

248

THE DEPTHS OF THE RED SEA 249

What do all these figures represent' We learn from a pencilled
notation in the margin that the "first price" seats were those in the
parquet and the first tier boxes, which were sold at $1.00 each. So
far, so good. Does the 500 indicate the total number of seats in that
category? At this point it may be pertinent to quote from Ludlow's
description of the Theatre. "The inside of the theatre was very con-
veniently arranged, consisting of three tiers or galleries of seats and
a parquet. The first tier, or 'dress circle,' would seat about three
hundred persons; the second tier, or 'family circle, 1 about tKree
hundred and fifty; the third tier or 'gallery," about four hundred and
fifty, and the parquet about four hundred." 1 It will be seen from
this that the combined capacity of the parquet and the first tier was
approximately 700, not 500. But that is not the only complication.
The top figure for the opening night is given, not as 500, but as 600.
Does 146 indicate seats which were unoccupied or just unpaid for?
It was, of course, the practice sometimes to rail ofE the back seats of
the parquet and call them "boxes," but in the present instance there
was no occasion for so doing because the charges were the same. Nor
in either case do we have 700. On the other hand, are we to under-
stand that Ludlow and Smith "papered" the house in such a prodigal
manner? It is incredible that they would issue 332 (146 plus 186)
complimentary tickets for one performance; that would mean an
audience almost half of whom were dead-heads. Furthermore, if
such were the case, why were the seven free seats issued to Charles
Keemle, the printer, and to Dr. McDowell listed specifically under
expenses? Of course, Keemle's may have been a form of payment for
services rendered. Conceivably the same might be true of the doc-
tor's, but that hypothesis seems a bit farfetched.

Could the second figure represent, as has been suggested, the tax
due the city? In tie first place, it is unlikely that it would be
divided in three, and in the second place we have under date of May
1 a definite entry of the payment of a "Theatre and water License"
of $32.00.

And what about C. Marks? (The first entry looks like Co.
Marks, but I cannot say positively that that is what it is.) After
April 17 there are always at least four entries, Gallery being inserted

: Dramatic Life at- 1 Found It, 477.

250 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

between Second Price and C. Marks. On May 1 1 we have One Pit
C. Mark, and on June 15, C. Marks Box and C. Marts Pit. It
has been suggested that C. Marks was the name of the man who col-
lected the money paid for certain seats, but why should these particu-
lar seats have been treated differently from the others? All others
were bought and paid for at the box office, and we know from Ludlow
that the only separate entrance led to the gallery, not to the pit and
boxes. True, for a short time the gallery door keeper's name was
Cody, but he was soon supplanted by someone named Tom, ap-
parently Tom Pratt, and his name disappeared from the rolls. Can
there have been a man engaged especially to collect from late-comers ?
Possibly, but, if so, why does his name never appear on the weekly
pay roll? Nor have I come across any mention of him by either of
the managers. For a few moments the hypothesis suggested itself
that these were seats set aside for free Negroes. But the latter were
never allowed in the pit or the lower boxes. Furthermore, a play-
bill now in the Harvard collection bears the following notice:
"GALLERY BOXES. Two boxes fitted up in the Gallery the
left hand one for free persons of color (Price of Admission to these
Boxes: One Dollar.)" It may be said that the C. Marks Box was
the one in the gallery, but that explanation does not dispose of the
Pit C. Marks. Another theory advanced was that these were com-
plimentary tickets, but they were always charged for, usually 25
cents, though during certain engagements they were raised. On
June 15 the charge for the box seat was 50 cents. So they were not
free seats.

From the various pages in these return books, especially from the
weekly salary lists, it is possible to pick up much assorted information,
for instance that on April 30 there were thirty-eight on the pay roll,
but that the picture is complete or anything like complete, I cannot
persuade myself. The partners were involved in debts here and
there, in St. Louis, New Orleans, and Mobile, notes to businessmen,
notes to actors (some apparently in lieu of salaries, some, I suspect,
for outright loans), mortgages on their personal real estate, and so on
ad infinitum and, no doubt, to them ad nauseam. Without the details
of all these widespread transactions in our hands, I do not see how a
complete picture can be drawn. The nightly balances as set down on

THE DEPTHS OF THE RED SEA 251

these pages are certainly not definitive. (On a loose slip of paper in
Ludlow's diary for July there is a list, dated the 13th, of debts paid
during the spring season to the amount of $1,407.62. Among them
are the following: Mrs. Russell and Dick, $50.00; Mrs. Jefferson,
$50.00; Ben De Bar, old due bill, $20.00; Republican office, old bill,
$7.50; Maynard, due from Mobile, $12.00; J. M. Field, on note,
$125.00; T. Placide, on old note, $64.00; George V. Stanley, old
debt due bill ; etc., etc.

Once the old-fashioned method of bookkeeping has been at least in
part understood, we can, however, draw certain definite conclusions.
At the close of business on July 4 the management had in its coffers
the sum of $480.03. But on the following morning Ludlow had to
pay salaries, wages, and $2.25 for properties, to the amount of
$446.10. Result: the balance at the close of the spring season was
$33.93. At the end of the fall season, there was a still sorrier tale
to tell, the books showing a balance of exactly $4.00.

From these pages, baffling as they are, may yet be extracted some
oddly assorted facts. For one thing, pay day was a movable feast,
shifting with the winds of circumstance. It is dear too that the
Farrens' joint weekly salary was $30, though that sum they did not
always find in their envelope, for George Percy sometimes could not
wait and cajoled advances from his employers. "Eddy & wife" drew
$20 with considerable regularity; "Russell & mother," $19.00 with
considerable irregularity. Maynard's weekly stipend was $12.00,
but it too had its lapses. Neafie's receipts varied from $3.00 to
$27.00; by that I mean the sums entered on pay day. And so on.
Certain other individual items may be of interest, for instance : "A
lot of hoops for Life in china, 1.00"; "Boiled oil, 12"; "Tacks &
treats to night hands, 75" ; "Paid on Stetenius 1 note, 100.00" ; and
"Whiskey for mixing Lamblack [fie] 25." There is no need to go
further. The daily entries present such an assortment of hetero-
geneous odds and ends that no over-all picture can be drawn. All
we can safely conclude is, as I have said, that the whole has not been
told.

But, whatever the imprint left by the year 1844 on the ledgers of
Ludlow and Smith, it cannot by any non-financial criterion be written,
off as a total loss. No season which brought to the stage at Third

252 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

and Olive such performers as William Charles Macready, James H.
Hackett, Edwin Forrest, and Henry Placide, can be dismissed as
unimpoitant. If the managers did not profit as they should, the
public did, at least that portion thereof which had the wisdom to take
advantage of the opportunities opened before it. Before we con-
demn the unappreciative stay-at-homes, we should recall that they
were by no means alone in their guilt, if guilt it were, because the
theatrical world was in the doldrums, and business everywhere in the
country was bad. Hard times were still general. Moreover, it was
election year. We to-day have little conception of the vehemence
of the Presidential campaigns of the first half of the last century,
and they too inevitably distracted attention from matters aesthetic.

Activities got under way, for richer, for poorer, late in April. The
first great attraction was Macready, then on his second visit to the
United States. The managers had engaged him for a long series of
performances to be divided, not only among their three regular
houses in New Orleans, Mobile, and St. Louis, but also, such was
their faith in his magnetic powers, in the National Theatre in Cin-
cinnati, which they had rented for a spring season expressly to pre-
sent him and his later inveterate enemy, Edwin Forrest. Un-
fortunately, however, they were doomed to a costly disappointment,
since, except in New Orleans, their expectations of stampedes in
the direction of the box office were not realized, and they were com-
pelled to pay both these celebrities half the gross receipts. Again it
seems to have been a case of too much politics and too little money.
When it was all over, Smith collapsed, suffering one of the worst
illnesses of his life, and almost succumbed, as, indeed, it was widely
reported that he had done.

But that misfortune did not overtake him until fall, and it was
only April 3 when, with his entourage, he stepped down the gang-
plank of the Alex Scott to the cobblestones of the St. Louis levee.

While awaiting his arrival, those of the local citizenry who cared
for night life had been able to find diversion in such entertainments
as were afforded by the talented Miss Wyman, a kind of lady
magician, at Concert Hall, the Ohio Fat Girl who displayed her
curves on the same stage, and exhibitions of "Paintings, Arms and
Armor" at* the Tobacco Warehouse, concerts, lectures, strong men,

THE DEPTHS OF THE RED SEA 253

and finally no one less or, rather, more than General Tom Thumb
himself, who preceded Smith, Macready et d. by a few days and was,
when the actors arrived, already presenting himself between ten
and ten at "Jones' Museum, of Arts, Sciences and Curiosities" at
the corner of Main and Market Streets, the admission being twenty-
five cents, children half price." Doubtless the celebrated midget was
beneath the notice of the celebrated tragedian, but I suspect that
Manager Smith was not so unaware.

While said functionary was marshaling his forces and shaping up
the plays agreed upon, his star relaxed and enjoyed himself; at least,
he came about as near to enjoying himself as was possible for such an
unhappy, self-tortured individual. On the morning of the sixth,
escorted by Mr. James Franciscus, a citizen of position and sub-
stance, he was ferried across the river and spent, according to his
diary, a very agreeable day or two exploring the Illinois prairies. 8
On his return, after his labors had been resumed, he still found time
for a trip to the hilly little town of Alton on the east bank of the
Mississippi about twenty miles above St. Louis. He also enjoyed
matutinal strolls. "Was gratified in my walk with the sight of the
lilac in full bloom, and in some little gardens, tulips, narcissus. It
is not only the sweet feeling which the beauty of flowers always im-
parts to me, a tranquil feeling of delight in their beauty of colour,
form, and perfume, but they are associated in my mind with home,
with dear England, and soothe me with their influence."*

The opening of the season was originally scheduled for Monday,
April 8, but for some reason not revealed, it had to be postponed, and
it was not until twenty-four hours later that the curtain rose on
the dismal battlements of Elsinore, Hamlet having been selected as
the medium for the visitor's debut. In his diary Macready often
recorded his impressions of his performances and of his associates, the
latter usually most unflattering, but his comments in this case, though
in much the usual vein, are not very enlightening. But we do know
from comments on other pages of the diary that his fellow-players

^Missouri Republican, April 1, 1844. The real name of this famous
dwarf wa Charles S. Stratton. He was two feet, one inch tall, and
weighed fifteen pounds. At this rime he was seven years old.

*Tht Diaries of William Charles Macready, 1833-1851, TL, 268.

254 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

were definitely not to his liking. If only Macready had practiced
a little discrimination in his denunciation of the stage folk among
whom his lines fell, whether in America or England, we might learn
something of the capabilities of the Ludlow and Smith corps from
his observations, but inasmuch as he was almost never anything like
satisfied, we cannot draw any definite conclusions in this instance,
whatever our suspicions may be.

His support on his opening night consisted of John Ryder as the
Ghost, Joe Field as Laertes, J. M. Weston as Horatio, Eddy as the
King, Farren as Polonius, Smith as "the Grave Digger," Mrs.
Field as Ophelia, and Mrs. Farren as the Queen. Probably Ryder
was the only one he found even acceptable. The latter was a com-
petent English actor whom he had brought with him to this country
and whom in a .sense he was training. Of this performance there is,
so far as I know, no further record than the newspaper advertise-
ments naming the cast.

Poor Macready! It is difficult to conceive of a more unhappy
individual. He seems to have been a mass of neuroses. Except for
the adoring members of his family circle and a few admiring friends,
he seems to have found most of the human race in the main offensive.
Certainly the members of his profession (which he despised) found
working with him a trial of nerves and endurance. Oddly enough,
he apparently liked Smith; at least, after their association had ended,
he wrote him a really cordial letter, and, whatever his failings,
Macready was no hypocrite. And Smith, in his turn, did not dis-
like him. "Of his goodness of heart I have had many opportunities
of knowing. He has been called haughty and proud. I never found
him so in the least." 6 Yet, at the same time, he unquestionably did
find him extremely vexatious. "When he came to himself between
the acts, he was irritable and fault-finding; never satisfied with
those who acted with him, sending for this one and that one for the
purpose of administering a lecture, and often, until I gave him
notice that I would not go, dispatching his servant to the manager, to
whom he would pour out complaint after complaint, until the rising

e Smith: Theatrical Managtmtnt, 185.
184.

THE DEPTHS OF THE RED SEA 255

of the curtain called him to his duties on the stage." 7 Undoubtedly,
setting his standards by London productions, the star must have
found much to gall him. It is, therefore the more regrettable that
his observations were not more objective.

Ludlow's experiences were of a piece with his partner's, but he
records no impressions of the goodness of heart noted by Smith. "I
never," he writes, "met with a man so peculiar in his disposition and
habits as William C. Macready. According to his own showing, he
was continually finding fault with himself for his ill-temper, yet
continually indulging in a display of it, even on the most trivial
occasions. He must have been a very weak, irresolute man." 8

Macready's vagaries are too well known to call for discussion here
beyond the reactions of his local employers. Nor is this any place
for a detailed study of his art. What is germane is the course of
his St. Louis engagement, and the impression he made upon local
playgoers. For information on that score we are indebted chiefly to
the critic of the New Era, who seems to have had some under-
standing. The Republican contented itself for the most part with
pufEs which add little to our store of knowledge. (Of the other
contemporary dailies, I have seen no copies for this particular year.)
In the first place, because of Macready's pre-eminence and his high
charges half the gross receipts the managers felt justified in raising
the prices from 75 cents to a dollar, and that procedure never "sat
well" with the Fourth Estate. Nevertheless, this irritation was dis-
counted, and the performances were taken for what they seemed to
'the reviewers to be worth.

The first review of interest is the New Eras of the second night
of the season, when in a change of bill made during the course of the
day (that is, after the advertisement was supplied the editor of the
morning Republican) Richelieu was substituted for Macbeth. The
writer commented (April 11) that "The Theatre was again visited
on yesterday evening by a very considerable audience, but it was not
near so much crowded as on the first night." This statement is
corroborated by Ludlow's diary. Whereas Hamlet had attracted

There is no space here to quote Smith's evaluations -of Macready's
various characterizations, but he "was a shrewd and experienced observer,
and his comments are, therefore, of value (Theatrical Management, 184).

*Ludlow: Dramatic Life, 594.

256 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

$656.50 into the house, Richelieu drew but $311.50, less than half.
"The part of Richelieu," continues the scribe, "was acted by Mac-
ready in a style and manner peculiar to himself, and he was received
with great applause."

The Bulwer romance was followed by Virginius, to the tune of
only $252, which must have been a bitter pill for Smith, and some-
thing of a humiliation for the actor. The latter, perhaps for that
reason, was not in a tranquil mood when he made his entry in his
diary, the first, by the way, in four days.

Acted Virginius most vilely never so bad; the house was bad, I
was ill, the actors were incorrect, and one of them was very imper-
tinent impertinent in the literal sense of the word, for he was
talking folly, and it was insolent. He is a disgusting puppy, and
looked very foolish when obliged to resort to a falsehood to screen
himself. These players I 9

The New Era's observer was again on the job, and he vouchsafes
us some real information.

Macready's third appearance was well attended last night, but
not so well as the managers had a right to expect, from their exertions
to please and gratify. The character of Virginius was sustained by
Mr. Macready in a better style than that of either of bis two pre-
ceding performances. Mrs. Field as Virginia, and J. M. Field as
Idlius, sustained well the principal actor, and so did Mr. Ryder as
Appius Claudius. The character of Old Dentatus was very well
acted by Mr. Farren. The other actors had their parts well enough
committed, but with them there was too little manifestation of feel-
ing they were too calm, listless and indifferent for the scenes in
which they are engaged. The object of an actor should be to enter
into the spirit of the play to imagine himself in the midst of the
dangers and conflicts described to act as a man would probably do
thus situated. If so, we would have had more indication of emotion
and strong passion more excited action and more truth to nature.
Those who attempt the populace are too tame their mobs are too
quiet and harmless, and they look too much like they were afraid to
move and speak. This is a fault that is easy of correction; it may be
done in a few rehearsals. 10

The writer then had some kind words to say for the afterpiece,
The Lover by Proxy, but concludes with the criticism that "Most

*Tht Dia> iet of William Charltt Macrtady, II, 268.
Era, April 12, 1844.

THE DEPTHS OF THE RED SEA 257

usually the greatest fault in the theatre is the want of proper at-
tention to the minor and subordinate parts of the play."

The next evening, Macready had a rest, and he went to Alton.
The occasion was a benefit for the Fields, and was devoted to John
Jones of the War Office, The Artful Dodger, and Gabnelle or A
Niffkt's Hazard, a "new play, adapted from the French by J. M.
Field." It will be recalled that in 1841 the Fields had appeared in
Mademoiselle de Belle-Isle, Joe's adaptation of Alexandre Dumas'
play of the same name. Gabnelle seems to have been another version
of the same original. Six years later, the Dumas piece was to serve
as the basis for Fanny Kemble's The Duke's Wager. It was at
this time a general custom, though by no means an inviolable one,
for a visiting star to volunteer for the benefit of a colleague of any
consequence, but Macready, feeling no love or respect for his pro-
fession or its practitioners, saw no reason for lending his services
to the Fields. Indeed, he probably was not asked to do so since they
doubtless knew in advance what his answer would be. At all events,
the evening of April 12 found him in Alton, and the beneficiaries
found themselves with little for which to render thanks. The in-
take was $183.25, and the expenses of the evening were probably
reckoned at $125. (The return book does not give the charges.)
But they were doomed from the start. Despite the esteem in which
they were held, there was not the slightest chance of a good house
on a starless night in the midst of the engagement of such a luminary
as Macready, especially in a notoriously bad theatrical year. The
Fields, together with the other members of the company, had been
not only supporting the star but contributing their bits to the in-
evitable afterpieces. But all this counted for naught. Furthermore,
the gentleman from the New Era developed a fit of squeamishness,
and considered "the subject matter of the play [Gabrielle] such as
ought not to be exhibited on the stage."

On the following evening, Saturday, Macready resumed with
Werner, supported by the usual persons, notably Ryder as Gabor,
Field as Ulric, Mrs. Farren as Josephine, and Mrs. Field as Ida.
The receipts were $386." Meanwhile Tom Thumb had been carry-
ing on at Jones' Museum, but announced through the Republican

"Quinn: American Drama from the Btgmning to the Ciml War, 253.
"Diary of N. M. Ludhm, April 14, 1844.

258 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

(April 13) that his benefit on the 13th would bring his engagement
to a dose. He promised "to exert himself to gratify his visitors.
He will give some grotesque imitations, sing some new songs, and
dance a pas seul." Macready would not exert himself in any of
these ways, and I wonder how many people preferred the imitations
and pas of the Lilliputian to the acting of the tragedian. Un-
fortunately, Mr. Jones has left us no account books.

April isth. Acted lago, taking much pains with the part. The
audience did not notice me on my appearance; to Mr. Ryder, Messrs.
Field and Farren they gave long and loud plaudits in receiving
theml Throughout the play, too, they really bestowed as much, if
not more, applause upon the unmeaning rant and gabble of these
people than they gave to me; and really I tried to act lago in my
old earnest, "honest" way, but the difference is not of importance to
them. In my last scene, which I was acting in a very true manner,
as I was taking my departure from the room, the continued vulgar
speeches, ejaculations, and laughs of some ruffians in the second tier
quite overcame my patience. I threw up the attempt and walked
right off.

This account in Macready's diary is the sole source of information
about this performance except that the papers tell us that Ryder
played Othello, and that Eliza Field was the Desdemona, Field the
Cassio, Weston the Roderigo, Farren the Brabantio, Eddy the Duke,
and Mary Ann Farren the Emilia. The receipts were $361. SO. 18

A new low was reached on Tuesday when there was only $122 in
the house for The Merchant of Venice and My Aunt. This was
even less than for the Macreadyless Field benefit. There was, how-
ever, a reasonable explanation. Henri Vieuxtemps, the celebrated
Belgian violinist, was competing, with a concert at the Planters
House. Yet from the actor's point of view there was compensation
of a sort, though not financial. "Acted Shylock," he wrote in his
diary on the 16th, "I think, and the audience, few in number (Mr.
Ryder's Benefit, poor manl), seemed to appreciate and understand
the play better than any we have yet had. I suppose we had only
the few who cared for Shakespeare, the large majority having been
drafted off to Vieuxtemps' only concert at the planter's house. His

"Ludlow and Smith Return Book.

THE DEPTHS OF THE RED SEA 259

bill is a curiosity; he is rivalling Ole Bull in quackery." 1 * The
Portia of the evening was Mrs. Farren.

Just at this juncture Ludlow arrived from Mobile accompanied
by Tom Placide and Eliza Field's sister, Mrs. W. H. Smith. He
landed at midnight, and how the news must have cheered him!
"Mr. Macready's Engagement is a failure I!" he wrote in his diary.
"Heaven help the taste of the people 1 or their pockets."

The next evening wrote finis to the association between Macready
and St. Louis. He took his benefit in Macbeth, $587.50 being paid
in at the box office. This was considerably more than the receipts
of most of the nights of his engagement, but still fell short of the
$656.50 of his opening. The New Era was once more on the job,
and from its issue of the 18th I cull the following critique:

Mr. Macready had a full and fashionable house last night for his
benefit, and he fully satisfied public expectation. He acted Macbeth
in excellent style, and we think that he succeeded in it much better
than in any other play in which we have witnessed his performance.
He was well sustained. Messrs. Field and Ryder acquitted them-
selves well; so did seveial other actors. Mrs. Farren made a first
rate Queen. The witches performed well their incantations and
sorceries. . . . We think that there has been a decided improvement
since the company came ; the subordinate parts of the plays are acted
with more animation and earnestness of manner, and greater evidence
of a proper appreciation of the true spirit of the play. . . .

From Ludlow's diary (April 17) we learn that when he came
ashore, he found his name "up in the bills for Hecate." Just how
Macready approved of that detail of casting it is not difficult to guess.
Nor can he have been much more enthusiastic over Smith as one of
the Witches. (I am assuming that he was in his usual role.)

Of greater interest perhaps is the comment of the star himself,
jotted down at the end of the day:

17th. To my great satisfaction I received a large pair of buffalo
horns, and a grand pair of elk horns from a Mr. Whatton. Rested.
Acted Macbeth really well, too well for St. Louis, though the
audience were much more decorous, attentive, and appreciative than

Diarut of William Charles Macready, II, 269.

260 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

I have heretofore found them. I suppose they begin to understand
me. Was called for and bowed. 10

Two days later he boarded the West Wind. Exit Macready,
bearing elk and buffalo horns. To do the man justice, it must be
admitted that there was more than meets the modern eye where the
deportment of the audiences was concerned. When it comes to this
subject, both managers he very low in their memoirs, and seldom did
any evidence find its way into the public press of the day, but oc-
casionally a little information does seep through, twice through the
columns of the New Era. On June 4 following, these intriguing
sentences were inserted into a review, and this is probably as good a
time as any to quote them. "There was a full and lively house at
the Theatre last night. The acting on the stage was good, and the
cavorting in the pit, boxes and galleries was extremely interesting.
A new performer called Peg-leg, showed off in the gallery with great
applause. The managers ought to obtain his services permanently."
And again on October 10: "In a theatre like ours, by no means
distinguished for that quiet propriety, so encouraging to an actor,
and gratifying to an author, the unusual stillness proved the popular-
ity of the writer, and the high breeding of the audience." Between
the pages of the Return Book someone has left what appears to be the
bottom of a playbill or program which sets forth some of the rules
of the house, the last of which reads : "It is expected, that Gentle-
men will not wear their hats in the Dress Circle, while the per-
formance is progressing."

Still more details are to be found in the series of articles heretofore
referred to in the St. Louis Home Journal of 1868. They remind
one of Washington Irving's descriptions of the behavior of the New
York audiences of his day. This account was aimed at the St. Louis
playgoers of 1837, but there is no reason to conclude that their
manners had changed greatly in seven years.

.... They chewed apples, eat pea nuts, sucked candy, chewed
tobacco, and behaved themselves altogether in a very emphatic and
self-assertive style. Conversations carried on at the top of the voice

"Ibid. The name fPhatton does not appear in the local directory for
1844, but the edition of 1842 lirti a "John D. Whatton (Amer. Pur. Co.)."
(St. Louis Dirtctory for the Year 18*2.)

