ENDINGS
I cannot conclude this volume before recording the personal impressions
that Ellen Terry has made upon me. It will be feebly done, for what
writer could pen a true word picture of such a beneficently radiant
creature? I am, from my friendship with her, fully justified in saying
(she would call this one of the fancies of my book, but I know that it
is a fact!) that her chief delights in life are, in the first place, her
power of making her friends and her associates happy; in the second
place, her own joy in existence. When with her even the most depressed
spirit is buoyed up. Her quick sympathy and ready interest in the
concerns of all with whom she comes into contact brings sunshine into
their lives. In common with us all she has had her troubles and
anxieties, and upon her the effect has been to create a keen and ever
active desire to alleviate the distresses and difficulties of others.
Hand in hand with her go encouragement and consolation. A word of
sympathy from her, coupled with a look from those earnest, eloquent
eyes, is the best tonic in the world. And while she can weep with those
who weep, she can rejoice with those who rejoice--and she loves to
rejoice. It may very safely be said that she never uttered an
ill-natured word concerning a fellow-creature. "Why should I?" she says,
when taxed with this somewhat unusual trait in her character. "All the
world seems to say kind things about me. I am happy in knowing it, and
thus I love the world and all who live upon it. Why shouldn't I?" There
certainly is no reason for it, and she may be convinced that those who
have seen her in the world love her.
Apart from this general, generous, and genial affection for humankind,
her devotion is centred in her son and daughter. Very pretty it is to
see her motherly pride in their successes, whether histrionic or
artistic. Happily, her tender solicitude is well rewarded. Both Gordon
and Ailsa Craig are making names for themselves, and doing work of which
any parent might well be proud.
Very vividly she recalls her childish days, and, with a sympathetic
friend, she is by no means averse to talking of them. It is as pleasant
as it is touching to hear her conjure up memories of her own parents and
to note the true respect, added to the heartfelt affection, with which
she talks of them. I use the word "respect" advisedly, because, in these
days (and more's the pity), filial "respect" seems to belong to the
past. Possibly, it is as much the fault of parents as of children, but
in any case it is a thing to be deplored.
Of course, Ellen Terry's first stage recollection is her appearance as
the infant Mamillius, when she saw "the Queen Victoria, the Prince
Consort, the Princess Royal, and the Prince of Wales" in the royal box,
and was, as a matter of consequence, so awestruck that she could hardly
articulate her words. She played this part for one hundred and two
nights without a break--a marvellous record for so young a child. This
long run of "The Winter's Tale" showed that even in the "fifties," when
long runs were almost unknown, a Shakespearean play, faultlessly staged,
and admirably acted, could attract a prolonged succession of audiences.
During their engagement with the Charles Keans, she tells me (by the
way, she is never tired of singing the praises of Mrs. Kean), she and
her sister Kate studied--ay, and carefully studied--all the feminine
characters of each play they acted in. This fact she tries to impress on
the countless young ladies who want to adopt acting as a profession, and
who apply to her for advice. "What do you know?--what have you studied?"
she asks them. "Could you, for example, undertake to play Hero to a
Beatrice; Nerissa to a Portia; or Celia to a Rosalind?" Their almost
invariable reply is that they have studied nothing--that they have only
an ambition to "go on the stage." Then she will advise them to devote
themselves to learning and understanding such parts in case an
opportunity should come in their way.
Poor young ladies! I don't suppose they like such advice, for assuredly
they all want to begin as Beatrice, Portia, or Rosalind. Neither, I am
sure, are they aware that they lacerate the tender heart of the great
actress because she feels she can do nothing for them.
No one knows better than Ellen Terry that life-long devotion to her art
is the only way by which a true actress can reach the goal of her
ambition, and there maintain her place. She maintains, moreover, that
she should be taught to turn her hand to anything. "When I played
Titania at Bath," she says with a laugh, "I made my own dress. It was
long, and of transparent, clinging white, all 'crinkled' by washing and
wringing."
