AN ACTOR.
During the summer and fall of 1872, I received numerous letters from Ned
Buntline, urging me to come East and go upon the stage to represent my
own character. "There's money in it," he wrote, "and you will prove a big
card, as your character is a novelty on the stage."
At times I almost determined to make the venture; but the recollection of
that night when I stood on the stage of the Bowery Theatre and was unable
to utter a word above a whisper, would cause me to stop and think and
become irresolute. I feared that I would be a total failure, and wrote
Buntline to that effect. But he insisted that I would soon get over all
that embarrassment, and become accustomed to the stage, so that I would
think no more of appearing before five thousand people than I would
before half a dozen. He proposed to organize a good company, and wished
me to meet him in Chicago, where the opening performance would be given.
I remained undecided as to what I ought to do. The officers at the fort
as well as my family and friends to whom I had mentioned the matter,
laughed at the idea of my ever becoming an actor. That I, an old scout
who had never seen more than twenty or thirty theatrical performances in
my life, should think of going upon the stage, was ridiculous in the
extreme--so they all said.
A few days after my election to the legislature a happy event occurred in
my family circle, in the birth of a daughter whom we named Ora; about the
same time I received another letter from Buntline, in which he requested
me to appear on the stage for a few months as an experiment; and he said
that if I made a failure or did not like the business, I could easily
return to my old life.
My two sisters who had been living with us had married,--Nellie, to A.
C. Jester, a cattle man, and May, to Ed. Bradford, a railroad
engineer--and consequently left us; and my wife had been wishing for a
long time to visit her parents in St. Louis. Taking these and other
things into consideration I finally resolved to resign my seat in the
legislature and try my luck behind the footlights. I informed General
Reynolds of my determination, telling him at the same time that at the
end of the month, November, I would resign my position under him. The
General regretted to hear this, and advised me not to take the step, for
I was leaving a comfortable little home, where I was sure of making a
good living for my family; while, on the other hand, I was embarking
upon a sea of uncertainty. Having once made up my mind, however, nothing
could change it.
While I was selling my horses and other effects, preparatory to leaving
the fort, one of my brother scouts, Texas Jack, said that he would like
to accompany me. Now as Jack had also appeared as the hero in one of
Ned Buntline's stories, I thought that he would make as good a "star"
as myself, and it was accordingly arranged that Jack should go with me.
On our way East we stopped in Omaha a day or two to visit General Augur
and other officers, and also the gentlemen who were out on the Judge
Dundy hunt. Judge Dundy and his friends gave a dinner party in my honor
at the leading restaurant and entertained me very handsomely during my
stay in the city.
At Omaha I parted with my family, who went to St. Louis, while Jack and
myself proceeded to Chicago. Ned Buntline and Mr. Milligan, having been
apprised of our coming by a telegram, met us at the dépôt. Mr. Milligan
accompanied us to the Sherman House, where he had made arrangements for
us to be his guests while we remained in the city. I didn't see much of
Buntline that evening, as he hurried off to deliver a temperance lecture
in one of the public halls. The next day we met him by appointment, and
the first thing he said, was:
"Boys, are you ready for business?"
"I can't answer that," replied I, "for we don't know what we are
going to do."
"It's all arranged," said he, "and you'll have no trouble whatever. Come
with me. We'll go and see Nixon, manager of the Amphitheatre. That's the
place where we are to play. We'll open there next Monday night." Jack and
myself accordingly accompanied him to manager Nixon's office without
saying a word, as we didn't know what to say.
"Here we are, Mr. Nixon," said Buntline; "here are the stars for you.
Here are the boys; and they are a fine pair to draw too. Now, Nixon, I am
prepared for business."
Nixon and Buntline had evidently had a talk about the terms of our
engagement. Buntline, it seems, was to furnish the company, the drama,
and the pictorial printing, and was to receive sixty per cent. of the
gross receipts for his share; while Nixon was to furnish the theater, the
_attachés_, the orchestra, and the local printing; and receive forty per
cent. of the gross receipts.
"I am ready for you, Buntline. Have you got your company yet?"
asked Nixon.
"No, sir; but there are plenty of idle theatrical people in town, and I
can raise a company in two hours," was his reply.
"You haven't much time to spare, if you open on Monday night," said
Nixon. "If you will allow me to look at your drama, to see what kind of
people you want, I'll assist you in organizing your company."