THE DEPTHS OF THE RED SEA 261

between would-be critics were not unusual, and favorite actors were
affectionately admonished and appealed to from pit and gallery. One
of the most terrible of these noisy gods was a man of the name of
O'Blennys, who may be seen usually on Fourth street when the air
is warm. He is tall, upright, and shows no mark of age except by a
wig, which is a very plain-speaking piece of head gear, and proclaims
itself openly for what it is. His face is haggard, and he is said to be
connected with a faro bank. He goes to the theater occasionally,
but his voice is silent ; pit and gallery know him no more. O'Blennys
is said to be one of the few surviving specimens of that reckless,
dare-devil race of beings called river men, who were half horse, half
alligator, and could whip their weight of bull-dogs. . . .

What chance had the actors against such a hybrid monster? Yet
Macready was not without some cause for gratitude. Not even these
terrors of the Mississippi River ever pelted him with rotten eggs or
hurled the putrid carcass of a sheep at his feet. Such courtesies
awaited him in New York and Cincinnati five years later. 18

F. S. "As far as the management was concerned, Mr. Macready's
engagement was a failure." 17 "Cook (A.B.) settled with Mac-
ready I find our share of his engagement after paying him
amounted to $191.00 per night paid him in all $1339.00."" It is
interesting to note from the Return Book that Macready's admirers
were limited almost exclusively to the top bracket, boxes and parquet
at $1.00. Of these, 2423 admissions were paid during his stay; in
the second bracket only 349 ; and in the third only 27. Chaperoned
by Smith, the star departed for Cincinnati, where with a detachment
of players culled from the Ludlow and Smith forces he participated
in a brief and again disappointing engagement. But that is another
story.

The great star Macready is gone, and the regular stock company
is full, and are now acting without the aid of the great tragedian ;
but there are many very good actors in the regular company. Since
the arrival of Mr. Ludlow, Mrs. Smith and Mr. Placide, they have
a sufficient number of actors to form a very good company, and to
a majority of the people we think that their performances will be
more acceptable than those of much puffed stars.

Macreadj't Reminiscences, 591-592.

"Ludlow: Dramatic Life, 602.

"Diary of N. M. Ludlow, April 18, 1844.

262 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

Thus spake the New Era on the 20th. As a matter of fact,
Macready was still physically in St. Louis, but he was gone from
the stage. As for the delight of the local playgoers, it may have been
there, but it certainly did not manifest itself in the figures set down
nightly by the senior partner. On that very evening, in fact, there
was only $77.50 in the house ; the old prices 75, 50, and 25 cents
had been restored. The plays were The Heir at Law, Ludlow being
the Doctor Pangloss, and Mr. and Mrs. White. The company was
undoubtedly stronger for the addition of Mrs. Smith and Tom
Flacide, not to speak of Neafie, "Mr. Russell & mother," and an
unidentified Sullivan. "Mr. Russell & mother" were, I am sure,
Dick and our old friend of many seasons. Frequent later references
confirm this.

Nor was $77.50 rock bottom. Many times during the ensuing
weeks was the figure to fall far below that; indeed, after the first
of the month, that sum must have seemed like riches to Ludlow.
Man and Wife and Boots at the Swan on the 23rd drew only $44.75,
and the local premiere of LovelTs Love's Sacrifice but $98.50. The
cast of this novelty included Neafie as Matthew Elmore, Maynard
as Lafont, Farren as Friar Dominic, Placide as Jean Ruse, Mrs.
Farren as Margaret Elmore, and Mrs. Smith as Herminie. The
Republican (April 27) especially praised the contributions of Mrs.
Farren and Placide. Four nights later, perhaps assisted by a gen-
erous puff in the New Era, the novelty attracted $121.00, but there-
after no such sum was even approached on May 8 for The Rent
Day and Prettyjokn &f Co. there was only $33.50 until May 14
when, in honor of their anniversary, the members of the Fire De-
partment were incited to attend and receipts rose to $254.50. This
was quite an occasion. By this time the Fields were back from Cin-
cinnati, and performed in Town and Country and Nicholas Nickleby
(as Smite and Mantilim). Between the two pieces Mary Ann
Farren recited an "Address written for the Third Annual Celebra-
tion of the St. Louis Fire Department, by M. C. FIELD, Esq." In
his diary Ludlow reported that the house was "full of Firemen" and
that "AJ1 went off admirably."

The degree of his desperation can be gauged by the fact that he
next engaged the Columbia Minstrels in the vain hope that they

THE DEPTHS OF THE RED SEA 263

would appeal to the troubled public, using them first (on May 15)
as an afterpiece to Much Ado about Nothtnp with the Fields as
Beatrice and Benedick, but the result was only $76.50 in the till.
Shakespeare and black-face combined proved to be not very potent
medicine for managerial ills. (The Return Book shows only 15 at
the first price, 114 at the second, 31 in the gallery, and 2 C. Marks,
whatever they were.)

Essaying another tack, the Manager in Distress turned next to the
German actors in the city, and engaged two of them, probably hoping
to lure some of their fellow-countrymen to the Theatre. They were
introduced between the Fields in The Heart of Midlothian and the
minstrels. I shall draw upon Ludlow's Diary for an account of
offering. "Paid Salaries to day, that were due on Tuesday last
[a significant item] 2d night of the Columbian Minstrels and
first & only one of the German performance There was a farce
played in German from Kotzebue called Die Seichte (The Confes-

Mr. Icks Mad. Thielman

sion) One man & one woman & a child resembling in plot our
piece called Personation." It also, he observed, was reminiscent of a
scene from The Honey Moon. According to the Republican (May
16), Madame Thielman was to sing in both German and English.
This lady I have been unable to identify. Neither she nor her com-
panion is listed in contemporary St. Louis directories (1842 and
1845 ) . But a Herr Icks, presumably the same man, had, Dr. Odell
records, taken part in German productions at the Broadway and
Franklin Theatres in New York some years previously, once at
least being designated as Herr Icks of the German Theatre in New
Orleans. 19 Unfortunately, this maneuvre of Ludlow's, like his
others, proved to be abortive, the yield being only $90.50, and this
interesting bilingual experiment came to naught. 90

But the two guest artists apparently were not too discouraged.
The Republican printed on the morning of May 30 a brief notice
which was rich in significance for the St. Louis theatrical history of
later years.

"Odell: AimaLj, IV, 184, 395, and 581.
"Diazy of N. M. Ludlow, May 16, 1844.

264 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

The German Theatre. ... A company of Germans are at present
performing in the hall of Mechanics Institute, in this city, and those
who have visited their Theatre speak in high terms of praise of their
performance. Our German population have now an opportunity to
enjoy an intellectual treat in their own language.

The most important single event during the interim between stars
was the farewell benefit of Joe and Eliza Field. Financially it was a
complete failure, the receipts being only $105.25, $20.00 under ex-
penses. The Fields deserved better of their fellow-citizens. As
members of the company they had labored hard and had through
several years contributed no little to the entertainments on Third
and Olive. Personally, furthermore, they were above reproach, their
lives being models of good behavior. Now that Joe was, for the
time being at least, quitting his old profession to enter that of
journalism, it is regrettable that they were not given a good send-off,
but the times were bad, and no worse time could have been chosen
than between the visits of two famous stars. Probably they under-
stood. At all events, Joe soon began with his brother Mat and
Charles Keemle the publication of his famous Reveille, and the couple
settled down as private citizens.

May 20 marked a gratifying, if not enduring, change in the for-
tunes of the theatrical firm. This was brought about by the return
of James H. Hackett after an absence of two and a half years. As
before, his arrival was preceded by a little haggling. On April 28,
Ludlow addressed him in Louisville a lengthy letter, part business,
part personal, for they were old friends, upon which I shall draw
for some pertinent facts.

Friend Hackett:

Taking up the business part of your letter We are not aware
whether our Mr. Smith has written, as he promised, to you, or not
Briefly, and decisively then if you are positively determined and im-
moveably fixed, on the terms you speak of, we cannot meet this season
for business purposes . . . those who are keeping theatres open, on
uncertain grounds at the same time that experience has taught them
that they are doing so, for the benefit of others rather than them-
selves we say if you feel disposed to come to St. Louis, and play
some six or seven nights sharing with us after $125 pr night (one
hundred and twenty-five dolls) much less than our real expenses

THE DEPTHS OF THE RED SEA 265

and $25 pr night less than the charges to you in 1840 [Doesn't he
mean 1841?] with a Benefit at half the Receipts why come along,
as soon as you finish at Nashville. . . .

Confidential

To give you every possible aid (for auld lang syne) in forming
your own conclusions with regard to this proposed engagement, I
herein send you a statement of our season thus far [Account of
Macready engagement]. . . . Our Stock nights nothing but plain
pieces and old ones for nine successive nights, commencing im-
mediately after Macready Ben have averaged $109 four of which
were rainey and cold disagreeable nights this I consider a sure
indication that with any extra attraction we can average $125 per
night aye, more for any week, with a tolerable share of fair
weather I have always found the two weeks following a great
Star, the worst of the season.

Yours in friendship
L

Just why either writer or recipient should have found this letter
attractive bait, I fail to perceive. If Hackett was to share only after
the deduction of $125.00 for expenses, why should he hurry on to the
scene on Ludlow's assurance that he felt confident that the receipts
would amount to that? But come he did with malaria. I shall let
Ludlow tell the story.

May ig. Rain, Rain, yet Hackett who arrived here on Friday
last has been sick with chills & fevers each day since Doctor McCabe
has got so now that he thinks he can play tomorrow night.

May 20. Rain Rain Still Rain nearly the whole of Front
Street covered with the rise of the River. . . . Rehearsed Henry 4th
Hackett did not come to rehearsal thought it more prudent to
keep his room though not very sick. . . . First night of Hackett
$253.25 although it rained nearly all the day. . . .

May 24. Clear but rather too warm in the sun for comfort
Miss Eliza Fetrie arrived here from Cincinnati to play till the fourth
of July. . . . Re-engaged Hackett for 4 nights same terms only the
second Benefit we are to have $125 before he gets half. . . . Mr.
Hackett repeated Falstafi in King Henry 4th to $173.25.

I consider this engagement of his decidedly a good hit quite
unexpected.

May 28. Collier was pd. $100 again, in Rent of theatre he has
been paid the same sum every Tuesday since the Theatre opend this

266 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

season. . . . Rained about time for the play to begin. . . . Hackett's
Benfit $178.25. Takes all after $125.00.

Ludlow's sights must have been low indeed, if he considered this
engagement a bonanza, that is if his expenses really were $125.00 a
night. As I break the figures down, the firm's gross share amounted
to $1,271.60% for eight nights. Reckoning the expenses at the sum
named by Ludlow, we find the net profit to have been $271.60%.
So much for Ludlow and Smith. As for the star, he pocketed
$410.60%.

Artistically, if the New Era is right, the engagement left nothing
to be desired. Hackett was seen twice each in King Henry IV, The
Merry Wives of Windsor, Monsieur Mallet, and The Kentuckian,
and once each in Rip Van Winkle, The Man of the World, and
Militia Training. His best house was his first benefit, when he ap-
peared in The Man of the World and Monsieur Mallet, when the
"dem'd total" was $365.75. The two poorest were the second and
third nights of his re-engagement, The Kentuckian and Monsieur
Mallet, and King Lear; on the latter night he made nothing, the
receipts falling short of $125.00. People were not interested in his
tragic efforts, and his Lear attracted only $115.50. His share of his
second benefit was only $26.62%.

But, to return to the aesthetic phase, the critic averred that "No
person can have an adequate idea of the character of Falstaff until
they have seen him perform. Such acting is much better calculated
to please a great majority of the people than deep and solemn
tragedy" (May 21). While the reviewer liked his other impersona-
tions, he felt that only as the fat knight did he reach the heights.
"He was better in plain English than in broken Dutch, Scotch, or
French" (May 24). For his support he had enjoyed the services of
the Farrens, Eliza Petrie, Mrs. Russell, Ludlow, Neafie, Maynard,
Eddy, and Russell among others, and was, I daresay, less critical than
Macready. In the dramatis personae of the afterpiece we find a new
name, that of James McVicker, later the magnate of the Chicago
stage, who, having left the print-shop, was now learning the ropes of
the theatre.

With the departure of Hackett, the Theatre returned to more or
less humdrum productions, though behind the scenes everything was

THE DEPTHS OP THE RED SEA 267

not as humdrum as what occurred before them, despite the fact that
Ludlow cast about in all directions for diversions which might help
him at least to fade the bright red in his ledger to a paler tint.

On May 29 he revived The Gambler's Fate, an old moral drama
adapted from the French, with a moving appeal to the temperance
folk in a blurb in the press (Republican , May 29), in which it was
stated that the "management, having been called upon lately at several
times, by respectable citizens, to have this drama enacted at the
Theatre, embrace cheerfully the present opportunity to produce
it. ..." He, moreover, used the papers to see that the plea went
home.

THE GAMBLER'S FATE

It is accomplished! shade of my sainted sire, thy curse is on me!
I see 1 I see ! The Gambler's Destiny is written on the Gates of
Hell!

To Neafie's lot it fell to utter these inspired lines in the role of
Albert Germaine, "a wealthy and respected young man" and hus-
band of Julia, Mrs. Farren. Farren himself played the "sainted
sire," who 'seems not to have been too saintly to give voice to well-
aimed imprecations. Mrs. Warren played the hero's small son, and
Tom Flacide, Baalamb, while Maynard was Malcour (a name
which simply shrieks infamy) , Albert's "supposed friend, an expert
gambler."

The next day, Ludlow ran into trouble of a different sort, to which
he adverted briefly in his diary (May 30). "Had a Grand blow up
with Farren. He Placide & Maynard came to the last rehearsal of
Miller & Men not knowing either words or business: Farren was
very insulting I'll never forgive him. Put out hand bills putting
off Miller & Men closed the Theatre this night." A dark house,
even for one night, did not help the exchequer. The next day, having
written an account of the fracas to Smith, he "Had a rehearsal of
Miller & Men this morning when it was pretty generally perfect,
except Mr. T. Placide, who did not come till I wrote to him ; and
when he came knew but little of the part of KarL"* 1 Eventually,
on June 1, The Miller and his Men did reach the stage, and, prob-
ably thanks to its new scenery, actually ran three successive nights,

id., May 31, 1844.

268 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

bringing in no less than $626.50, but the affair had not ended. On
June 5, while the town was overflowing with Whigs on hand for a
Clay convention, the harassed manager made this entry in his per-
sonal record: "Addressed a Grcular to Mess. Farren Placide, &
Maynard saying that in paying their sal this day we did not wave
[sic] the right to forfeit for their imperfection in the last Rehearsal
of Miller & his Men would leave it as a matter to be settled at the
end of the present season. Mr. Placide said he was willing to lose
the nights salary, but would sue if anything more was taken. I made
no reply to that Also said he wished he was 'clear of the engage-
ment' I said nothing." Ludlow's position must have been a trifle
embarrassing in view of the fact that the offending comedian held a
note of the firm, which his employers were unable to meet in full. 88

Next Ludlow tried the wiles of Herr Alexander, a German ma-
gician, to whom he offered the same terms as to Hackett, sharing
after $125.00, though he did, in view of the meagre returns, weaken
and say that on the benefit night he would write the expenses off at
$100.00. But I cannot see that Alexander made anything one way or
the other, inasmuch as the receipts of his four evenings were $105.50
$65.50, $80.00, and $75.25. The papers apparently approved of
his efforts, but to no purpose. Later, he moved to Concert Hall,
while a Mr. McCann challenged him at the Museum 88 Having had
bad luck with the Germans, Ludlow now decided to see what he
could make of the French and entered into negotiations with a M.
Mathieu, "a very gentlemanly young man, in regard to an engage-
ment with the french opera company," but the negotiations led to
nothing. 2 * Other parleys, however, did bear fruit, for he "arranged
this morning [June 3] with Morrison of the firm of Collier &
Morrison for the St. Louis theatre for four months, from the 5th
July coming [?] for the Gross sum of $1,000 payable at the rate
of $100 pr week commencing with the ending of our first full week
of the Fall Season."

Next on the list of attractions was Edwin Forrest, who, early in
May had played under Smith's direction a season of eleven nights in
Cincinnati, averaging, according to Sol, $269.00 a night, $153.00 less

**Ibtd., June 10, 1844.

^Missouri Republican, June 17, 1844; Nno Era, June 8, 1844.

*Diaiy of N. M. Ludlow, June 4, 1844.

THE DEPTHS OF THE RED SEA 269

than Macready. 26 On the evening of June 9, he and his wife, the
rift in their domestic bliss not yet having manifested itself, arrived
on the Frolic. Unfortunately, Ludlow had expected them the day
before, and, when they had not put in an appearance, had announced
a benefit for "THE SUFFERERS BY THE LATE GREAT
FIRE IN NEW ORLEANS" for Monday evening, the 10th. The
bill advertised is, by the way, not without its significance. A few
days before, a St. Louis father had availed himself of the "unwritten
law" to shoot his daughter's seducer, and the local papers had been
featuring the crime, if crime it were. So, in order to do his all for
the fire victims, Ludlow announced a piece called Seduction or Father
and Daughter, the origin of which I have been unable to trace.
Probably, this was another case of a rose "by any other name" smell-
ing as sweet. The handbills had all been struck off and the copy
was in the hands of the typesetters at the Republican, but when the
tragedian arrived, he made one of those rapid-fire changes theatrical
procedure in those days made possible, and substituted Richelieu.
The sufferers could wait.

Forrest played nine nights and a benefit. "His engagement was
not a success/' wrote Ludlow in his book. 26 Smith in his recollections
calls it "a very poor one." 37 In his diary Smith went into detail:
Richelieu, $253.00; Metamora, $454.25; Othello, $347.50; The
Gladiator, $519.50 ; King Richard III, $341.25 ; Metamora, $234.50 ;
Jack Cade, $405.50; The Gladiator, $227.25; Jack Cade, $278.75;
King Lear, $377.00. Total: $3,442.50, $344.25 per night, "Forrest
receiving half!" Sol's addition is incorrect. He apparently copied
the first two entries wrong, for, if Ludlow*s, which are correct, are
used, Sol's total is correct also. Evidently the terms for the benefit
were identical with those for the other nights. The most potent draw-
ing-card, it will be seen, was The Gladiator, Dr. Bird's melodrama,
which totalled $746.75 in two performances. Next in popularity
were Stone's Metamora, $688.75, and Conrad's Jack Cade, $684.25,
in two showings each. The opening Richelieu drew the smallest
audience, but that fact is easily explained by the change of bill. Un-

SB Smith: Theatrical Management, 184.
"Ludfow: Dramatic Life, 602.
"Smith: Theatrical Management, 181.

270 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

like Macready's, Forrest's supporters did not in the main inhabit the
most expensive seats. On his ten nights, there were 1,409 $1.00
seats paid for; 3,340, fifty cent; 1,323 in the gallery; and 89 "C.
Marks." That is, there were more than three times as many in the
lower brackets as in the highest. In Macready's case there were six
times as many in the expensive seats as in the cheap ones. Hackett
too had found his support in the lower brackets, but the difference is
not quite so pronounced as in Forrest's case, the two figures being
887 and 2,359.

Just why the managers were so grieved and bitter over this en-
gagement I cannot see, especially after what had gone before. After
all, they cleared $471.25 in the ten nights after their theoretical
$1,250.00 expenses had been met. Macready's average had been
$382.50, less than $40.00 more. Hackett's, over which Ludlow sang
paeans, only $210.87, though of course the latter had not commanded
"clear halves."

Whoever it was who wrote the reviews in the New Era obviously
was no adherent of the great American tragedian. "Those who pro-
fess to be critics and judges in such matters," he wrote on June 17,
"express great admiration for his acting. We make no such pre-
tensions, and of course it is unnecessary for us to express any opinion
on the subject." And he didn't. He printed the paid advertisements,
and let it go at that. The editor of the Republican was somewhat
more friendly. He printed the puns probably supplied by Ludlow,
and in addition allowed himself one laudatory notice.

E. FORREST, the unrivalled tragedian, appeared last evening in
BIRD'S tragedy of the Gladiator, and the bursts of applause which
greeted him throughout, exhibited in an unequivocal manner the
power of the actor. His personation of Othello, on the evening
previous, to our mind, not only surpassed his former masterly efforts
in the same character, but placed him in the minds of those who
witnessed it, far above the reach of any living actor. In the opening
scenes which exhibit his fond love for Desdemona, it was as tender
as deep passion could portray it; and when jealousy poisoned his
peace, the change was terrific. Those who see a superiority in
MACREADY over our own great actor, must be blinded by
prejudice; for not only has foreign critics pronounced him great,
but the applause forced from the coldest spectator of his efforts, mani-
fests that skill in the actor, which MACREADY fails in. We shall

THE DEPTHS OF THE RED SEA 271

continue to consider FORREST superior, learned critics opinion to
the contrary notwithstanding. 88

I shall not go into detail in the matter of Forrest's support, but
shall note a few leads. There is no record in the case of Richelieu,
hut some other assignments can be found in the Republican. All the
heroines were entrusted to Mrs. Farren. In Othello Neafie, of
course, drew lago; in The Gladiator, Pharsarius; in King Richard
III, Richmond ; and in King Lear, Edgar. No doubt he made other
appearances, but they were not mentioned.

On June 19, Ludlow made these entries in his diary: "I dined
this day with Mr. & Mrs. Forrest in their private Parlour at the
Planters House. . . . Mr. Ince applied for the loan of $10. Obliged
to refuse him too tight pinched ourselves."

Forrest gone, Ludlow got around to the benefit for the New
Orleans fire sufferers, which, to his disgust, grossed only $63.50; this
low figure he ascribed to popular preoccupation with politics. 29 More-
over, the recent seduction and murder were no longer prominently
featured in the press. In his diary on the 21st the manager wrote:
"Benefit to night for the Sufferers by the great fire at New Orleans
Recpts $63.50 great oh! King I I have decided to send it all to
New Orleans without one cent deduction I did originally intend
to hold the expenses on that night at $100 But as the Cincinnati
paper says that 'Sol Smith 1 had very liberally given the entire
recpts and I know he had, I couldn't be less generous."

Forrest was succeeded by the last dramatic star to tread the boards
of the St. Louis Theatre for nearly a year ; once more it is necessary
to report disappointment. The newcomer, while he lacked the sensa-
tional qualities and the fame of his predecessors, was an artist of such
gifts and sincerity that his name was in his own time almost in-
variably mentioned with respect, even deference, by all who had
occasion to refer to him or his work. "As far as my observation has
extended," says Ludlow in his book, "and I have seen the larger
proportion of what may be termed the prominent actors of America,
I have never beheld one who could approach to the excellence of
Henry Placide as a genuine comedy actor; and that, too, of unlimited

^Missouri Republican, June H, 1844.
2B Ludlow: Dramatic Lift, 603.

272 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

range." 80 Odell characterizes him as one of the "greatest ornaments"
of the Park Theatre, "who stands immortally fixed with those other
notable American actors, William Rufus Blake, William Warren,
and John Gilbert, as representing the best and truest traditions of
acting in the glorious old comedies of Sheridan, Goldsmith, Holcroft,
&c." 81 And Allston Brown says of him: "He is an actor of the good
old school a school wherein is taught the lesson that a strict ad-
herence to truth in the delineation of a character, constitutes one of
its chief, if not the most essential, feature of the dramatic art." 82
Yet on this man St. Louis turned its collective back.

Hoping for the best, Ludlow had prepared the way with suitable
publicity, at the same time announcing that the "old prices" would
be continued no raise to a dollar as in the cases of Macready and
Forrest with their "clear halves." Placide, he said, would make his
debut as Grandfather Whitehead, "a character in which he stands
alone and unrivalled." He went on to add that this play was
"among the most successful that has been performed in either Eng-
land or America for many years," a fairly stiong statement. This
puff may not have been actually phrased by the manager, but the
substance was doubtless his contribution, and he noted in his diary
(June 21) that he had written "an article on Mr. H. Placide which
appeared editorially in the 'Organ' of today."

