Players of the Present

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1901 edition. Excerpt: ...in support of Minnie Maddern, and thereafter for two years he was a member of a stock company in St. Paul. In September, 1889, he played Carcassin in The Exiles at the Boston Theatre, and later in the same season he appeared as General Buckthorn in Charles Frohman's revival of Bronson Howard's Shenandoah. Thereafter, for a period of seven years, he appeared almost continuously in the farce-comedies of Charles H. Hoyt, playing three seasons in A Texas Steer and four in A Milk White Flag. In the latter piece the part of the man whom Napoleon resembled was written especially for Mr. Stanley, and in it he received universal praise. During the greater part of the two seasons of 1897-98 and 1898-99 he supported Charles Coghlan as Tipps in The Royal Box. In January, 1900, he created the character of Sugarman in Zangwill's Children of the Ghetto, and in the season of 1900-01 he played Dr. Chiselhurst in The Greatest Thing in the World in support of Mrs. Le Moyne. Some two years ago, writes Mr. Stanley, I thought I had quit the business. Nothing is so hard for the digestion; but I did not know what to do with myself, and so enlisted in the ranks again. Sara Stevens began her professional career as a member of the famous Wallack stock company. I was led to the stage, she says, by a strong inclination and natural bent, and by early association with the children of actors in Buffalo, New York, where I went to school. My playmates were Hetty Warren, a niece of William Warren, Boston's favorite comedian, and the children of Danford Marble, 'also nieces of Mr. Warren. My father, who was fond of the stage himself, gave his consent to my making it my profession, and he placed me under the instruction of Professor John Howe of...