Rensselaer Republican, Volume 21, Number 29, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 March 1889 — Mrs. Langtry Speaks of Her Debut. [ARTICLE]

Mrs. Langtry Speaks of Her Debut.

From a Recent Interview. “It has been eight years since I went on the stage: it was necessity that brought me there; I like bread and butter and had not the money to get it. When Mrs. Labouchere came to me and suggested tnat I should make my first venture in amateur theatricals for the benefit of a charity I was juV making np my mind to start a market garden, for I

felt gore I could succeed in that, and I lad a vague, idea that cabbages, And cauliflower, and asparagus, having the stamp of my special attention, might be given a short vogue in Garden Market I went on the stage determined to accept criticism from whoever offered it, and I do believe that the orchestra and stage people are far the best critics, for they see all sorts and conditions of acting. I will tell yon something fanny that happened to me at my first professional appearance, which was in January, 1882. I was to play Blanche Hay, mid, if you remember, she has a song in the second act. Jdo not sing, consequently it was necessary to have some one behind the screen to sing [for me while I played the accompaniment and imitated ali movements. The first night it was a great success, so much so that Clement Scott insisted that I was doing all the singing, but the second the sing' er had either gotten so intoxicated with her own melody, or had looked too often upon the wine when If was red, for long after the time for her to stop she kept on singing, and though she was conducted from off the stage the audience could still hear her warbling away as she was taken out the stage door,”