She limns a pretty little sketch of herself as she set forth with her
father to seek her engagement with Mademoiselle Albina di Rhona at the
Royalty Theatre. "I borrowed Kate's new bonnet--pink silk, trimmed with
black lace--and was engaged _at once_. I thought I looked nice in that
bonnet, and father said pink was my colour."
Evidently she thought that her bonnet rather than herself had found
favour with the manageress.
Speaking of her Haymarket engagement she declares that she had no
_real_ reason to dislike poor Sothern, and regrets that she ever
publicly expressed a feeling with which we are all familiar, and which
is best described in the words, "I do not like thee, Dr. Fell." She
admits that at this time she was very good as poor, maliciously maligned
Hero, but she qualifies this little bit of self-commendation by avowing
that she played Lady Touchwood vilely.
Merrily she recalls her appearance as Britannia, making her entrance up
a trap in a huge pearl which opened to allow her egress. On this
occasion King Edward VII. and Queen Alexandra, then, of course, the
Prince and Princess of Wales, came to the theatre for the first time
since their marriage, and modestly sat in the shadow of a large
stage-box. Louise Keeley (afterwards Mrs. Montague Williams) had to sing
a song concerning the "Invisible Prince," and by deftly introducing a
few improvised lines contrived to let the audience know the state of
affairs. Accordingly the uproarious applause of a loyal house stopped
the performance until the Royal bride and bridegroom emerged from their
obscurity, came to the front of their box, and gracefully and gratefully
bowed their thanks.
It was an exciting moment for Ellen Terry when, in 1878, Henry Irving
asked her to accept an engagement at the Lyceum, to play Ophelia. So
far, she had not seen his Hamlet, and to do so she travelled to
Birmingham. His beautiful, thoughtful, and always human impersonation at
once captivated her. "No other Hamlet," she enthusiastically exclaims,
"have I _seen_!--_Not in the same hemisphere!_ And yet I have seen
Charles Kean, Fechter, Salvini, and Rossi play the part."
Concerning her own successes she is very reticent, but I think I speak
the truth when I say that she very properly plumes herself on her
immediate triumph as Ophelia, and that she cherishes the lines of the
writer who said:--
"Ophelia, then, is an image or personification of innocent, delicious,
feminine youth and beauty, and she passes before us in the two phases of
sanity and delirium. Ellen Terry presented her in this way. The
embodiment is fully within her reach, and it is one of the few
unmistakably perfect creations with which dramatic art has illumined
literature and adorned the stage. Ellen Terry was born to play such a
part, and she is perfect in it. There is no other word for such an
achievement."
In speaking of her sister artistes she is always generous, and often
enthusiastic. She holds that as a pathetic actress there is no one equal
to Mrs. Kendal, and she declares that in purely poetic characters her
sister Marion is not to be excelled.
Indeed, her sympathy with her fellow-workers is unbounded. In this
connection a pretty little story has been told by the Baroness von
Zedlitz concerning a conversation she had with Ellen Terry with regard
to Signora Duse. "Although," said the eager English actress of the great
Italian actress, "we cannot talk fluently to each other, we became fast
friends on the evening of our first meeting. I had seen her in the 'Dame
aux Camélias,' and was so overpowered that I sobbed aloud. She heard
that I was present, and asked me after the performance to come and see
her on the stage. Our meeting was in accordance with our emotional
temperaments. She rushed to me across the stage, and I fell weeping into
her arms. The tears were a great relief. I could not have expressed my
admiration better than by my tears. Later on we spent many a pleasant
hour together, and I came to love her as a sister." But much as she
loves her art, and her companions in art, I believe her chief delight
exists in the quiet of the country. Every one must have a hobby, and her
pleasant pastime is to possess picturesque rural homes that she can call
her own. Thus she is the happy proprietress of Tower Cottage,
Winchelsea; of Smallhythe Farm, Tenterden; and of Vine Cottage, Kingston
Vale. To one or other of these sweet spots, surrounded by fragrant
country gardens, she loves to hie herself as often as may be from her
beautiful London home in more prosaic Barkston Gardens, and in all her
houses her chief aim is to make her friends happy.
