Margaret Illington and Grace Elliston First Sought Thespian Fame Under
Cognomens Now Almost Forgotten.
Although widely divergent in their personal appearance and methods of
acting, Grace Elliston and Margaret Illington, the first two _Mice_ in
“The Lion and the Mouse,” have one thing in common—each, after appearing
on the stage under one name for some time, changed it for another.
Miss Elliston, it will be remembered, created _Shirley Rossmore_ in the
original production of the well-known Klein play last autumn, while Miss
Illington went to Chicago later on in the second company, and made a big
hit in the part when the piece was tried in London. To take the ladles
in this order then—
Along about the middle or early nineties, a New York critic, in noticing
the appearance at the Casino of Frank Daniels in “The Wizard of the
Nile,” wound up his comments with these two sentences: “There were
others that were clever—and one little beauty of a maid whose eyes
played havoc with the audience. Her name is Grace Rutter, and she will
be a star some day.”
Mansfield Recognized Talent.
This “little beauty of a maid” was only in the chorus, and although she
has not yet fulfilled the strict letter of this prophecy, she has come
pretty close to it, and is yet young. Born in Bluff City, Tennessee, she
became interested in amateur theatricals and in a small way made her
first professional appearance at the old Lyceum Theater, Memphis, in
“Boccaccio.”
The experience was fascinating, and an offer from a traveling company
tempted her beyond her strength, and she went on the road, finally
reaching New York as a member of “The Dazzler” company.
At a benefit performance of some sort she recited. Richard Mansfield
happened to be present, saw promise in her work, and engaged her as a
member of his Garrick Theater stock company, then in its first season at
this house, which Mr. Mansfield had just taken over from Edward Harrigan
and renamed. But as it happened, it was also his last season there, and
Miss Rutter’s only opportunity was to do _Dodo_ in a burlesque of
“Trilby” called “Thrilby.”
Hoyt & McKee, who succeeded Mansfield in the control of the Garrick,
gave Miss Rutter a small part in Hoyt’s farce, “A Day and a Night,”
which, in turn, secured for her an opening with Daniels, and in due
course she was added to the musical comedy forces at Daly’s, where she
was seen in “The Geisha,” “The Circus Girl,” and other London
importations.
Chose Another Ladder to Climb.
But although she might be progressing all this while so far as salary
was concerned, the ambitions in Miss Rutter’s heart were not being at
all satisfied, and in the spring of 1899 she resolved to begin at the
foot of the ladder again and mount up the dramatic rather than the light
musical rounds.
After some casting about and a period of hope deferred, the ambitious
young woman obtained a chance to appear with Daniel Frohman’s stock
company at the old Lyceum. There she made her début in “His Excellency
the Governor.” She decided, however, that the old name was against her,
associating her as it did with musical work, so she appeared on the
house bill as “Grace Elliston.” Perhaps her most notable work at the
Lyceum was in the charming, fantastic curtain-raiser, “The Shades of
Night.”
She remained with the Lyceum company for another season, and then, at
the Criterion, created the leading part in that short-lived
dramatization, “The Helmet of Navarre.” When this mistake was laid away
on the upper shelf, minus camphor balls, Miss Elliston passed to
_Bonita_ in a big Academy of Music revival of “Arizona.” Her
Shakespearian aspirations were realized in 1903–’04, when she became
_Olivia_ in Viola Allen’s offering of “Twelfth Night.”
Manager Named His Future Wife.
It was in 1900 that patrons of James K. Hackett, in “The Pride of
Jennico,” saw that the part of the gipsy girl was played with much fire
and dash by a very young actress who was set down on the program as
Maude Light. Investigation shows this to be the real name of a
stage-struck young woman from Bloomington, Illinois, who, after some
very modest attempts in Chicago, had come to Daniel Frohman with her
dramatic aspirations. She was placed in a minor rôle with the Hackett
company, to be speedily promoted to _Michel_, the gipsy aforesaid, the
second important female part in the play. And it wasn’t long before she
was sometimes doing that of the _Princess_ herself, whenever Bertha
Galland was out of the cast. Her change of name was made at the request
of Mr. Frohman. It seemed that the other women were all using stage
_noms_, so when the matter was laid before her Miss Light expressed her
perfect willingness to fall in line.
“But what shall I call myself?” she inquired.
“I’ll make you up a name,” replied Mr. Frohman, and forthwith took her
native State, Illinois, and her home town, Bloomington, and out of the
two formed “Illington,” prefixing “Margaret” for euphony.
From the Hackett play Miss Illington passed to the stock company at
Daly’s, still under Mr. Frohman’s management, appearing as the _Maid_ in
“Frocks and Frills,” a small part which she made stand out vividly, and
at the same theater she did _Fleur de Lys_ in “Notre Dame.”
Succeeded Miss Loftus.
E. H. Sothern’s troupe next claimed Miss Illington’s services, and she
took Cecilia Loftus’s place as leading woman when that actress fell ill
and was obliged to leave the stage for the hospital.
In the autumn of the same year (1903) Miss Illington created the leading
part in that distinguished failure, “A Japanese Nightingale,” but during
the brief run of the piece she assumed a part attended with more
success—that of the wife of her manager, Daniel Frohman. It was
announced then that she would leave the stage at the end of the
“Nightingale” engagement, but, as so often happens in such cases, the
bridegroom proposes and the bride elects to please herself. So the very
next spring we found her as _Henriette_ in the all-star cast of “The Two
Orphans.” And last season she filled the title rôle in “Mrs.
Leffingwell’s Boots.”
For the coming winter Miss Illington is to be entrusted with the most
important part that has yet fallen to her—that of the leading lady with
John Drew in Pinero’s new play, “His House in Order”—a rôle created in
London with great success by Irene Van Brugh, who made such a hit here a
few years ago with John Hare in “The Gay Lord Quex.”