Excerpt from De Navarro's "The Girlhood of an Actress," North American Review (1895)

Excerpt from De Navarro's "The Girlhood of an Actress," North American Review (1895)

Cushman, Charlotte Saunders, 1816-1876

Actors and Actresses--US American

United States--New York City

De Navarro remembers her first and last encounter with Charlotte Cushman who encouraged her to pursue a stage career.
Even before this account is published, Frances Elizabeth Willard informs in her A Woman of the Century (1893) that "[b]y the advice of Charlotte Cushman she made a thorough preparation, studying for a time with the younger Vanderhoff in New York. That was her only real training — ten lessons from a dramatic teacher ; all the rest she accomplished for herself" (Willard 25)

Credit

Jstor

North American Review

U of Northern Iowa

1895-00-00

Reference

"Mr. Wouds was soon called away to support Miss Charlotte Cushman during her engagement in Cincinnati, Ohio. He evidently spoke of my work to the great artist, for, 'a few days after his departure, a letter came from him saying that Miss Cushman wished to hear me read. My mother, thinking such attentions injurious to one so young, grew nervous when she saw that not only was I bent upon going but that my usual champion, Dr. Griffin, meant to aid and abet me. He urged her to make the short trip, if only to see the great actress. With much per suasion he won the day, and we started for Cincinnati. The first character in which we saw Miss Cushman was Meg Merrilies, in an indifferent dramatization of Sir Walter Scott's " Guy Mannering." When, in the moonlight of the scene, she dashed from her tent on to the stage, covered with the grey shadowy garments of the gipsy sibyl, her appearance was ghost like and startling in the extreme. In her mad rushes on and off the stage, she was like a cyclone. During the prophecy:

"The dark shall be light And the wrong made right, And Bertram's right, and Bertram's might, Shall meet on Ellen go wan's height,"

she stood like some great withered tree, her arms stretched out, her white locks flying, her eyes blazing under their shaggy brows. She was not like a creature of this world, but like some mad majestic wanderer from the spirit land. When Dirk Hatteraick's fatal bullet entered her body, and she came staggering down the stage, her terrible shriek,* so wild and piercing, so full of agony and yet of the triumph she had given her life to gain, told the whole story of her love and her revenge. When after her awfully realistic death-scene, she had been carried from the stage, there was perfect silence in the crowded theatre, and not until the cur tain fell upon the last few lines of the play did shouts of enthus iasm break the stillness. The surprise and pleasure of the audience knew no bounds when, having washed off her witch's mask, she came before them in propria persona, a sweet-faced old lady, with a smile all kindness, and a graciousness of manner quite royal. Indeed, I never saw such charm and dignity, until years after, at Westminster Abbey, when, celebrating her Golden Jubilee, Queen Victoria, with one sweeping courtesy, acknowl edged with majestic grace the presence of the assembled multi tude. It was arranged that we should meet Miss Cushman the next day. We accordingly awaited her in the large parlor of the hotel. Presently we heard a heavy masculine tread, and a voice, too high for a man's, too low for a woman's, saying, " I am sorry to be late, but some of the actors were duller than usual this morning." She stood before us, her well-set figure simply clad, the short hair in her neck still in curling pins, showing a de lightful absence of vanity, for she had just come in from the street. She looked at me for a moment with the keenest interest in her kind blue-grey eyes, then wrung my hand with unexpected warmth. " Come, come, let us lose no time," said she in her brisk business-like way. " Let us see what you can do. Richard! Hamlet ! Richelieu ! Schiller's Maid of Orleans? A curious selection for such a child to make. But begin, for I am pressed for time." It was trying to stand without preparation before so great a woman, but, with a determined effort to forget her, I acted scenes from " Eichelieu " and " Jeanne d'Arc." When the trial was over, I stood before her in that state of flush and quiver which often follows our best efforts. Laying her hand kindly upon my shoulder, "My child," said she, "you have all the attributes that go to make a fine actress ; too much force and power at present, but do not let that trouble you. Better have too much to prune down, than a little to build up." My mother was troubled at hearing her speak so calmly of the stage as my future career, and protested earn estly. No one, she said, of her family, nor of my father's, had ever been on the stage, and she added that, to be frank, she did not like the atmosphere of the theatre, and could not look with favor upon a child of hers adopting it as a profession. Miss Cushman listened attentively. "My dear madam," she answered, " you will not judge the profession so severely when /you know it better. Encourage your child ; she is firmly and rightly, I think, resolved on going upon the stage. If I know anything of character, she will go with or without your consent. Is it not so ?" (to me). "Yes," said I?and how my heart beat at the confession. " Be her friend," continued she to my mother. " Give her your aid ; no harm can come to her with you by her side." Then turning to me again, "My advice to you is not to begin at the bottom of the ladder; for I believe the drudgery of small parts, in a stock com pany without encouragement, often under the direction of coarse natures, would be crushing to you. As a rule I advo cate beginning at the lowest round, but I believe you will gain more by continuing as you have begun. Only go to my friend, George Vandenhoff, and tell him from me that he is to clip and tame you generally. I prophesy a future* for you, if you con tinue working earnestly. God be with you ! Doubtless in a year or two you will be before the public. May I be there to see your success ! " With a hearty farewell she stalked out of the room. That was our first and last interview. In her almost brusque manner, she had led me to the right path, and had, in less than an hour, fought successfully the dreaded battle with my mother. In two years' time, I had made my début upon the stage, and she, the greatest of all American actresses, was sleeping her last sleep in a laurel-covered grave at Mount Auburn. Mary de Navarro."

De Navarro, Mary Anderson. "The Girlhood of an Actress." The North American Review, vol. 161, no. 468, 1895, pp. 575-589, https://www.jstor.org/stable/25103617. Accessed 20 April 2021.