For what most people would call the luxuries of life she seems to care
little, but with regard to its niceties she is pleasingly fastidious.
Her furniture must be in the best of taste, her pictures must be truly
good, and the books that she cherishes must not only be delicately
bound, but "extra illustrated" by her own hand, and adorned with quaint
book-plates, for which her clever son Gordon Craig is responsible.
Indeed, and as might have been anticipated, refinement is the essence of
her existence.
So far I have said little of Ellen Terry's successes in America, and,
indeed, they have been a repetition of her triumphs in England, but,
anxious to be certain of the impression she really created there, I
asked my kind friend, William Winter, the distinguished _doyen_ of
American critics, to give me his frank opinion. He replies as follows:--
"MY DEAR MR. PEMBERTON,--Your story of Miss Ellen Terry's life, and
your estimate of her acting, have not left anything for any one
else to say, and yet your kind wish for a tribute from the present
writer must not be denied. Observation on this subject has extended
over a period of twenty-five years, and first impressions have only
been deepened in the lapse of time. The actress is great, but the
woman is greater than the actress, and in the final analysis of
Miss Terry's acting, it will be found that her enchantment is that
of a unique personality. Only to name the characters that she has
made her own--the characters in which she is not only unrivalled
but unapproachable--is to point directly to this conclusion. Those
characters are Ophelia, Portia, Beatrice, Wills' Olivia, and
Goethe's Margaret. She has played many other parts, and given great
pleasure by the playing of them, and revealed rare qualities of
nature and fine faculties of art: in each and every one of these,
and in others of slighter fabric and narrower import, her acting
has often afforded, if not invariably the ground for unqualified
applause, at least the means of enjoyment and always the occasion
of thoughtful study; but her revelation of personality, in a
natural embodiment of ideal womanhood, has never been so ample as
in those five characters just mentioned. She possesses a
marvellously blithe spirit, and, in some of her moods, she revels
in the exuberance of frivolous humour. With persons of extreme
sensibility that trait--an almost hysterical propensity for mirth,
as a relief to the strain of serious feeling--is not unusual; but
ultimately, she is a woman of passionate heart, of profound
tenderness, and of a most ardently poetic imagination. Nature has
been more kind to her--more profuse in the liberality of good
gifts--than to any other woman on the stage in our time; for it has
endowed her with a commanding yet winsome figure; a stately head,
mantled with golden hair; a countenance of piquant charm and
exquisite mobility; the grey eyes of genius, through which a brave,
pure and noble soul looks frankly into the face of all the world;
vocal organs of exceptional power; a voice of delicious cadences
and melting sweetness; symmetry of person and natural grace of
action; and, within the external equipment it has placed a woman's
heart to feel; a woman's unerring intuition to perceive; the
gipsy's freedom of spirit, that breaks away from all convention;
and the poet's kinship with nature, in everything that is grand and
beautiful. Her acting has revealed her as more a spirit than a
mind; as one who reaches conclusions instantly, by divination and
not by analysis; as a wonderful, complex creature of nerves and
impulses; wayward in fancy, strange and erratic, yet lovely with
simplicity; and always, at last--surviving every vicissitude--the
authentic image of goodness and truth. Not improbably the actress
believes that she has carefully and deftly reasoned her way to
every effect of inspiration that she produced in the mad scene of
Ophelia, in Margaret's ecstasy of love, and in Olivia's unspeakably
pathetic surrender; but such effects as those are not planned, they
happen; like some of Shakespeare's own happiest lines, they rise
out of 'Thought's interior sphere' (as Emerson calls it), and they
leap, full-statured, into an immortality of beauty. Her embodiments
of Beatrice and Portia were more the creatures of design, yet into
them also the unpremeditated allurement of her enchanting womanhood
found its way, and the wild heart of Beatrice evoked a tender
sympathy, and the moral grandeur of Portia--warmed with human
passion--entranced the feelings as much as it impressed the mind.