Three nights later he penned the following entry: "Oh! I am
unhappy 1 1 ! . . , Mr. Henry Placide appeared for the first lime in the
city of St. Louis. Was well reed to house of $181." He would
have been more unhappy still could he have foreseen that not again
during this engagement indeed, not again dunng the spring season
except once would the dollars and cents in his till add up to that
uninspiring total On the 25th Placide was seen in two parts,
Michael Perrin in Secret Service and the title role of Uncle John to
$65.75. The next evening a repetition of Grandfather Whitehead
with A Nabob for an Hour raised the mercury again, but only to
$163.75. After that, one woe did tread upon another's heels, so fast
they followed $51.00, $60.25, $45.25, and for the closing benefit,

604.

aiQdell: Annals, III, 87.
"Brown: American Stage.

THE DEPTHS OF THE RED SEA 273

$157.001 "Mr. H. Placide played Secret Service & Double Bedded
Room to $51.11 Where is the taste of the St. Louis audience?
Damme, if I think they ever had any One of the best indeed the
very best actor in the United States playing to empty benches. Well
when they get good actors at any risk on our parts why it will do
them good II" 88 Yet, for all the iniquity of St. Louis, it did not equal
that of Cincinnati, which at one of Placide's appearance paid in
only $7.75."

Perhaps if Placide had acted in some of the "good old comedies,"
there would have been a different story to tell, but of themselves, the '
pieces already named, except the first, carried little weight, and the
rest were no better The Village Doctor, Scan Mag, and The West
End, even if this last was the work of Boucicault. Yet, if the item in
the Republican of June 26 is a bona fide criticism and not an effusion
of the manager's office, those pkygoers who did go were duly im-
pressed. "The best evidence of the power of an actor is the interest
and attention which the audience manifest in the play. On this oc-
casion, a perfect silence reigned, and we observed amongst the ladies
many a white handkerchief in requisition to dry the starting tear "
"For the information of the ladies, who do not wish to be detained
late, the management would state that the entertainments will con-
clude at eleven o'clock." 80

Placide ended his visit on July 1, and the end of the season was
now at hand. I turn to Ludlow's memoirs and his diary for accounts
of the closing days and nights. "July 2d, the receipts were $26.75 1
to a good play and farce {Jonathan Bradford and The Green Eyed
Monster] , by a good stock company. The worst house of the season.
July 3d, Mrs. Farren's benefit. On the morning of July 4th was our
first day-performance, 'Children in the Wood,' and 'Forest of
Rosenwald' [the latter advertised as The Bleeding Nun;] receipts
$66.40. Matinees being a new thing then in the West, some of the
company refused to play on this occasion. The performance at night
was the 'Declaration of Independence,' 'Rendezvous,' two dances,
and 'Life in China.' This night concluded our spring season in St.
Louis. July 6th, there was a performance for the benefit of the

8>Diaty of N. M. Ludlow, June 27, 1844.
"Smith: Theatrical Management, 184.
"Missouri Rtputltcan, June 27, 1844.

274 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

sufferers by the recent flood, for which most of the company volun-
teered, all free, except bills and two attendants: receipts, $67.50.
Performance, 'Lady of Lyons, 1 and 'Of Age To-morrow.' In this
latter piece I played Frederick, Baron Willinghurst, a very laborious
part. Mr. W. G. Wells volunteered a dance."

AMUSEMENT FOR CHILDREN
Particular Notice to Parents and Guardians

All such as may wish to afford the juvenile portions of their
families some amusement on the ever to be remembered FOURTH
OF JULY are informed that there will be a day performance at the
Theatre, on the above date, commencing at eleven o'clock in the
forenoon lasting about two hours. The pieces are selected with an
especial regard to the objects and the occasion. The first part of the
amusements is a dramatic version of the pathetic little nursery tale
of the Children in the Woods. The second part, the thrilling incidents
of the famous story of the Bleeding Nun.

The prices of admission will be considerably reduced on the
occasion. 88

Ludlow's diary tells us that the scale of prices was: Dress circle,
50 cents; parquet, 30 cents; gallery, 20 cents. Children half price
all over the house.

As for the two pieces offered for the delectation of the "juvenile
portions," The Children in the Wood was from the pen of Thomas
Morton with music by Samuel Arnold. Dr. Odell quotes from the
New York Magazine a comment on a performance at the old Park
Theatre in 1794, in which the reviewer states that it "gave us in-
expressible delight; we never remember to have experienced such
pleasingly painful sensations. . . ." 8r Let us hope that the St. Louis
youngsters derived equal pleasure from their pain. As for The Forest
of Rosenwald or The Bleeding Nun the latter title seems a bit gory
for the occasion Dr. Odell asserts that it calls for "fine scenery and
shivery music." 88 However, if the "moppets" of the mid-twentieth
century could survive a double feature program composed of
Dracula and Frankenstein, I presume that their ancestors came
through the affair unharmed.

**Ibid., July 7, 1844.
^Annals, I, 374.
**llnd. t H, 562.

THE DEPTHS OF THE RED SEA 275

Incidentally, we learn from Ludlow's diary that it was no less a
person than Mary Ann Farren who came to his office and declined to
participate in this program "good natured creature 1 I hegin to
have a very different opinion of her good nature from that I once
entertained." Perhaps there may have been some connection between
her refusal and his recent encounter with her husband. On the
evening of the third she had her benefit, Loves Sacrifice and The
Valet de Sham, and made only $38.75 above expenses. All in all, she
was probably not in the best of spirits as the season ended.

Mrs. Farren, nevertheless, did volunteer for the benefit of the
sufferers from the recent flood which had inundated the waterfront
and the Mississippi bottoms, playing Pauline to the Claude of Neafie.
Eliza Petrie was Ludlow's vis-a^vis in Of Age To-morrow. Mr.
Wells danced his "celebrated" Man of War Hornpipe, and a Mr.
Edwards contributed a comic song. The entire proceeds were turned
over to Mayor Bernard Pratte, after $5.00 had been deducted to
meet the printing bills. This $67.50 was, according to the Republican
(July 9) the largest contribution to the fund.

In his diary on July 5 Ludlow wrote: "Wound up the Spring
Season here, after playing twelve weeks in which we paid near
$1,500 of our old debts, making debts here & left unpaid for the
past season of about $300 leaving a neat profit of at least $1,200."
But what does he mean by "debts here & left unpaid" ? I think he
means that they now owed $1,200 less than before. And how does
this gibe with the balance of $33.93 record in the return book? And
with Smith's rueful comment in his memoirs that the season was
"pursued

'To a dismal and a fatal end ;'

that is to say it was fatal to the pockets of the managers, emptying
them as effectually as Macbeth' 's daggers emptied the body of King
Duncan of its blood." 89 As I have said before, the return books have
proved baffling, even to an expert accountant. A few items in the
columns of figures detailing the expenses may provide at least part
of the solution: "Note in favor of G. S. Martin (Mobile) 58.25";
"Draft in favour of D. B. Morehouse 25.91"; "Abijah Fiske's note
100.00"; "T. Placide on note 25.00"; "Judgment in the case of

39 Smith: Theatrical Management, 181.

276 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

Chas. Keemle vs. L. & S. $146.00"; "N. M. Ludlow cash to pay
debts of firm $200.00." That is, apparently, as was suggested above,
old debts were being disposed of, and ate up all the profits. So both
partners were right.

If the spring of 1844 had been no happy season of the year for
Messrs. Ludlow and Smith, the summer was assuredly little better.
Smith returned to Cincinnati where he attempted once more to make
a go of it, opening on August 24, but the results were again dis-
appointing, and, besides, he was becoming seriously ill. On Septem-
ber 5, the treasurer of the firm, one Nathaniel Cook, wrote Ludlow
that Sol was "quite sick last night he had a very high feaver, and
was more afflicted than he has been since his confinement." He wished
his condition kept a secret because of his wife, and besought his part-
ner to let nothing keep him from coming to Cincinnati to take over
at a certain unspecified time they had agreed upon. Later, his illness
became so desperate that his life was despaired of; he eventually re-
covered, but the malady, he always believed, permanently affected
his health.

Meanwhile Ludlow too had his troubles. On August 13 he found
it necessary to have the walls of the Theatre inspected "in conse-
quence of the 'Organ* (Mr. Higgins) stating that the Theatre was
to be presented as a nuisance by the property holders in the Neighbor-
hood for fear of the back wall falling They pronounced the build-
ing perfectly safe. Mr. Higgins must recall what he said." So he
wrote in his diary that evening. He also suffered intense anxiety be-
cause of illness in his own family. The health of his son-in-law, Mat
Field, was rapidly declining, and Mrs. Field herself was far from
well. On September 3 young Field set out for Boston, whence he
was to embark on a long sea voyage, which, it was hoped, would
prove beneficial. But he was beyond hope, and died at sea on
November 15. Mat Field was a real loss to the theatre. He had,
it is true, given up the acting profession for that of journalism, but
he was a gifted writer, though not the fine poet his friends fondly
believed, and his interest in the stage was sincere and intelligent.
Had he lived longer, his name might be far better known than it is
to-day. Ludlow, despite his anxieties, managed to carry on, and on

THE DEPTHS OF THE RED SEA 277

August 26 re-opened the Theatre, which had been "entirely repainted
and newly ornamented," with She Stoops to Conquer and The Green
Eyed Monster, to $117.00.*

For their fall season, the partners adopted a new policy. Profiting
by their -unprofitable experiences earlier in the year, they eschewed the
costly luxury of stars. The name of not a single one appeared on
their playbills throughout the autumn months. Instead, they relied
entirely upon their stock company and, for the most part, a more or
less standard repertory, although, as matters turned out, the most
successful production of the season was an original play by a local
author. The total intake for the sixty performances, according to
the Return Book, was $6,817.25, the nightly average approximately
$113.62. As in the case of the spring season, I do not feel that it is
possible to compute with any assurance of correctness the total ex-
penditures, but I do think it is safe to assume that the average ex-
pense was under the more or less theoretical $125.00, if, indeed, it had
not always been so. Little or no help is to be derived from the
authors, since Smith does not even mention the fall season, and
Ludlow's contribution is the following sentence : "After paying the
company all that was due them, and settling all debts owing to
citizens, I engaged passage for myself and family on the steamer
Champlain, Capt. Freligh, and left St. Louis for New Orleans on
the 8th of November."* 1 It is not at all impossible, or even im-
probable, that these debts were discharged with borrowed funds, for
the partners were constantly borrowing from Peter to pay Paul.

Another problem which had to be solved was the lease of the
Theatre, their shares in which, of course, the firm no longer owned.
It will be recalled that it had been bought by George Collier, and
that the managers had been since then paying when they could
a weekly rental of $100.00. But this arrangement was not perma-
nent. On August 14 Ludlow wrote in his diary: "S. S. said if we
could get the St. Louis Theatre finished in the exterior & gas put
into the House he would be willing on his part that we took a lease
for 5 years at $2,500 and advised I would see Collier [illegible] he

^Missouri Republican, August 24, 1844.
^Ludlow: Dramatic Life, 608.

278 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

would sell the property for & try to get stock raised to purchase it
provided we could get it finished as above for in all $25,000 = $2,500
would then pay the stockholders 10 cent on the investment."
Sol must have been, despite his periodic attacks of the blues, an
incurable optimist. He blew up and then, having got his exaspera-
tion out of his system, was soon at least hoping for a change of
weather. Nothing, however, came of this scheme, and the Theatre
was re-leased for three years at $2,000 a year.

Returning now to the stock company upon which the managers
had determined to stake their all, we find that it was in its composi-
tion very different from that of the spring. Some of the old timers,
while still in the employ of Ludlow and Smith, had been dispatched
to Cincinnati, and now formed part of a commonwealth group in
that city. A list of those found among Ludlow's papers now in the
possession of the Missouri Historical Society includes the following
familiar names: Ed. Eddy, J. P. Maynard, Miss Petrie, and Mary
Eddy. The Fields, of course, had temporarily retired from the stage.
Those who had remained in St. Louis or, in some instances, re-
turned were the Farrens, Tom Placide, Mrs. Warren, Dick Rus-
sell and his mother, and, of course, the two managers themselves,
though neither one was often seen on the stage. Farren no longer
occupied the responsible post of stage manager, having been super-
seded by J. M. Weston, an aspiring actor who had made his debut
in Boston (his native city) as Richard III, and was eventually to
become the manager of the Chicago Museum.. Weston proved, in
contrast to his predecessor, to be a thoroughly reliable official.

As for the newcomers, whatever their talents may have been, their
names were "writ in water." Most of them it is impossible to
identify with any confidence. At the beginning of the season, leading
male roles were assigned to a man referred to only as "Mr. Foster" ;
after the return of Neafie in October, he was promptly demoted to
second place. Foster is by no means an uncommon name. Ludlow
and Smith had had a man of that name (as well as his wife) in their
employ in 1838,* 2 and a year later Hamblin had one, perhaps the
same one, at the Bowery.** Perhaps these were one and the same

"Carson: The T1iea.tr* on the Frontier, 218.
0dell: Annals, IV, 316.

THE DEPTHS OF THE RED SEA 279

individual, and perhaps his wife was the same Mrs. Foster of whom
Mat Field had written in 1838, ". . . Mrs. Foster couldn't be taught
to make one in a standing group for a picture. . . ." Allston Brown
says that a Charles J. Foster first appeared at the Walnut Street
Theatre in Philadelphia in 1846, and died in St. Louis in 1864;
possibly this was the man.** More likely, however, seems Wm.
Miles Foster, who, according to Brown, made his debut under
Ludlow's management at Louisville (no date given) and later played
at the Franklin in New York. Whoever he was, he certainly was
"a small potato," and I pass on to another.

About Miss . Randolph, who shared the female leads with Mrs.
Farren, we can pick up only few data, but they are fairly sure. I
quote Brown's contribution: "Born in England. Made her Ameri-
can debut in 1840, at the Olympic Theatre, New York. First ap-
peared in Philadelphia, Sept. 13, 1841, at the National, as Jenny
Transit in 'Winning a Husband.' Died in 1847."* 8 Dr. Odell's
information, certainly more dependable, is to the effect that "Miss E.
Randolph (aged eleven) appeared as the Youthful Brigand and also
as Little Pickle" at the New Chatham in September, 1839. "The
child was in great demand at various theatres during this season," he
continues, "and must have been attractive."* 8 He goes on to say
that she had an older sister, and that it is difficult to be sure to
which one many contemporary references should apply. If Miss E.
Randolph was only eleven in 1839, she was only sixteen when she
burst upon the St. Louis public. But, despite her youth and prob-
able immaturity, Ludlow evidently considered her competent, for he
used her constantly; and Smith, who had had her with him in Ohio,
describes her as a "charming girl and good actress."* 7

Miss Randolph was not the only young girl in the company.
There was also one known only as "Miss Sylvia." "This young
lady's engagement with us," wrote Ludlow, "was made under pecu-
liar circumstances. She presented herself one morning at the box-
office, and requested to see the manager. I was sent for, and on enter-

**Brown: American Stage.

"Odell: Annali, IV, 376, ff.

* r Smith: Theatrical Management, 184.

280 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

ing the office I inquired her business. She said she wanted to act.
I asked her what she wanted to act? She replied that she would act
any thing. I then asked her what she had acted. She replied that
she had never acted anything in a regular theatre, but was willing to
undertake whatever I would assign to her." Since, as Ludlow said,
they never "engaged novices without knowing something of their ante-
cedents," he questioned her and learned that she came from Cin-
cinnati and had a small sister and two small brothers to support.
"Her manner was so earnest, and apparently so honest, that I was
induced to give her a trial. She opened in the part of Ernestine^ in
which her appearance was so favorable that we engaged her for that
line of characters called in theatrical parlance 'walking ladies.' She
was with us four or five years, and finally became a 'leading lady' in
our theatre."* 8 Eventually she also became Mrs. Dick Russell. Of
the others involved, Uhl and James S. Wright, I can report noth-
ing worth repeating.

One decision reached by Ludlow was to lay greater stress than
before on dancing. To this end, he engaged W. G. Wells, "for one
month giving him a certainty of $80 for the month & we take his
Benefit.*'* 9 The next night, he wrote, "Mi. Bennie applied for an
engagt. offered him a % Clear Benef. for himself and Miss O. Smith
for one month He declined" He may have declined, but, be that
as it may, both he and la Belle Oceana danced merrily away during
the fall season. Bennie had been with Ludlow and Smith when
they first occupied their present theatre, and had danced night after
night between the pieces. As for Wells, he may possibly have been
the "Master Wells" who had taken part in the spring season of
1840; at all events, he had volunteered for the closing performance
the preceding July, probably to show what he could do. Now for a
month St. Louis suffered from no dearth of ballets.

There seems to be little reason for treating this particular season
in detail. It was in no way distinguished, neither manager finding it
worthy of more than the most perfunctory mention in his memoirs;
in fact, Smith ignored it altogether. The analysis of the make-up of

* 8 Ludlow Dramatic Life, 608.

*Diaiy of N. M. Ludlow, August 27, 1844,

THE DEPTHS OP THE RED SEA 281

the company shows its over-all unimportance. Although there were
several "first times" in the repertory, with the exception of Mary
Tudor, which owes such importance as it may boast of to the fact
that it was the work of a local writer, the plays were inconsequential.
On all sixty bills there was but a single work by Shakespeare, King
Richard HI, which was staged on October 7 with Neafie in the title
role. For his benefit Placide ofEered a travesty on Othello, but I
doubt if the Bard of Avon would lay claim to that.

Of the novelties, the most worthy of notice was a dramatization of
Byron's Bride of Abydos which, however new it may have been to St.
Louis, was certainly not new to other theatrical centres. Oddly
enough, the publicity failed to stress the fact that it was new. The
emphasis was, rather, on the elaborate staging. Not put on until
October 19, it was announced as "the closing scenic piece of the
season" "Great care," says the advertisement in the Republican,
"has been taken in its production, and the outlay has been consider-
able. The scenery (by Stockwell,) is entirely new, and of the most
gorgeous description. The rehearsals have been numerous, and the
whole talent of the company will be employed in its performance."
Neafie, newly returned, assumed the role of Abdallah with Mrs.
Farren as Zuleika, Weston as Selim, and Foster as Mirza.

New too were Asmodeus or The Little Devil, The Minerali or
The Gold Seekers of Anzasca, The Doge of Genoa or The Downfall
of Tyranny, otherwise known as The Bride of Genoa or The
Genoese, an unsuccessful early play of Epes Sargeant's, Dance's
Naval Engagements, The Wraith of the Lake, Douglas Jerrold's
The Hazard of the Die or The Reign of Terror, The Student of
Gottenaen or The Demon of the Hartz Mountains, The King and
Freebooters or The Robbers of Castle Hill, Payne's Ali Pacha or
The Great Struggle for Freedom.

So much for the record. Not an impressive list; almost all long
since deservedly forgotten melodramas. Some of them, while new to
St. Louis, were certainly not new in any other sense. There remains,
however, one novelty which does call for special mention. This was
the Mary Tudor or The Queen and the Artisan of Edmund Flagg,
editor of the Evening Gazette, who until the success of the piece was

282 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

established was identified merely as "a gentleman of this city." 80
This was introduced on October 9, and enjoyed five repetitions dur-
ing the remaining weeks of the season. The title role, of course, fell
to the lot of Mrs. Farren, with Neafie playing opposite her as
Gilbert, the artisan. Prominent in the cast too were Miss Randolph
as Emily Talbot, Weston as Fabiani, Foster as Bernard, and Farren
as a Jew.

So far as I have been able to tell, except for one or two perform-
ances in New Orleans, Mary Tudor ended its career in St. Louis,
but that it was, relatively speaking, a hit here there can be no ques-
tion. On September 15 Ludlow had been compelled to go to Cin-
cinnati to replace his ailing partner, and had left "the business ar-
ranged for one week, under the care of Mr. Stanley Prompter & Mr.
Weston to assist him (money matters under the direction of Mr.
A. B. Cook),"* 1 and had been absent about a month, Smith, man-
aging to return home in the meantime. On his return, he had a
pleasant surprise. "When I arrived in St. Louis, I found the business
of the theatre much better than when I left. A new piece had been
brought out entitled 'Mary Tudor.' This was a play which had
been translated from the French and adapted to the English stage by
Mr. Edmund Flagg, a gentleman of St. Louis, who possessed con-
siderable literary acquirements. The piece proved a success, as far as
success could be secured with Henry Clay, James K. Polk, and their
partisans against it."**

Not only the general public, but also the newspaper scribes, were
favorably impressed with Mr. Flagg's dramaturgy and also with the
performance.

"Edmund Flagg (1815-1890), a native of Maine, moved to the West
while a young man and in 1837-3838 was reading law in St Louis and
writing for the Daily Commercial Bulletin. In 1839 he went to Louisville
and later to Vicksburg, but in 1844 he returned to St Louis as editor of
the Evening Gatette. In addition to Mary Tudor, he wrote (or adapted)
at least two other plays, Ruy Blat and Catherine Howard as well as novels
and works of other types. 1849 found him in Berlin as secretary to the
American Minister to Prussia. Later he served as United States consul
at Venice. After his return to this country he took up journalistic work in
Washington. Mary Tudor had already been given four times at the Wal-
nut Street Theatre in Philadelphia as early as 1842. (Wilson- History of
the Philadelphia Stage, 267 )

"^Diary of N. M Ludlow, September IS, 1844,

"Ludlow: Dramatic Ufe, 607.

THE DEPTHS or THE RED SEA 283

A new play, written, or rather translated from the French of
VICTOR HUGO, by a gentleman of this city, called "Mary
Tudor" was produced on Wednesday evening. The announcement
that a play written by a gentleman of the city, and the growing dis-
position of the community to encourage home manufactures, drew
together a large and highly respectable audience. The dress circle
was graced by many beautiful ladies, and order and decorum pre-
vailed to a much greater extent than usual. All present appeared to
have come to give attention to the play and to decide upon its
merits. . . , 08

The correspondent of the New Era was at the same time com-
paratively discerning and critical.

. . . The play is well conceived, and the plot full of incidents
some of which are of thrilling interest. The language throughout
is well chosen and adapted to the times which the story is intended
to illustrate. And, although the character of the Queen is placed
by the Dramatist in a point of view, which history nowhere warrants,
there can be little doubt, but that Love, the predominant passion in
the heart of every woman, must at some period have inflamed even
her harsh and unyielding nature. Mrs. Farren sustained the part
with her usual excellence, and in the last act, in the conflict between
jealousy, hatred, revenge and despair, rose to the most fearful and
impressive personation of passion, we have witnessed for years upon
the stage. The thrilling episode of Emily Talbert [sic], and the
gentle sweetness of her character, contrasting as they do with Mary's
turbulent disposition, cannot fail to interest. Miss Randolph touched
every heart by the truth and simplicity of her acting. Mr. Farren,
Mr. Weston, Mr. Neafie, and indeed all the performers sustained
their parts in a highly creditable manner. For a first representation,
the piece went off admirably. Still, we think it wants condensation.
Many of the speeches are too long. The old Turnkey quite wearied
us out with his garrulity. But that the play will succeed, there can
be no doubt. The serenade behind the scenes, was exquisitely sung!
And the Epilogue, by a gentleman of this city, was well suited to the
play. It abounds with beautiful thoughts, and was recited by Mrs.
Farren with far more effect than could have been expected from her
so soon after the exciting scene that dosed the play.

At the close of the play, there was a call for the author, which was
replied to by Mr. Smith, the manager, introducing him to the
audience from the stage box.

**Mittoitri Republican, October 11, 1844.

284 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

Except for the "novelties" I have listed, the repertoire was made
up for the most part of old stand-by's like The Hunchback, Tkerese,
The Flying Dutchman (in an elaborate revival), Ellen Wareham,
Damon and Pythias, Rob Roy, William Tell, The Stranger, and
Lucretia Borgia in an adaptation by Weston, who used it for his
benefit. These are but samples. They drew no overflowing audi-
ences, but seem to have evoked no complaints. "The performances
every night at the Theatre are of a very creditable order," wrote the
editor of the New Era on September 21. "No great stars are
paraded to disappoint public expectation, but a good stock company
are successfully exerting themselves to amuse the public. To many,
the acting of such a company is more satisfactory than the over-
wrought performances of wandering stars. Messrs. Ludlow & Smith
display much judgment and taste in their theatrical management,
and prevent and avoid many of the evils that are frequently subjects
of complaint in such establishments."

