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SCOTTISH entertainments and
entertainers have from a very early period been remarkably popular in
America. When the country had grown populous enough to give the drama a
foothold, Scotch actors were very numerously represented among the
followers of the Thespian art who ventured to cross the Atlantic and
find a new field for their talents. While, like most pioneers, they did
not themselves fare very well at the hands of fortune, there is no doubt
that they started the American stage on a high level, so that it is
to-day the equal of any stage in the world, not even excepting those of
London and Paris. Scottish music, too, has invariably been popular here,
and, although they seem unable to grasp the delightful smoothness of the
grand old Doric, a privilege only vouchsafed (except in a few instances)
to a native, many American amateurs sing the songs of the "Land of the
Kilt and Heather" with a degree of taste and with so thorough an
appreciation as to warm the heart of even the most obdurate of Scottish
listeners. Of course, a Scotsman would any day prefer to hear his
country's songs sung by a native, but the perfection attained in the
singing of these by those who are not natives, and especially by
non-natives who are of the tender sex, is gratifying at once to his
patriotism and his musical sentiments. At times, too, one who is not a
native struggles so successfully with the vernacular that it is
difficult to detect a false accent, and, to take an illustrious
instance, it may be remarked that Sims Reeves when singing a Scotch song
presented the Doric so faultlessly as to give the Glasgow folks a chance
for ventilating a tradition that the greatest of English tenors used in
his younger days to act in a booth on the Green, Glasgow's historic
public park, and that he there learned how to sing!
One of the first of really great Scottish
singers to try his fortune on this side of the Atlantic was John
Sinclair, a native of Edinburgh, where he was born in 1793. He made his
first appearance in America in the old Park Theatre, New-York, in 1837,
when he appeared as Francis Osbaldistone. An old Scot who was present on
that evening has left on record a statement that he had never before,
not even in "Auld Reekie," heard "The Macgregors' Gathering" sung with
more fire, or "My Love Is Like a Red, Red Rose " with more sweetness.
Possibly this was because absence from home had sharpened his
sympathies, and the sentiments which arise when a wanderer's thoughts
turn back to "Auld Lang Syne" usurped the ordinary powers of criticism
so natural in a Scot. However this may be, Sinclair before visiting
America had earned the reputation in Scotland of being the best living
interpreter of his country's songs, and his memory is still kept green
in the musical history of his native land. He captured his New York
audience from the moment he first appeared, and his engagement was in
every way a most successful one. He repeated his success shortly
afterward at the Chestnut Street Theatre, Philadelpliia, as well as,
later on, in Boston. At that time, by the way, a success in Boston was
as gratifying to an artist as was one in Edinburgh.
"Sinclair," once wrote John Forbes Robertson
of London to David Kennedy, "was a frank, genial fellow, ["the leddies'
bonnie Sinclair," he used to be called,] and among his Scottish songs
were 'Hey! the Bonnie Briestknots' and one of his own composition,
'Come, Sit Ye Down, My Bonny, Bonny Love."' One of Sinclair's daughters
married Edwin Forrest, the famous tragedian, and the union gave rise to
one of the most notable divorce trials ever held in America. Forrest, by
the way, claimed to have descended from Scotch ancestors, and asserted
that Montrose was their old home. Sinclair returned to England, and died
there. in 1857. The
next vocalist from Scotland to visit these shores, and the grandest of
them all, was John Wilson, who was born at Edinburgh in 1800, and at ten
years of age was sent to learn the printing business. When his
apprenticeship was over he became a proofreader in James Ballantyne's
printing office, and is said to have been one of the few to whom the
secret of the authorship of the Waverley Novels was made known. During
this time, however, he was studying music and training his voice to
speak as well as sing, and, in spite of the protestations of his
friends, he made his first appearance on the stage, at Edinburgh, in
1830, assuming the character of Henry Bertram in the opera of "Guy
Mannering." his success was complete. Wilson determined, in the height
of his powers, to make an American tour, and he landed in the New World
in 1838, and remained for two years. He was beyond question one of the
most accomplished vocalists of his time, and, though he had made a
brilliant reputation on the operatic stage, and had won laurels as a
writer and as a composer, he was never happier or better than when
singing the sweet and simple songs of his "ain countrie." His
entertainments, such as "A Nicht wi' Burns," or "Bonnie Prince Charlie,"
proved wonderfully popular wherever he gave them, not merely among the
Scottish auditors, whose enthusiasm knew no bounds, but among educated
Americans and lovers of music of all classes. That he raised Scottish
song to a high degree of popularity goes without saying, and he paved
the way for the more complete financial success, long afterward, of the
entertainments of the same class given by the late David Kennedy.
