AN ACTOR ’S STORY B RA N S BY WILL IA M S FVITH N UAIE R 0 US [ LL US TRA T1OA 'S L O N DO N ° C HA P A N HA L L LTD (5 . M , I 9 0 9 M Y W IF E P R E FA C E bo o k IN submitting this to the public , con o n scious of all its shortcomings , I can ly hope for the same good-natured indulgence in my new 7618 off the stage as is invariably given me - in my well tried 77576 5 on it . The bo o k owes its existence to my many friends w ho have pressed me into this new “ it nu part . H aving accepted , not a little willingly—for I know my limitations perhaps better than they— I can but trust that the public will be lenient in its judgment of my performance . am am I bound to confess , however, that I seized with no little amount of “ stage fright ” now that I make my fi rs t appearance in this new character , although I was as willing to try my hand at autho t ship as the gentleman Vll viii P R E FA C E c o u d a who , when he was asked if he l pl y the “ ’ violin , said , I never have , but I don t mind trying ” ! My best thanks are offered , for kind per M r. G mission to use photographs , to . Hana, M r Bedford Street , Strand . Reinhold Thiele , M R Pr th ro e r. o e Chancery Lane ; Lewis , B anfield . Bristol ; Messrs . Foulsham , Ltd , - Old Bond Street ; Messrs . Campbell Gray, M . E r. R M r A . Ltd , Cheapside ; . Vining ; . M F rlt n r. A o Peacock ; to my friend . J . , the L nephew of J . Toole, for the snapshot of Toole and Irving ; and to Messrs . David Allen Sons for permission to reproduce ’ M r . Albert Morrow s poster . Lastly , I wish to express deep gratitude B M . W r . to my good friend . Matz , the ’ ’ T/ze Dzcéem zcm Editor of , for the kindly advice and assistance he has given me in seeing the story through the press . B RA N S BY WILLIA MS M arcil 1 1 0 5 , 9 9 C ON T E N T S HA PTE R I N THE B EGINN I N G — AMATEUR DAYS N EGRO COM EDIAN AND LI GHTN I NG S K ETCHE R FROM WORK I NG M EN ’S CLUBS T H EATRICALS TO THE STAGE — CHARACTER ACT I N G I N PLAYS STRUGGLI N G DAYS — M Y FI RST M USIC-H ALL ENGAGEMENT IM I TATION OF ACTORS Ho w I BECAME A D ICK EN S ACTOR D ICKE N S CHARACTERS I HAVE P LAY ED S OM E K EN N STOR E G V D IC SIA I S , RA E AND GAY . S HAK ESPEAREAN AND OTHER PER FORMAN C ES FI RST VISI T TO AM ER ICA . S ECOND V ISI T TO AM ER ICA ROYAL C OMM AN D DAN L OT M N T L ENO AND HERS, AND SO E O AB E B EN EFITS x C O N T E NT S CHA PT E R PAGE “ ’ ! IV. OH L. L 8 OR T T J N TOO E AND 7, HE VE ERAN S B I RTHDAY — — WILLIAM T ERR ISS CLEM ENT SCOTT PHIL M AY — BEERBOHM TREE GEORGE ALE! AN DER — FORBES ROBERTSON AND S IR CHARLES WYNDHAM SOM E M USI C-H ALL MAGN A'I’ES S OM E M USIC-H ALL STARS PANTOMIM ES LI S T OF I LLUS TRATI ON S TO FACE PAGE BRANSBY WILLIAMS I N THE COSTUME OF THE DICK ENS P E RIOD S AGED 12 BRANSBY WILLIAM , S CENE FROM HON EYLAN D ” AT L ONDON H I PP ODROM E — BRANSBY WILLIAMS AS PRI N CE CHARMI NG S ED 26 . BRANSBY WILLIAM , AG MRS S . BRANSBY WILLIAM B RANSBY WILLIAMS BOOK LAND A P icto ial P oste desi ned b A lbe t M o ow e oduced r r, g y r rr . r pr ’ n 1m ’ am by permissio ofDavzd A 1 6 S . A S H C BR NSBY WILLIAMS AS I R J O N H ESTER . “ ” BRANSBY WILLIAMS AS M AYPOLE HUGH BRANSBY WILLIAMS AS SOLOMON DAISY BRANSBY WILLIAMS AS LO RD GEORGE GORDON BRANSBY WILLIAMS AS J OHN WILLET BRANSBY WILLIAMS AS OLD RUDGE BRANSBY WILLIAMS AS SYDN EY CARTON BRANSBY WILLIAMS AS THE O LD GRA N D FATHER xi xii L I ST O F I LL U ST RAT I ON S FA CE BRANSBY WILLIAMS AS S ERJ EANT B UZ FUZ BRANSBY WILLIAMS AS WILK I NS M ICAWB ER BRANSBY WILLIAMS AS M ONTAGUE T IGG BRANSBY