Page:Once a Clown, Always a Clown.djvu/94

ONCE A CLOWN, ALWAYS A CLOWN can sob that horse did. McCaull led him away and two weeks later, curried and clipped, his coat shining, his head high and his tail a plume, that stallion proudly stepped through Fairmount Park, McCaull and I riding behind him. When we were well into the park the colonel tossed the reins on to the animal's back and drove him the rest of the way by the sound of his voice and the gentlest touch of a whip.

I left McCaull in 1890 to star for the first time in "Castles in the Air" by Gus Kerker, who later wrote "The Belle of New York", a pioneer among musical comedies. Locke and Davis, who were managing the enterprise, also owned the Emma Juch Grand Opera Company, and although we played to good business, all our profits went to keeping the Juch company going. Lacking a reserve fund, one losing week in Cincinnati broke our company. Delia Fox, then an unknown from St. Louis, was soubrette in the troupe. I saw an opportunity to take over the company for one dollar and assumption of the liabilities, and told the members of the company that if they would refuse to open in Chicago until they were paid for the Cincinnati engagement I would manage. This was largely bravado on my part. I lacked the money to