In 1849, accompanied by his wife and
daughter, Wilson entered upon another American tour. While at Quebec, he
was seized with cholera on July 7, and died two days later. His last
wish was to be buried in a Scottish grave, but the circumstances of the
case forbade that wish being carried into effect, and the great singer
was laid at rest in Mount Hermon Cemetery, Quebec, and a handsome
memorial was erected over the spot by his admirers. "Although far from
his dearly beloved 'North Countrie,"' wrote Gen. James Grant Wilson of
New York long afterward, "Wilson is surrounded by men of his own race,
on whose tombstones may be seen Mackenzie and Macdougall, Campbell and
Grant, Fraser and Forsyth, Ross, Turnbull, and other ancient Scottish
names, many, if not most, of them the sons and grandsons of the 672
gallant fellows of Fraser's Seventy-eighth Highlanders, who followed
Wolfe up the steep and narrow escalade to the field where he met his
fate." So far as
America is concerned, Wilson's great successor as a singer of Scottish
songs was David Kennedy. He was born at Perth in 1825, and died at
Stratford, Canada, while on a professional tour, in October, 1886, and
for some forty years he was before the public as a singer of Scotch
songs. He sang the ballads of his native land round the world, visiting
India, Africa, Australia, as well as every section of the United States
and Canada. While
Kennedy's programmes were modeled on those of Wilson, and to a great
extent presented the same songs, there was a wide difference in the
style of their entertainments. Wilson was a faultless singer, a student
of music, and as firm a believer in the sweetness, power, and melody,
native to Scotch music, as is the modern American dilettante in the
genius of Richard Wagner. Kennedy was by no means so grand a singer as
Wilson; he never claimed to be so, in fact; but he had the knack of
getting, as it were, into the heart of a song, and making every shade of
its meaning become perfectly clear to his audiences. He was in many ways
the best modern representative of the old Scotch minstrel we can
imagine. Nobody ever excelled him in the telling of an old Scotch story,
for he did not merely repeat such tales, he acted them, and filled the
stage or the platform with their personages, and there was that strong
personal magnetism about the man which is so indispensably requisite to
public success on the concert or lecture platform.
The wonderful success of Wilson and Kennedy
induced many Scottish singers, singly or in groups, to "cross the pond,"
and since they illustrated the fact that there was money in an auld
Scotch song, there has rarely been a season when we have not had the
pleasure of listening to native talent of various degrees of ability.
The Fraser family of Paisley won, as they deserved, more reputation than
any of them, and the Fairbairn family were also successful for a time.
Phillis Glover, wife of Thomas Powrie, the once-famous Rob Roy, sang in
New York for a season in 1875, and might have done well had not domestic
trouble prevented her from taking advantage of her opportunities.
William Gourlay, one of the Edinburgh family of that name, essayed a
season in New York in 1877 with his "Mrs. MacGregor's Levee," but
failed. Hamilton Corbett would have made a fortune had he been gifted
with as much strength of will as beauty of voice, and that might, too,
be said of a score of others whose names need not be repeated here. We
cannot, however, forbear a line to the memory of Jeannie Watson, one of
the sweetest female singers of Scottish songs we ever listened to, and
who, after a life of misfortune, now lies at rest in the burial plot of
the St. Andrew's Society of Toronto. She was a brilliant successor to
such singers as Miss Reynolds and Miss Sutherland. The latter, who made
her American bow at a ballad concert in New York on July 16, 1857, won
high rank as a ballad singer, and was especially a favorite in Scottish
circles. She described herself, or her managers described her, as "the
Scottish Nightingale," and in that respect she was the forerunner of a
host of "Scottish Nightingales," "Queens of Scottish Song," and so on,
good, bad, and very indifferent.
Turning to theatrical records, we are met at
the outset by the difficulty of stage names concealing the nationality
and identity of many whose birth and talents ought to have given them
some mention in these pages. The well-known antipathy which so long
prevailed in Scotland against "play actors" led most of the Scotch
aspirants to footlight fame to conceal their family names more closely
than those who adopted a stage name for the sake of its appearance, as
Melfort looks better on a Programme than Hodgkins. But both Scotch plays
and Scotch players have won more than ordinary popularity in America.
In the early dramatic history of the United
States the play that appears to have been the most general favorite was
Home's now almost forgotten tragedy of "Douglas." Probably more American
amateurs made their first bow before the public as professionals in the
character of Norval than in any other up to the close of the first half
of this century, and in early American playbills it constantly held a
place. The best Scotch personator of the character here was Henry
Erskine Johnston, who made his first American appearance in the National
Theatre, New York, in 1838, in the character of Sir Pertinax in the
still popular play of "The Man of the World." Johnston was a good and
painstaking actor of the old school, and his Norval von thunders of
applause in all the principal cities of the country, North and South. He
played in the States only one season, and returned to Britain, dying
there shortly after, in 1840.
