Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 06.djvu/510

* DRAMA. 442 DRAHA. Edmund Kean visited thi-i country and played in New York and Philadelphia. Ten years later tame his son Charles. The -rreat and erratic Junius Brutus IJooth first appeared in the I'nit- ed .States in 1821; he came aj»ain in 1S3;5. Macreadv made his first visit in 1820. Clara Fisher came in 1827. The season of 1832-3.3 brought over Charles and Faiuiy Kemhie. who en- joyed an immense popularity. Meanwhile the elder Kean was hardly gone alter his second visit when Kdwin Forrest api)eared in New York in the Shakespearean jiart of Othello (182ti). Forrest is held in memory by many as the greatest of American tragedians. While doubtless at his best in 8hakes|)oarean tragedy, he was always in- tensely American in feeling, and undertook to in- fuse the native idea into his work, .lohn A. Stone's Jtetamoni was written for him, as was also R. X. Bird's tragedy of 7"/i»' lllnilidlor. One of the most popular of Forrest's contemporaries was the comedian .Tames H. Hackett. who be- came famous as FalstalT and in 'Yankee' rOles. John Gill)ert made liis debut in Boston in 1828, and later ripened into one of the most accom- plished actors of 'old man' ])arts on any stage. William E. Burton came to this country in 183-1. Charles Burke, one of the finest of .Xmerican comedians, began his short career in 1830. He was a half-brother of the present .loseph -JelVer- son. who about the same time made his appear- ance as a boy upon the stage, and has more than realized the promise of his theatrical ancestry. Already Charlotte Cushman. celebrated as the greatest of American actresses, had begun to show her power. In 1838 Mary Cecilia Taj-- lor made her diMnit. and soon became a popu- lar favorite, a clever and versatile though not a great actress. Still the stage wa,s largely de- pendent on English materials when .Tobn Brough- am came over in 1842. He was the first author to put life into the playbills, besides being one of the best cpmedians of the day. and. though he was born an Irisliman. his work was essentially American, especially his inimitable burlesques. Pocahontas and Columbus. In 184.5 the elder John Prew appeared in this country, ileanwhile Anna Cora ilowatt was becoming the reigning favorite in genteel comedy and light tragedy, and in 1848 she appeared in England with E. L. Davenport, wlio had already at home made a reputation as a versatile actor. During the second half of the century just passed, the annals of the American stage ofTer a long list of names worthy of respect as those of gifted and admirably trained artists. In tragedv it is necessary only to recall Edwin Forrest, who still played "till after 1870: John McCuUough. best remembered for his manly impersonation of Virginius: Edwin Booth and Uawreiice Barrett, two of the most scholarly of .merican actors : and at the present time. Kichard Mansfield, who is. however, not only a tragedian, but a successful actor in other branches of the regtilar drama. In legitimate comedy, .Tohn Gilbert and .Joseph Jef- ferson led the wav. and were followed bv Ix>ster Wallack. E. A. Sothem, William David'ge, Wil- liam .1. Florence. James Lewis. .Tohn T. Ray- mond. Sol .Smith Russell. .Tohn Drew, and X. C. Goodwin. In lighter comedy and farce, some of the names sugueslin^ theniselves are those of Edward Ilarrigan. William It. Crane, Neil Bur- gess, Henry E. Dixey. and Francis Wilson. Of the talented and accomplished women who have graced the stage, Charlotte Cushman was still the foremost a half-century ago. Anjong the others most noted have been Mrs. Anne Gilbert, who at her eightieth birthday (in 1901) was still jjlaying: Elizabeth Crocker Bowers, Maggie Mitchell, ilatilda Heron, Laura Kecne, 'Lotta' Crabtree, Rose Coghlan, Clara .Morris, Fanny Davenport. Mary Anderson. .da Hchan. Minnie Maddern Fiske. Annie Russell, .lulia Marlowe, Mrs. Leslie Carter, and ilaude Adams. A con- tinually increasing number of well-known for- eign actors and actresses have made American tours; some of them, like Madame Janauschek and the late Dion Boucicault, the plapvright, have remained in this country. The list of American dramatists not already referred to includes David Paul Brown. George H. Boker. Epes Sargent. Henry Guy Carleton, Bronson Howard. Bartley Campbell, H. C. De Mille, David Belasco, and Clyde Fitch, besides nu- merous other well-known literary people who have tried their hand at dramatic composition. A pliase of dramatic production which has been noted in recent years is the increasing number of dramatizations of popular novels, not to men- tion the banistorming I'nclc Tom's Cabin com- panies which have been on the boards for more tlian a generation. .ludgtid l>y popularity, many of the most successful productions of late years have been those of the lighter order, .such as the iil)roarious farces of Charles H. Hoyt and some of Edward Ilarrigan's portrayals of low life. From many of these it is not a long step to that curious and often un<(msciously Oriental mixture of vaudeville and ilrama. the 'contiinious' per- fonnance. Probably nothing else the .merican stage has seen, however, is so truly a product of the soil and so thoroughly national as Denman Thompson's Old Honicstaid and similar plays. From a literary imint of view these dramas of country life are seriously defective: hut their genial humor and simple fidelity to nature have charmed both the general public and the most scholarly of critics. .Some of the other most suc- cessful i)hiywrights and adapters have been prac- tical managers of theatres, like Wallack. Daly, and Bela-co. To the late .ugustin Daly, both as autlior anil as manager, the .merican stage owes no small debt. His was the maintenance and training of a company that could, without fear of contradiction. 1m' ranked with the best of the subsidized companies of Europe. Never before had our country felt and understood the possi- bilities of dramatic art as since Mr. Daly in his Shakespearean revivals revealed them. The ab- sunl 'star' system, by which one great actor or actress was expected to atone for the shortcom- injis of a supporting company of incapables. re- ceived through hiiii a serious l)low, and the pub- lic has learned how nuich of the success of any play dei)ends upon the cnscnibh; the proper ada|>tation of one part to another, and the intelli- gent rendering of every detail. For a fuller treatment of matters relatin/; to the drama, the reader is referred to the articles that deal with the indiviilual actors and authors mentioned above, and to those en- titled TilE.TRE: B.M.I.ET: BiRl.K.sqt'E: Ciiorils; ('i..giE: CoMftniE FRAxr.^i.sE: Farpe: Inter- H'liE: Masqi-e: iIiR.rf.E-Pi..Y.s: My.sterv; Pantomime: etc. On the theory and form of the drama, consult: Freytag. Thr Technique of Ihe Drama (English trans.. Chicago, ISO.")) ; Price,