One of the evils, not altogether unnoticed on these pages, was the
tendency of some actors to yield to the enticements of Bacchus. They
were a hard working, rather ill-paid lot, and probably to that fact
can be ascribed a weakness which, as both managers recognized,
presented a serious problem. In an effort to control, if not eradicate
it, they laid down strict regulations and prescribed heavy penalties,
but often, very often, they found it impossible to spare offending
members of their corps. This fall, however, one sinned too often,
and they were constrained to take drastic action against one of their
most valued and popular actors. The day after Ludlow's return to
the city, matters reached a crisis. Before he went to bed, the senior
partner recorded the event.

Benefit of Mr. Geo. P. Farren $103.50. He got drunk because
we would not allow him a five-hours entertainment & at night would
not play We discharge him for this season (remainder).

The discharge:

St. Louis, Oct. 18, '44
Mr. Geo. Farren

Dear Sir/

Your conduct in our theatres, on more than one occasion, has been
such as to do us a very vital injury. You have set aside our rules in
defiance have trampled on our feelings as men, and as managers

THE DEPTHS OF THE RED SEA 285

and we cannot help thinking that this has originated in part, from
the supposition that we estimate the services of yourself and wife so
highly that we will allow you to do as you please in our theatres
rather than separate from you. Permit us to say that you are in
error.

We should regret most sincerely to part with Mrs. Farren yet
most likely shall be compelled to do so, unless there is a radical
change in your habits. Such conduct as we refer to, if persisted in
on your part, and allowed by us to pass with impunity, would estab-
lish a precedent in our theatres, that must ultimately work out our
ruin and that of all connected with us.

We have no doubt that what you have stated in your note to us
yesterday, you feel and you think that you will fulfil. But those
assurances have been made to us before, and not adhered to there-
fore you must pardon us if we are skeptical on this occasion.

We have concluded to do without your services for the remainder
of the season here but wish to retain those of your wife If we find
from your deportment hereafter that we can depend upon your
proper attention to business, we shall be pleased to have your aid in
the coming winter season at New Orleans. We cannot in justice to
ourselves and the public and on the score of example, receive you
immediately back into our establishment.

With our best wishes for the happiness and prosperity of yourself
and family and with the desire that you will credit us for candour
when we say that this course is painful to us (not to say anything of
its inconvenience) and one which nothing but imperious necessity
could force us to we subscribe ourselves

Your sincere friends,
Ludlow & Smith.

This is a long letter to quote in full, but I believe it tells us no
little about the two men whose joint signature it bears, the two who
were sometimes depicted as cold and grasping individuals. Another
epistle, written a day or two later the actual date is blurred, "Fri-
day 2 [?] Oct." adds another detail.

Dear Smith

Forgive me but I cannot & will not use the enclosed, damn the
checque my heart never has been so heavy as since it has been in my
waistcoat pocket I cannot forgive my own thoughtlessness in the
request I do not belong to the herd & for Gods sake dont class me
with it. Right I have not to ask you and I feel that the courtesy
should not have been asked You must see that I do not immediately
bank it & dont wound me by pressing it / won't use it. You may

286 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

think me impertinent in this but you shant make me miserable. But
forgive me if I have offended you & Believe me

Sincerely your Well Wisher & friend
Geo. P. Farren

This incident is mentioned by neither partner in his recollections.
George was back in the fold when the company opened in New
Orleans, and in it he stayed until, with the blessing of the partners,
he and his wife withdrew to travel on their own as stars.

On the evening of November 2, with Ludlow's benefit, The
Ladies' Man, Paul Jones, and The New Footman, and $300.00 in the
till, the fall season of 1844 came to an end.

And so does this our record. St. Louis had now concluded the
first three decades of its theatrical history, nine of them presided over
by Ludlow and Smith, who had for five years been struggling against
a financial depression which nearly swamped them. Seven more
years lay ahead of the partners before they abandoned St. Louis as a
setting for their professional endeavors, though not as a home. But
the worst was past. 1845 saw them emerging from the dark days
into a happier, more prosperous period. But what lay ahead belongs
in the next chapter. This one is closed.

Curtain.

EPILOGUE

It seems in the nature of things fitting to close a chronicle of this
character with some sort of an analysis or appraisal. What precisely
was the status of the drama in St. Louis during the period under
examination? Did it demonstrate any improvement either financial
or artistic over its achievements during the years which had gone
before? The answer must in both cases be a categorical no, the
second no deriving directly from the first. As has been pointed out
repeatedly, times were very bad, not only in St. Louis, but all over
the country. People had little money to spend, and very little of
what they had were they willing to lay out on theatrical entertain-
ment. Managers in their frantic efforts to persuade their fellow
citizens to loosen up resorted to every expedient known to the pro-
fession, but few proved potent enough to enable their perpetrators to
do much more than keep their chins above water, very little above.
It was pretty much the same everywhere. Stars, spectacles, ballets,
melodramas, magicians, anything and everything were tried and
found wanting. And they all cost money, especially the stars, who
charged enormous percentages, often consuming most of the profits,
if not indeed all of them, and greatly weakening the prestige and
drawing-powers of the regular company.

In my analysis I have been handicapped, not only by the incom-
pleteness of the records, but also by the penchant of the managers, in
this case perhaps only Ludlow, since Smith denounces the custom,
for juggling the titles of some of the plays, especially the farces. 1
Therefore, it is not at all impossible that some of the plays listed
hereafter masquerade under aliases which I have not penetrated, and
that there are unrecognized duplications. I have tried to weed out
mere pas, recitations, and feats of all kinds, and to catalogue only
legitimate dramas, afterpieces, operas, and operatic ballets.

Adopting this criterion, I have counted 425 different pieces per-
formed during the five seasons I have covered. Between the familiar
and the novel, about two hundred having been presented in previous

^Smith: Thiatrical Management, 265.

287

288 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

years, and a few more being, so far as I can determine, novelties, I
hesitate to be exact. Only one, the ballet-opera of La Bayadere,
reached fifteen performances, with Cherry and Fair Star and The
Lady of Lyons the runners-up with twelve each. Six London As-
surance, The Conquering Game, The Married Rake, Is She a
Woman?, The School for Scandal and The Loan of a Lover
chalked up a score of eleven ; and two King Richard III and Mr.
and Mrs. Peter White ten. The record for a single season was
captured by Cherry and Fair Star with eleven evenings or part-
evenings to its credit ; but it was seen during only one other year of
the five. London Assurance was given nine times in the spring
season of 1842, and only twice more.

Turning now to the authors represented, we find that Shakespeare
could boast of forty-five performances of fourteen plays six trage-
dies, six comedies, and two histories. King Richard III led all the
rest with a tally of ten, The Merchant of Venice coming next with
six. (I am including Catharine and Petruchio in the Shakespeare
category.) Of the non-Shakespearean plays sometimes seen to-day
outside the laboratory, The School for Scandal proved by far the
most popular with, as I have said, eleven productions. Then came
She Stoops to Conquer f with five, while The Rivals limped after with
three. Two other so-called "classics," Venice Preserved and A New
Way to Pay Old Debts, were given five times each.

Many of the plays were of American authorship, Tortesa the
"Usurer , by N. P. Willis, being far out front with eight performances.
Several works from the pens of local authors were tried out, but
only Flagg's Mary Tudor achieved a positive success.

Dominated as it is by melodramas and trivialities, this is not a
very impressive showing, and reflects little credit on the taste of the
St. Louis audiences of the early '-40's. Yet perhaps it might not hurt
us to wonder how some of our favorites will impress readers a cen-
tury hence.

So much for the plays which made up the repertoire. As for the
manner in which they were produced, this must be guessed at on the
basis of incomplete, but none the less significant evidence. It is too
bad that it occurred to no one to set down in explicit detail just how
things were done. Nevertheless, as I said, there are many bits of

EPILOGUE 289

evidence which can be put together, and so enable us to-day to draw
some reasonably safe conclusions.

The Ludlow and Smith company, changing in make-up as it did
from season to season, probably maintained a fairly consistent level
of competence. No little of its strength undoubtedly derived from
the almost constant presence of Mrs. Farren, who, if not an actress
of the highest rank, was assuredly a very able as well as a most
conscientious one, and was so recognized in the principal theatres of
the country for many years to come. In both her public and her
private life she conducted herself with a quiet dignity which won her
the respect and affection of the community. Without her, the man-
agers would have found their stony path much stonier than it was.
Conner and Neafie too were capable actors, and when they were on
deck, a certain stability in their departments could be counted on;
if not sensational, they were everywhere accepted as more than ade-
quate. For male character roles there was always Farren, at least
when he was in a condition to be used; certainly no masculine
counterpart of his literally better half, but thoroughly routined and
master of all the tricks of his trade; furthermore, his spirit was
usually willing even if his flesh was too often weak. Of course, Old
Joe Cowell and Tom Flacide were excellent in their respective
"lines" ; the trouble was that they were members of the company for
only short periods. As for the character women, Mrs. Russell was a
fixture. I am sure that, like her daughter, she was a very good
woman ; I am not so sure that her art was on a par with her virtue.
But she seems to have been sufficient unto the day or, rather, the
evening. The merits and demerits of most of the transients it is just
about impossible to appraise. They came and they went, and most of
them have been long since forgotten. When affiliated with other
establishments, they for the most part occupied practically the same
positions they did in St. Louis; so I take it that the standards of the
St. Louis house were approximately the same as those elsewhere.

In so far as stars were concerned, St. Louis, because of its remote
location, could not hope to be visited in those days of uncomfortable,
if not actually dangerous, travel conditions, by the multiplicity of
celebrities who could shuttle back and forth in comparative luxury
between New York and Philadelphia. Thanks to their strategic

290 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

situations, these two centres were able to enjoy all there was of the
best. But except for them, the contrast with St. Louis was not as
great as might be expected. For instance, Boston, Charleston, and
New Orleans did not fare very much better. They saw practically
all, if not all, the luminaries St. Louis did, and in each case a few it
did not, but in no case a very great many.

The most important star seen by all three of these and missed by
St. Louis was Fanny Elssler, the world-famous danstusc and the
greatest theatrical sensation to tour this country before the advent
of Jenny Lind. No doubt, the Missourians deplored their loss, as
well they might. In addition to her, Boston enjoyed Charles Kean,
H. J. Finn, Tyrone Power, both VandenhoSs (John, the father,
and George, the son), Mr. and Mrs. Henry Wallack, Josephine
Clifton, and John Braham. Of these, Power and Miss Clifton
penetrated the Deep South, playing at Charleston, as did also "Jim
Crow" (T. D.) Rice, James W. Wallack the Elder, and Junius
Brutus Booth. George Vandenhoff got as far as New Orleans, and
so did the younger Wallack, William E. Burton, James W. Ander-
son, and Mrs. Jane M. Vernon. In this list there are, of course,
several names of outstanding importance, notably Booth's, but not as
many as one might have anticipated. 8

As managers I believe that Ludlow and Smith were as painstaking
and efficient as most of their confreres. Their standards were high,
and they did what they could to live up to them. They had drawn up
and posted in their theatres a model set of regulations for the govern-
ment of their employees. These they endeavored to enforce, but
circumstances frequently tied their hands and compelled them to
overlook irritating violations, something I am sure neither of them
liked to do. But satisfactory actors were not to be found under
every bush in St. Louis, and the play must go on.

We have seen that the chief weaknesses inveighed against by the
local critics were occasional unfamiliarity with lines, and lassitude and
inattention to detail on the part of the lesser members of the com-
pany. Of the first of these faults the St. Louis Theatre certainly had
no monopoly. One has only to browse through the memoirs and the

*Thia information is drawn from: Clapp: A Record of the Boston Stage;
Hoole: The Antt-Bellum Charleston Theatre: and Stnither: A History of
the English Theatre at Neva Orleans.

EPILOGUE 291

correspondence of the members of the profession to have this point
driven home. Thomas Abthorpe Cooper, for instance, who had
ended a career of forty years as one of the outstanding stars on the
Ameiican stage two years before this chronicle begins, was almost
always "imperfect." In fact, someone complained that he had to
hear Cooper's roles through twice in one evening, once from the lips
of the prompter and then from those of the star. Macready's
diaries teem with imprecations called down on the heads of offenders
on almost every stage he trod. So the St. Louis actors were by no
means the only offenders. On the other hand, I have come across
few references to mishaps due to negligence like those reported in
volume after volume of the recollections.

Before we condemn the long-dead actors and actresses for their
lapses, let us pause a moment to consider what they were asked to
do. They were supposed, for one thing, to keep somewhere in their
minds the words of almost innumerable roles in tragedies, comedies,
melodramas, farces, and musical pieces ready for use often on a few
hours' notice. There was a change of bill almost every night, and it
was taken as a matter of course that they might be called on to per-
form in both pieces. Significant items may be found in the selections
from the diaries of Mat Field published in the Bulletin of the Mis-
souri Historical Society (January and April, 1949). For instance,
at ten o'clock on the evening of April 8, 1839, after playing his part
in Rob Roy and retiring to his bed on the carpenter's gallery, he
jotted down, "I must read Charles 2nd for tomorrow." And on
April 20 : "We play Ion tonight. My part is Adrastus ... I gave
Adrastus a reading last night, and now can sit here writing at my
ease until I hear the call boy's voice summon my character, when I go
down, rehearse my scene, and come up again to my writing." (In
my copy Adrastus speaks some 430 lines or part-lines of blank verse,
about one hundred of which have been cut for production. I do not
know whose copy this was, but, inasmuch as it prints the cast of a
performance in 1859, it obviously was not Field's.)

Under the repertoire system then in vogue adequate rehearsals
were simply out of the question except in the* case of important
novelties. Fortunately most of die roles were relatively brief, but,
even so, slips of memory were inevitable, even Shakespeare's texts

292 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

sometimes suffering mayhem, occasionally at the hands of major
stars. Often the actors knew little or nothing of a play in which
they were appearing beyond the scenes in which they themselves
took part.

As for teamwork, that must have been "a consummation devoutly
to be wish'd." We saw how delighted Ludlow was with Buckstone
and Mrs. Fitzwilliani, and the close integration their repeated ap-
pearances together in the same roles had achieved. True, certain
players had monopolies on a few characters, and, I presume, worked
them out with some thoroughness. (Mrs. Farren and Mrs. Russell
must have acted Pauline and her mother in The Lady of Lyons to-
gether innumerable times.) But what happened when a stranger
with ideas of his own and the prestige to enforce them arrived on the
stage? Forrest and Macready both played Othello and Richelieu on
the St. Louis stage during the spring season of 1844, but I should
be very much surprised indeed if their stage business was identical
and they were to be found on the same spots at the same lines. So
tenacious was the latter of his routine that he sometimes terrified
his supporting actors to such a degree that they went so far as to
"mark the spot" with chalk, and then went about the stage with
downcast eyes fearful lest they miss it by a few inches. Woe betide
them if they forgot, or if, as sometimes happened, the megalomaniac
star did so himself. On the other hand, when a subordinate inquired
of another celebrity where he wished him to be at a given moment,
the surprising answer was, "Oh, wherever you want. If you're on
the stage, I'll find you." So the members of the resident company
must have had to adapt themselves to the vagaries of any and all
comers, and be ready to execute quick changes.

So far as I have been able to find out, the visiting stars did when
in St. Louis attend such rehearsals as were held of the pieces in
which they were displayed. But such was by no means the universal
practice. Sometimes they sent emissaries, or else summoned one or
two of their vis-a-vis to their hotels to receive their instructions, as
Mrs. Siddons did Macready when he was a youthful tyro trembling
at the thought of playing opposite the "Tragic Muse." The late
Otis Skinner once informed me that as late as 1880, "I played a

EPILOGUE 293

short season with Edwin Booth and never saw him until he came
on the stage for the night's performance!"

About the scenery I must draw my conclusions from current
practices. The garish newspaper publicity cannot be depended on.
It is dazzling and vague. Never is there vouchsafed us any ex-
planation of the means by which the vaunted miracles were effected.
Nor is there more than an occasional hint in the correspondence or
even the account books of the managers, though in a return book
for 1844 1 have found "Sheet iron for Thunder 1 55." Undoubtedly
the old-fashioned wing-sets with the flats projecting from the sides
parallel to the footlights were employed. 8 The box set had been
introduced elsewhere, but I have found no indication of its use on
Third and Olive. I suspect that drops were sometimes employed,
but cannot produce definitive evidence. Of course, there were not
special sets for different plays except particularly important novelties.
The cost would have been prohibitive, and where would storage
space have been found? Like other theatres, the St. Louis had its
collection of standard sets, a palace exterior, a palace interior, a
cottage exterior, a cottage interior, a street, a wood, and so on.
These were dragged out night after night for play after play until
the audience must have grown heartily sick of them, or they became
indecently shabby. There was always or almost always a "scenic
artist" on hand, and he must have been kept busy repairing and
repainting as well as supplying such new sets as were demanded.
These may have been in some cases very effective in the 1840's,
though I am definitely suspicious that the raptures in the press were
bought and paid for. To-day they would doubtless present rather
sorry pictures, but then they had no electric lights to show up all
the flaws. There was not as yet in St. Louis (I believe) even gas,

8 The author has in his possession a copy of The Bridal, Sheridan
Knowles' revision of The Maid's Tragedy by Beaumont and Fletcher, on
the fust page of which is written in ink: "Marked according to Mr. Mac-
ready's Prompt Book By H. J. Conway for Ludlow & Smith." (The "Lad-
low & Smith" is apparently in another handwriting.) In the stage direc-
tions written in are a number of references to "grooves." The stages of
almost all theatres had for years been traversed by these greased slots in
which it was the custom to slide the flats from the wings out onto the stage.
Of course this is no proof that there were any in the floor of ^ the stage of
the St. Louis Theatre, but it does at least suggest the possibility. Conway
was, according to Ludlow (Dramatic Life, 630), stage manager for Ludlow
and Smith's southern theatres in 1845.

294 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

only oil.* Except for a special number like London Assurance the
properties must, according to our standards, have left a great deal to
be desired, and certainly no stress was laid on appropriateness. How
could there be with twelve or more plays a week? The same old
chairs, tables, and sofas must have been worked as hard as the
familiar sets.

One might surmise that the audiences were rougher and less
sophisticated than those in the Eastern cities. That conditions "out
front" left a great deal to be desired certainly cannot be gainsaid.
A great proportion of the spectators was made up of "river men"
and Western emigrants many of whom were uncouth, and the
decorum was not that demanded and enforced by reputable manage-
ments to-day. Yet I have never come across any reference to a riot
of the kind which was by no means unknown in the cities along the
Atlantic coast, where the uproar in the house was occasionally so
great that the actors had perforce to go through their parts in dumb
show and were sometimes pelted with decayed vegetables. A fright-
ful culmination was reached in New York on May 10, 1849, when
the militia fired on a mob seeking to attack Macready, and twenty-
two persons paid with their lives for a senseless feud between two
actors.

Records show that St. Louis was even then a city of conservative
tastes and that its life was dominated by men and women of culture
and breeding. The French were fading out, but not without leaving
enduring evidences of their fine qualities. The Germans, with their
love of music and the drama, were coming in. Into the city was
pouring also a stream of native-born Americans from New England
and from the Southern states, and they did not change their tastes
or their manners when they arrived. So, despite the vast distances
which separated it from the centres of population along the Atlantic

*There is a baffling conflict in the evidence concerning gas In his diary
Ludtow made the following entry on August 14, 1844: "S. S said if we
could get the St Louis Theatre finished in the exterior & gas put into the
House he would be willing on his part that we took a lease for S years
at $2500. " Yet in the Return Book for the same period there is entry
after entry noting the payment t>f the gas bill. What are we to believe?
Possibly the answer is that gas was somehow employed for exterior illu-
mination, but had not yet been introduced "into the House."

EPILOGUE 295

seaboard, St. Louis was by this time pretty much a typical American
city. It liked the same things on the stage and off as did the
others.

Theatrically it was the capital of the upper Mississippi Valley, and
was so to remain as long as Ludlow and Smith were at the helm.
When the time came for them to relinquish their hold, other theatres
were springing up within a few blocks of Third and Olive, but other
cities were growing up to challenge the supremacy of St. Louis. By
1851 the picture had changed. With the departure of the old masters,
St. Louis ceased to be the capital.

APPENDIX

RECORDS OF PERFORMANCES OF
INDIVIDUAL PLAYS

1840

Affair of Honor, An, 1.

Alexander the Great, 1.

Alice, 1.

Ambrose Gwinett, 2.

Animal Magnetism, 4

Apostate, The, 1.

Bachelor's Buttons, 1.

Bayadere, La, 7.

Belle's Stratagem, The, 1.

Black Eyed Susan, 2.

Blue Devils, 3.

Bombastes Furioso, 1.

Born to Good Luck, 1.

Bottle Imp, The, 5

Brigand, The, 2.

Broken Sword, The, 1.

Brutus, 1.

Captain Kyd, 3.

Captive, The, 1.

Catharine and Fetruchio, 2

Catherine Howard, 1

Charcoal Sketches, 2.

Charles II, 1.

Cherry and Fair Star, 1.

Cinderella, 1.

Comedy of Errors, The, 1.

Conancheotah, 1.

Conquering Game, The, 7.

Coriolanus, 1.

Crossing the Line, 1.

Crowded Houses, 1.

Damon and Pythias (Banim), 1.

Day after the Wedding, The, 1.

Day in Paris, A, 1.

Dead Shot, The, 3.

Denouncer, The (The Seven Clerks),

2.

Dew Drop, The (La Sylphide), 7.
Dramatist, The, 1.
Dumb Belle, The, 2
El Hyder, 2.

Englishman in India, The, 2.
Family Jars, 2.
Floating Beacon, The, 1.
Flora and Zephyr, 3.
Forest Rose, The, 1.
Forty and Fifty, 2.
Forty Thieves, The, I.
Foundling of the Forest, The, 1.

Four Lovers, The, 2.

Gamecock of the Wilderness, The, 3.

Gilderoy, 1.

Glencoe, 2

Golden Fanner, The, 1.

Green Eyed Monster, The, 3.

Guy Mannering, 1.

Hamlet, 2.

High, Low, Jack, and the Game, 2.

Hofer, 1.

Honest Thieves, 1.

Hunchback, The, 2.

Hundred Pound Note, The, 2.

Hunting a Turtle, I.

Husband at Sight, A, 2

Ice Witch, The, 2

Idiot Witness, The, 2.

Invindbles, The, 2.

Irish Lion, The, 3.

Irishman in London, The, 1.

Irish Tutor, The, 2.

Iron Chest, The, 1.

Is He Jealous?, 2.

Jewess, The, 1.

Jonathan in England, 1.

Ball or Cure, 3.

King Lear, 1

Kong Bichard III, 3.

Ladder of Love, The, 1.

Lady and the Devil, The, 2.

Lady of Lyons, The, 5.

Lady of the Lake, The, 2.

La Fitte, 1.

Laugh When You Can, 3.

Liar, The, 3.

Loan of a Lover, The, 4.

Lottery Ticket, The, 1.

Love, S.

Love Chase, The, 2.

Love in a Village, 1.

Love in Humble Life, 1.

Lovers' Quarrels, 3.

Luke the Laborer, 1.

Lying Valet, The, 3.

Macbeth, 1.

Maidens Beware I 1.

Marco Bomba, 3.

Married Life, 1.

Married Rake, The, 4.

299

300

MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

Masaniello (The Dumb Girl of

Portia), 4.

Masked Ball, The, 3.
Mazeppa, 3.

Merchant of Venice, The, 1.
Middy Ashore, The, 2.
Midnight Hour, The, 2.
Miller's Maid, The, 1.
Mischief Making, 2.
Mountain Devil, The, 2.
Mountaineers, The, 2.
Mr. and Mrs. Peter White, 2.
Mr. H., 2.
Mummy, The, 2.
My Friend and My Wife, 1.
My Friend, the Governor, 2.
My Neighbor's Wife, 1.
My Young Wife and My Old

Umbrella, 3.

