AMERICA IN ENGLAND:

A THEATRICAL RETROSPECT.

IEWING her admirable catholic taste and receptivity, it is getting

VIEW

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too much the custom nowadays to look upon America as the mere "telephone exchange"-to borrow Mr. Archer's expression— for the various centres of European thought. Side by side, however, with these characteristics must be placed an equally idiosyncratic trait, viz. the adventurous, unshackled spirit which abhors all suspicion of orthodoxy and conventionalism, and takes men and things only for what they are worth. Applying the subtle Promethean spark to outworn creeds, America proceeds forthwith to flood the Old World with live ideas in science, journalism, and commerce; while we, poor hidebound creatures, at first protest or sneer at the inundation, only to accept the inevitable at the finish.

Artistic America to-day may be compared to a vast crucible, into which Europe is steadily pouring all the motley elements of modern æsthetics. Among the workers greedily awaiting the outcome of the seething and the bubbling are several sturdy members of the "jellyfish school of imaginative literature," two of whom, more eager than the rest, have already attempted to foretell what form the new philosopher's stone is about to take. "Friendly playgoers," shout Messrs. W. D. Howells and Henry James in concert from the house-tops, "be of good cheer. The dying drama soon shall be resuscitated. Brace your nerves and bear with the creak to the machinery a little longer before many moons have set, the jarring will be silenced by the absolute negation of all technique. Let the snivellers take their last fond look of the poor old wellmade play'; its days are numbered. The drama of the future is to be a mere inconsequent prolongation of sketches,' snatched at random from our mistress Nature."

Who shall say? Perchance in the dim future the new ism which is to turn the theatrical world topsy-turvy will be heralded by the coming hither of some famous band of American actors. Ridiculous? Hark back, then, to the adventures of that brilliant

America in England: A Theatrical Retrospect. 83

coterie of English artists who took Paris by storm in 1827, and blew a blast on the trumpet of Romanticism that shook the tottering castles of the Classicists, and called the doughty Hugo at once to

arms.

To the kinship which was a fact before the Declaration of Independence, and has remained a sentiment, may be imputed the circumstance that the American suppliant for histrionic honours has never experienced the results of that insular prejudice which for so many years militated against a popular reception of the Continental actor in England. Needless to say, this consanguinity extended to the drama, which America, in the beginning, had derived from the mother-country. The first art in which the New World was able to make headway, it was also the first in which she was able to challenge comparison with Europe.

By way of preface to the unwritten history of American influence on English histrionism, it may not be inadvisable at the present juncture to take a sharp retrospective glance at the records of the past. Within three-quarters of a century from the period when the drama was first established in New York, a native actor, not unworthy of the premier honour, had betaken himself to the mother-country. This was none other than John Howard Payne, son of a New York schoolmaster, and known to fame as the author of "Home, Sweet Home." Fired by the notoriety obtained by Betty, "the young Roscius,” Payne had set himself as a lad to study for the stage, and made his début at the Park Theatre in his native city on February 24, 1807, as Young Norval in "Douglas." Douglas." After visiting Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, in all of which he appeared in a variety of characters with unequivocal success, Payne sailed for England about the middle of January, 1813. Inauspicious moment! Unhappy player! America at that very time was in the throes of war with Great Britain. True, the packet ship which bore our hero had a cartel, but, notwithstanding all that, Payne was arrested on his arrival in Liverpool, and left to languish for some little time in durance vile. On his release, Roscoe the historian very considerately gave him letters of introduction to Byron, Shelley, Coleridge, Campbell, and others; and, thanks to this kind office, he was enabled to make his debut, after considerable waiting, at Drury Lane. This event occurred June 14, 1813, when Payne was only twenty-two. Electing to make his bow in Young Norval, the youthful débutant consolidated the favourable impression he had made at the outset by an admirable death-scene, and succeeded in holding his slippery position in the theatre for a month. Remunerative engagements

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in many leading provincial towns followed. At Dublin he had as coadjutor in the tragic scene the famous Miss O'Neill, then his junior by a year. Finding the novelty of his acting beginning to pall, he said farewell to the boards, only to enter upon a new career as dramatic author. Fairly prolific as playwright and adapter, none of his pieces, save the bright little two-act comedy "Charles II.," appear to have survived their generation. But among the most noteworthy were the tragedy of "Brutus," associated with some of the finest acting of Edmund Kean, and an opera entitled "Clari, the Maid of Milan," in which (when performed at Covent Garden in 1823) the charming Marie Tree first sang "Home, Sweet Home,” and gained for the piece considerable popularity. Playwright and player, Howard Payne likewise figured in London for a brief period as theatrical manager. In that capacity he held the reins at Sadler's Wells during the year 1820.

The fortunes of Drury Lane had fallen very low in 1826. In June of that year the so-called National Theatre was taken, at an annual rental of £10,000, by one Bish, a lottery agent and speculator, who only retained possession for a week. Bish's forfeited deposit of £2,000 was handed over to the succeeding tenant, Mr. Stephen Price, who knew nothing of the science of theatrical management, and was very like the fly in amber. "The American Chesterfield," as Price was facetiously dubbed, is spoken of by all who knew him as a coarse-mannered man, whose conversation and conduct were vulgar and repulsive. Under his régime affairs at Drury Lane grew worse than ever. Four seasons after he had entered upon office the committee tried to eject him. But they had reckoned without their host: Price was a lawyer, and resisted to the bitter end. Tired, however, of litigation, he finally abdicated of his own free will. Considering the bad times, theatrically speaking, and the fact that the rent of the theatre amounted to £10,600 per annum, the committee came off very safe in getting all due to them save a sum of £2,000. Little wonder that Price became bankrupt in 1830.