"I have not yet written the drama," said Buntline.
"What the deuce do you mean? This is Wednesday, and you propose to open
on next Monday night. The idea is ridiculous. Here you are at this late
hour without a company and without a drama. This will never do, Buntline.
I shall have to break my contract with you, for you can't possibly write
a drama, cast it, and rehearse it properly for Monday night. Furthermore,
you have no pictorial printing as yet. These two gentlemen, whom you have
with you, have never been on the stage, and they certainly must have time
to study their parts. It is preposterous to think of opening on Monday
night, and I'll cancel the engagement."
This little speech was delivered in rather an excited manner by Mr.
Nixon. Buntline said that he would write the drama that day and also
select his company and have them at the theater for rehearsal next
morning. Nixon laughed at him, and said that there was no use of trying
to undertake anything of the kind in so short a time--it was utterly
impossible to do it. Buntline, whose ire was rising, said to Nixon:
"What rent will you ask for your theater for next week?"
"Six hundred dollars," was the reply.
"Well, sir, I'll take your theater for next week at that price, and here
is half of the amount in advance," said Buntline, as he threw down three
hundred dollars on the stand.
Nixon took the money, gave a receipt for it, and had nothing more to say.
"Now, come with me boys," said Buntline; and away we went to the hotel.
Buntline immediately obtained a supply of pens, ink and paper, and then
engaged all the hotel clerks as penmen. In less than an hour after he had
rented the theater, he was dashing off page after page of his proposed
drama--the work being done in his room at the hotel. He then set his
clerks at copying for him, and at the end of four hours, he jumped up
from the table, and enthusiastically shouted:
"Hurrah for 'The Scouts of the Plains!' That's the name of the play. The
work is done. Hurrah!"
The parts were then all copied off separately by the clerks, and handing
us our respective portions Buntline said:
"Now, boys, go to work, and do your level best to have this dead-letter
perfect for the rehearsal, which takes place to-morrow morning at ten
o'clock, prompt. I want to show Nixon that we'll be ready on time."
[Illustration: STUDYING THE PARTS.]
I looked at my part and then at Jack; and Jack looked at his part and
then at me. Then we looked at each other, and then at Buntline. We did
not know what to make of the man.
"How long will it take you to commit your part to memory, Bill?"
asked Jack.
"About six months, as near as I can calculate. How long will it take
you?" answered I.
"It will take me about that length of time to learn the first line," said
Jack. Nevertheless we went to our room and commenced studying. I thought
it was the hardest work I had ever done.
"This is dry business," finally remarked Jack.
"That's just what it is," I answered; "jerk the bell, Jack." The bell-boy
soon appeared. We ordered refreshments; after partaking thereof we
resumed our task. We studied hard for an hour or two, but finally gave it
up as a bad job, although we had succeeded in committing a small portion
to memory. Buntline now came into the room and said:
"Boys, how are you getting along?"
"I guess we'll have to go back on this studying business as it isn't our
_forte_" said I.
"Don't weaken now, Bill; you'll come out on the top of the heap yet. Let
me hear you recite your part," said Buntline. I began "spouting" what I
had learned, but was interrupted by Buntline:
"Tut! tut! you're not saying it right. You must stop at the cue."
"Cue! What the mischief do you mean by the cue? I never saw any cue
except in a billiard room," said I. Buntline thereupon explained it to
me, as well as to Jack, who was ignorant as myself concerning the
"cue" business.
"Jack, I think we had better back out and go to hunting again," said I.
"See here, boys; it won't do to go back on me at this stage of the game.
Stick to it, and it may be the turning point in your lives and lead you
on to fortune and to fame."
"A fortune is what we are after, and we'll at least give the wheel a turn
or two and see what luck we have," said I. This satisfied Buntline, but
we didn't study any more after he left us. The next morning we appeared
at rehearsal and were introduced to the company. The first rehearsal was
hardly a success; and the succeeding ones were not much better. The stage
manager did his best to teach Jack and myself what to do, but when Monday
night came we didn't know much more about it than when we began.
The clock struck seven, and then we put on our buckskin suits, which were
the costumes we were to appear in. The theater was being rapidly filled,
and it was evident that we were going to make our _début_ before a packed
house. As the minutes passed by, Jack and I became more and more nervous.