Roderick Dhu was another Scotch character
which was a favorite with the public, but it was only in the large
theatres that the necessary scenic and spectacular display could be made
to warrant the production of its play, "The Lady of the Lake." It was
placed upon the stage, however, in Boston and New York, and J. H.
Wallack, especially, made a great hit as the irate Highland chieftain.
Of "Rob Roys" the American theatres were at one time full, and the
Bowery boys used to he as familiar with the wrongs of the Macgregors as
were the laddies in "Auld Reekie." None of the great Scotch Robs ever
came here, but among its first delineators, if not the very first, was
an actor from Edinburgh named Bennett, who had been a member of the
company in that city, playing minor parts, under Murray. lie made his
opening bow as Rob in the old Chestnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia, in
1831, and was fairly successful. A much more able representative of the
great cateran, however, was Thomas F. Lennox, a Glasgow man, who
appeared in the character in the Chatham Theatre, New York, in 1838, and
made a great hit. His personal appearance exactly suited the character.
He had a powerful yet not unpleasant voice, and every time he started in
to denounce the Sassenachs he made the gallery howl in chorus. Lennox
was a good all-round actor, and a great favorite wherever he appeared.
lie (lied at Memphis, Tenn., in 1849.
Quite a different sort of a Rob was John
Henry Anderson, the "Wizard of the North," as he called himself in his
advertisements and showbills. He first visited this country in 1851, and
besides giving exhibitions of his really wonderful skill as a magician
produced "Rob Roy" at Castle Garden, this city, with himself in the
title role. Its merit may be understood from the remark of one of the
most competent American critics of the time, that "Anderson was a very
good magician, but a very bad actor."
In one way or another the redoubtable "Rob"
has had his naive kept pretty well before the American public, possibly
because Sir Walter Scott's novel of that name has enjoyed a larger
American circulation than that of any other of the romances of "The
Author of Waverley." The novel has appeared in nearly all the popular
"series" of "standard works," without which no American publisher's
catalogue seems complete, and in all other sorts of cheap series with
which the United States market is flooded. Even James Grant's story of
"The Adventures of Rob Roy" has, been issued in editions of thousands,
and in more than one instance it has been given as a "supplement" to a
Sunday newspaper.
But perhaps the most curious illustration of the popularity of the name
was when it was used as the title to a comic opera in which the genuine
cateran did not appear at all. It was written by a gentleman named Harry
B. Smith, and from a historical point of view contained more sheer
nonsense than possibly any other stage arrangement seriously or
humorously founded on history. Its leading character was Rob Roy
MacGregor, a Highland Chief, although the cateran was not a "chief" at
all, and the cast describes him as a follower of Prince Charlie,
although the real Rob died in 1738, when Prince Charlie's ideas of
Scotland were the primitive ones of youth. Then we had the "Mayor" of
Perth, who was an Englishman, and who seemed to have been the depositary
of the ready money which the Government intended to spend in subduing
the forces of Prince Charlie. There were all sorts of odd situations in
the play, one of which showed us Prince Charlie as a prisoner in
Stirling Castle, from which he was liberated by the efforts of Flora
Macdonald, and the whole affair wound up with the marriage, or the
arrangements for the marriage, of that young lady—who, by the way, was
dressed throughout in a Highland male costume—and the Prince.
But lest some of our readers might think we
are exaggerating the bundle of improbabilities and absurdities thus
presented, we reprint here the synopsis of the play which appeared on
the official programme:
The story of 'Rob Roy' is very interesting,
inasmuch as it is founded on that romantic story of Sir Walter Scott's
which deals with the escapades of Prince Edward Stewart the Pretender
and his faithful follower, Rob Roy Macgregor. At the opening of the
first act a party of Highlanders make a raid upon the house of the Mayor
of Perth and appropriate a sum of money intrusted to that worthy for
English troops. The Mayor has a fair daughter, Janet, who is secretly
married to Rob Roy. Owing to the 'Mayor's desire to keep on good terms
with both the English and the Scotch, he compels Janet to declare
herself the wife of first an old Scotchman and then a young English
officer. As a mere declaration constitutes a Scotch marriage, Janet
finds herself the wife of three husbands belonging to opposing factions.