Portia, on the stage, had always been didactic and oratorical until
Miss Ellen Terry played the part, liberating all its piquant
sweetness, alluring loveliness, and passionate ardour; since which
time it has been acted as a lover, not as a preacher. More to her
than to any one else the stage of to-day owes the benefits accruing
from the growth of a natural style in acting--a style which yet
does not sacrifice the ideal, nor degrade poetry to the level of
prose. This style has been caught up and imitated in every
direction--a thing, however intrinsically desirable, that never
would have happened but for the magical achievement of her
personality, affecting actors no less than auditors, and making
her--to use a line from an old poet--'Mistress of Arts, and Hearts,
and Everything.' This view might be enforced by particular
examination of each of Miss Terry's representative embodiments, but
that process--which would require a volume--is impracticable here.
Her acting is, of course, irregular and uneven--the under-woods,
full of bramble-roses, not the trim garden, with its rows of tulips
and beds of moss, but it is all the more potent for that reason.
Her first performance in America (October 30, 1883) was that of
Queen Henrietta Maria, in Wills' beautiful play of 'Charles I.,'
and the dominion that she then established over the public mind in
this country has ever since remained unbroken. Her later visits to
America were made in 1884, 1886--when she came as a traveller, not
to act-1887, 1893, 1895, and 1899; and now, as these words are
written--in fervent admiration of rare genius consistently and
continually devoted to great subjects and the welfare of society as
affected by the arts--she is once more speeding to these shores,
where her presence will always be honoured and her memory always
cherished.--Faithfully yours,
"WILLIAM WINTER.
"NEW BRIGHTON,
STATEN ISLAND, NEW YORK,
_October 11, 1901_."
To this it is my great privilege to add a letter from that charming lady
who, coming to us from America, fascinated us all under her maiden name
of Mary Anderson.
"THE COURT FARM,
BROADWAY, WORCESTERSHIRE,
_September 11, 1901_.
"DEAR MR. PEMBERTON,--It is delightful to hear you are writing a
life of Ellen Terry. I congratulate you upon having such a subject
for your next book, and I congratulate her on having you to tell
her story, so replete with success--more, with triumph.
"My first meeting with her was about eighteen years ago; I had
come to England to act, and I was very young and retiring, and I
felt strange and very home sick. I went to the Lyceum one night
when Sir Henry Irving, then Mr. Irving, was acting in 'The
Merchant of Venice.' I thought the Lyceum, like most of the London
theatres, did not compare favourably with those of America, either
in size, decoration, or comfort; but when the curtain arose on
that performance, it was a revelation to me, not only in perfect
acting, but in showing me how a play could be staged. I had seen
photographs of Ellen Terry (none of which really do her justice),
but when she came upon the stage--floating rather than walking--I
was enslaved by her grace, her beauty, and her magnetic influence.
She seemed to me like a radiant creature from some other sphere;
but even she, like everything and everybody during those few weeks
in England, seemed far away and very strange. There was a knock at
the box door, and there stood the lovely lady herself, with her
graceful white hands held out in cordial welcome. Many and dear
were her phrases; and her good wishes for my success when I should
take possession of the stage upon which she was then acting, rang
true, and came from a really generous good will.
"In an instant I felt she had drawn aside that sad veil of
strangeness. She was indeed the ideal _sister_ artist. I mention
this act of hers as it illustrates the kind of kind acts she is
ever doing. Her heart is of gold. She has, on the stage as well as
off, a fascination for men; but she has more--a power of
enkindling real affection and enthusiasm in the hearts of women.
