



Produced by Roberta Staehlin, Charlene Taylor, John Campbell
and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images
generously made available by The Internet Archive/American
Libraries.)









  TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES

  Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.

  Obvious typographical and punctuation errors have been corrected
  after careful comparison with other occurrences within the text and
  consultation of external sources.

  More detail can be found at the end of the book.




  NAT GOODWIN'S BOOK




  NAT GOODWIN'S
  BOOK

  BY

  NAT C. GOODWIN

  ILLUSTRATED

  [Illustration: (Publisher's colophon)]

  BOSTON

  RICHARD G. BADGER

  THE GORHAM PRESS

  TORONTO: COPP CLARK COMPANY LIMITED




  COPYRIGHT, 1914

  BY NAT C. GOODWIN AND RICHARD G. BADGER

  _All rights reserved_


  THE GORHAM PRESS, BOSTON, U.S.A.




PREFACE


In penning memoirs or autobiographing it is extremely difficult to
avoid writing impersonally, yet I shall strive to avoid it as much as
possible, not so much from a sense of duty as from a standpoint of
mercy.

I have never enjoyed reading about myself and I am firmly convinced
that there are few who have. Perhaps, if I am tempted during this
review to give myself an opinion of myself, it may be received with
favor even by those critics who have never agreed with any of my
characterizations.

I started this little work with some degree of terror. I had such a
poor background to frame my somewhat checkered career upon. I fully
realized that a man must be a very great person, or at least imagine
himself to be, to write an autobiography. But finally after listening
to the advice of friends I approached myself, albeit surprised at my
temerity. After having read many autobiographies I discovered that
most nearly-great persons who indulge in the dissipation of giving to
the world their opinions of themselves were either born in dilapidated
garrets or on unproductive farms.

As there were no trees in my garden of youth nor a candle placed in
an empty bottle to shed its effulgence upon my future life I wondered
how I could diversify and be truthful, yet entertaining. A feeling of
apprehension akin to that which always follows the first night of one
of my productions took hold of me. I wondered how this little effort
of mine would be received.

When reading a criticism the morning following a production I am always
fearful of being found out. If I am condemned I know I have been!
But after I have fully digested all the unkind criticisms, which are
usually written by those who do not fancy me in any serious effort, I
am in the end always superlatively happy in knowing that the critic has
done his duty.

If I had my way, he would be doing TIME!

Generally he is so blissfully ignorant of what he prates about that I
have a silent chuckle all to myself at the expositions of his glaring
and blatant incompetency. Yet it has always been a question in my mind
whether the public enjoys reading vituperative attacks upon its stage
favorites particularly after it has been entertained and amused the
previous evening. I think that it is thoroughly satisfied with its own
verdict and resents another's antagonistic to it. It much more enjoys
reading something of the actor's private life particularly when it can
read something which exposes his or her particular vagaries. And the
public is prone to believe everything the visionary gentlemen of the
press chronicle. The more unwholesome it is the more it believes; the
more suggestive, the more palatable.

You have only to put any sort of halo around an actor or a cigar, good
or bad, to beget a following or a smoker!

Unfortunately the halo that the public has been kind enough to place
above me will not bear minute inspection. It is opaque. However, being
unable to escape it I have always been content to smile within and when
the haloed one has been supposedly exposed I can do nothing but sit
tight and accept the inevitable. At times it has been a bit harrowing
to submit, yet it has taught me self-control which I will endeavor to
exercise in this little work. If I am tempted to use the personal
pronoun more frequently than necessary I shall deflect and command my
thoughts, to wander among more agreeable persons. Having lived so long
within the confines of my kindly bestowed halo I have become fully
aware of my limitations. The agreeable personalities are easily found
and I hope my readers will enjoy their companionship as much as I have
enjoyed them.

Every reference made to these delightful people is inspired by the
kindliest of feelings and if I have judged one or two more harshly than
they seemingly deserve the error is of the head, not of the heart; for
I loved, liked or admired them all and I am none too poor to do them
reverence--even now.