Nature and Philosophy, 2.
New Way to Pay Old Debts, A, 2
Nicholas Nickleby, 2.
No Song, No Supper, 2.
Octavia Brigaldi, 1.
Of Age To-morrow, 1.
Old King Cole, 1.
Oliver Twist, 2.
Othello, 1.

Parole of Honour, The, 3.
Paul Jones, 5.
Perfection, 4.
Personation, 2
Pizarro, 1.

Policy Better than Pistols, 1.
Politician, The, 1.
Poor Gentleman, The, 1.
Poor Soldier, The, 1.
Promissory Note, The, 2.
Raising the Wind, 1.
Reform, 3.
Rendezvous, The, 3
Review, The, 4.
Richelieu, 4.
Rip Van Winkle, 1.
Robber's Wife, The, 1.
Robert Macaire, 2.
Rob Roy, 1.

Roland for an Oliver, A, 3.
Romeo and Juliet, 2.

Rosina, 1.

St. Patrick's Day, 1.

Sam Patch in France, 2.

Scapegoat, The, 2.

School for Scandal, The, 3.

Sea Captain, The, 2.

Secret, The, 2.

She Stoops to Conquer, 1.

Simpson & Co., 3.

Spectre Bridgegroom, The, 2.

Spirit of the Clyde, The, 2.

Sprigs of Laurel (The Rival

Soldiers), 3
Stranger, The, 2.
Sweethearts and Wives, 3.
Swiss Cottage, The, 1.
Sylvester Daggerwood, 1.
Therese, 2.
33 John Street, 1.
Three Weeks after Marriage, I.
Times that Tried Us, 1.
Timour the Tartar, I.
'Tis All a Faice, 1.
Tom and Jerry, 2.
Tom Cringle's Log, 2.
Tortesa the Usurer, 4.
Tour de Nesle, La, 2.
Tradesman, The, 1
Turn Out, 1

Turnpike Gate, The, 1.
Two Friends, The, 1.
Two Gregories, The, 1.
Two Thompsons, The, 2.
Uncle John, 1.
Venice Preserved, 1.
Vermooter, The, 2
Victorine, 1
Virginius, 1.

Vision of the Dead, The, 1.
Warlock of the Glen, The, 2.
Ways and Means, 2.
Weathercock, The, 1.
Widow's Victim, The, 1.
William Tell, 3.

Will Watch, the Bold Smuggler, 1
Wrecker's Daughter, The, 1
Yankee in Time, The, 1
Youthful Queen, The, 1.

1841

Adrian and Orilla, 1.
Advertising for a Wife, 2.
Alice, 1.

All the World's a Stage, 2.
Ambrose Gwinett, 1.
Assignation, 2.

Banished Star, The, 1.
Barrack Room, The, 1.
Bath Road Inn, The, 1.
Belle's Stratagem, The, 1.
Be Quiet, 1.
Bibboo, 3.

APPENDIX

301

Black Eyed Susan, 1.

Blue Devils, 3

Bombastes Furioso, 1.

Brigand, The, 1

Broken Sword, The, 2.

Castle Spectre, The, 4.

Caveite, The, 2.

Cherry and Fair Star, 11.

Christening, The, 1

Clari, 1.

Cobbler's D aught ei, The, 1.

Conquering Game, The, 1.

Conscript, The, 1.

Country Girl, The, 1.

Damon and Pythias (farce), 1.

Day after the Wedding, The, 3.

Dead Shot, The, 2.

Demon Dwaif, The, 1.

Douglas, 4.

Dumb Belle, The, 2.

Dumb Girl of Genoa, The, 4

Englishman in India, The, 1.

Evil Eye, The, 1.

Falls of Clyde, The, 3.

Family Jan, 1.

Floating Beacon, The, 1.

Foreign Airs and Native Graces, 3.

Forest of Rosenwald, The, 1

Forest Rose, The, 1.

Frightened to Death, 4.

Gamecock of the Wilderness, The, 2.

Gentleman in Difficulties, A, 1.

George Banmell, 1.

Gnome Fly, The, 2.

Guy Mannering, 2.

Haunted Inn, The, 2.

Heir at Law, The, 1.

His Last Legs, 4.

Honey Moon, The, 1

Hunter of the Alps, The, 2.

Hypocrite, The, 1.

Intrigue, 2.

Introduce Me, 2.

Irish Attorney, The, I.

Irish Widow, The, 2.

Iron Chest, The, 1.

Is He Jealous? 2.

Is She a Woman? 4.

Jacques Strop, 2.

John de Procida, 1.

Kentuckian, The, 1.

Kill or Cure, 3.

Bang Henry IV, Part 1, 1.

Bong Richard III, 1.

Bass in the Dark, A, 1.

Lady and the Devil, The, 1.

Lady of Lyons, The, 1.

Last Days of Pompeii, The, 7.

Liar, The, 2.

Libertines Deceived, 1.

Loan of a Lover, The 1.

Love in Humble Life, 1.

Lovers' Quarrels, 5.

Lucille, 1.

Luke the Laborer, 1.

Lying Valet, The, 1

Mdlle. de Belle Isle, 2.

Maid of Croissy, The, 2.

Manager's Daughter, The, 3.

Married Life, 1.

Married Yesterday, 3.

Masquerade Ball, The, 1.

Merchant of Venice, The, 3.

Merry Loafer, The, 1.

Merry Wives of Windsor, The, 1.

Militia Training, 1.

Mischief Making, 1

Money, 3.

Monsieur Mallet, 3

Monsieur Tonson, 1.

Mr. and Mrs. Peter White, 2.

Mummy, The, 1.

My Aunt, 1.

My Country Cousin, 2.

My Fellow Clerk, 3.

My Little Adopted, 2.

My Sister Sate, 2.

My Young Wife and My Ok

Umbrella, 2.

Nabob for an Hour, A, 2.
New Way to Pay Old Debts, A, 1.
No Song, No Supper, 1.
Of Age To-morrow, 1.
Old and Young, 1.
Old English Gentleman, The, 2.
Out of Place, 2.
Painter's Daughter, The, 1.
Perfection, 2.
Peter Punctilio, 2.
Pizarro, 1.
Poor Soldier, The, 2.
Promissory Note, The, 1.
Quasimodo, 2.
Raising the Wind, 1.
Rendezvous, The, 2.
Rip Van Winkle, 1.
Road to Ruin, The, 1.
Robber's Wife, The, 4.
Robert Macaire, 3.
St. Patrick's Day, 1.
Sam Patch in France, 2.
Schindereller, 4.
School for Scandal, The, 2.

302

MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

Snapping Turtles, 2.

Soldier 1 ! Daughter, The, 1.

Solomon Swop, 1.

Spectre Bridegroom, The, 1.

Speed the Plough, 1.

Sprigs of Laurel, 3.

Stranger, The, 1.

Swiss Cottage, The, 1.

Swiss Swains, The, 4.

Therese, 1.

33 John Street, 1.

Three and the Deuce, The, 1.

Times that Tried Us, I.

Tis She, 6.

Tom Cringle's Log, 1.

Tom Noddy's Secret, 1.

Turn Out, 1.

Two Friends, The, 1.

Two Gregories, The, 2.

Venice Preserved, 4.

Vermonter, The, 1.

Ways and Means, 1.

Way to Get Married, The, 1.

Wedding Day, The, 1.

Widow Wiggins, The, 4.

Wild Oats, 1

Woodman's Hut, The, 1.

Yankee in Tune, The, 2

1842

Adelgitha, 1.

Alive and Merry, 1.

All the World's a Stage, 1.

Apostate, The, 1

Avenger, The, 2.

Bariack Room, The, 1.

Belle's Stratagem, The, 1.

Berilda, 2.

Black Eyed Susan, 3.

Blind Boy, The, 3.

Blue Beard, 2.

Blue Devils, 1.

Captive, The, 2.

Carpenter of Rouen, The, 5.

Castle Spectre, The, 2

Catharine and Petruchio, 1.

Charles II, 2.

Children hi the Wood, The, 3.

Clari, 1.

Conquering Game, The, 2

Critic, The, 1.

Damon and Pythias (Banim), 3.

Day after the Wedding, The, 1

Dead Shot, The, 2.

Dramatist, The, 1.

Dream at Sea, The, 3.

Englishman in India, The, 2.

Filial Love, 1.

Forest of Roaenwald, The, 1.

Forest Rose, The, 1.

Forty and Fifty, 2.

Forty Thieves, The, 4.

Foundling of the Forest, The, 5.

Gambler's Fate, The, 2.

Gamecock of the Wilderness, The, 1.

Green Eyed Monster, The, 1

Gustavus in (The Masked Ball), 4.

Guy Mannering, 1.

Heir at Law, The, 1.

His Last Legs, 1.

Honest Thieves, 1

How to Rule a Husband, 1.

Hunchback, The, 2.

Hunter of the Alps, The, 3.

Hunting a Turtle, 2.

Hypocrite, The, 1.

Irish Tutor, The, 3.

Is He Jealous? 2

Is She a Woman? 4.

John Bull, 1.

Jonathan in England, 1.

King Lear, 1.

Kong Richard III, 2.

Ladder of Love, The, 1.

Lady of Lyons, The, 4.

Lady of the Lake, The, 3

Laugh When You Can, 1.

Lear of Private Life, The, 2.

Liar, The, 2.

Like Master, Like Man, 1.

Loan of a Lover, The, 4.

London Assurance, 9.

Lucille, 2.

Luke the Laborer, 1.

Lying Valet, The, 1.

Macbeth, 1

Maid and the Magpie, The, 1.

Married Rake, The, 2.

Masaniello, 2.

Merchant of Venice, The, 1.

Middy Ashore, The, 3.

Money, 2,

Mort de Clsar, La, 1.

Mummy, The, 2.

My Fellow Cleifc, 1.

My Friend, the Governor, 2.

My Neighbor's Wife, 3.

My Sister Kate, 1.

Nature and Philosophy, 1.

New Way to Pay Old Debts, A, 1.

APPENDIX

303

Nick of the Woods. 2

No I 5.

No Song, No Supper, 2.

Of Age To-morrow, 3.

Omnibus, The, 3.

102, 1.

Orphan and the Murderer, The, 1.

Othello, 1.

Perfection, 2.

Pizarro, 1.

Point of Honor, A, 2

Poor Soldier, The, 3.

Promissory Note, The, 2.

Raising the Wind, 2.

Ransom, The, 2.

Rendezvous, The, 2.

Rent Day, The, 3.

Review, The, 1.

Richelieu, 1.

Rifle Brigade, The, 1.

Rivals, The, 1

Road to Ruin, The, 2

Robber's Wife, The, 2.

Roland for an Oliver, A, 1.

Romeo and Juliet, 1.

Sam Patch in France, 1.

School for Scandal, The, 4.

Secret, The, 1

Sentinel, The, 1.

She Stoops to Conquer, 3.

Simpson & Co., 1.

Six Degrees of Crime, The, 3

Soldier's Daughter, The, 1.

Somnambulist, The, 2.

Sprigs of Laurel, 2.

Stranger, The, 2.

Sweethearts and Wives, 1.

Tekeli, 2.

Three Weeks after Marriage, 4.

Timour the Tartar, I.

'Tis All a Farce, 1.

Tom Cringle, 1

Tortesa the Usurer, 4.

Tour de Nesle, La, 2.

Town and Country, 1.

Turn Out, 2.

Two Friends, The, 1.

Two Gregoriea, The, 1.

Valet de Sham, The, 3.

Vermonter, The, 1.

Victorine, 2.

Virginius, 1.

Ways and Means, 1.

Warlock of the Glen, The, 1.

Weathercock, The, 1.

Wedding, The, 1

Wedding Ring, The, 2.

West Indian, The, 1.

Widow's Victim, The, 3.

Wife, The, 1.

Wild Oats, I.

Wives as They Were, 2.

Yankee in Time, The, 1.

Yankee Land, 2

Young Widow, The, 1.

Youthful Queen, The, 2.

1843

Actress of All Work, The, 1.

Alive and Merry, 2

All the World's a Stage, 1.

Apostate, The, 1.

Artful Dodger, The, 2.

As You Like It, 1.

Bayadere, La, 8.

Belle's Stratagem, The, 1.

Black Eyed Susan, 2.

Boots at the Swan, 1

Born to Good Luck, 2.

Boston Tea Party, The, 1.

Brigand, The, 1.

Bumps, 1.

Buy-It-Dear, 1.

Carpenter of Rouen, The, 1

Children in the Wood, The, 1.

Cinderella, 1.

Crossing die Line, 1.

Damon and Pythias (Banim), 1.

Dead Shot, The, 1.

Dramatist, The, 1.

Dumb Belle, The, 2.

Dumb Girl of Genoa, The, 1.

Faint Heart Never Won Fair Lady,

1.

Fall of the Alamo, The, 1.
Female Husband, The, 1
Forest Rose, The, 2.
French Spy, The, 1.
Gazza Ladra, La (The Maid and

the Magpie), 1.
Guy Mannering, 1.
Heir at Law, The, 1.
His Last Legs, 3.
Honey Moon, The, 2.
How to Pay the Rent, 1.
Hunchback, The. 2
Hunting a Turtle, 1.
Husband at Sight, A, 1.
Hypocrite, The, 1.
Idiot Witness, The, 1.

304

MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

Irish Admiral, The, 1.

Irish Ambassador, The, 1.

Irish Lion, The, 3.

Irish Tutor, The, 1.

Iron Chest, The, 1.

Is She a Woman? 1.

Jackets of Blue, 1.

Jacques Strop, 1.

John Ball, 1.

John Jones, 1.

Sins; Lear, 1.

King Richard III, 2.

A Lady and a Gentleman, etc , 2.

Lady of Lyons, The, 1.

Laugh When You Can, 1.

London Assurance, 2.

Loan of a Lover, The, 1.

Love and Reason, 1.

Love Chase, The, 2.

Love hi Humble Life, 1.

Lucille, 1.

Man and Wife, 1.

Maniac Lover, The, 2.

Marriage of Figaro, The, 1.

Married Life, 1.

Married Rake, The, 5.

Middy Ashore, The, 1.

Miller's Maid, The, 1.

Mr. and Mrs. Peter White, 2.

My Aunt, 1.

My Neighbor's Wife, 1.

Nervous Man, The, 1.

New Way to Pay Old Debts, A, 1.

Night Owl, The, 4.

Olympic Revels, 1

Omnibus, The, 1.

One Hour, 1.

102, 1.

Our Irish Friend, 1.

Perfection, 1.

Pirate Dey, The, 2.

Plains of Chippewa, The, 3.

Aethiop, The, 3.
Ali Pacha, 2.
Alive and Merry, 1.
Artful Dodger, The, 3.
Asmodeus, 3.
Attic Story, The, 2.
Bears Not Beasts, 1.
Beichte, Die, 1.
Boots at the Swan, 2.
Bride of Abydos, The, 5.
Chaos is Come Again, 2.
Children in the Wood, The, 2.

Pleasant Neighbor, A, 2.

Postillion of Longjumeau, The, 3.

Promissory Note, The, 1.

Redwood, 2.

Review, The, 1.

Rivals, The, 2.

Road to Ruin, The, 1.

Robert Macaire, 2.

Rob Roy, 1.

Roland for an Oliver, A, 1.

Rory O'More, I.

St Patrick's Eve, 1.

Sam Patch in France, 1.

School for Scandal, The, 2.

She Stoops to Conquer, 1.

Simpson & Co., 1.

Six Degrees of Crime, The, 2.

Soldier's Daughter, The, 1.

Sonnambula, La, 2.

Speculation, 1.

Speed the Plough, 1.

Swiss Cottage, The, 1.

Sylphide, La (The Dew Drop), 1.

Teddy the Tiler, 1.

Times that Tried Us, 1.

Turning the Tables, 2.

Twas I, 1.

Two Drovers, The, 2.

Two Friends, The, 1.

Two Gregories, The, 1.

Vermonter, The, 1.

Wandering Boys, The, 2.

Wedding Ring, The, 2.

Welsh Girl, The, 1.

William Tell, 1.

Wonder: A Woman Keeps a

Secret, 2.

Yankee at Niagara, The, 1.
Yankee in Time, The, 1
Yankee Land, 1.
Young Widow, The, 1.
Youthful Queen, The, 2.

1844

Conquering Game, The, 1.

Critic, The, 1.

Day after the Wedding, The, 2.

Dead Shot, The, 1.

Death Token, The, 2.

Declaration of Independence, The, 1.

Denouncer, The, 2.

Doge of Genoa, The, 2.

Double Bedded Room, The, 1.

Duel, The, 2.

Dumb Belle, The, 1.

Ellen Wareham, 1.

APPENDIX

305

Englishman in India, The, 2.
Father and Daughter (Seduction), 1.
Feast of the Lanteins (Life in

China), 2.

Flying Dutchman, The, 6.
Forest of Rosenwald, The, 2.
Fortune's Frolic, 3.
Gabrielle, 2.
Gambler's Fate, The, 2.
Ghost in Spite of Himself, A, 1.
Gladiator, The, 1.
Golden Farmer, The, 5
Grandfather Whitehead, 3.
Green Eyed Monster, The, 3.
Guy Mannering, 3.
Hamlet, 1.

Handsome Husband, The, 1.
Hazard of the Die, The, 2.
Heart of Midlothian, The, 1.
Heir at Law, The, 1.
Hide and Seek Lovers, 1.
Honeat Thieves, 2.
Hunchback, The, 1
Husband at Sight, A, 2.
Is She a Woman? 2.
Jack Cade, 2.
John Jones, 2.
Jonathan Bradford, 5.
Kentuckian, The, 2.
King and the Freebooters, The, 1.
King Henry IV, Part 1, 2.
King Lear, 2.
King Richard III, 2.
Ladies' Man, Tho, 2.
Lady and a Gentleman, A, etc., 2.
Lady of Lyons, The, 1.
Laugh When You Can, 1.
Liar, The, 1.
Loan of a Lover, The, 1.
Love Chase, The, 1.
Lover by Proxy, A, 2.
Love's Sacrifice, 5.
Lucille, 2.
Lucretia Borgia, 3.
Macbeth, 1.
Man and Wife, 1
Man of the World, The, 1.
Marco Bomba, 3.
Mary Tudor, 7.
Masanielto, 1.

Merchant of Venice. The, 1.
Merry Wives of Windsor, The, 2.
Metamora, 2.
Middy Ashore, The, 3.
Militia Training, 1.
Miller and his Men, The, 5.
Mineral!, The, 3.
Money, 3.

Monsieur Mallet, 2.
Mr. and Mrs. Peter White, 4.
Much Ado About Nothing, 1.
My Aunt, 1.
My Sister Kate, 2.
My Wife's Dentist, 3.
Nabob for an Hour, A, 2.
Naval Engagements, 5
New Footman, The, 3.
Nicholas Nickleby, 1.
Of Age To-morrow, 1.
One Hour, 3.
Othello, 1.
Othello Travestie, 1
Paul Jones, 1.
Perfection, 1
Pizarro, 2.
Prettyjohn & Co., 2.
Rent Day, The, 1.
Richelieu, 2.
Rip Van Winkle, 1
Rob Roy, 1.

Roland for an Oliver, A, 3.
Scan Mag, 1.
Secret, The, 2.
Secret Service, 2.
She Stoops to Conquer, 1.
Speed the Plough, 1.
Spoiled Child, The, 1.
Sprigs of Laurel, 1.
Stranger, The, 1.
Student of Gottengen, The, 1.
Sudden Thoughts, 2.
Sweethearts and Wives, 2.
Therese, 1.
Tom and Jerry, 1.
Tommy Tempting, 3.
Tour de Nesle, La, 1.
Town and Country, 1.
Turning the Tables, 3.
Twas I, 3.
Two Drovers, The, I.
Two Gregories, The, 2.
Uncle John, 2.
Valet de Sham, The, 2.
Village Doctor, The, 2.
Virginius, 1.

Wedding Breakfast, The, 2.
Wedding Day, The, 1.
Welsh Girl, The, 1.
Werner, 1.
West End, The, 1.
Wild Oats, L
William Tell, 1.
Wraith of the Lake, The, 3.
You Can't Marry Your Grand-
mother, 3.
Youthful Queen, The, 1.

1844 April

9

$656.50

u

10

311.50

CC

11

25300

(I

12

183.25

II

13

386.00

1C

IS

361.50

cc

16

12200

1C

17

587.50

cc

18

77.50

cc

19

Faded

cc

20

10400

cc

22

Faded

M

23

44.75

cc

24

144.39 (?)

cc

25

9850

cc

26

164.25

cc

27

174.25

cc

29

121.00

cc

30

88.75

May

1

68.50

(I

2

72.25

(C

3

79.00

cc

4

118.00

(C

73.75 .

cc

7

7550

t(

8

33.00

tt

9

69.50

INCOME

1844

Spring and Fall Seasons
(Ludlow and Smith Return Book)

Hamlet & The Artful Dodger

Macready & J. M. Field

Richelieu & The Day After the Wedding

Macready t Mr. & Mrs. Field

Pirginius & A Lover By Proxy

Macready tc Mr. & Mrs. Field

John Jones & The Artful Dodger

Mr & Mis. J M. Field (Benefit)

Werner Sc A Ghost In Spite of Himself

Macready & Mr. & Mrs. Field

Othello & The Dumb Belle

Macready & Mr. & Mrs. Field

The Merchant of Venice & My Aunt

Macready & Mr. & Mrs Field

Macbeth & The Day After the Wedding

Macready (Benefit) & Mr. & Mrs. Field

The Heir at Law Sc Mr. 9 Mrs. White

Mrs. W. H Smith & T. Placide

Money & Turning the Tables

Mis. W. H. Smith tc T. Placide

The Englishman in India & Fortune's Frolic

k Middy Ashore
Mrs. W. H. Smith & T. Placide
The Love Chase & A Roland for An Oliver
Mrs. W. H. Smith & T. Placide
Man and Wife & Boots at the Swan
Mrs. W. H. Smith tc T. Placide
Guy Mannering tc The Welsh Girl
Mrs. W. H. Smith (Benefit) & T. Placide
Love's Sacrifice & A Roland For An Olivet
Mrs. W. H. Smith & T. Placide
Is She a Woman f & The Golden Farmer &

The Neva Footman

Mrs. W. H. Smith & T. Placide (Benefit)
Mr. flf Mrs White & The Aethiop
Love's Sacrifice tc The New Footman
The Attic Story tc The Aethiop

Fortune's Frolic tc The Golden Farmer k

Turning the Tables
La Tour de Nesle & The Attic Story
Love's Sacrifice tc Tommy Tompkins
The Murderer tc The Faithful Irishman
Money tc Prettyjohn & Co.
Sweethearts and Wives tc The Murderer
The Rent Day Ic Prettyjohn Sf Co.
The Englishman in India & The Murderer

306

APPENDIX

307

1844 May 10 72.75 Lucille k The Artful Dodger

Mr. & Mra. J M. Field
" 11 47.25 Tiao Drovers & The Children in the Wood

8c The Critic
Mr. & Mrs. Field
" 13 61 50 Gabrielle & Boots at the Svaan

Mr. & Mrs. Field
" 14 254 50 Town and Country 8t Nicholas Nickleby

Mr. & Mrs. Field
" 15 76.50 Much Ado About Nothing, SOURS, etc.

m Mr. & Mrs. Field & Columbia Minstrels

" 16 " 90.50 The Heart of Midlothian Songs Die

Beichte

Mr. & Mrs. Field, Columbia Minstrels, Ger-
mans
" 17 105 25 Wild Oats & A Loner by Proxy

Mr. & Mrs. Field (Benefit)
" 18 60.00 The Golden Farmer, & The Tvso Gregones

Song

Columbia Minstrels
" 20 253.25 King Henry IV & 'Twos I

J. H. Hackett
" 21 152.25 My Sister Kate, Rip Van Winkle, Tommy

Tompkins
J H. Hackett
" 22 32425 The Merry Wines of Windsor & 'Twos I

J. H. Hackett
" 23 365.75 The Man of the World & Mans. Mallet

J. H. Hackett (Benefit)
" 24 173 25 King Henry IP Sc The Tiao Gregories

J. H. Hackett
" 25 124.50 The Kentuckian, Mons. Mallet, Militia

Training
J. H. Hackett
" 27 115.50 King Lear & The Dead Shot

J. H. Hackett
" 28 178.25 The Merry Wives of Windsor tc The Ken-

tuckian

J. H. Hackett (Benefit)

" 29 97.50 The Husband at Sight Sc The Gambler's Fate

" 31 63.00 The Gambler's Fate & The Husband at

Sight

June 1 187.25 One Hour & The Miller Sf his Men

" 3 282.00 The Green Eyed Monster & The Miller Sf

his Men
" 4 156.50 The Miller Bf his Men tc The Golden

Farmer
" 5 105.50 My Sister Kate & Feats of Natural Magic

Herr Alexander
" 6 65.50 Natural Magic & Mr. & Mrs. White

Herr Alexander
" 7 80.00 The Conquering Game Natural Magic

A Roland for An Oliver
Herr Alexander
" 8 75.25 Alive and Merry j Natural Magic, Dances,

The Secret
Herr Alexander (Benefit), Bennie, Oceana

308

MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

1844 June 10

" 11

" 12

i 13

i 14

" 15

<i 1?