No woman has perhaps more loyal and devoted women friends, and
this, as far as character and disposition are concerned, is in my
estimation the longest and finest feather in her beautifully
plumed cap.
"Warm greetings to all your home circle from us both. Ever
sincerely yours,
"MARY ANDERSON DE NAVARRO."
Can I add anything to this? I think not. I know that in dealing with
books of this description conscientious censors sometimes say they are
replete with eulogy, and offer little or no criticism. If I extol Ellen
Terry I do so with a clear conscience and a full heart. I can never
forget the happy hours and enlightenment she has given me, and I believe
that all my fellow-playgoers will think that I have treated my subject
from the right point of view. Why should not our great geniuses of art
and literature know, whilst they are amongst us, that we appreciate
their work, and love them for the sweet lessons that they teach us?
Shakespeare, who never went amiss, caused his Hermione to say--
"Our praises are our wages."
Happily Ellen Terry is still in the full ripeness of her great and
constantly maturing gifts, and no thought of her retirement has yet
troubled the lovers and students of the stage. If, in the course of
years to come (and may they be far off), she deserts us for her dear
country cottages, we might well, in grand chorus, repeat those lovely
lines that occur in "Cymbeline"--and, in repeating them, recall the
bitter and trembling anxieties that, in order to give us pleasure, she
has undergone--
"Fear no more the heat o' the sun,
Nor the furious winter's rages;
Thou thy worldly task hast done,
Home art gone and ta'en thy wages."
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 1: Fechter did not discard that soliloquy, but expressed to
Lester Wallack, who mentioned it to William Winter, his opinion that the
omission of that passage would be advantageous to the movement of the
play; and he always spoke it as if it were prose.]
[Footnote 2: Here is another proof of a fact I have already emphasised,
_i.e._ Ellen Terry's invariable and sweet unselfishness.]
[Footnote 3: This was written for, and appeared in, an evening paper.]
INDEX
Actors, and first nights, 172;
fleeting fame of, 5;
generosity of, 159;
love to die in harness, 6;
nervousness of great, 39
Adams, Mr. Davenport, criticism by, 177
Alexander, George, at the Lyceum, 245
Anderson, Mary (Madame de Navarro), letter of, about Ellen Terry, 307
Archer, William, 290
Bancrofts, the, as managers, 146
Belford Benefit at the Lyceum, the, 232
Bernhardt, Sarah, on Irving and Ellen Terry, 288
Betterton, facts about, 23
Blanchard, Edward Leman, criticism of Ellen Terry by, 76
Booth, Edwin, at the Lyceum, 243
Bristol Stock Company, famous members of the, 59, 61
"Broken Hearts," the three Terry sisters in, 206
Buckstone, J. B., and E. A. Sothern, 75
Burbage, facts about, 23
Burne-Jones, Sir Edward, designer of the scenery of "King Arthur," 281;
on the "Amber Heart," 259
Byron, H. J., plays by, 154, 202, 212, 213
Calmour, Alfred C., history of his play, "The Amber Heart," 259;
letter from Ellen Terry to, 265
"Charles I.," the writing of the play, 227
Chute, Mr. J. H., theatrical company under, 59
"Cinderella," the origin of the tale of, 12
Circuit players in the olden days, 20
Clayton, John, in "A Household Fairy," 136
Coghlan, Charles, as Claude Melnotte, 150;
as Shylock, 143
Cole, John William, tribute by, 36
Coleman, John, a memory by, 20
Command performance of "The Bells," &c., 269
Compton, Edward, experiences of, 59;
plays in his father's benefit, 159
Compton, Henry, encourages Ellen Terry, 87;
benefit for, 153
Conway, H. B., at the Court Theatre, 156
Cook, Mr. Dutton, criticisms by, 32, 148, 161, 166, 220
Coquelin, criticisms of the Lyceum "Madame Sans-Gêne" by, 291;
on Ellen Terry, 288, 290
Craig, Gordon, 256, 270, 303
Craig, Miss Ailsa, 256, 272
De Rhona, Madame Albina, at the Royalty Theatre, 53
Dickens, Charles, admiration of, for Fechter, 106;
letter of, to Macready, 120, 127
Dramatists, hints to, 7;
what they have to aim at, 28
Duse, Signora, and Ellen Terry, 302
Farren, William, at the Haymarket, 87
Fechter, Charles, as Hamlet, 105;
facts about, 102;
leading lady of, 103
Filon, Augustin, criticism of Ellen Terry by, 286
First nights at the Lyceum, 219
Fitzgerald, Percy, criticisms by, 217, 225.