Throughout the first act the romantic interest is maintained by Prince
Charlie and his sweetheart, Flora Macdonald, whose adventures have
historical foundation. At the end of the act Janet deserts the two
husbands provided by her father and escapes to the highlands with Rob
Roy. The scene of the second act is laid in the Highlands, when the
Scotch are in hiding after the battle of Culloden. Janet, as a Highland
shepherd, is waiting for the return of Rob Roy, who is fighting at
Culloden. The greater part of the act is devoted to the machinations of
the Highlanders to prevent the capture of their bonnie Prince Charlie.
The act ends with Flora Macdonald giving herself up for the Prince. The
third act, which shows the exterior of Stirling Castle by moonlight,
with the English troops in, bivouac, sees everything happily arranged."
Amusing as this production was on account of
its silly distortion of historical matter, a distortion which was not
even required by the story, it was infinitely more respectable than a
rendering of "Rob Roy" which was given in Chicago in 1895. We did not
see this production, fortunately, but the following advertisement of its
glories will sufficiently indicate to the reader its unique character:
'Rob Roy' will be given in the great amphitheatre, Burlington Park,
Saturday, Aug. 3, 1895, under the auspices of the Scottish Assembly.
Twelve special acts will be presented in tableaux and pantomime. Sham
battle Highlanders and Zouaves vs. First Regiment, I. N. G. Thrilling
and exciting conflict. Cannon roar, volley after volley fired, terrific
fusillade; with great confusion the enemy is routed amid the applause of
10,000 spectators. The bold chieftain is free! The park will be on blaze
during the evening with electric lights, so that the presentation of the
soul-stirring drama will be produced with all the magnificent splendor
possible." But we
must return to the players themselves, and dwell among a few navies
which are more or less representative, although most of them are now
forgotten, for nothing is more fleeting and perishable than a player's
stage reputation.
Mr. and Mrs. Marriott, who came here from Edinburgh in 1794, made the
old John Street Theatre be crowded to the doors each time they appeared
in "The Fair Penitent," and they repeated that success in Philadelphia
and Boston and in whatever city they performed.
In 1810, in the same New York theatre, a
Dundee man named David Mackenzie made an equally great hit as Flint in
the now long-buried play of "The Adopted Child." He afterward made a
very successful tour through the country, but for some reason now
unknown he ended his life by suicide at Philadelphia toward the close of
1811. One of the
greatest favorites of the Bowery' stage around 1826 was a Fife man named
James Roberts, who was born in 1798, and died at Charleston, S. C., in
1833. In melodrama, either as a villain or as a hero, he was considered
to have no equal. As much, at least, might be said of Richard L. Graham,
a Glasgow actor, whose first appearance was made at the National
Theatre, Philadelphia, in 1840, and who continued on the American stage
until his death, at St. Louis, in 1857.
Another Scotch actor who was a great
favorite in his time in New York was John Mason, a native of Edinburgh,
who made a hit on his first appearance in America at the old Park
Theatre as Rover in "Wild Oats." He afterward studied medicine, went to
New Orleans, and built up there a large and lucrative practice.
P. C. Cunningham, a Glasgow man, visited
America first in 1835, and made his first appearance that year in the
Warren Street Theatre, Boston. He was especially noted for his
excellence as a player of Irish characters and for his rendering of old
men's parts. He closed his first season in America at Mitchell's
Olympic, in New York, and then went back to Britain, where he acted
successfully throughout the provinces. He returned several times to this
country, being always certain of a hearty welcome on account of his
merits as an actor. One of his last appearances was in 1852 at the
opening of the Arch Street Theatre, Philadelphia, when he took the part
of Gibby in "The Wonder."
Many in the States and Canada will remember
the tour of Sir William Don, a native of Berwick, in 1850, and the
artistic success he won. Losing his fortune in the course of the process
known as "sowing his wild oats," he turned to the stage as a means for
earning his livelihood, and acquired a fair degree of popularity on the
boards. He was the descendant of an old Scotch family, and on the female
side was the representative of the Earls of Glencairn. His father for
some time represented Roxburghshire in Parliament and was an intimate
friend of Sir Walter Scott. In his younger and palmy days Sir William
was an officer in a regiment of dragoons, and held the appointment of an
aide de camp to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. In 1845) he found
himself so financially embarrassed that he had to resign from the army
and adopt the stage as a profession. His course was deeply deplored,
naturally, by his noble friends, but the public admired his independence
in earning his own living rather than settling down as a paltry
pensioner on whatever his relatives might allow him. In 1857 he married
an actress, and together they made several successful tours through
Britain. Sir William remained on the stage until his death, in 1862, and
retained his popularity to the end. His widow, Lady Don, visited America
in 1867, and was very successful in comedy and burlesque parts.
