_Flitting mention--(with much left out)_
Seems to me I ought acknowledge my debt to actors, singers, public
speakers, conventions, and the Stage in New York, my youthful days,
from 1835 onward--say to '60 or '61--and to plays and operas generally.
(Which nudges a pretty big disquisition: of course it should be all
elaborated and penetrated more deeply--but I will here give only some
flitting mentionings of my youth.) Seems to me now when I look back, the
Italian contralto Marietta Alboni (she is living yet, in Paris, 1891,
in good condition, good voice yet, considering) with the then prominent
histrions Booth, Edwin Forrest, and Fanny Kemble and the Italian singer
Bettini, have had the deepest and most lasting effect upon me. I should
like well if Madame Alboni and the old composer Verdi, (and Bettini the
tenor, if he is living) could know how much noble pleasure and happiness
they gave me, and how deeply I always remember them and thank them
to this day. For theatricals in literature and doubtless upon me
personally, including opera, have been of course serious factors. (The
experts and musicians of my present friends claim that the new Wagner
and his pieces belong far more truly to me, and I to them, likely. But
I was fed and bred under the Italian dispensation, and absorb'd it, and
doubtless show it.)
As a young fellow, when possible I always studied a play or libretto
quite carefully over, by myself, (sometimes twice through) before
seeing it on the stage; read it the day or two days before. Tried both
ways--not reading some beforehand; but I found I gain'd most by getting
that sort of mastery first, if the piece had depth. (Surface effects and
glitter were much less thought of, I am sure, those times.) There were
many fine old plays, neither tragedies nor comedies--the names of them
quite unknown to to-day's current audiences. "All is not Gold that
Glitters," in which Charlotte Cushman had a superbly enacted part, was
of that kind. C. C., who revel'd in them, was great in such pieces; I
think better than in the heavy popular rôles.
We had some fine music those days. We had the English opera of
"Cinderella" (with Henry Placide as the pompous old father, an
unsurpassable bit of comedy and music.) We had Bombastes Furioso.
Must have been in 1844 (or '5) I saw Charles Kean and Mrs. Kean (Ellen
Tree)--saw them in the Park in Shakspere's "King John." He, of course,
was the chief character. She play'd _Queen Constance._ Tom Hamblin was
_Faulconbridge,_ and probably the best ever on the stage. It was an
immense show-piece, too; lots of grand set scenes and fine armor-suits
and all kinds of appointments imported from London (where it had been
first render'd.) The large brass bands--the three or four hundred
"supes"--the interviews between the French and English armies--the
talk with _Hubert_ (and the hot irons) the delicious acting of _Prince
Arthur_ (Mrs. Richardson, I think)--and all the fine blare and court
pomp--I remember to this hour. The death-scene of the King in the
orchard of Swinstead Abbey, was very effective. Kean rush'd in,
gray-pale and yellow, and threw himself on a lounge in the open. His
pangs were horribly realistic. (He must have taken lessons in some
hospital.)
Fanny Kemble play'd to wonderful effect in such pieces as "Fazio, or the
Italian wife." The turning-point was jealousy. It was a rapid-running,
yet heavy-timber'd, tremendous wrenching, passionate play. Such old
pieces always seem'd to me built like an ancient ship of the line, solid
and lock'd from keel up--oak and metal and knots. One of the finest
characters was a great court lady, _Aldabella_, enacted by Mrs. Sharpe.
O how it all entranced us, and knock'd us about, as the scenes swept on
like a cyclone!
Saw Hackett at the old Park many times, and remember him well. His
renderings were first-rate in everything. He inaugurated the true "Rip
Van Winkle," and look'd and acted and dialogued it to perfection (he was
of Dutch breed, and brought up among old Holland descendants in Kings
and Queens counties, Long Island.) The play and the acting of it have
been adjusted to please popular audiences since; but there was in that
original performance certainly something of a far higher order, more
art, more reality, more resemblance, a bit of fine pathos, a lofty
_brogue_, beyond anything afterward.
One of my big treats was the rendering at the old Park of Shakspere's
"Tempest" in musical version. There was a very fine instrumental band,
not numerous, but with a capital leader. Mrs. Austin was the _Ariel_,
and Peter Richings the _Caliban_; both excellent. The drunken song of
the latter has probably been never equal'd. The perfect actor Clarke
(old Clarke) was _Prospero_.
Yes; there were in New York and Brooklyn some fine non-technical singing
performances, concerts, such as the Hutchinson band, three brothers, and
the sister, the red-cheek'd New England carnation, sweet Abby; sometimes
plaintive and balladic--sometimes anti-slavery, anti-calomel, and comic.
There were concerts by Templeton, Russell, Dempster, the old Alleghanian
band, and many others. Then we had lots of "negro minstrels," with
capital character songs and voices. I often saw Rice the original "Jim
Crow" at the old Park Theatre filling up the gap in some short bill--and
the wild chants and dances were admirable--probably ahead of anything
since. Every theatre had some superior voice, and it was common to
give a favorite song between the acts. "The Sea" at the bijou Olympic,
(Broadway near Grand,) was always welcome from a little Englishman named
Edwin, a good balladist. At the Bowery the loves of "Sweet William,"
"When on the Downs the fleet was moor'd,"
always bro't an encore, and sometimes a treble.
I remember Jenny Lind and heard her (1850 I think) several times.
She had the most brilliant, captivating, popular musical style and
expression of any one known; (the canary, and several other sweet
birds are wondrous fine--but there is something in song that goes
deeper--isn't there?)