While some may regard my opinions as impertinences none can
convincingly deny my right to think, and as all is given impersonally I
believe that none will doubt my motives.

Many will question the various attitudes in this book particularly
regarding marriage and divorce. They will advance the theory that
the bonds of matrimony must be welded more closely even when the
participants find it difficult to live normally. I know that many who
are incarcerated in the dungeons of matrimonial thraldom would not
stop at murder to burst their bonds. It does not require the philosophy
of a Bacon or an Emerson to prove that such incarceration is wrong. Why
make martyrs of those forced to live together when hate supplants love,
when bodies and thoughts play upon different instruments producing only
discords? The laws of our country make it possible for us to file the
bars of our unwholesome cells and suppress this monumental mockery. The
views I have incorporated in this book, right or wrong, I stand by. All
through my life I have never feared criticism for any of my acts. My
moral or physical courage has never failed. I have been and always will
be willing to stand by my guns and take my medicine.

Before completing this work I unfortunately submitted a few excerpts
to a visionary representative of one of the Los Angeles papers.
He immediately published broadcast what he had absorbed and very
obligingly gave it the title of his own imagination, "Memoirs of
Matrimony," thereby creating the impression that my book was to be
devoted simply to my marital experiences. Such was never my intention,
but as more than thirty years of my life have been devoted to matrimony
naturally my autobiography demands mention of the women who have borne
my name.

I have been censured sometimes harshly for my versatility in the
selection of wives and many have marvelled at my fortunate (or
unfortunate) selections. I have always been long on the market of home
and wives.

I truly believe that no home is complete without a wife, providing
she is of the kind that enjoys the company of intelligent, honest and
clever people. Some men only lease their mates and then prate about
their respectability. If I have decided at different times to tear
down any of the Ephesian domes which I have erected, is the fact of my
destroying them enough to warrant my being known, as was Alexander, as
the fool that razed (or is it raised?) them?

While autobiography and a round up of memories will necessarily
be conspicuous I shall endeavor also to make this book a medium
of retrospective thoughts given to the many people, prominent and
otherwise, with whom I have come in contact. As I have no notes I shall
write purely from memory's tablets. If inaccuracies occur they will be
unintentional.

Many of those dear friends have long since passed down the lonely
mountain trail, but their sweet memories still linger by the roadside.
If they but leave the perfume of their souls to mark the road for me
to follow when I arrive at the corral nature has established in the
valley I hope that we all shall meet and that they will elect me their
callboy, that I may be privileged to ring up the curtain upon perpetual
joy.

      N. C. G.

OCEAN PARK, CALIFORNIA.




CONTENTS


    CHAPTER                                              PAGE

         I COMMENCEMENT DAY                                17

        II MY DEBUT                                        22

       III STUART ROBSON                                   26

        IV JOHN MCCULLOUGH                                 35

         V SIR HENRY IRVING                                38

        VI "BARRY" AND JEFFERSON                           41

       VII A SUNNY SON OF SOMETIME                         49

      VIII CHARLES HOYT                                    51

        IX SIR CHARLES WYNDHAM                             54

         X CHARLES R. THORNE, JR.                          56

        XI SOL SMITH RUSSELL                               61

       XII RICHARD MANSFIELD                               67

      XIII IN VARIETY                                      75

       XIV ELIZA WEATHERSBY                                80

        XV SUCCESSFUL FAILURES                             89

       XVI BACK IN THE 'EIGHTIES                           92

      XVII THE HALCYON DAYS OF UNION SQUARE                96

     XVIII THE BIRTH OF THE SYNDICATE                     101

       XIX STARS                                          109

        XX ATMOSPHERIC PLAYS                              115

       XXI ACTORS PAST AND PRESENT                        118

      XXII MAUDE ADAMS                                    121

     XXIII TYRONE POWER                                   126

      XXIV AN ARTISTIC SUCCESS!                           127

       XXV THE SKATING RINK                               131

      XXVI NUMBER TWO                                     134

     XXVII A FIGHT WON (?)                                140

    XXVIII JOHN CHAMBERLAIN                               148

      XXIX W. S. GILBERT                                  152

       XXX HENRY E. DIXEY                                 153

      XXXI SWAGGER NEW YORKERS OF ANOTHER DAY             155

     XXXII JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY                           157

