MADGE LESSING
Madge Lessing had been on the stage a number of years before she
suddenly sprang full into the illuminating power of the limelight of
publicity as the principal part of the astonishing success of that
alluring beauty show, "Jack and the Beanstalk." At that time everybody
made the discovery that no one knew exactly who she was, and Miss
Lessing has succeeded even to this day in shrouding her early life in
mystery. This much is known,--that she ran away from home to go on the
stage. She came to the United States from London about 1890 and became a
chorus girl at Koster and Bial's in New York. She remained in that
humble position only a week, being promoted at one step to the title
role in the burlesque, "Belle Helene." Her next engagement was with the
Solomon Opera Company, and this was followed by her appearance in "The
Passing Show" and "The Whirl of the Town."
[Illustration: MADGE LESSING.]
As far as the casual theatre-goer was concerned, however, she did not
exist until the Klaw and Erlanger production of "Jack and the
Beanstalk." This extravaganza, like "1492," also the work of R. A.
Barnet, was first brought out by the First Corps of Cadets of Boston,
and it is still counted the greatest success that this brilliant troupe
of amateurs ever had. In the Cadet performances the principals and
chorus were all men, and naturally this order of things was changed when
the extravaganza passed over into the professional hands. Otherwise it
was given practically in its original form.
Mr. Barnet struck a veritable gold mine when he hit upon the idea of
dramatizing Mother Goose. "Jack" was his first ploughing of this field,
and although he has worked it often since, he has not yet succeeded in
getting from the old ground another crop so exactly suited to the
popular taste. Mr. Barnet undoubtedly got his general scheme from the
annual London pantomimes. His work was loosely constructed, and his
lines were not all of them of the kind that readily cross the
footlights. His wit, while wholly conventional, was also a trifle
involved. It did not sparkle. His situations, on the other hand, were
effective, and especially were they adaptable to expansion under the
gentle administration of a stage manager with an eye for light and color
and pleasing groupings. In the process of development the spectacular
qualities of "Jack and the Beanstalk" came prominently into the
foreground, while the literary qualities--a purely descriptive phrase,
which in this connection gracefully designates a condition without
stating a fact--were lost in the midst of the substitutions by players
with specialties. The stage wit of actors has one advantage over that of
writers of dialogue; it may not be analyzed, it may be utterly inane on
examination, but it does crackle for the moment. In fact, it exists only
because it crackles.
Thus "Jack and the Beanstalk" became in the course of its evolution the
conventional spectacular extravaganza of theatrical commerce, of which
Mr. Barnet was the sponsor rather than the creator. It was also, at the
time of its production, a marvellous exploitation of feminine
loveliness, and the especial gem of the great array was the bewildering
vision of physical perfection, Madge Lessing, in the principal boy's
part of Jack. No great amount of histrionic talent was demanded of her,
for her success depended, not so much on what she did as how she looked.
Madge Lessing then and there established herself as the exception that
proved the rule. I confess that I usually find the woman in tights a
decided disillusionment. Instead of making a subtle and seductive appeal
to the imagination, she is a prosaic fact; interesting, possibly, as an
anatomical study, she loses in a peculiar way the fascinations of the
feminine gender. When tights enter into the problem, there is a vast
difference between the womanly woman and the womanish woman. The first
is a rare and, I may also add, a pure delight. The second is merely an
embarrassment.
Miss Lessing belonged, in "Jack and the Beanstalk," to the class of
womanly women. She was as femininely alluring amid the bald disclosures
of unblushing fleshings as amid the tantalizing exasperations of
swishing draperies. Her beauty was exuberant, voluptuous,
pulse-stirring,--a laughing, happy face, crowned and encircled with
tangled masses of dark brown hair, which made her head almost too large,
to be sure, though size counted for little amid the ravishments of
sparkling eyes and kissable dimples that danced in and out on either
cheek.
Miss Lessing walked through this part of Jack--walking through was all
that was demanded of her--with a pretty unaffectedness that met all
requirements, and she sang with a voice of considerable sweetness, but
of no great power. Still, she has in a mild, inoffensive way some small
ability as an actress. This was shown in "A Dangerous Maid" and in "The
Rounders," which followed her engagement in that failure imported from
London, "Little Red Riding Hood," which was brought out in Boston just
before Christmas, 1899.
In "The Rounders" Miss Lessing succeeded Mabelle Gilman as Priscilla
during the run of that brisk vaudeville at the Columbia Theatre, Boston.
It is a thankless task, that of successorship which results inevitably
in direct comparisons, but Miss Lessing met the test surprisingly well.
Without Miss Gilman's strength of personality and less apparent art,
Miss Lessing indicated with unmistakable correctness the sentimental
atmosphere of prudish modesty, which represents Priscilla as a dramatic
character. With memories of "Jack and the Beanstalk"--they seem
inevitable where Miss Lessing is concerned--one was a little bewildered
at Priscilla's embarrassment in her ballet costume during the scene in
Thea's dressing-room. This bewilderment was due to Miss Lessing's
inability to impersonate. She is always Madge Lessing acting,--never
Madge Lessing identified with another and wholly different personality;
and at the sight of Madge Lessing embarrassed because she wore tights,
one had a right to be bewildered.
During the Spring of 1900 Miss Lessing also appeared in the title role
of "The Lady Slavey" when that musical farce was revived in Boston.