London at the End of the Century:A Book of Gossip
a Beckett, Arthur William
1900
READY TO BEGIN.
I have seen a large number of stage managers at one time and another. I have been present at a | |
110 | rehearsal of which Charles Kean has taken the direction, another which has been commanded by Mr. Fechter, a third by Mr. Sothern, a fourth by Mr. F. C. Burnand, a fifth by Mrs. Kendal, a sixth by Miss Mary Anderson, a seventh by Mr. Coe, and an eighth by Sir Henry Irving; but I can honestly declare that the late Sir Augustus Harris, in my humble opinion, was, as a stage manager, better than them all. He not only knew what he wanted done, but knew how to do it. Moreover, he had the power of making others see his points, and causing them to adopt them. He could show at a moment's notice If put to it he could give examples of all the passions from amiability to an expression of the bitterest revenge. And all his knew this, and consequently believed in him implicitly. The late lessee of would have made an excellent general. Of that I am sure. I have seen him play the part of as it had never been played before. And he had, in the person of Mr. Arthur P. Collins, an excellent who, on the death of his friend, worthily replaced him in the supreme control. |
