On the Way to Rome to Prepare Himself
for Holy Orders He Was Stricken
with Stage Fever.
It is an interesting coincidence that Eben Plympton, now playing a bishop
in "The Duel," should have been the unconscious means of keeping a young
man out of the priesthood. It was away back in the early days of the
Madison Square Theater, when "Esmeralda" was having its big run at that
little playhouse and Plympton, as the hero, was a matinee favorite.
In the audience one day was a youth with big gray eyes, which were riveted
in charmed attention on Plympton's every movement. The young man was with
his father, and was on his way from his home in Washington to Rome, to
attend there the school for acolytes, which was to pave the way for him to
become a priest. His tomblike cell had already been selected for his
occupancy, and, meantime, until the steamer sailed for Havre, the boy was
going to the theater every night in New York with his father. He went in
the afternoons, too, whenever there was a matinee.
"I wish the theaters were open in the morning," he said one day to his
father, who began to wonder whether his son had not mistaken his vocation.
After this they went to see "Esmeralda," and then the sixteen-year-old
youth issued his proclamation in these words:
"I have a vocation, but it is for the stage."
"Your vocation is the padded cell," replied his father tersely.
Trip to Rome Abandoned.
But they did not sail for Rome via Havre or any other way, but returned to
Washington, and here Wilton Lackaye--for it was he--by way of compromise,
began to study law. He gratified his theatrical cravings by joining an
amateur dramatic club, of which he was speedily elected president, and
which was known as the Lawrence Barrett Society.
Barrett himself was once induced to attend one of the performances, and he
asked the young president if he wanted to go on the stage. This was like
fire to gunpowder, and Mr. Barrett engaged him for utility work at twenty
dollars a week.
The season ran for thirty weeks, so that he received for this period six
hundred dollars. As he was obliged to buy his own costumes, and as they
cost him seven hundred and twenty dollars in all, he discovered that the
only way he could make money out of that company was to be discharged from
it. However, his mother helped him. His father hadn't spoken to his son
since he went on the stage.
After leaving the Barrett troupe, he went to New York to get another job.
As an excuse to visit the agents' offices several times a day he used to
write letters to himself in their care. As he was walking out with the
letters, he would stop when near the door, and inquire over his shoulder,
as though by an afterthought:
"Oh, by the way, have you anything for me to-day?"
He kept this up until the usual "Nothing," in the way of reply, was one
day changed to:
"I think there is."
This "find" took him to a stock company in Dayton, Ohio, and after that he
went from one company to another until he began to find solid footing at
last with Fanny Davenport as _Claudio_ in "Much Ado About Nothing." His
first big success was in the title role of "Paul Kauvar" with Rose
Coghlan.
Compliment for Brady.
His first part with Lawrence Barrett was one of _Paolo's_ friends in
"Francesca da Rimini," done at the Star Theater, New York--now pulled
down--in 1883. He was born in Virginia.
When he comes to play in "Les Miserables" this spring, and has so much to
do with the priest in the story, I wonder if he will think many times of
what might have been his career had he not gone to the theater so often
while waiting for that ship to sail, back there in his 'teens!
Apropos of the production of "Les Miserables," Lackaye was asked some
years ago if he had yet found a manager to bring it out for him.
"Bring it out?" he repeated. "I have yet to find one who can pronounce
it."
Which, now, in the sequel, is an implied compliment for William A. Brady.
At one stage of his career, Lackaye's chief claim to distinction was his
refusal, while a member of Daly's company, to accept a part to which Mr.
Daly had assigned him. The part was _Oliver_ in "As You Like It," given to
him after he had made a hit as _O'Donnell Don_ in "The Great Unknown."
It was the joking remark made at the time, that for the _Oliver_ Mr. Daly
offered him, Lackaye handed him a _Roland_ in the shape of his
resignation.