" 18

" 19

" 20

" 21

" 22

" 24

" 25

" 26

July

255.00
45625
347.50
519.50
341.25
234.50
40550
227.25
278.75
377.00
63.50

32.75
181.00

65.75
163.75

27 51.00

28 60.25

29 45.25

157.00
26.75

3 163.75

4 a.m. 66.40

4 p.m. 198 50

" 6 67.50

August 26 117.00

" 27 110.50

" 28 87.75

" 29 72.25

" 30 81.75

" 31 80.75

Richelieu

Edwin Forreit

Metamora & Turning the Tables

Edwin Forrest

Othello tc The Secret

Edwin Forrest

The Gladiator tt Tommy Tompkins

Ed-win Forrest

King Richard III Sc The Dead Shot

Edwin Forrest

Metamora & Fortune 1 / Frolic

Ed-win Forrest

Jack Cade & One Hour

Edwin Forrest

The Gladiator & 'Tvias I

Edwin Forrest

Jack Cade & Valet de Sham

Edwin Forrest

Kotff Lear Sc Mr. and Mrs. White

Edwin Forrest (Benefit)

Father & Daughter tc The Miller flf hit
Men (Benefit of New Orleans Flood
Sufferers)

The Golden Farmer k The Miller & hit
Men

The Youthful Queen tc Grandfather White-
head

Henry Placide

Secret Service tc Uncle John

Henry Placide

Grandfather Whttehead tc A Nabob for an
Hour

Henry Placide

Secret Service & The Double Bedded Room

Henry Placide

Grandfather White head Sc Uncle John

Henry Placide

The Village Doctor Sc Scan Mag

Henry Placide

The West End tc A Nabob for an Hour

Henry Placide (Benefit)

Jonathan Bradford & The Green Eyed Mon-
ster

Love's Sacrifice & The Valet de Sham

The Children in the Wood & The fore ft of
Rosemaald.

The Declaration of Independence Hide and
Seek Lovers The Feast of Lanterns

Flood Victims All volunteered

The Lady of Lyons Sc Of Age To-morrow

She Stoops to Conquer tc The Green Eyed

Monster

Speed the Plough tc One Hour
The Stranger tc Perfection
The Liar & The Seven Clerks
Asmodeus & The Secret
Asntodeus tc The Denouncer

APPENDIX 309

1844 September 2 105.00 Ellen Wafeham Ic Scotch Strathspey &

A \modeus
W. G. Wells
" 3 110.00 Guy Mannering It Hornpipe & Sudden

Thoughts
W. G. Wells

" 4 131.50 Money & L' Amour dans L'Embarreut (bal-

let)

Benoie, Well*, etc.
" S 117.50 Ellen Wareham, L'Amour dans L'Embarrass,

A Lady and Gentleman
Wells and Bennie
" 6 84.50 Sweethearts and Wines, Spanish Bolero,

Hears Not Beasts
Wells and Bennie
" 7 277.25 The Flying Dutchman & L' Amour dans

L'Embarrass
Wells & Bennie
" 9 184.50 The Flying Dutchman, Dancing, Laugh

When Jou Can
Wells and Beanie
" 10 109.50 The Murderer The Duel (ballet)

Wells and Bennie
" 11 105 75 The Flying Dutchman & The Duel

Wells & Bennie
" 12 89.50 The Flying Dutchman, Dancing, Tommy

Tompkins
Wells & Bennie

" 13 82.75 The Flying Dutchman & Marco Samoa
" 14 152.75 The Minerali, Marco Bomba, The Middy

Ashore

16 7325 The Mineralt, Jemmie of Aberdeen (bal-
let), Chaos is Come Again
17 60.50 The Wedding Day, The Death Token,

Marco Bomba

" 18 56.75 The Forest of Rosenwald, Jemmie of Aber-
deen, My Wife's Dentist

" 19 53.75 The Doge of Genoa & Fol au Vent! (ballet)
" 20 42.50 The Death Token, Naval Engagements,

Vol au Vent'
" 21 94.50 Chaos is Come Again, The Wraith of the

Late, Vol au Vent

" 23 83.00 The Wraith of the Lake, Naval Engage-
ments
" 24 55.50 The Doge of Genoa & The JPraith of the

Lake
11 25 71.25 Naval Engagements, The Midnight Assault

(tableau), The Spoiled Child

" 26 54.75 The Haxard of the Die ft The Middy Ashore
27 43.75 The Hazard of the Die & The Minerah
" 28 95.50 The Broken Sword, Raphael's Dream (bal-
let)

Don Juan (pantomime)

" 30 80.00 The- Student of Gottengen, My Wife's Den-
tist, The Duel

310

MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

1844 October

67.50
61.25

3 83.00

4 102.25

5 116.25

7 110.00

8 55.75

9 149.00
10 56.75

11
12

21
22
23
24
25
26
28
29
30
31

14625
141.00

14 255.00

15 124 50

16 103.50

17 96.00

18 65.00

19 224.00

172.50

157.25

10275

87.75

7675

94.75

38450

75.00

252.00

91.75

November 1 95.75
" 2 300 00

The King and the Freebooters & Little Devil
The Dumb Belle, The Eml Eye, Naval En-
gagements

Damon and Pythiat Se Don Juan
Tortesa the Usurer St Chaos u Came Again
The King and the Freebooters & AH Pacha
King Richard III & You Can't Marry Your

Grandmother
Therese & All Pacha
Mary Tudor It The Wedding Brtakfast
Pusarro & You Can't Marry Your Grand-
mother

Mary Tudor & The Wedding Breakfast
Rob Roy fe William Tell
Mary Tudor Sc My Wife's Dentist
Mary Tudor & You Can't Marry Your

Grandmother
The School for Scandal (Screen Scene),

Wedding Breakfast, Tom and Jerry
The Hunchback Ic The Handsome Husband
Mary Tudor Sc Sudden Thoughts
A Lady and a Gentleman, The Bride of

A by dot

The Liar Sc The Bride of Abydos
The Bnde of Abydos Sc Life in China
The Bnde of Abydos Sc Honest Thieves
The Flying Dutchman Sc Sprigs of Laurel
The Aethiop & Fortune's Frolic
Lucretia Borgia St The Ladies' Man
Mary Tudor & Mansame'llo
Lucretia Borgia Sc The Bride of Abydos
Love's Sacrifice Sc Othello Travestie
Lucretia Borgia, John Jones of the War
Office, The Bride of Abydos (lagt act)

Guy Mannering Sc The Loan of a Lover
The Ladies' Man, Paul Jones, The New
Footman (Ludlcro'a Benefit)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ANONYMOUS. "A Brief History of Thespian Hall, Boonville, Missouri."
Boonville: The Thespian Hall Preservation Committee, 1937.

ARNOLD, WAYNE WILLIAM. "Sol Smith: Chapters for a Biography."
Master's Thesis, Washington University, St. Louis, 1939.

BARNUM, P. T. Struggle! and Triumphs or Forty Tears' Recollections.
Buffalo: Warren, Johnson k Co., 1873.

BROWN, T. ALLSTON. History of the American Stage. . . . 1733 to
1870. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1903.

CARSON, WILLIAM G. B. The Theatre on the Frontier. Chicago: Uni-
versity of Chicago Press, 1932

CLAPP, WILLIAM W., Jr. A Record of the Boston Stage. Boston:
James Munroe & Co., 1853.

COWELL, JOE Thirty Tears Passed among the Actors and Actresses of
England and America. New York: Harper & Bros., 1844.

CRAIG, GORDON. Henry Irving. New York: Longmans, Green & Co,
1930.

DREW, MRS. JOHN, Autobiographical Sketch of. (ed. by John Drew and
Douglas Taylor). New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1899.

GATES, WILLIAM BRYAN. "Performances of Shakespeare in Ante-
Bellum Mississippi," The Journal of Mississippi History (January,
1943).

GILBERT, The Stage Reminiscences of Mrs. (ed. by Charlotte M. Martin).
New York- Charles Scribner's Sons, 1901.

HOOLE, W. STANLEY: The Ante-Bellum Charleston Theatre Univer-
sity of Alabama Press, 1946.

HUNT, DOUGLAS L. "The Nashville Theatre, 1830-1840." Birmingham
Southern College Bulletin, Birmingham, Alabama. Vol. XXVUI, No. 3.
(May, 1935).

BUTTON, LAURENCE. Curiosities of the American Stage. New York:
Harper & Bros., 1891.
Plays and Players. New York: Hurd and Houghton, 1875.

JEFFERSON, JOSEPH, The Autobiography of. New York: The Century
Co., 1891.

JOHNSTON, WINIFRED. "The Early Theatre in the Spaniih Border-
lands," Mid-Amtnca. An Historical Renew. Vol. XIH; N.S., VoL II,
No. 2. (October, 1930).

LOGAN, OLIVE. Before the Footlights and Behind the Scenes. Phila-
delphia: Pannelee & Co., 1870.

311

312 MANAGERS IN DISTRESS

LUDLOW, NOAH M. Dramatic Life as I Found It. St Louii: G. I. Jones
& Co , 1880.

MACREADY, WILLIAM CHARLES, The Diariet of, 1833-1851 (ed. by
William Toynbee). London: Chapman and Hall, 1912.

MACREADY'S Reminiscences and Selections from hit Diariet and Letters
(ed. by Sir Frederick Pollock). New York: Harper & Bros., 1875.

MAEDER, CLARA FISHER, The Autobiography of, (ed. by Douglas

Taylor) New York: Publications of the Dunlap Society, N.S., No. 3,

1897. -
McGLINCHEE. CLAIRE. The First Decade of the Boston Museum.

Boston: Bruce Humphries, Inc., 1940.
MONTAGU, M. F. ASHLEY. "Albert C Koch." Science N.S. Vol. 95.

(1942).
MURDOCH, JAMES E The Stage or Recollections of Actors and Acting

from an Experience of Fifty Tears. Philadelphia* J. M. Stoddart &

Co., 1880.
ODELL, GEORGE C. D. Annals of the New York Stage. New York:

Columbia University Press, 1927 ff.
PHELPS, H. P. Players of a Century. A Record of the Albany Stage.

2i ed. Albany: Joseph McDooough, 1880.
QUINN, ARTHUR HOBSON. A History of the American Drama from

the Beginning to the Civil War. New York: Harper & Bros., 1923.
REES, JAMES ("COILEY GIBBER"). Dramatic Authors of America.

Philadelphia: G. B. Zieber & Co., 1845.
SKINNER, MAUD AND OTIS. One Man in His Time. Philadelphia:

University of Pennsylvania Press, 1938.
SMITH, SOL. Theatrical Management in the West and South for Thirty

Years. New York. Harper & Bros., 1868.
SMITHER, NELLE. A History of the English Theatre at New Orleans,

1806-1842. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1944.

WEMYSS, FRANCIS C. Chronology of the American Stage from 1752 to
1852. New York: William Taylor & Co , c. 1852.
Theatrical Biography or The Life of an Actor and Manager. Glasgow:
R. Griffin & Co , 1848.

WILLARD, GEORGE O. History of the Providence Stage, 1762-1891.

Providence. The Rhode Island News Company, 1891.
WILSON, ARTHUR HERMAN. A History of the Philadelphia Theatre,

1835 to 1855. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1935.

WINTER, WILLIAM. The Jefersont. (American Actor Series) Boston:
James R. Osgood & Co., 1881.
The Wallet of Time. New York: Moffat, Yard & Co., 1913.

WOOD, WILLIAM B. Personal Recollections of the Stage. Philadelphia:
Henry Carey Baird, 1855.

BIBLIOGRAPHY 3 13

NEWSPAPERS

Missouri Republican. January 1, 1840-December 17, 1844.
Daily Commercial Bulletin. March 9- July 4-, 1840.
Daily Pennant April 1-October 3, 1840.
Daily Evening Gaxette. March 20-December 26, 1840.
People's Organ (Daily) June 6-November 26, 1842.

(Weekly) October 12, 1842.
St. Louis New Era. October 14, 1842-October 28, 1843; April 9-December

11, 1844

Missouri Reporter. January 16-June 28, 1843.
St. Louis Weekly Reveille. August 16, 1844- January 7, 1845.
5*. Louis Home Journal January 19- April 11, 1868.

(The Daily Pennant is on file at the St Louis Mercantile Library;
The P topis' i Organ and The St. Louis Home Journal, at the St. Louis
Public Library; the others at the Jefferson Memorial, St Louis, in the
files of the Missouri Historical Society.)

MANUSCRIPTS, ETC

The diaries of Noah M. Ludlow and Sol Smith, the Letter Book of Ludlow
and Smith, the Return Books for 1844 of Ludlow and Smith, the Journal of
Henry B. Miller, and most of the letters, in the possession of the Missouri
Historical Society in St. Louis.

Other letters, etc. (as indicated) in the possession of the Theatre Col-
lection, Harvard College Library.

INDEX

Aetna of AH Work, The, 215.
Addams, Augustus A., 93-97, 101,

102, 137, 220.
Addams, J., 239
Adelffttha, 202.
Adrian and Orula, 167.
Adiien, Monsieur, 120 l 123
Advertising for a Wife (Ebetiexer

Venture), 171
Aethiop, Tht, 81.
Agnes de Fere, 153.
Aiken, George, 24.
Alabama, 11.

Albany (New York), 166.
Albert, Master, 117.
Albion, The (New York), 35.
Alboni, Marietta, 53.
Alexander, Heir, 268.
Alexander the Great (The Rival

Queens), 108.
Alex Scott, B. S., 252.
Alice, 163, 221.
Ah Pasha, 281.
A live and Merry, 194, 231, 232.
All the World's a Stage, 240.
Alton (Illinois), 20, 121, 157, 158,

253, 257.

Ambrose Gvnnett, 99, 116, 119.
American Theatre (New Orleans),

84, 129, 130, 145, 152, 153, 208.
Anderson, James, 290.
Andrews and Preston, 16.
Animal magnetism (See Mesmer-
ism).

Animal Magnetism, 162.
Annals of the Neva Tort Stage, 15,

134, 144

Apostate, The, 101, 207.
Arch Street Theatre (Philadelphia),

16.

Archer, Thomas, 228, 229.
Arnold, Samuel, 274.
Arnold, Wayne W., 13.
Artful Dodger, The, 222, 257.
Atmodeus, 281.
Assignation, 146.
Astor and Beekman, 15.
As You Like It, 247.
Atheneum Hall, 83, 94, 95.
Atheneum Society, 83.
Auber, D F. E. (See The Matked

Ball).

Autobiographical Sketch of Mrs.

John Drew, 8.
Autobiography of Joseph Jefferson,

9, 21, 22.
Avenger, The, 202.

Bachelor's Buttons, 74.

Bailey, James P., 139.

Balls, J. S., 198.

Baltimore, 111.

Banished Star, The, 156.

Banim, John (See Damon and

Pythias), 156.
Banvard, John, 120.
Barbadoes, 122.
Barbarossa, 83, 84.
Barber of Seville, The, 34, 230.
Barnes, Charlotte (Mrs. E. S.

Conner), 20, 51, 63-68
Barnes, John, 20, 51, 63-68, 138.
Barnes, Mrs. John, 20, 51, 63-68.
Barnett, George I., 6.
Barnum, Fhineas T., 13, 144, 145,

146.

Barrack Room, The, 153, 198.
Barrett, George H. ("Gentleman

George"), 90-93, 102, 164-166,

191, 193, 198, 203, 208, 212, 213,

233, 234, 236.
Barrett, Richard, 195.
Bateman, Ellen, 124.
Bateman, Hezekiah Linthicum, 33,

36, 39, 42, 43, 46, 47, 71, 79, 85,

124, 181.
Bateman, Mrs. H. L. (Sidney

Cowell), 33, 36, 40, 41, 43, 44,

49, 61, 65, 67, 104, 124.
Bateman, Kate, 124.
Bath Road Inn, The, 116
Bayadere, La, 51, 53, 69, 216, 227,

288.

Beard, Captain, 227.
Beauchamp, 66.

Beecher, Reverend Lyman, 234.
Before the Footlights and Behind

the Scenes, 34.
Beichte, Die, 263.

Belle's Stratagem, The, 67, 180, 233.
Bellini, Vicenzo, 230.
Belli, The, 36.
Bennie, Mr., 280.
Be Quiet I Know A, 170.

315

316

INDEX

Benlda, 203.

Bernard, W. Bayle, 178.

Bernard, W. R., 133.

Bertrand, Marshal Henri Gratien,

239.

.Betty, Henry West ("Master"), 124-
Bibboo, the Apt of the Island, 142.
Bickerstaffe, Isaac (See Love in a

Village).

Bingham, 186, 203.
Bird, Robert Montgomery (See

The Gladiator).
Black Eyed Susan, 105, 106, 107,

198, 207, 239, 240.
Blake, William Rufus, 272.
Blanchard, 141.
Blessington, Lady, 173.
Blow, Henry T., 212.
Blue Devils, 92.
Bohrer, Max, 219.
Bombastes Furioso, 83, 84, 138.
Booth, Edwin, 293.
Booth, Junius Brutus, 59, 100, 113,

137, 290.

Boots at the Swan, 262.
Born to Good Luck, 106, 245, 246.
Boston, 16, 37, 45, 89, 112, 234, 236,

237, 243, 276, 278, 290.
Boston Museum, 17, 112.
Boston Tea Party, The, 240.
Bottle Imp, The, 71, 80, 81.
Boucicatilt, Dion, 224. (See London

Assurance, The West End.)
Bourgeois, Louis, 195.
Bowery Theatre (New York), 15,

16, 66, 145, 278.
Boynton, "Dr.," 212.
Braham, John, 290.
Brazeau, Guatave, 195.
Brazeau, Louis, 195.
Brian Boroimhe, 84.
Bride of Abydos, The, 281.
Brigand, The, 28.
Broadway Theatre (New York), 89,

218 263

Broken Sword, The, 163.
Brough, William, 60, 61, 62, 66.
Brougham, John, 227, 232, 243-247.
Brougham, Mrs. John (Emma Wil-
liams), 227, 228, 232, 243-247.
Brown, T. Allsttm, 23, 24, 25, 37, 40,

57, 85, 111, 135, 136, 200, 207, 227,

233, 238, 272, 279.
Brown, W. H., 232.
Browne, James S., 135-138, 162, 163,

222.

Brutus, 94, 97.

Buckatone, John Baldwin, 128, 152,
153, 155, 156, 165, 168, 292. (See
Damon and Pythias, Ellen Ware-
ham, Luke the Laborer, The Ice
Witch, The Irish Lion.)

Budget of Blunders, The, 2.

Buffalo, 236.

Bull, Ole, 259.

Bulletin of The Missouri Historical
Society, 291.

Bulwer-Lytton, Sir Edward (See
Money, Pilgrims of the Rhine,
Richelieu, The Lady of Lyons,
The Sea Captain).

Bumps, 240.

Burke, Charles Saint Thomas, 24, 27,
30, 85, 179.

Burke, Joseph, 124, 244.

Burke, Thomas, 24.

Burr, Aaron, 25.

Buiton, William E., 87, 145, 187,
290.

Busy Body, The, 66, 67.

Byron, George Gordon, Loid (See
The Bnde of Abydos).

Caldwell, James H., 7, 19, 66, 136,
145, 152, 153, 208, 209, 226.

Camp Street Theatre (New Oi-
lcans), 34.

Cape Girardeau (Missouri), 181

Captain Jack of "The Shades," 109-
111.

Captain Kyd, 102, 104, 111.

Captvoe, The, 66.

Carline, La Petite, 232, 233.

Carpenter of Rouen, The, 202, 207,
241.

Carr, 75, 76.

Carroll, Charles C., 182.

Carrollton (Illinois), 20.

Caspian, S. S., 247.

Castle Spectre, The, 64, 116.

Catharine and Pftruchio, 88, 91, 201,
288.

Catharine Howard, 68

Catholic Orphan Asylum, 83.

Cave-ite, The. 165.

Centliyre, Mis. (See The Busy
Body).

Champlain, S. S., 277.

Chapman, Caroline, 215, 216, 218,
222, 232, 236, 240, 241, 246.

Chapman, Henry (Harry), 215, 220,
222, 232, 241.

INDEX

317

Chapman, Samuel, 216.

Chapman, Mrs. Samuel (Elizabeth
Jefferson), 30.

Chapman, Theresa, 215, 216, 222.

Chapman, William, Jr., 79, 215,
216, 222, 246.

Chapman, William, ST., 29, 216.

Charcoal Sketches, 78, go.

Charles II, 28, 83, 188, 291.

CharlesB, Edward, 212.

Charleston (South Carolina), 17,
290.

Chatham Garden Theatre (New
York), 34,

Chatham Theatre (New Yoik), 15,
16, 73, 236, 239.

Cherry and Fair Star, 30, ISO, 170,
175, 181, 288.

Chestnut Street Theatre (Phila-
delphia), 16, 27, 33, 46, 224.

Chicago, 21, 266, 278.

Chicago Museum, 278

Children at the Wood, The, 198,
273, 274.

Chippendale, W. H., 228.

Chouteau, Henry, 110.

Chouteau, Pierre, 76

Christening, The, 156.

Gibber, CoIIey, 43.

Cincinnati, 74, 77, 108, 118, 147, 220,
227, 234, 238, 252, 261, 262, 265,
268, 271, 273, 276, 278, 280, 282.

Cincinnati Theatre, 73.

Cinderella, 38, 73-76, 172, 230.

Clapp, William W., Jr., 16, 17, 57,
99.

Clan, 171.

Claik (Clarke), 117.

Clark, Meriwether Lewis, 214.

Clark, General William, 159.

Clay, Henry, 268, 282.

Clifton, Josephine, 290.

"C. Marks," 248, 250, 263, 270.

Collier's Daughter, The, 116, 117.

Cody, 250.

Collier and Morrison, 268.

Collier, George, 211, 265, 277.

Collins, William, 65, 68, 127.

Colraan, George, the Younger (See
Ways and. Means'),

Columbia (Missouri), 22.

Columbia Minstrels, 262, 263.

Comedy of Errors, The, 66.

Committee of Authors and Ama-
teurs, 147.

Conancheotah, 98, 99.

Conceit Hall, 19, 26, 27, 33, 121,
122, 123, 127, 161, 183, 212, 242,
252, 268.

Conner, Bdmon S. (sometimes "Ed-
mund"), 39-49, 72, 75, 78, 80,
84, 88-94, 97, 98, 100, 101, 102,
104, 108, 109, 111, 185, 200-203,
289.

Conquering Game, The, 48, 88, 142,
288.

Conrad, Robert T. (See Jack Cade).

Conscript, The (Napoleon), 164.

Conway, H. P., 106.

Cony, 141.

Cook, 186, 189.

Cook, A. B, 186, 261, 282.

Cook, Nathaniel, 276.

Cooper, Isaac J., 195.

Cooper, Thomas Abthorpe, 290.

Conolamu, 41, 46.

Corwin, Thomas (Secretary of the
Treasury), 6.

Country Girl, The, 154

Covent Garden Theatre (London),
134, 142.

Covington (Kentucky), 167.

CowelT, Joseph ("Old Joe"), 33, 35,
41, 42, 52, 59, 61, 65, 66, 67, 74,
75, 78, 79, 80, 101, 109, 110, 289.

