In this biographical article,
Mary Howitt recounts events from
Charlotte Cushman's life and emphasizes her personal virtues, her talent on stage and the struggles she faced in her career. She describes Cushman's long and painful struggle to success, defending her for the choices she made, and admiring her as an actress and an individual. In London, the "letters of introduction" did not help Cushman in the beginning.
Apparently, Howitt felt the need to comment on CC playing male roles: "And here let a few words be said on a subject which has excited some remarks, and as we think needlessly, to Miss Cushman’s disadvantage—we mean on her taking male parts. We can assert it as a fact, and it is a fact full of generosity and beautiful affection, that it is solely on
her sister's account that she has done so. By taking herself the male character, for which she was in many cases admirably suited, she was enabled to obtain the first female character for her sister; there being, as is well known, no plays written in which two prominent female characters, are found."
The article is sold as a memoir at the theater where Cushman is performing.
A full text is available via
HathiTrust.
Credit
New York Public Library