In this, as in other plays, he used to make his entrance in the _skin_
of the part. No need for him to rattle a ladder at the side to get up
excitement and illusion, as another actor is said to have done. He
walked on and was the simple-minded old clergyman, just as he had
walked on a prince in "Hamlet" and a king in "Charles I."
A very handsome woman, descended from Mrs. Siddons and looking exactly
like her, played the Gipsy in "Olivia." The likeness was of no use,
because the possessor of it had no talent. What a pity!
_"Olivia" a Family Play_
"Olivia" has always been a family play. Edy and Ted walked on the
stage for the first time in the Court "Olivia." In later years Ted
played Moses, and Edy made her first appearance in a speaking part as
Polly Flamborough, and has since played both Sophia and the Gipsy. My
brother Charlie's little girl, Beatrice, made her first appearance as
Bill, a part which her sister Minnie had already played; my sister
Floss played Olivia on a provincial tour, and my sister Marion played
it at the Lyceum when I was ill.
I saw Floss in the part, and took from her a lovely and sincere bit of
"business." In the third act, where the Vicar has found his erring
daughter and has come to take her away from the inn, I always
hesitated at my entrance, as if I were not quite sure what reception
my father would give me after what had happened. Floss, in the same
situation, came running in and went straight to her father, quite sure
of his love, if not of his forgiveness.
I did _not_ take some business which Marion did on Terriss'
suggestion. Where Thornhill tells Olivia that she is not his wife, I
used to thrust him away with both hands as I said "Devil!"
"It's very good, Nell, very fine," said Terriss to me, "but, believe
me, you miss a great effect there. You play it grandly, of course, but
at that moment you miss it. As you say 'Devil!' you ought to strike me
full in the face."
"Oh, don't be silly, Terriss," I said. "Olivia is not a pugilist."
Of course I saw, apart from what was dramatically fit, what would
happen!
However, Marion, very young, very earnest, very dutiful, anxious to
please Terriss, listened eagerly to the suggestion during an
understudy rehearsal.
[Illustration: _Copyrighted by Window & Grove_