Cowell, Joseph, Jr., 51.

Craig, Gordon, 36.

Ciannels, C W., 169.

Critic, The, 192.

Crockett, J B., 182.

Crossing the Lint, 243.

Cumberland. Richard (See The
West Indian).

Cushman, Charlotte, 170, 190, 236.

Custom House, 3, 6.

Cuvelier, 85.

Daily Bulletin, 26, 31, 43, 45, 56, 60,

66, 67. 70. 71, 74, 76, 77, 78.
Daily Evening Gaxette, 26, 27, 38,

39, 41, 44, 47, 52, 56, 58, 59, 66,

67, 68, 72, 83, 95, 100, 281.
Daily Pennant, 47, 52, 53, 54, 58, 59,

61, 70, 75, 79, 81, 83, 91, 92, 93,
95, 100, 102, 130.

Damarara, 122.

Damon and Pythias (Banlm), 94,
202, 219, 284.

Damon and Pythias (Buckstone),
153, 180.

Dance, Tames (See The Old Eng-
lish Gentleman).

318

INDEX

Darrow, J. R, 115, 117, 119, 198.
Davenport, Jean Margaret (Mrs.

Lander), 121-127.
Davenport, Thomas D., 121, 122,

123, 125, 126, 127.
Davenport, Mia T. D, 124-127.
Davis, 113, 115, 117.
Davis, H., 232.
Day After the Wedding, The, 47,

116, 134.

Day in Paris, A., 97, 100.
Dtad Shot, The, 156, 245.
Dean, Julia (Mrs. Arthur Hayne,

Mrs. James Cooper), 133.
De Bar, Benedict (Ben), 128, 129,

160, 162-167, 169, 170, 171, 174,

181, 215, 222, 251.

De Bar, Mrs. Benedict (Mrs. Con-
duit), 160, 163-166, 169, 170, 180,

181.
Declaration of Independence, The,

273.

De Gentzen, 169.
Detmoitellet, Prenest-Garde, 97.
Desjardins, Mademoiselle, 51, 52, 53,

Devi Drop, The (La Sylphide), 69,
71.

Diamond, John (Dimond), 144-146.

Dickens, Charles, 29, 108, 121, 123,
175, 184, 223, 225, 226. (See
Nicholas Nickleby, Oliver Tvnst.)

Dickens, Mrs. Charles, 184.

Dictionary of American Biography,
The, 123, 176.

Dimond, W, (See Adrian and
Orilla).

Doge of Genoa, The (The Brtde of
Genoa), 281.

Dolman, 59.

Don Juan (pantomime), 180.

Don Juan (Don Giovanni), 38.

Dorrance Street Theatre (Provi-
dence), 17.

Double Bedded Room, The, 273.

Doufflat, 116, 124, 126.

Downer, Charles, 195.

Dracula, 274

Drake, Mra. Alex., (Frances Ann
Denny), 166-168.

Drake, Samuel, 166.

Dramatic Life at I found It, 7, 12,
13, 33.

Dramatist, The, 128, 233.

Dream at Sea, A., 204.

Drew, John, 90.

Drew, Mrs. John (The Elder), 8, 9.

Drunkard, The, 1.

Drury Lane Theatre (London), 122,

142.

Ducange, Victor, 106.
Duke's Wager, The (Mademoiselle

de Belle-Isle), 133, 257.
Dumas, Alexander, the Elder, 132,

257.

Dumb Belle, The, 43, 133, 216.
Dumb Girl of Genoa, The, 161, 222.
Dumb Girl of Porttci, The (See

Masaniello).

Duncan, J. McKean, 182.
Durange, Charles, 45.
Dyke, "Daddy," 112, 113, 115, 117,

118, 119, 125.

Dyke, George Eugene, 117.

Dyke, Miss, 115, 117.

Dyke, Mrs., 112, 113, 115, 117, 118,

119, 125.

Dyke, William Ambrose, 117.

Eads Bridge, 2

Eagle, S S., 158.

Eaton, Charles H , 56-59, 77, 99-102,

137, 139, 140, 143.
Eaton, Walter Prichard, 176.
Edwards, 275.
Eddy, Edward, 186, 187, 189, 196,

197, 200-203, 205, 207, 215, 217,

218, 221, 241, 243, 246, 254, 258,

266, 278.
Eddy, Mrs Edward (Mary), 197,

215, 236, 240.
Eldred, the Clown, 149.
El Hyder, 98.

Eliot, Reverend Wm. Greenleaf, 175.
Ellen Wareham, 153, 284.
Elssler, Fanny, 79, 146, 156, 173,

224, 232, 241, 290.
Encke's Comet, 81.
Englishman in India, The, 73, 74,

91, 166, 191.
Esmeralda, 170.
Evans, 139.

Faint Heart Never Won Fair Lady,

243.

Falls of Clyde, The, 116, 117, 118.
Family Jars, 65, 66, 116, 117.
Farren, George Percy, 33, 34, 39,

41, 42, 46, 51, 53, 54, 59, 65, 76,

INDEX

319

78, 80, 81, 84, 88, 89, 91-94, 97-
102, 108, 110, 111, 128, 129, 134,
136, 137, 151, 157, 163-171, 174,
179, 180, 186, 187, 189, 191, 197,
200, 203, 204, 207, 208, 215, 232,
236, 239, 240, 243, 245, 246, 247,
251, 254, 256, 257, 258, 262, 266,
267, 268, 275, 278, 282, 284, 285,
286, 289.

Farren, Mrs. George Percy (Mary
Ann Russell), 14, 33, 34, 35, 37,
39, 41-44, 47, 49, 52, 59, 61, 65,
67, 71, 75-78, SO, 81, 84, 88, 89,
91-94, 97-102, 104, 107-111, 128,
129, 134, 136, 137, 139, 140, 151,
155, 157, 162-171, 174, 175, 177-
181, 186, 187, 189, 197, 200-205,
207, 208, 215, 217, 219, 232, 236,
239, 240, 241, 244, 246, 247, 251,
254, 257, 258, 259, 262, 266, 267,
271, 273, 275, 278, 279, 281, 282,
283, 285, 289, 292.

Farren, Petty, 34.

Farren, William, 34.

Ferber, Edna, 216.

Field, George, 212.

Field, Joaeph M., 72, 132-135, 174,
232, 251, 254, 256-259, 262, 263,
264, 278.

Field, Mrs. Joseph M. (Eliza
Riddle), 132-135, 139, 232, 242,
254, 256-259, 262, 263, 264, 278.

Field, Matthew C. (Mat), 4, 13, 129,
131, 133, 135, 139, 143, 155, 157,
162, 172, 174, 184, 186, 187, 194,
195, 211, 262, 264, 276, 279, 290.

Field, Mrs. Matthew C, (See
Cornelia Ludlow).

Filial Love, 195.

Finn, H. J., 290.

Fireman's Fund Association, 241,
242, 262.

Fiske, Abijah, 275.

Fitzwilliam, Mrs Fanny, 128, 130,
131, 132, 135, 140, 151-156, 162,
165, 216, 292.

Flage, Edmund, 281, 282, 288.

Floating Beacon, The, 106, 107.

Flood of 1844, 265.

Flora and Zephyr, 69.

Flying Dutchman, The, 81, 284.

Fogg, 131.

Fogg and Stickney, 129, 130, 131,
139.

Forbes, William C., 17.

Foreign Airs and Native Graces,

154, 156.
Forest of Rosemoald, The (The

Bleeding Nun), 194, 273, 274.
Forest Rose, The, 105, 106, 107, 239.
Forrest, Edwin, 1, 38, 39, 45, 56,

57, 59, 64, 95, 96, 99, 100, 137,

199, 232, 242, 248, 252, 268-269,

270, 272, 292,
Forrest, Mrs. Edwin (Catherine

Sinclair), 60, 271
Fort Leavenworth, 48.
Forty Thieves, The, 104.
Foster, 60, 278, 281, 282
Foster, Mrs., 279.
Founding of the Forest, The, 88
Fra Dtavolo, 38.
Franciscus, James, 253.
Frankenstein, 274.
Frankfort (Kentucky), 66.
Franklin Theatre (New York), 15,

25, 263, 279.
Freelaad, Captain, 247.
Freischutx, Der, 42.
Freligh, Captain, 277.
Frightened to Death, 136, 167.
Frolic, S. S., 269.
Fulton (Missouri), 22.

Gabrielle, 257.
Gambler's Fate, The, 267.
Gamblers of the Mississippi and

the Idiot Girl, 25.
Gamecock of the Wilderness, The,

105, 107.

Gamester, The, 35.
Gfli cache", Alexander, 195.
Garrick, David, 91, 153.
Ganta Ladra, La, 229, 230.
General Pratt e, 8. S., 102.
Gentleman in Difficulties, A, 138.
George Barnvoell, 156, 157, 221.
German. Theatre (New Orleans),

263

German Theatre (St Louis), 263.
Germon, J C., 24, 25, 28-31, 161,

164, 165, 166, 170, 174, 180.
Germon, Mrs. J. C. (Jane Ander-
son), 24, 25, 27, 29, 30, 161, 164,

165, 166, 180.

Gibbs, Mrs. (Miss Gr addon), 231.
Gigantic Missourium, 119, 120.
Gilbert^ John, 272.
Gladiator, The, 269, 270, 271
Glasgow, MM. Win., Jr., 32.

320

INDEX

Glencoe, 89.

Gnome Fly, The, 140, 142.

Goldenrod, S. 8., 1.

Goldsmith, Oliver, 272. (See Sht
Stoops to Conquer.)

Grandfather Whitehead, 272.

Green, C. L., 26, 27, 30.

Greene, J., 45, 47, 49.

Greene, Mrs. J., 45, 46, 47, 49.

Greene, W. W., 6.

Green Eyed Monster, The, 52, 69,
273, 277.

Groshon, Mrs. Belinda (Mrs. Gold-
son), 1.

Gustamu III (The Masked Ball),
206, 207.

Guy Mannering, 61, 73, 163, 169,
192.

Hacfcett, James H , 29, 30, 105, 128,

175-179, 238, 252, 264, 265, 266,

268, 270.

Hamblin, Thomas, 278.
Hamffl, H. H., 85, 88, 89, 90, 92,

94, 97, 100.

Hamilton, Mr. and Mrs., 215.
Hamlet, 23, 59, 101, 253, 255.
Harlequin, 232.
Harrison, President Wm. Henry, 72,

140
Harvard College Library (Theatre

Collection), 34, 250.
Haunted Inn, The, 134.
Haydon, Miu, 120.
Haymarket Theatre (London), 122.
Hazard of the Die, The, 281
Heart of Midlothian, The, 263.
Heir at Lam, The, 174, 187, 262.
Hemkin, John, 195.
Henry, Robert, 85.
Herbert, 115.
Higgins, 276.
Highlander, S. S., 215.
High, Low, Jack and the Game, 30.
Hill, George ("Yankee"), 105, 216,

237, 238.

Hinton, Reverend I. T., 182.
His Last Legs, 164, 166, 178, 233,

244.
History of the American Drama

from the Beginning to the Civil

War, 30.
History of the American Stage,

1733-1870, 23, 24, 111.

History of the Philadelphia Theatre,
1835-1855, A, 16.

Hofer, 80.

Holcroft, Thomas, 272.

Holland, George, 223, 225, 226, 232.

Holliday Street Theatre (Balti-
more), 111.

Home, John, (See Douglas).

Honest Thieves, 47, 198.

Honey Moon, The, 2, 117, 168, 215,
228.

Hoole, W. Stanley, 17.

How to Pay the Rent, 247.

Hubbard, 117.

Hughes, The Masters, 183.

Hugo, Victor, 170, 283.

Hundred Pound Note, 47.

Hunchback, The, 44, 65, 97, 134,
200, 228, 242, 284.

Hungarian Singers, 72, 78, 183.

Hungry Singers, 78, 79, 81, 97.

Hunt, Douglas, 85, 113, 115.

Hunter of the Alps, The, 116.

Hunting a Turtle, 74.

Husband at Sight, A, 232.

Button, Laurence, 213.

"Hycondoric Hycondoricums," 148.

Hypocrite, The, 156, 192.

Ice fPtfch, The, 62, 70, 153.

Icks, Herr, 263.

Illinois, 20, 252.

Ince, Emma, 227.

Ince, Mr., 271.

Inchbald, Mrs. Elizabeth (See Ani-
mal Magnetism).

Ingersoll, David, 24, 25.

Ingersoll, Mrs. David (Maiy Ann
Jefferson, later Mrs. James
Wright), 24, 27, 28, 29.

Intrigue, 116, 133

Invincible*, The, 31.

Ion, 291.

Ireland, Joseph N., 141, 238.

Irish Ambassador, The, 244, 245.

Irish Attorney, The, 165.

Irish Lion, The, 153, 244, 245.

Irishman in London, The, 47.

Irish Tutor, The, 41, 84, 233, 245.

Irish Widow, The, 153, 154.

Iron Chest, The, 58, 59, 137, 221.

Irving, Sir Henry, 36, 181.

Irving, Washington, 260. (See
Charles II,- Rip Van Winkle.)

Is He Jealousf 69, 166.

INDEX

321

It She a Woma.nl 288.
Island No. 66, 50.

Jack Cade, 269.
Jackets of Blue, 221.
Jackson (Mississippi), 144.
Jacksonville (Illinois), 20.
Jacques Strop, 137.
Jamaica, 122, 123.
Jamieson and Isherwood, 17.
Javelli, Lion, 69.
Jeff e: son, Cornelia, 24.
Jefferson, John, 30.
Jefferson, Joseph L, 21, 23.
Jefferson, Joseph II., 21-24, 27, 29,

30, 161, 178.
Jefferson, Joseph III., 9, 20, 21, 23,

24, 27, 30, 105, 161, 178, 179.
Jefferson, Mrs. Joseph II., (Cornelia

Thomas, Mrs. Thomas Burke),

22, 23, 24, 27, 28, 29, 30.
Jefferson, President Thomas, 3.
Jefferson, Thomas (actor), 23.
Jeffersons, The, 23.
Jenkins, C. D., 144, 145, 146.
Jennings, Edward, 195.
Jerrold, Douglas (See Black Eyed

Susan, The Hazard of the Die).
Jewess, The, 70.
John Bull, 191.
John Jones of the War Office, 236,

267.

John of Procida, 134.
Johnson, 100, 133, 169.
Johnson, G B. (?), 131.
Johnson, Miss, 151, 163, 165, 179.
Johnston, P. M., 234.
Jonathan Bradford, 273.
Jonathan in England, 105, 107, 108.
Jones, J. S., 16.
Jones, Joe, 236.
Jones Museum of Arts, Sciences and

Cariosities, 253, 257, 258.
Jonson, Ben (misspelled "Johnson"),

81
Julius Caesar, 102.

Kaiffer, Monsieur, 51, 52, 56.
Kean (Keen), 115, 117.
Kean, Charles, 13, 137, 290.
Kean, Mrs Charles (Ellen Tree),

1, 13, 64, 134, 246.
Kean, Edmund, 59, 100, 122.
Keeley, Mrs. Robert, 133.

Keemle, Charles, 3, 133, 248, 249,
264, 276.

Kelly, Henry B., 195.

Kemble, Fanny (Mrs. Pierce But-
ler), 97, 133, 257.

Kemp, William, 192.

Kemper College, 4.

Kent, William, 73.

Kent, Mrs. William (Elizabeth
Eberle), 73-77.

Kentuckian, The, 177, 266.

Kentucky, 143, 144, 166, 176.

Kernim, Alfred EL, 195.

Kerr, John (See Rip Van Winkle).

Kill or Cure, 109.

Kunball, Moses, 112.

King and the Freebooters, The, 281

King Henry IV., Part 1, 177, 265,
266.

King Lear, 94, 266, 269, 271.

King Richard III., 41, 43, 59, 124,
201, 217, 221, 269, 271, 281, 288.

Kirby, Joseph Hudson, 185, 207, 215,
217-221, 223.

Kiss in the Dark, A, 155.

Knickerbocker Magazine, 95, 151,
154.

Knowles, John Sheridan (See Love,
The Hunchback, The Wife, The
Wrecker's Daughter, Virginms,
The Lady of Lyons, The Love
Chase).

Koch, Albert C., Ill, 112, 115, 119.

Koln, 72.

Kotzebue, Augustus (See Die
Beichte, The Stranger) .

Lacy, Rophino (See Cinderella).
Ladder of Love, The, 74, 192.
Ladies' Man, The, 286.
Lady and the Demi, The, 113, 116.
Lady of Lyont, The, 27, 39, 41, 43,

44, 46, 47, 80, 88, 90, 99, 108,

133, 201, 202, 219, 274, 288.
Lady of the Lake, The, 29, 77, 205.
La Title (Lafitte), 66.
Lake, 113, 115, 200, 203, 204, 240.
Lake, Mrs, 112.
Lamb, Charles (See Mr. H.).
Lane, Dr. Wm. Carr, 32.
Langdon (Langton?), 115.
Lardner, Dr. Dionysius, 17, 223-

226.
Larkin, 'Taddy, w 38, 41, 42, 43, 45,

53, 55, 61, 65, 75, 76, 92, 94, 97.

322

INDEX

Last Days of Pompeii, The, 168, 169,

175.

Latham, W. H. f 17.
Laugh When You Can, 71, 104, 117.
Lavette, 92, 110. 133, 156, 165.
Le Compte, Madame, 50-56, 70.
Le Compte, Monsieur, 50, 51.
Leach, Harvey (See Hervio Nano).
Lee, Nat (See Alexander the

Great).

Leicester, 25-29.
Lewellen (Llewellen), 98, 99.
Liar, The, 106, 139.
Liebenatein, 72.
Libertines Deceived, 116.
Life m China (The Feast of tht

Lanterns), 251, 273.
Like Master, Like Man, 192
Lincoln, Abraham, 21.
Lind, Jenny, 290.
Linden, 115, 117.
Lipraans, The, 97.
Loan of a Lover, The, 73, 74, 112,

157, IBS, 201, 244, 288.
Logan, Cornelius A (See The Ver-

monter, Yankee Land).
Logan, Olive, 34
London, 43, 70, 90, 121-124, 141, 142,

153, 190, 191, 207, 223, 237, 255
London Assurance, 17, 189, 190, 191,

192, 194. 196, 228, 288, 294.
London Observer, The, 217.
Louisiana, 11, 143.
Louisville, 50, 68, 167, 224, 264, 279.
Love, 43-47, 65, 80.
Love Chase, The, 43, 46, 47, 49, 66,

228, 247.

Love in a Village, 62.
Love in Humble Life, 146.
Lovell, George (See Love's Sacrifice).
Lover by Proxy, A, 256
Lovers' Quarrels, 89, 116, 117, 146,

157.

Love's Sacrifice, 262, 275.
Lucas family, 118.
Lucns (Lucust), Miss, 118.
Litdle, 133.
Lucretia Borgia, 284.
Ludlow, Cornelia Burke (Mrs

Matthew C. Field), 22, 211, 276.
Ludlow, Noah M, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7-13,

18, 19, 22, 31-33, 35, 36, 37, 38,

40, 43, 46, 47, 48, 53, 56, 57, 60-

65, 67, 70, 71, 73, 75, 76, 78, 79,

80, 81, 82, 84, 85, 86, 88, 89, 92,

93, 97, 98, 100, 101, 103, 104, 106,

108, 109, 110, 111, 113, 117, 118,
127, 128, 129, 131, 132, 133, 134,
135, 136, 138, 139, 140, 143, 144,
145, 146, 150, 152, 153, 155, 156,
157, 160, 162, 163, 166, 167, 168,
170, 174, 175, 177, 179, 180, 182,
184, 185, 186, 187, 189, 192, 194,
196, 198, 199, 201, 202, 203, 205-
211, 214, 215, 216, 219, 220, 222,

223, 224, 226-244, 246, 247, 249,
251, 255, 259, 261-280, 282, 284,
286, 287, 291.

Ludlow, Richard (Dick), 231.

Ludlow, William ("Button"), 78.

Ludlow and Smith, 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11,
22, 26, 30, 31, 36, 46, 47, 50, 75,
80, 82, 83, 85, 86, 87, 89, 90, 91,
94, 103, 104, 106, 110, 117, 124,
130, 140, 150, 159, 160, 161, 162,
175, 176, 180, 182, 186, 190, 191,
194, 201, 204, 206, 208, 209, 211,
214, 223, 224, 229, 236, 242, 248,
251, 254, 260, 276, 277, 278, 280,
284, 285, 286, 289, 290, 295.

Luke the Laborer, 105, 153.

Lyceum Hall, 182

Lyceum Lecture Series, 182

Lying Valet, The, 70.

Lynch, Francis ("Frank Diamond"),
144-146.

Macbeth, 23, 94, 96, 202, 255, 259.
Mack, 186, 189, 203.
Macon (Georgia), 32.
Macready, William Charles, 1, 223,

224, 248, 252-262, 265, 266, 269,
270, 272, 291, 292, 294.

Macumber (McCumbers), James,

148-150.
Mademoiselle de Belle-Isle, 132, 133,

257.
Maeder, Clara Fisher, 13, 124, 133,

216.

Maid and the Magpie, The, 192.
Maid of Croissy, The, 136, 137.
Malibran, Maria, 156.
Man and Wife, 243, 262.
Man of the World, The, 266.
Manager's Daughter, The, 125.
Marble, Dan forth (Dan), 52, 64,

104-109, 171, 172, 174, 198, 199,

236-240.

Marco Bomba, 52, 53, 56
Married Life, 73, 155.
Marriage of Figaro, The, 230.

INDEX

323

Mart led Rake, The, 92, 218, 245,
288.

Marsh, 38, 39, 43, 65, 67.

Mai shall, Wizeman, 17.

Martin, G. S. (Mobile), 275.

Mai tin, Madame, 51, 52

Martin, Monsieur, 51, 56.

Martineau, Harriet, 173

Mary Tudor, 281, 283, 288.

Masamcllo, 51, 62, 111

Masked Ball, The (Gustavus HI),
53, 56, 206.

Mason, Charles, 101.

Massmger, Philip, 81, 102 (See
A Neva Way to Pay Old Debts.)

Marhieu, Monsieur, 268.

Mathews, 186, 189, 197.

Matthews (Mathews), Helen or
Ellen, 186, 197, 203, 204.

Maynard, J. P., 85, 86, 92, 94, 98-
102, 108, 109, 132, 133, 134, 136,
151, 163, 164, 165, 167, 169, 177,
179, 180, 186-189, 196, 199, 200,
232, 236, 239, 240, 241, 246, 251,
262, 266, 267, 268, 278

Maynard, Mrs. J. P. (Margaiet
Murcoyne, Mis. Robeit Henry,
Mrs Cuvelier, Mis. Charles
Buike, also sometimes known as
"Miss Booth"), 85, 86, 92, 93,
94, 97-102, 104, 107, 108, 109,
111.

Mateppa, 98.

McCabe, 30.

McCabe, Dr. Edmund H, 265

McCann, 268.

McConechy, 38.

McDermott, John Francis, 4.

McDowell, Dr. Joseph N., 183, 212,
225, 248, 249

McKenzie (Mackenzie), Alexander,
19-23

McKenzie, Mis. Alexander (Hester
Jefferson), 21, 24, 27, 28, 30.

McKenzie and Jefferson, 19, 20, 25,
26, 27, 33, 39, 85, 150, 161.

McPherson, W. G., 115-120.

McVicker, James, 266.

Mechanics Institute, 263.

Medina, Louisa, (See The Last
Days of Pompeii, La Fitte).

Melpothalian Dramatic Associa-
tion, 83.

Memphis (Tennessee), 21

Menke, Captain J. W., 1.

Merchant of Venice, The, 100, 111,
112, 124, 125, 126, 257, 288.

Metty Loafet, The, 164.

Merry Wives of Windsor, The, 179,
266.

Mesmer, Dr. Friedrich Anton, 172,
173.

Mesmerism (Animal magnetism,
hypnotism), 162, 163, 172.

Metamora, 269.

Meteor, 8. S., 134.

Middy Ashore, The, 74, 201.

Midnight Hour, The, 111.

Militia Training, 179, 266.