Garrick, David, idiosyncrasies of, 83
Gordon, Walter, facts about, 87
Hare, John, production of "Old Men and New Acres" by, 157;
production of "Olivia" by, 163;
production of "The House of Darnley" by, 163
Howe, Henry, a memory of, 85;
in "King Lear," 276
Irving, Laurence, plays by, 292
Irving, Sir Henry, adverse criticisms of, 212;
as Charles I., 226;
as Napoleon, 291;
as Shylock, 147, 229;
attracts the notice of Charles Dickens, 213;
criticism of his first night at the Lyceum, 220;
criticism of his Hamlet, 223;
engages Ellen Terry as leading lady, 217;
his first appearance, 209;
his first night as King Lear, 273-276;
his first success, 3;
in his great rôles, 212;
in "Werner," 257;
modesty of, 217;
never forgets old friends, 210;
on his rôle of Doricourt, 241;
popularity of, 214;
Sarah Bernhardt on, 288;
the good taste of, 216;
twenty-five years ago, 208
Kean, Charles, at the Princess's Theatre, 30, 40;
Ben Terry, assistant-manager to, 23;
early days of, 22;
latter days of, 48;
the mounting of his plays, 44;
three memories of, 46
Kean, Edmund, facts about, 22;
last act of, 47;
his appearance as Shylock, 46;
the end of his career, 47
Kean, Mrs., as stage-mistress to Ellen Terry, 40, 41
Kelly (Wardell), Charles, as an actor, 137;
as Benedick, 188;
death of, 256
Kemble, John Philip, facts about, 23
Kemble, Roger, facts about, 19
Kemble, Sarah, marriage of, 22
Kendal, Mrs., on her profession, 27
Kenney, Charles Lamb, benefit for, 161
Knight, Joseph, criticisms by, 147, 168, 201, 223
Lacy, Walter, in "If the Cap Fits," 43
Leathes, Edmund, facts about, 140
Litchfield, Mrs., as "The Captive," 239
Lyceum Company sail for New York, 251
Mackaye, Steele, as Hamlet, 194
Macklin, Charles, on Shylock, 144
M'Cullough, John, a meeting with, 84
Marston, Dr. Westland, views of, on spectacular revivals, 44, 48
Mathews, Frank, in "If the Cap Fits," 43
Molière, the death of, 193
Neville, Henry, as Farmer Allan, 114;
his company at the Olympic, 195;
supported by Kate Terry, 108
Olympic Theatre, famous cast at the, 109
Queen Victoria's acknowledgments to Irving and Ellen Terry, 270
Queen's Theatre, Longacre, the past of, 133
Reade, Charles, as a playwright, 134
Rignold, William, as Lord Dundreary, 73
Robertson, Forbes, as Lancelot, 283
Robertson, T. W., story of, 28
Rorke, Kate, Ellen Terry's opinion of, 265;
first appearance of, 170
Royal entertainments, bills of, 122-126
Ryder, John, as Hubert, 37
Scott, Clement, address written by, 233;
criticisms by, 21, 78, 100, 105, 168, 235, 242, 248, 284
Siddons, Henry, facts about, 22
Siddons, Sarah, facts about, 22, 23
Sothern, E. A., as Dundreary, 74;
in "The Crushed Tragedian," 203;
practical jokes of, 79-82;
story of, 39;
tribute to, 84
St. James' Theatre, cast under the management of Mr.