Robert Campbell Maywood may be regarded as a
good representative of the Scots (and there have been many of them) who
have held the reins of theatrical management in this country. He was
born at Greenock, it is said, in 1786, and in 1819 appeared at the New
York Park Theatre. In 1832 he became manager of the Walnut Street
Theatre, Philadelphia, and he continued to manage theatres in that city
until 1840, When he took a grand farewell benefit and retired from the
stage. He died at Troy, N. Y., in 1856, from paralysis. It used to he
said that whenever he was short of an attraction he invariably put "Cramond
Brig" on the stage, and as invariably made a success of it.
The most noted, however, of the Scotch
managers in America was Col. John A. McCaull, who, after a life of
varied successes and misfortunes, died at Greensboro', Ala., in 1894,
and was buried in Baltimore, Md. He was born at Glasgow in 1830, and
was, when a child, taken by his parents to Virginia. When the civil war
broke out he joined the forces of his native State, and served under
General Mahone in the Confederate Army. When it was over he was for a
term in the Virginia Legislature. But it was in connection with the
stage that he became known to fame.
As an operatic manager he introduced more
stars than any other man in America, but his fortunes declined in his
closing years, and on Feb. 11, 1892, a monster benefit was given for him
in the Metropolitan Opera House. It netted $8,000.
Among the Scottish actresses who won
distinction on the American boards, besides those already named, the
most famous in many respects was Mrs. Joseph Wood, who made her
transatlantic debut in 1833 in the Park Theatre, New York, in the
operetta of "Cinderella." She was born at Edinburgh in 1802, and
received her musical training under the patronage of the Duchess of
Buccleuch. Under her maiden name, Susannah Paton, she made her first bow
to the public at concerts in her native city, and quickly became
popular, her sweet voice and winsome appearance securing for her hosts
of admirers. In her case, critics and public were unanimous in their
praise. In 1820 she esayed the highest rank of her profession by
appearing at the Haymarket, London, as Susannah in "The Marriage of
Figaro." Her success in the British metropolis was also complete, and
for three or four years her life was full of happiness. She was courted
by Lord William Pitt Lennox, a younger son of the Duke of Richmond, and
was married to him in 1824. Lord William, soon after their marriage,
began treating her cruelly, and after a while she found it necessary to
separate from him. Their domestic troubles created a great sensation at
the time, but amidst all the talk the young actress retained the
sympathy of the public, and every one was glad when she obtained a
decree of divorce from the titled brute, and resumed her place on the
stage. In 1828 she married Joseph Wood, a popular actor and operatic
singer, and both maintained for many years a front rank on the British
stage. Mrs. Wood's American experiences were of the most pleasing
description, and she was magnificently received wherever she appeared,
which was in all the large cities of the continent. She (lied at
\Wakefield, England, in 1864.
Few lives have been more full of sunshine
and shadow than that of Agnes Robertson, wife of Dion Boucicault, the
actor and playwright. Born at Edinburgh in 1833, she became in early
life famous as an actress in Scotland, and was regarded as one of the
most beautiful women in the country. Her marriage to Boucicault, in
1853, brought her more prominently than ever before the public, and the
same year she made her American debut at Montreal. In North America she
was a prime favorite wherever she appeared, and, whether in Scotch or
Irish drama or in society plays, she proved herself to be a. finished
and accomplished actress. The story of her later domestic troubles and
her retirement from the stage are painfully familiar to people
interested in theatrical matters, but amidst all the recriminations and
lawsuits, and variety of stories which were circulated at the time, she
never lost the respect of the public.
Among musicians and composers the Scot in
America has also made his mark, and as a producer and interpreter of
high-class music his efforts have made hint conspicuous. His quality as
a producer is fairly shown in the career of William Richardson Dempster.
This genius of song was born at Keith in 1809, and was apprenticed to a
quiltmaker in Aberdeen. He was from his boyhood devoted to music, and
applied all of his spare time to its study. In early life he crossed the
Atlantic and was naturalized as a citizen of the United States, devoting
himself to teaching music and to public singing, for his voice and ear
were equally gifted. He gradually became known as a composer, but his
efforts in that direction were not generally recognized until he
published his setting for Tennyson's "May Queen," which at once became
very popular wherever Tennyson's poem was known. Subsequently he
composed music for many of the songs scattered through the works of the
great Poet Laureate, and his latter years were spent pleasantly and at
equal intervals on both sides of the Atlantic. In private life Mr.
Dempster was much respected as a rigid moralist, a good man in all that
men hold honorable, and a conscientious citizen, and his death, at
London, in 1871, was regretted by hosts of friends in the United States,
as well as in the motherland. |