Mtiler and his Men, The, 267, 268.

Miller, Henry, B., 5, 6.

Mineralij The, 281.

Mischief Mating, 101, 154.

Mississippi, 11, 143.

Mississippi River, The, 21, 22, 69,
90, 216, 275.

Missouri, 11, 22

Missouri Historical Society, 11, 22,
190, 248, 278.

Missouri Reporter, 215, 221, 226

Missouri Republican, 20, 22, 23, 26,
27, 28, 29, 30, 39, 42, 43, 48, 50,
56, 62, 68, 72, 77, 80, 93, 94,
95, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 106,
108, 109, 110, 111, 115, 116, 118,
119, 120, 121, 123, 125, 126, 132,
135, 137, 142, 144, 148, 151, 153,
154, 157, 159, 164, 166, 167, 170,
171, 173, 174, 176, 177, 182, 183,
184, 185, 186, 190, 196, 203, 207,
212, 213, 215, 216, 217, 218, 219,
222, 225, 228, 231, 232, 242, 244,
251, 255, 257, 262, 263, 267, 269,
270, 271, 273, 275, 281

Missouri River, 22.

Mobile, 7, 12, 19, 20, 21, 31, 32, 33,
38, 63, 77, 79, 81, 85, 132, 144,
186, 209, 226, 235, 240, 246, 250,
251, 252, 259

Moncrieff, William T., (See For-
eign Airs and Native Graces,
Monsieur Mallet).

Money, 133, 164, 246.

Monsieur Mallei, 178, 179, 266.

Monsieur Tonson, 178

Montagu, M. E. Ashley, 112.

Montgomery (Alabama), 31.

Morehouse, D. B., 275.

Morgan, Miss, 37, 39, 40, 43, 46,
49, 54, 55, 56, 61, 65, 75, 76,
84, 88, 97, 100, 104.

324

INDEX

Mormontim, 197, 203.

Morriion, William, 268.

Morton, Thomas (See The Chil-
dren in the Wood}.

Mart de Cesar, La, 195.

Motty, Otto, 241, 242.

Mountaineers, The, 80, 89, 220.

Mr. and Mrs. Peter White (Mr.
and Mrs. White), 99, 243, 262,
288.

Mr. H., 70.

Much Ado About Nothing, 263.

Mueller, C. H. (or C. M.?), 86,
87, 110, 169, 170.

Mueller, Mrs, 87, 105, 107, 108,
133.

Mummy, The, 92, 99, 198

Murdoch, James, 95.

My Aunt, 132, 257.

My Country Cousin, 126.

My Fnend and My Wife, 70.

My Friend the Governor, 77.

My Little Adopted, 155, 156.

My Neighbor's Wife, 196.

My Young Wife and My Old Um-
brella, 41, 74, 136.

Nabob for an Hour, A, 137, 272.

Nagle, Signer, 183.

Nano, Hervio (Harvey Leach), 131,

140-143.
Nashville (Tennessee), 24, 46, 115,

242, 265.
Nashville Theatre, 1830-1840," "The,

85, 113.

Natchez, 74, 80, 128, 130, 237
National Park Service, 3.
National Theatre (Cincinnati), 64,

252.
National Theatre (New York), 15,

124, 135, 164.
National Theatre (Philadelphia),

16, 279.

Nature and Philosophy, 56, 112.
Nauvoo (Illinois), 197.
Naval Engagement*, 281.
Neafie, J. A. J., 199-205, 215, 219,

221, 232, 236, 239, 240, 241, 244,

245, 246, 247, 251, 262, 266, 271,

275, 278, 281, 282, 283, 288.
Neaaile, John, 65.

Nellie, the Sewing Machine Girl, 1
Nelson, 139, 169.
Nelson, Annette (Mis. Hodges, Mrs

John Brougham), 246.

Nerraf, Monsieur, 52.

Nervous Man, The, 245.

New Footman, The, 286.

New Orleans, 7, 8, 12, 19, 34, 37,
50, 51, 60, 66, 72, 78, 84, 85, 90,
97, 104, 118, 129, 130, 132, 136,
140, 143, 144, 145, 152-155, 161,
162, 168, 172, 173, 176, 181, 189,
19+, 195, 206, 208, 215, 224,
225, 226, 234, 236, 246, 247, 250,
252, 263, 269, 271, 277, 282, 285,
286, 290.

Newton, 83, 84, 186, 203, 205.

Newton, Mrs, 95.

New Way to Pay Old Debts, A,
58, 102, 104, 139, 219, 288.

New York, 15, 17, 24, 25, 29, 34,
38, 45, 60, 63-66, 69, 73, 77, 79,
87, 89, 99, 116, 121, 123, 124,
133, 134, 135, 144, 150, 154, 156,
160, 164, 168, 176, 178, 190, 191,
214, 216, 236, 243, 260, 261, 263,
279, 289, 294.

Niblo's Oaiden (New Yoik), 160

Nicholas Nickleby, 67, 108, 121, 262

Nick of the Woods, 202.

Night Owl, The, 233.

No I, 39, 40, 62, 78, 208

Noah, M. M., (See The Plains of
Chipptwa) .

North, Levi, 97.

No Song, No Supper, 62, 97, 142,
191.

O'Blennys, 261.

Oceana, La Belle (See Miss 0.
Smith).

Octavia Bragaldi, 64, 66.

Odell, George C. D, 15, 25, 35,
40, 63, 65, 66, 69, 72, 74, 89, 95,
99, 106, 124, 134, 137, 141, 144,
145, 146, 150, 151, 154, 187, 190,
191, 200, 214, 218, 220, 238, 243,
244, 263, 272, 274, 279

Of Age To-morrow, 43, 70, 191,
274, 275.

Ohio, 11

Ohio Pat Girl, 252.

Ohio River, 216.

O'Keeffe, John (See Wild Oats).

Old and Tounff, 127.

Old Cathedral (St Louis), 2

Old Court House (First Theatie
in St Louis), 2.

Old English Gentlemen, The. 137,
163.

INDEX

325

Old King Cole, 113.

Oliver Twist, 29.

Olympic Circus, 242.

Olympic Revels, 229, 230.

Olympic Theatre (New York), IS,

279.

Omaha Indiana, 71
Omnibus, The, 245.
102, 221.

One Man in His Time, 89, 122.
Othello, 101, 258, 269, 271.
Othello Travestie, 281
Otto, Madame, 60, 61
Out Irish Friend, 245
Out of Place, 156.
Owen, Richard, 112.

Page, Daniel D., 212

Page, Mrs., 40, 179.

Paris, 142.

Park Theatie (New York), 15, 16,

29, 33, 38, 63, 64, 69, 116, 121,
124, 161, 178, 190, 191, 192, 200,
227, 238, 239, 244, 272, 274.

Paisloe, C. T., 141.

Paul Jones, Pilot of the German

Ocean, 109, 286.
Payne, John Howard (See All

Pacha, Btutus, Charles IT, Clan,

Tkerese) .
Pedlar, The, 1.
'Teg-leg, 11 260.
Pelby, William, 101.
People's Organ, 182, 184-193, 195-

198, 200-204, 206, 207, 272, 276
Perfection, 41, 42, 92, 134, 166, 208,

216.

Personation, 65, 263
Peter Punctilio, 174.
Peter Wuktns, 81.
Petrie, Eliza (Mrs. Robert L.

Place), 38, 128, 186, 188, 189, 265,

275, 278,
Phelps, H. P., 40, 45, 46, 65, 90,

200.
Philadelphia, 9, 16, 23, 24, 27, 29,

30, 37, 45, 4$, 79, 85, 195, 227,
233, 236, 279, 289

Picayune (New Orleans), 4, 112,

173, 234

Pilgrims of the Rhine, 133
Pirate Dey, The, 220, 221
Pittsburgh, 140, 145, 146.
Piiarro, 116, 202, 219.
Placide, Caroline, 201.

Placide, Henry, 190, 232, 252, 271,

272, 273.
Placide, Thomas, 33, 232, 244-247,

251, 259, 261, 262, 267, 268, 275,

278, 281, 288.

Plains of Chippewa, The, 240.
Planche\ J. R, (See High, Low,

Jack and the Game).
Planters House, 4, 137, 175, 184,

219, 231, 242, 258, 271.
Platte, S. S., 139.
Players, The (New York), 65.
Players of a Century, 40, 90.
Plays and Players, 213.
Pleasant Neighbot, The, 243.
Point of Hanoi, The, 198.
Policy Better than Pistols, 70.
Polk, President James K., 282.
Poor Soldier, The, 47, 49, 166, 192,

202
Postillion of Lonffjumeau, The, 229,

230.

Power, Tyrone, 145, 244, 290.
Pratt, Tom, 248, 250.
Pratte, Bernard, 275.
Preston, "Dr.," 163.
Prettyjohn & Co, 262.
Private Libraries in Creole St.

Louis, 4.
Proler, 144.
Promissory Note, The, 43, 68, 155,

243.

Providence (Rhode Island), 17.
Public execution, 157.
Punchinello, 114.
Purse, The, 34

Quasimodo, the Bell Ringer of

Notre Dame, 170.
Quinn, Arthur Hobaon, 30, 66, 99,

133, 178, 238, 239.

Raising the Wwd, 113.

Rakemann, L., 219.

Randolph, Miss K, 279, 282, 283.

Ranger, W., 131.

Ravel, Gabriel, 31.

Ravels, The, 19, 31, 32, 50, 68, 69.

Record of the Boston Stage, A, 16,

57, 99.

Redwood, 239, 240.
Reeve, John, 234
Reeves, John, 233.
Reevei, W. H-, 234.
Reform, 89.
Reformation, 78.

326

INDEX

Rendezvous, The, 273.

Reich, 72.

Reid, 186.

Rent Day, The, 262.

Republican Banner (Nashville), 113.

Review, The (The Wags of Wind-
sor), 110, 111.

Reynolds, Frederick, (See The
Dramatist), 71.

Rice, Thomas D. ("Jim Crow"),
101, 105, 236, 290.

Richelieu, 41, 43, 44, 45, 76, 78,
108, 111, 201, 255, 256, 269, 271.

Richmond (England), 123.

Richmond Hill Theatre (New York),
25.

Riddle, Mrs., 242.

Riley, Henry J., Ill, 113, 115, 119.

Rip Van Winkle, 29, 30, 179, 266.

Rivals, The (Sprigs of Laurel) ,
191, 245, 288.

Rival Soldiers, The, 56.

Road to Ruin, The, 92, 166, 191,
198, 233.

Robber's Wife, The, 97, 116.

Robert Macaire, 109, 136.

Robinson, Jimmy ("Master Her-
nandez"), 97, 98.

Robinson, John, 97, 139

Robinson, Miss, 117, 118.

Rob Roy, 62, 284, 291.

Roland for an Oliver, A, 71.

Romeo and Juliet, 78, 88, 201.

Roper, James, 80.

Rose, 165.

Rosen, 72.

Rorina., 62.

Rossini, Gioachino (See Cinderella,
The Barber of Seattle)

Rubens, Peter Paul, 183.

Rubin!, 156.

Russell, C. W., 83.

Russell, H., 232, 245, 246.

Russell, Richard, 34, 37.

Russell, Richard, Jr. (Dick), 67,
75, 89, 92, 110, 128, 129, 186,
203, 204, 251, 262, 266, 278.

Russell, Mrs Richard, 37, 39, 49,
59, 65, 76, 78, 84, 87, 88, 91, 92,
97, 99, 100, 107, 108, 111, 128,
132, 133, 134, 157, 165, 166, 174,
177, 179, 186, 201, 203, 232, 240,
247, 251, 262, 266, 278, 289, 29Z

Russell, William H., 17.

Ryder, John, 254, 256, 257, 258,
259.

St. Charles Theatre (New Or-
leans), 132, 144, 145, 153, 161,
173, 186, 215, 224, 235.

St. Emanuel Street Theatre (Mo-
bile), 209, 235.

St. Louis Directory for the Years
1840-1, 3, 4, 59.

St Louis Exchange Hotel (New Or-
leans), 173.

St. Louis Home Journal, 52, 58,
59, 127, 260.

St. Louis Museum, 111, 114, 115,
116, 118, 119, 145, 157, 181, 268.

St. Louis New Era, 230, 231, 232,
242, 244, 246, 255, 256, 257, 259,
260, 262, 266, 270, 283, 284.

St. Louis Reveille, 264

St Louis Theatre, 2, 4-7, 28, 31, 32,
47, 48, 50, 71, 82, 88, 92, 94, 95, 96,
101, 103, 104, 108, 109, 110, 120,
121, 122, 130, 137, 140, 143, 154,
156, 157, 159, 169, 172, 174, 177,
181, 182, 184, 185, 186, 192, 193,
199, 204, 206, 207, 211, 214, 225
231, 236, 242, 245, 249, 255, 263,
265-268, 271, 276, 277, 278, 284,
290, 293.

St. Louis University, 4, 195.

St. Louis Weekly Reveille, 133,
217.

Salt House Theatre, 1, 2, 37, 115,
150.

Sam Patch, 105, 106, 107.

Sam Patch in France, 105, 107.

Sankey, Thomas, 22, 25, 27, 28, 29,
85, 88-94, 97, 100, 101, 102, 108,
109, 111, 133, 134, 136, 139, 162,
164, 166, 167, 174, 177, 180.

Saunders (Sanders), 99, 100, 101,
104, 108, 109, 111, 132, 133, 134,
137, 162, 164, 167, 171, 174, 179,
180.

Scan Mag, 273.

Scape Goat, Tht, 66, 67.

School for Authors, The, 2

School for Scandal, The, 23, 65,
68, 88, 93, 124, 127, 165, 188, 191,
228, 233. 236, 245, 288

Schmdereller (Schinder Eller), 172,
174.

Schinotti, J F., 30, 99, 112, 115,
117.

Scott, James M., 73, 168, 237.

Scott, Sir Walter (See Guy Man-
nering, Rob Roy, The Lady of
the Late).

INDEX

327

Scribe, Eugene, 52, 53, 111.

Sea Captain, The, 41, 42, 43, 45,

80.
Secret, The, 83, 192.

Secret Service, 272, 273.

Seduction, 269.

Sefton, Ann (Mis James W. Wai-
lack, Jr), 185, 201, 202, 203.

Seguin, Arthur E. S., 229.

Seguin, Mrs Arthur E. S. (Anne
Childe), 229, 230.

Seguin Opera Troupe, 216, 228, 229,
231.

Sclma, S. S, 50.

Sentinel, The, 191.

Shakespeare, William, 43, 57, 67, 78,
81, 91, 96, 101, 125, 177, 192,
201, 258, 263, 281, 288, 291.

Sharp, Colonel, 66.

Shaw, Maiy, 121.

Shaw, Mr., 120.

Shaw, Rosina (Mis. Chailes
Howard, Mrs. Harry Watkins),
121, 122

Shell, Richard (See The Apostate).

Sheridan, Richard Brinsley. 81, 272.
(See Pvsarro, The Cntic, The
Rivals, The School for Scandal).

She Stoops to Conquer, 88, 89, 117,
196, 243, 277, 288.

Shrival, 229.

Siddons, Sarah, 292.

Silsbee, Joshua S, 105, 232, 236-
240.

Simpson, Edmund, 15, 191, 200.

Simpson and Company, 74, 76.

Sinclair, John, 51, 60, 61, 62, 66, 242.

Six Degrees of Crime, The, 202,
220.

Skinner, Otis, 89, 122, 123, 292.

Skinner, Mrs. Otis (Maud Durbia),
89, 122.

Smith, Charles, 51, 75, 77, 91, 141,
159, 169.

Smith, Edward (President St Louis
Fireman's Fund Association), 158

Smith, John, 51.

Smith, Maicus (Mark), 167.

Smith, Moss 0. ("La Belle
Oceana"), 280

Smith, Solomon S. (Sol), 2, 7-14, 18,
19, 20, 25, 31-35, 38, 48, 50-54,
60, 61, 63, 64, 66, 70, 75, 77, 79,
81, 82, 84-87, 89, 90, 92, 93, 94,
96, 97, 98, 102, 103, 104, 110,

113, 116, 128-132, 134, 136, 139,
140, 141, 143-148, 151, 152, 153,
160, 161, 163, 165-171, 173, 174,
175, 179-188, 191, 192, 194, 195,
196, 198, 199, 201, 203, 205, 208,
209, 210, 214, 221, 222, 223, 225,
226, 232, 234, 235, 236, 241, 242,
244, 246, 253-256, 259, 264, 267-
271, 275-280, 282, 287.

Smith, Sol, Jr., 167, 198.

Smith, Tbaddeus, 167.

Smith, Mrs. W. PL (Sarah Riddle),
33, 242-247, 259, 261, 262.

Snapping Turtles, 155, 156.

Soldier's Daughter, The, 156, 243.

Solomon Stoop, 178.

"Sol Smith: Chapters for a Bio-
graphy," 13.

Sonnambula, La, 229, 230.

Spectre Bridegroom, The, 28, 114,
116, 117.

Speculation, 240.

Speed the Plough, 175

Spirit of the Clyde, The, 62.

Spirit of the Times, The, 227.

Spooner, Charles, 53.

Spngt of Lout el (The Rival Sol-
dier j), 65, 133.

Springfield (Illinois), 20, 21, 22.

Springfield Journal, 20, 22.

Stage, The, 95.

Stanard (Stannard), Rachel (?),
37, 56, 84.

Stanley, George V., 251, 282

Stettinius, Joseph, 212, 251.

Stickney, 130, 131, 132, 139.

Stillman, Dr., 173.

Stockwell, S. B., 281.

Stones, The, 97, 139.

Strand Theatre (London) , 124.

Stranger, The, 28, 46, 167, 191, 284

Strilkley, 72.

Struggles and Triumphs, 144.

Student of Gottengen, The, 281.

Sullivan, 26, 262.

Sutherland, 165.

Sutton. Madame, 183.

Sweethearts and Wives, 23, 74.

Swiss Cottage, The, 74, 163.

Siaiii Svuains, The, 177, 180.

Sylphide, La (The Dew Drop), 52,
53, 56, 69.

Sylvester Daggenoood, 102.

Sylvia, Miss (Mis. Richard Rus-
sell, Jr.), 279, 280.

328

INDEX

Taglioni, Maria, 52.

TaSourd, Sir Thomas (See Glen-

coe, Ion).

Tallies Magazine, 237.
Teddy the Tiler, 24S.
Tennessee, 143.
Thackeray, William Makepeace,

224.

Thi&tre Francais, 142.
Theatrical Biography, 15.
Theatrical Management in the West

and South for Forty Tears, 10, 12,

25, 32.
Therete, The Orphan of Genoa,

106, 108, 140, 284.
Thespian Theatre, 1, 2, 162.
Thielman, Madame, 263.
33 John Street, 91, 133.
Thirty fears Passed among the

Players of England and America,

36, 79.

Thomas, Miss, 118.
Thorne, Charles R , 237.
Thome, James, 73-77, 128, 129, 186,

188, 189, 202, 203.
Three Weeks after Marriage, 93,

191, 198.
Tom Thumb (Charles S. Stratton),

253, 257.
Times that Tried Us, 106, 107, 108,

240.

Timour the Tartar, 98.
'Tis All a Farce, 70.
Tischel, Lucien, 195.
Tobin, John (See The Honey

Moon).

Tom and Jerry, 80.
Tom Cringle's Log, 105, 107, 108,

198.

Tom Noddy's Secret, 156.
Tortesa the Usurer, 41, 42, 45, 76,

104, 108, 202, 288.
Tour de Nesle, La, 46, 47, 80, 202.
Town and Country, 262
Tree, Ellen (See Mrs. Charles

Kean).
Tremont Street Theatre (Boston),

16, 99, 234, 243.
Turner Company, 118
Turninq the Tables, 247.
Turn Out, 158
Two Drovers, The, 221.
Tvm Friends, The, 92, 164, 233.
Two Gregories, The, 100, 133.
Two Thompsons, The, 68.
Tyler, President John, 169.

Uhl, 280.

Uncle John, 109, 272

Uncle Tom's Cabin, 25.

Valentine, 181.

Valet de Sham, The, 275.

ValW, Felix, 195.

Valley Forge, S. S, 227.

Van Buren, President, 72, 185, 188,

189.

Vandenhoff, George, 290.
Vandenhoff, John, 59, 101, 137, 290.
Vauxhall Gardens (New York), 144
Venice Preserved, 101, 116, 288.
Verity, Sarah, 72
Vermonter, The (The Vermont Wool

Dealer, The Yankee Traveller),

105, 107, 239, 240.
Vernon, Mrs. Jane M. t 290.
Vicksburg, 22, 74, 128, 130, 144,

206, 208.

Vieuztempa, Henri, 208.
Village Doctor, The, 273
Virginius, 44, 93, 134, 256.
Von Weber, Cail Maria, 107.

Wags of Windsor, The (The Re*
mew), 110, 111.

Walker, 241.

Wallace, 115.

Wallack, Mr. and Mis. Henry, 290.

Wallack. James, the Elder, 290.

Wallaces Theatie (New York), 24,
64.

Walnut Street Theatre (Phila-
delphia), 16, 29, 33, 79, 236, 279.

Wandering Boys, The, 231, 232.

Waring, Leigh, 201

Waring, Raymond, and Weeks
Menagerie and Circus, 151

Warlock of the Glen, The, 114.

Warren, Miss, 163, 198.

Warren, Mrs, 132, 133, 136, 151,
165, 169, 179, 180, 189, 197, 204,

207, 267, 278.
Warren, William, 272.
Washington University, 175.
Watkins, Harry, 122, 123, 125
Way to Get Married, A, 136
Ways and Means, 70, 89, 157.
Weathercock, The, 77.
Wedding Day, The, 168.
Wedding Ring, The, 208.

Wells, Harriet (Mrs. Lion Javelli),

68, 69, 70, 71.
Wells, Henri, 69.

INDEX

329

Wells, Master, 68-71.

Wells, 69.

Well, W. G., 274, 275, 280.

Welsh Girl, The, 243.

Wemysa, Francis Courtney, 15, 141.

Werner, 257.

West, Benjamin, 183.

West End, The, 273

Wett Indian, The, 198

Western, J. M., 254, 257, 278, 281,

282, 283, 284.
West Wind, 8. S, 260.
Wetmore, Alphonso, 1.
Whatton, John D., 209.
Whitaker, 110, 111.
Whitlock, Mrs., 139.
Whitney, C., 212.
Widow Mackenzie, The, (altered

from The Soldier's Daughter),

156.

Widow Wiggins, The, 153, 154.
Wife, The, 200.
Wild Oats, 136, 198.
Williams, Billy, 222.
William Tell, 80, 83, 95, 221, 284.
Willis, Nathaniel Parker (See Tor-

tesa the Usurer)

Will Watch, the Bold Smuggler, 109.
Wilson, Arthur Herman, 16, 37,

79

Winner, John, 214.
Winchester, Edward, 195.
Winning a Husband, 279.
Winter, William, 23, 25, 85, 176.
Wives at They Were, 191.
Wonder: A Woman Keeps a Secret,

A, 246.

Wood and Warren (properly War-
ren and Wood), 9.

Wood, John, 13, 14.

Wood, Joseph, 161.

Wood, Mrs. Joseph, 154, 161.

Wood, William B, 16, 27, 37.

Woodman's Hut, The, 116.

Wool Dealer, The (See The Fer-
monter) .

Woolf, Edwin, 9, 54, 86, 87, 145, 152,
160, 173, 194, 195.

Wraith of the Late, The, 281.

Wrecker's Daughter, The, 46, 47.

Wright, James, 24.

Wright, James A., 48.

Wright, James L. (or S.), 48, 165,
280.

Wright, Mrs. James L. (or S.), 48,
102, 104, 107, 108, 109, 110, 132,
134, 136, 174.

Wyman, Miss, 252.

Xaupi's Salon, 83.

Yankee at Niagara, The, 240.
Yankee at Time, The, 105, 240.
Yankee Land, 237, 239.
Yankee Traveller (See The Fer-

monter)

Yates, Frederick Henry, 178.
Young Widow, The, 187.
Youthful Days of Harrison, The

(Parole of Honor), 89, 99, 239.
Youthful Queen, The, 239.

Zampa, 43.