STAGE CONFIDENCES

TALKS ABOUT PLAYERS AND PLAY ACTING

BY

CLARA MORRIS

AUTHOR OF

"LIFE ON THE STAGE," "THE PASTEBOARD CROWN," ETC.

ILLUSTRATED

LONDON CHARLES H. KELLY

1902

To

MARY ANDERSON

"THE FAIR
THE CHASTE
THE UNEXPRESSIVE SHE"

GREETING

To those dear girls who honour me with their liking and their confidences, greetings first, then a statement and a proposition.

Now I have the advantage over you of years, but you have the advantage over me of numbers. You can ask more questions in an hour than I can answer in a week. You can fly into a hundred "tiffs" of angry disappointment with me while I am struggling to utter the soft answer that turneth away the wrath of one.

Now, you eager, impatient young damsels, your name is Legion, and your addresses are scattered freely between the two oceans. Some of you are grave, some gay, some well-off, some very poor, some wise, some very, very foolish,—yet you are all moved by the same desire, you all ask, very nearly, the same questions. No actress can answer all the girls who write to her,—no more can I, and that

disturbs me, because I like girls and I hate to disappoint them.

But now for my proposition. Why not become a lovely composite girl, my friend, Miss Hope Legion, and let me try to speak to her my word of warning, of advice, of remonstrance? If she doubts, let me prove my assertions by incident, and if she grows vexed, let me try to win her to laughter with the absurdities,—that are so funny in their telling, though so painful in their happening.

Clara Morris.

CONTENTS

I. A WORD OF WARNING
II. THE STAGE AND REAL LIFE
III. IN CONNECTION WITH "DIVORCE" AND DALY'S
IV. "MISS MULTON" AT THE UNION SQUARE
V. THE "NEW MAGDALEN" AT THE UNION SQUARE
VI. "ODETTE" IN THE WEST. A CHILD'S FIRST PLAY
VII. A CASE OF "TRYING IT ON A DOG"
VIII. THE CAT IN "CAMILLE"
IX. "ALIXE." THE TRAGEDY OF THE GOOSE GREASE
X. J.E. OWENS'S "WANDERING BOYS." "A HOLE IN THE WALL" INCIDENT
XI. STAGE CHILDREN. MY "LITTLE BREECHES" IN "MISS MULTON"
XII. THE STAGE AS AN OCCUPATION FOR WOMEN
XIII. THE BANE OF THE YOUNG ACTRESS'S LIFE
XIV. THE MASHER, AND WHY HE EXISTS
XV. SOCIAL CONDITIONS BEHIND THE SCENES
XVI. THE ACTRESS AND RELIGION
XVII. A DAILY UNPLEASANTNESS
XVIII. A BELATED WEDDING
XIX. SALVINI AS MAN AND ACTOR
XX. FRANK SEN: A CIRCUS EPISODE
XXI. STAGE FORFEITS AND THEIR HUMOUR
XXII. POOR SEMANTHA

ILLUSTRATIONS

CLARA MORRIS (1883)
CLARA MORRIS IN "L' ARTICLE 47"
CHARLES MATTHEWS
CLARA MORRIS IN "ALIXE"
CLARA MORRIS AS "MISS MULTON"
CLARA MORRIS AS "ODETTE"