The second American actor who appeared in England, and the first of any particular prominence, was James H. Hackett, the comedian. A noteworthy figure in the annals of American theatricals, Hackett was associated in his time with the management of several New York theatres, and officiated in that capacity at the Astor Place Opera House during the memorable Macready riots of 1848. Making his debut at Covent Garden in 1827 as Sylvester Daggerwood in the well-known farce, he incidentally introduced

some anecdotes illustrative of Yankee life, which, together with his imitations of popular actors, gained him a very favourable reception. With so much interest, indeed, was his remarkable imitation of Edmund Kean received, that he was invited, not long after, by Richard Jones, the celebrated light comedian, to play a scene of "Richard III." in the Kean manner on his benefit night at Covent Garden. Subsequently he performed the entire character in the same style with great acceptance at the Surrey, under Elliston.

Returning to London in November, 1832, Hackett appeared at Drury Lane in an alteration of Colman's comedy, "Who Wants a Guinea?" in which, on the actor's behalf, the role of Solomon Grundy was transmogrified for the nonce into that of Solomon Swop the Yankee. Apart from this, all the original situations in the piece were retained. This, the first delineation in England of the genus Yankee by a Transatlantic artist, was remarkably well received. Shortly afterwards Hackett displayed his pronounced versatility by appearing as Monsieur Tonson in the farce so called. During March, 1833, he re-appeared at Covent Garden as Colonel Nim-rod Wildfire in Bernard's "Kentuckian; or, a Trip to New York," once more amusing the town by his portrayal of Transatlantic eccentricities. In the May following he secured an engagement at the Haymarket, where he enhanced his reputation by producing "Rip Van Winkle," which had an extensive run. This, however, was not the first production in England of a play on Washington Irving's wellknown sketch; the old Adelphi enjoyed that honour. Hackett brought his engagement at the Haymarket to a close by appearing as Falstaff in the first part of "Henry IV." Among the few satisfactory exponents of the Fat Knight seen by the present century the American comedian had given his initial representation of the part just a year previously at Philadelphia, when Charles Kean figured as Hotspur.

Returning to England in 1839, Hackett appeared at Brighton early in September in a round of characters, and in the following month opened at the Adelphi in "Rip Van Winkle." T. D. Rice was performing there at the same time in his nigger opera of "Bone Squash Diablo." On transferring his services to Drury Lane early in 1840, Hackett repeated his former success as Falstaff in the first part of "Henry IV." There were, however, a few critical dissentients who accused the comedian of want of refinement; and to these he thought proper to make reply in a capital brochure, entitled "Falstaff: a Shakespearian Tract," which thoroughly evinced his sound knowledge of the poet.

With his English reputation now firmly established, Hackett returned to Covent Garden in the winter of 1845, appearing with his usual success as Falstaff and Rip Van Winkle. Before the close of

the year he played Monsieur Mallet at the Haymarket by Her Majesty's command, and greatly delighted the Royal party. noticing this performance, the Times said, "Mr. Hackett's Frenchman is carefully studied from nature, and is altogether unconventional. He abounds in little traits of startling reality, and it is from this quiet truthfulness that his effects are made, rather than the exaggerated absurdities which more commonly constitute a stage 'mounseer.'"

Voyaging to England once more in 1851, purely on a pleasure trip, Hackett was induced to accept a few engagements, the most notable of which occurred at the Haymarket in July, when he appeared as Falstaff in "The Merry Wives of Windsor" to a constant succession of good houses. An unrivalled actor of dialect parts, Hackett's fame rests principally on his vivid impersonation of Shakespeare's immortal comic creation. America has reason to feel proud of his English record.

Although neither by culture nor nationality an American actress, Madame Celeste may be reckoned the first artiste who lent support over here to the distinctively American drama. From the year 1831 onwards this charming woman gave impersonations of Indian life and character in such plays as "The Wept of the Wish-ton-Wish" and "The Indian Girl," unparalleled for their picturesque grace and fidelity to nature. Strange to say, however, her finest interpretation of this kind (Miami in "The Green Bushes "), unlike the others, owed its origin to the pen of an English dramatist.

In 1833 Henry Tuthill, an inferior representative of Hibernian. characters, had the audacity to come over and challenge the verdict of a Dublin audience-perhaps the most exacting in the world. The result was disastrous. Of about equal importance was the appearance of George Jones, the tragedian, in London, in a round of legitimate parts, about the year 1835. Beyond mentioning the fact that he was most successful in Hamlet and was actually sonnetised in the papers in connection with that impersonation, there is little need to dwell upon the work of the man who chose in later days to call himself Count Johannes, and laid himself open, by his eccentricities, to the barbed shafts of the caricaturist. What little impression he made was speedily obliterated by the superior genius of Edwin Forrest, who made his English debut at Drury Lane on the 16th of October, 1836, in the wisely chosen character of Spartacus in "The