    XXXIII DIGBY BELL AND DE WOLF HOPPER                  159

     XXXIV BLAINE AND INGERSOLL                           162

      XXXV JIM CORBETT IN ENGLAND                         164

     XXXVI THE COCKNEY CABBY COMEDIAN                     166

    XXXVII A GILDED FOOL AND OTHER PLAYS                  168

   XXXVIII GEORGE M. COHAN                                177

     XXXIX THOUGHTS VAUDEVILLE-BORN                       179

        XL JOHN DREW                                      181

       XLI THE RIVALS REVIVAL                             182

      XLII WILTON LACKAYE                                 185

     XLIII "YOUNG" MANSFIELD                              187

      XLIV DAVID WARFIELD                                 190

       XLV A DAY AT RENO                                  192

      XLVI LILLIAN RUSSELL                                197

     XLVII DRAMATIC SCHOOLS                               198

    XLVIII NUMBER THREE (ALMOST)                          201

      XLIX THE CONFESSIONAL                               207

         L SAN FRANCISCO                                  211

        LI ANTONY (?) AND CLEOPATRA                       216

       LII HONOLULU AND SAMOA                             223

      LIII PUBLICITY--ITS RESULTS                         230

       LIV IN THE LAND OF THE KANGAROO                    233

        LV WELCOME(!) HOME                                240

       LVI NUMBER THREE                                   243

      LVII WHEN WE WERE TWENTY-ONE AND OTHER PLAYS        248

     LVIII AT JACKWOOD                                    254

       LIX "WHY DO BEAUTIFUL WOMEN MARRY NAT GOODWIN?"    262

        LX BILLY THOMPSON                                 265

       LXI THE CRITICS                                    266

      LXII JAMES A. HEARNE                                277

     LXIII EDDIE FOY                                      279

      LXIV WILLIAM GILLETTE                               280

       LXV WILLIAM BRADY, ESQ.                            283

      LXVI ROBERT FORD                                    284

     LXVII MORE PLAYS                                     286

    LXVIII WILLIE COLLIER                                 288

      LXIX HENRY MILLER                                   290

       LXX WHAT'S IN A NAME?                              291

      LXXI I TRY BEING A BUSINESS MAN                     293

     LXXII THE FIVE FATEFUL FISH CAKES AND NUMBER FOUR    302

    LXXIII SIR BEERBOHM TREE                              315

     LXXIV THE ORIGIN OF THE STAGE                        317

      LXXV MY STAGE-STRUCK VALET                          321

     LXXVI GEORGE C. TYLER                                324

    LXXVII I FIND THE VERY BEST PHYLLIS                   326

   LXXVIII THE LAMBS CLUB                                 329

     LXXIX I "COME BACK"                                  332

      LXXX I GO BACK                                      334

     LXXXI DAVID BELASCO                                  336

    LXXXII "AUTHOR--AUTHOR"                               337

   LXXXIII MUSHROOM MANAGERS                              341

    LXXXIV "KEEP OFF THE GRASS"                           345

     LXXXV CALIFORNIA                                     350

    LXXXVI I BECOME A BARNSTORMER                         352

   LXXXVII NUMBER FIVE                                    355

  LXXXVIII L'ENVOIE                                       356

           INDEX                                          359




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS


                                                         FACING PAGE

  NAT C. GOODWIN                                      _Frontispiece_

  WILLIAM WARREN                                                  20
  _The greatest comedian that ever lived_

  STUART ROBSON                                                   26
  _The best Shakespearean clown of modern times_