Alfred Wigan at, 98
Stage, the, according to Mrs. Kendal, 27;
fascination of, 1-8;
our first enthusiasm for, 10
Stoker, Bram, at the Lyceum, 224
Success, definition of, 49
Tawse, Mr. George, on Ellen Terry's first appearance, 32
Taylor, Tom, letter from, to Mr. Ben Terry, 129
Terriss, William, Ellen Terry and, 169
Terry, Ben, at the Princess's Theatre, 23;
career of, 18;
family of, the, 21;
pen-portrait of, 20
Terry, Daniel, a contemporary of Sir Walter Scott, 14, 15;
extracts from Scott's diary about, 16-18
Terry, Ellen, a queen of actresses, 11;
and Harley, 41;
and her son in "The Dead Heart," 270;
and Kate Terry at the Royal Colosseum, Regent's Park, 50;
and Macready, 41;
and Miss Geneviève Ward in "Becket," 278;
and Mrs. Kendal, 61;
and Oscar Byrn, 41;
appears at the Haymarket, 76;
as a pantomime fairy, 40;
as Cordelia, 272;
as Gertrude in "The Little Treasure," 76;
as Irving's Ophelia, 222;
as Juliet, 246;
as Lady Macbeth, 267;
as Lady Teazle, 162;
as Letitia Hardy, 241;
as Madame Sans-Gêne, 290;
as Mamillius, 37;
as Margaret in "Faust," 256;
as Nance Oldfield, 279;
as Olivia, 166;
as Philippa Chester, 139;
as Portia at the old Prince of Wales', 142,
at the Lyceum, 229-231;
as Prince Arthur, 40;
as Puck, 39;
as Viola, 255;
as Volumnia, 293;
at six years old, 31;
at the Court Theatre, 156;
at the Queen's Theatre, 132;
at the Royalty, 54;
Augustin Filon's tribute to, 286;
billed for the opening night of the New Theatre Royal, Bath, 70;
birth of, 21;
Christmas Day, experiences of, 25;
Clement Scott on her Beatrice, 248-250;
compares the work and pay of past and present actors, 45;
comparison between her and Sarah Bernhardt, 289;
Coquelin's opinion of, 288;
criticism of her Imogen, by Clement Scott, 284-286;
criticism of her Olivia, 167;
criticism of her Portia, 147-148;
dates of her earliest performances, 32;
Davenport Adams on Ellen Terry as Beatrice, 177-190;
earliest impression of Irving, 136;
early criticism of, 37;
experiences of, in the Bristol Stock Company, 60;
extract from her "Stray Memories," 42;
first appearance of, 30,
at the Lyceum, 220;
first performance with Sir Henry Irving, 135;
her criticism of Mrs. Kendal, 301;
her criticism of Signora Duse, 302;
her first success with Charles Kean, 22;
her rôles at the Court Theatre, 156;
her rôles at the Haymarket, 88;
her touring rôles in 1878, 175;
impression created by, in America, 303-307;
impressions of her earliest childhood, 24;
in "Charles I.," 226;
in "Cymbeline," 283;
in "Eugene Aram," 226;
in "A Household Fairy," 136;
in "Godefroi and Yolande," 292;
in "Henry VIII.," 271;
in "If the Cap Fits," 43;
in "Iolanthe," 234;
in "King Arthur," 281;
in "Masks and Faces," 153;
in "Money," 153;
in "Our American Cousin," 77-79;
in "Ours," 153;
in "Peter the Great," 292;
in "Ravenswood," 271;
in "Robespierre," 292;
in "Still Waters Run Deep," 145;
in "The Amber Heart," 261-263;
in the Bristol Stock Company, 57;
in "The Cup," 235;
in "The Lady of Lyons," 151;
Joseph Knight's tribute to, 147;
letter to Mr. Wills, 164;
life-long devotion to her art, 299;
lovableness of, 42;
marriage of, to Mr. Charles Wardell (Charles Kelly), 137;