We occasionally looked through the holes in the curtain, and saw that the
people were continuing to crowd into the theatre; our nervousness
increased to an uncomfortable degree.
When, at length the curtain arose, our courage had returned, so that we
thought we could face the immense crowd; yet when the time came for us
to go on, we were rather slow in making our appearance. As we stepped
forth we were received with a storm of applause, which we acknowledged
with a bow.
[Illustration: BEHIND THE FOOTLIGHTS.]
Buntline, who was taking the part of "Cale Durg," appeared, and gave me
the "cue" to speak "my little piece," but for the life of me I could not
remember a single word. Buntline saw I was "stuck," and a happy thought
occurred to him. He said--as if it were in the play:
"Where have you been, Bill? What has kept you so long?"
Just then my eye happened to fall on Mr. Milligan, who was surrounded by
his friends, the newspaper reporters, and several military officers, all
of whom had heard of his hunt and "Indian fight"--he being a very popular
man, and widely known in Chicago. So I said:
"I have been out on a hunt with Milligan."
This proved to be a big hit. The audience cheered and applauded; which
gave me greater confidence in my ability to get through the performance
all right. Buntline, who is a very versatile man, saw that it would be a
good plan to follow this up, and he said:
"Well, Bill, tell us all about the hunt."
I thereupon proceeded to relate in detail the particulars of the affair.
I succeeded in making it rather funny, and I was frequently interrupted
by rounds of applause. Whenever I began to "weaken," Buntline would give
me a fresh start, by asking some question. In this way I took up fifteen
minutes, without once speaking a word of my part; nor did I speak a word
of it during the whole evening. The prompter, who was standing between
the wings, attempted to prompt me, but it did no good; for while I was on
the stage I "chipped in" anything I thought of.
"The Scouts of the Plains" was an Indian drama, of course; and there were
between forty and fifty "supers" dressed as Indians. In the fight with
them, Jack and I were at home. We blazed away at each other with blank
cartridges; and when the scene ended in a hand-to-hand encounter--a
general knock-down and drag-out--the way Jack and I killed Indians was "a
caution." We would kill them all off in one act, but they would come up
again ready for business in the next. Finally the curtain dropped; the
play was ended; and I congratulated Jack and myself on having made such a
brilliant and-successful _début_. There was no backing out after that.
The next morning there appeared in the Chicago papers some very funny
criticisms on our first performance. The papers gave us a better send-off
than I expected, for they did not criticise us as actors. The _Chicago
Times_ said that if Buntline had actually spent four hours in writing
that play, it was difficult for any one to see what he had been doing all
the time. Buntline, as "Cale Durg," was killed in the second act, after a
long temperance speech; and the _Inter-Ocean_ said that it was to be
regretted that he had not been killed in the first act. The company,
however, was very good, and Mdlle. Morlacchi, as "Pale Dove,"
particularly fine; while Miss Cafarno "spouted" a poem of some seven
hundred and three verses, more or less, of which the reader will be glad
to know that I only recall the words "I was born in March."
Our engagement proved a decided success financially, if not artistically.
Nixon was greatly surprised at the result, and at the end of the week he
induced Buntline to take him in as a partner in the company.
The next week we played at DeBar's Opera House, in St. Louis, doing an
immense business. The following week we were at Cincinnati, where the
theater was so crowded every night that hundreds were unable to obtain
admission. We met with equal success all over the country. Theatrical
managers, upon hearing of this new and novel combination; which was
drawing such tremendous houses, were all anxious to secure us; and we
received offers of engagements at all the leading theaters. We played
one week at the Boston Theater, and the gross receipts amounted to
$16,200. We also appeared at Niblo's Garden, New York, the theater being
crowded to its utmost capacity every night of the engagement. At the Arch
Street Theater, Philadelphia, it was the same way. There was not a single
city where we did not have crowded houses.
We closed our tour on the 16th of June, 1873, at Port Jervis, New York,
and when I counted up my share of the profits I found that I was only
about $6,000 ahead. I was somewhat disappointed, for, judging from our
large business, I certainly had expected a greater sum.
Texas Jack and myself longed for a hunt on the Western prairies once
more; and on meeting in New York a party of gentlemen who were desirous
of going with us, we all started Westward, and after a pleasant trip
arrived at Fort McPherson.