The great "Egyptian Collection" was well up in Broadway, and I got quite
acquainted with Dr. Abbott, the proprietor--paid many visits there, and
had long talks with him, in connection with my readings of many books
and reports on Egypt--its antiquities, history, and how things and the
scenes really look, and what the old relics stand for, as near as we can
now get. (Dr. A. was an Englishman of say 54--had been settled in
Cairo as physician for 25 years, and all that time was collecting these
relics, and sparing no time or money seeking and getting them. By advice
and for a change of base for himself, he brought the collection to
America. But the whole enterprise was a fearful disappointment, in the
pay and commercial part.) As said, I went to the Egyptian Museum many
many times; sometimes had it all to myself--delved at the formidable
catalogue--and on several occasions had the invaluable personal talk,
correction, illustration and guidance of Dr. A. himself. He was very
kind and helpful to me in those studies and examinations; once, by
appointment, he appear'd in full and exact Turkish (Cairo) costume,
which long usage there had made habitual to him.
One of the choice places of New York to me then was the "Phrenological
Cabinet" of Fowler & Wells, Nassau street near Beekman. Here were all
the busts, examples, curios and books of that study obtainable. I went
there often, and once for myself had a very elaborate and leisurely
examination and "chart of bumps" written out (I have it yet,) by Nelson
Fowler (or was it Sizer?) there.
And who remembers the renown'd New York "Tabernacle" of those days
"before the war"? It was on the east side of Broadway, near Pearl
street--was a great turtle-shaped hall, and you had to walk back from
the street entrance thro' a long wide corridor to get to it--was very
strong--had an immense gallery--altogether held three or four thousand
people. Here the huge annual conventions of the windy and cyclonic
"reformatory societies" of those times were held--especially the
tumultuous Anti-Slavery ones. I remember hearing Wendell Phillips,
Emerson, Cassius Clay, John P. Hale, Beecher, Fred Douglas, the
Burleighs, Garrison, and others. Sometimes the Hutchinsons would
sing--very fine. Sometimes there were angry rows. A chap named Isaiah
Rhynders, a fierce politician of those days, with a band of robust
supporters, would attempt to contradict the speakers and break up
the meetings. But the Anti-Slavery, and Quaker, and Temperance, and
Missionary and other conventicles and speakers were tough, tough, and
always maintained their ground, and carried out their programs fully.
I went frequently to these meetings, May after May--learn'd much from
them--was sure to be on hand when J. P. Hale or Cash Clay made speeches.
There were also the smaller and handsome halls of the Historical and
Athensum Societies up on Broadway. I very well remember W.C. Bryant
lecturing on Homoeopathy in one of them, and attending two or three
addresses by R.W. Emerson in the other.
There was a series of plays and dramatic _genre_ characters by a
gentleman bill'd as Ranger--very fine, better than merely technical,
full of exquisite shades, like the light touches of the violin in the
hands of a master. There was the actor Anderson, who brought us Gerald
Griffin's "Gysippus," and play'd it to admiration. Among the actors of
those times I recall: Cooper, Wallack, Tom Hamblin, Adams (several), Old
Gates, Scott, Wm. Sefton, John Sefton, Geo. Jones, Mitchell, Seguin,
Old Clarke, Richings, Fisher, H. Placide, T. Placide, Thorne, Ingersoll,
Gale (Mazeppa) Edwin, Horncastle. Some of the women hastily remember'd
were: Mrs. Vernon, Mrs. Pritchard, Mrs. McClure, Mary Taylor, Clara
Fisher, Mrs. Richardson, Mrs. Flynn. Then the singers, English, Italian
and other: Mrs. Wood, Mrs. Seguin, Mrs. Austin, Grisi, La Grange,
Steffanone, Bosio, Truffi, Parodi, Vestvali, Bertucca, Jenny Lind,
Gazzaniga, Laborde. And the opera men: Bettini, Badiali, Marini, Mario,
Brignoli, Amodio, Beneventano, and many, many others whose names I do
not at this moment recall.
In another paper I have described the elder Booth, and the Bowery
Theatre of those times. Afterward there was the Chatham. The elder
Thorne, Mrs. Thorne, William and John Sefton, Kirby, Brougham, and
sometimes Edwin Forrest himself play'd there. I remember them all, and
many more, and especially the fine theatre on Broadway near Pearl, in
1855 and '6.
There were very good circus performances, or horsemanship, in New York
and Brooklyn. Every winter in the first-named city, a regular place
in the Bowery, nearly opposite the old theatre; fine animals and fine
riding, which I often witness'd. (Remember seeing near here, a young,
fierce, splendid lion, presented by an African Barbary Sultan to
President Andrew Jackson. The gift comprised also a lot of jewels, a
fine steel sword, and an Arab stallion; and the lion was made over to a
show-man.)
If it is worth while I might add that there was a small but
well-appointed amateur-theatre up Broadway, with the usual stage,
orchestra, pit, boxes, &c., and that I was myself a member for some
time, and acted parts in it several times--"second parts" as they were
call'd. Perhaps it too was a lesson, or help'd that way; at any rate it
was full of fun and enjoyment.
And so let us turn off the gas. Out in the brilliancy of the
foot-lights--filling the attention of perhaps a crowded audience, and
making many a breath and pulse swell and rise--O so much passion and
imparted life!--over and over again, the season through--walking,
gesticulating, singing, reciting his or her part--But then sooner or
later inevitably wending to the flies or exit door--vanishing to sight
and ear--and never materializing on this earth's stage again!