marvellous powers as a child, 34-36;
Miss Geneviève Ward's tribute, 42;
on nervousness of, on first nights, 38;
audiences, 173;
on her rôle as Portia, 155;
on her Shakespearean triumphs, 190;
personal impressions made by, 296-303;
plays to Claude Melnotte, 150;
preparing for Lady Macbeth, 264;
programme of, in 1860, 51;
reappears in "The Wandering Heir," 138;
reminiscences by, 24. 299-303;
reminiscences of, by an actor in the Bristol Company, 61-69;
rendering of "The Captive" by, 239;
returns to star at Bristol, 73;
Sarah Bernhardt on, 288;
Shakespearean record of, 153;
still with us, 310;
time-honoured theatrical name, a, 13;
touring with her husband, 171;
tribute of, to Charles Reade, 140
Terry, Florence, as Little Nell, 193;
brief stage career of, 205-206;
death of, 206;
in "The Robust Invalid," 193
Terry, Fred, as Sebastian, 255
Terry, Kate, as Dora, 112;
as Fechter's leading lady, 103;
as Ophelia, 106;
at the Adelphi, 111;
at the St. James's, 98;
bids farewell to the stage as Juliet, 115;
demonstration provoked by, 116-118;
early criticism of, 37;
farewell speech on her retirement, 117;
first appearance of, 31;
in "Friends or Foes," 99;
in "Home for the Holidays," 52;
in "Hunted Down," 110;
in the Bristol Stock Company, 60;
marvellous powers as a child, 34-36;
play-bill with her name, under Charles Kean's management, 92-98;
plays with Henry Neville, 109;
reminiscences of, 66;
rôles played by her at the Olympic, 109;
the idol of playgoers, 101
Terry, Marion, as Gretchen, 201;
Clement Scott on, 195;
criticism of her Gretchen, 202;
first appearance of, in 1873, 194;
her rôles at the Olympic, 195;
in "Dan'l Druce, Blacksmith," 196;
in "Engaged," 197-200;
with Forbes Robertson, 205;
with George Alexander, 205;
with the Bancrofts, 204
Terry-Lewis, Miss Mabel, in "Ours," 119-120
"The Amber Heart," cast of, 261
Theatrical stock companies, 57
Toole, John L., in "Robert Macaire," 250
Tree, Beerbohm, in "The Amber Heart," 261
"Twelfth Night" at the Lyceum, 252
Vernon, W. H., on the Terry sisters, 73
Vezin, Hermann, as the Vicar of Wakefield, 164
Ward, Miss Geneviève, at the Lyceum, 278, 282;
tribute of, to Ellen Terry, 42
Willard, E. S., in "The Amber Heart," 261
Wills, W. G., as a playwright, 162;
Ellen Terry's affection for his plays, 164
Winter, William, letter of, about Ellen Terry, 303
Wyndham, Charles, acts with Ellen Terry at the Queen's Theatre, 134;
acts with Kate Terry at Manchester, 121
Wyndham, Robert, criticism of Henry Irving by, 211
Yates, Edmund, farce by, 43
THE END
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| Transcriber Notes: |
| |
| P.68. 'alchoholic' changed to 'alcoholic' in 'somewhat alcoholic'. |
| P.86' 'Ilseworth' changed to 'Isleworth' according to map referenced |
| of the area. |
| P.109. 'callid' changed to 'called' in 'called "L'Aieule."'. |
| P.268. 'beeing' changed to 'being' in 'being deeply interested'. |
| Fixed various punctuation. |
| Note: underscores to surround _italic text_, and = around |
| =bold text=. |
| |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
End of Project Gutenberg's Ellen Terry and Her Sisters, by T. Edgar Pemberton