  TONY HART                                                       30
  _He had the face of an Irish Apollo, did Tony Hart_

  JOHN MCCULLOUGH AND ASSOCIATE PLAYERS IN THE DRAMATIC FESTIVAL  36
  _"Mr." McCullough and the rest of us_

  SIR HENRY IRVING                                                40
  _An extraordinary man_

  JOSEPH JEFFERSON                                                46
  _I firmly believe I improved his morals_

  SIR CHARLES WYNDHAM                                             54
  _A remarkable man_

  CHARLES R. THORNE, JR.                                          60
  _A royal picture to contemplate_

  IN THE LITTLE REBEL                                             76
  _One of my first excursions into the legitimate_

  ELIZA WEATHERSBY                                                80
  _The wife who mothered me_

  IN HOBBIES WITH ELIZA WEATHERSBY                                84
  _The play I won at faro_

  LITHOGRAPH OF GOODWIN'S FROLIQUES                               88

  IN TURNED UP                                                    92
  _In the days when I was an imitator_

  LOTTA                                                           98
  _In the days when work was play_

  JACK HAVERLY                                                   102
  _The man who conceived the syndicate_

  IN THE GOLD MINE                                               112
  _My get-up in The Gold Mine_

  THOSE WERE THE HAPPY DAYS                                      118

  COQUELIN                                                       124
  _Would he have gone in vaudeville? I wonder_

  NELLA BAKER PEASE                                              134
  _The best amateur piano player I ever heard_

  NAT C. GOODWIN, III                                            138

  PALS                                                           150
  _Richard Carle, Fred G. Stanley, Nat Goodwin, Walter Jones,
  De Wolf Hopper_

  IN CONFUSION                                                   160
  _Back in the eighties_

  NAT GOODWIN AND COMPANY IN IN MIZZOURA                         168
  _One of the best casts I ever saw_

  TICKET SALE FOR IN MIZZOURA                                    176

  DICK GOLDEN                                                    182
  _We were pals for many years_

  DAVID WARFIELD AND NAT GOODWIN                                 190
  _I'm proud of the company_

  IN MIZZOURA                                                    200
  _One of the greatest of American plays_

  MRS. N. C. GOODWIN, SR.                                        210
  _A dear old lady living in Boston_

  HOW MUCH A LAMB I WAS I DIDN'T KNOW--THEN!                     216

  AN AUSTRALIAN GREETING CAN'T TOUCH ITS FAREWELL!               220

  IN AN AMERICAN CITIZEN                                         232
  _If we had been associated a few years longer my name would
  have been up as her leading support!_

  AS BOB ACRES                                                   240
  _I gave Bob a country dialect_

  MAXINE ELLIOTT                                                 246
  _Fate's partner_

  IN WHEN WE WERE TWENTY-ONE                                     252
  _The biggest bit of any play I ever produced_

  IN NATHAN HALE                                                 258
  "_They hang Nat in the last act_"

  WM. H. THOMPSON                                                264
  _An artist to his finger tips_

  JAMES A. HEARNE                                                278
  _He knew how poor Sol "fell"_

  ROBERT FORD                                                    284
  "_A cold-blooded, conscienceless murderer_"

  AS CAMEO KIRBY                                                 294
  _I never played a character I liked so well_

  EDNA GOODRICH                                                  304
  _My young and handsome star_

  AS SHYLOCK                                                     310
  _One of my successful failures_

  IN HAMLET                                                      320
  _It had always been my desire to appear in Shakespearean roles_

  MARGARET MORELAND                                              326
  _The very best Phyllis_

  AS FAGIN IN OLIVER TWIST                                       330
  "_Fagin was a comedian_"

  DAVID BELASCO                                                  336
  _An intellectual giant_

  DRAWN WHILE WE WERE "BARNSTORMING"                             344

  THE RANCH AT SAN JACINTO, CALIFORNIA                           350
  _A scene not equalled in the Austrian Tyrol_




N