WILLIAMS AS B ILL SI K ES B RANSBY WILLIAMS AS W AC K FORD S QUEERS B RANSBY WILLIAMS AS B LAN DOIS B RANSBY WILLIAMS AS M ANTALI N I BRANSBY WILLIAMS AS BARNABY RUDGE B RANSBY WILLIAMS AS URIAH H EEP BRANSBY WILLIAMS AS FAGI N B RANSBY WILLIAMS AS DAN ’EL P E GGOTTY BRANSBY WILLIAMS AS S CROOGE BRANSBY WILLIAMS AS CHARLES DICKENS “ ” S CENE IN FR A GIACOMO “ ’ ” BRANSBY WILLIAMS I N UNCLE TOM S C u m AS To p sy ; AS S IMON LEG REE AS PHI N EAS FLETCHER ; AS UNCLE TOM BRANSBY WILLIAMS AS CARDI N AL WOLS EY BRANSBY WILLIAMS AS HAM LE ' l‘ BRANSBY WILLIAMS AS S HYLOC K BRANSBY WILLIAMS AS HENRY V . A FAMILY GROUP T R C E —M R R O A E T M . R FF O M I A ( US ON) . AND S B ANSBY F AM E D R . S . E WILLI S AND D AUGHT R AN M . EDG BRANSBY WILLIAMS (190 8) L I ST O F I LL U ST RAT I O N S xiii T O FAC E P A GE THE G AT “ R EM ” W ILLIAM S’S ARDEN OS ARY , BRANSBY HOME DAN LENO IN PANTOMIM E L. S IR HENRY I RVI N G AND J . TOOLE M ODEL OF THE “ M AYPOLE ” I NN ’ ” 8 OR T T B RTHD Y . 7; , HE VE ERAN S I A “ DISGUISES USED BY BRANSBY WILLIAMS IN ALADDI N AT B R STO 1 0 8——A B AN AZAR E SH W I L, 9 9 ; P NNY O MAN THE D UTC HMAN 26 2 “ I A DD N ” AT B R TO 1 0 8- 26 8 BRANSBY WILLIAMS N LA I IS L, 9 9 A N A C TO R ’S STO RY C H APTE R I IN THE B EGINNIN G I SIM PLY desire to record by way of a start ‘ the fact that I was born , with a promise that I shall not bore my readers with minute details ’ C of my hildhood s days . That they were full of trials and troubles, full of joys and happi ness, full of ambitions Which never matured , fill full , in short, of all those things which out the small span of any and every child, I have not the slightest doubt . That they are - worth glorifying and enlarging upon to day , I also have no doubt. But the only persons who would consider them at all wonderful or interesting would be my own relatives . This applies , I venture to assert, to many childhood days and reminiscences ; and as a reader of some voracity, I must confess to feeling very B an gacro s s STO RY much bored myself with those passages in most books commencing, I was born on a dull and dismal day as the clock struck ten , or whatever other number it was, and the many small family recollections of the days which follow the event . I t may be I am mistaken in these views, but being anxious not to bore my readers, and feeling that What I did as a small child must have been very similar to w hat thousands of other children did during such periods, I propose to leave such things to the imagination of my readers . Besides which I did not keep a diary then , although that would not be necessary for recalling some boyhood pranks and schoolboy tricks if need be . I remember as a boy reading “ David fi ” Copper eld , and even then I skipped many chapters in order to meet my hero as a Man . t e - I have read it many times since in its entirety, and each time have been more impressed than ever . When I began to be successful as an ’ w as actor, I strangely moved by Dickens s comments on his boyhood, and his wonderful i mpressw ns of the places he remembered in after life . Dickens always seemed to retain IN T HE B EGI N N I N G 3 in his mind the thoughts of himself as a poor lad in the very humble capacity of sticking labels on blacking bottles , and of his weary walks to and fro between his lodgings in Lant Street, Borough , and his work . When a successful and great man , he felt the same sadness in revisiting some of the scenes and places in the very neighbourhoods of his early struggle, as when he lived amidst h t em .