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(Excerpt from Recollections of a Player These reminiscenc...)
Excerpt from Recollections of a Player These reminiscences, and although wishful to heed the request of his children, - that he would make for them, as a precious leg acy, some account of his life, - it was not till strongly urged by the present writer that he consented to undertake this task. Such persuasion was warranted, for no actor was ever more genuine than Mr. Stoddart, and no professional life was ever more exemplary than his of the ad mirable virtues of perseverance, self-de nial, sincerity, fidelity, purity, and truth. The counsel upon which the veteran finally acted was that he should write freely, as if in a letter to an old friend, whatever of the past he might happen to remember; and in so writing he has made old days to live again, and voices to Speak once more that have long been silent, and faces to smile upon us that have long been cold. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
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James was born on October 13, 1827 in Barnsley, Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom, one of a family of ten. His father was James Henry Stoddart, a provincial actor from Scotland; his mother was Mary (Pierce) Stoddart of Yorkshire. In appearance, however, the son always suggested very strongly the Scotch side of his ancestry. The elder Stoddart had been for many years connected with the Theatre Royal, Glasgow, and all five of his sons became actors.
James Henry began as a child of five and as a youth acted with the American star, Charlotte Cushman, in Glasgow, playing a gypsy boy in Guy Mannering. In 1854 he made a hazard of new fortunes and came to New York, where James William Wallack engaged him as a member of his company. He remained in Wallack's company for two years and then joined Laura Keene.
In 1859 he was at the Winter Garden, where Dion Boucicault was the stage manager and Joseph Jefferson the leading player. There he played Lafourche in the famous production of Boucicault's The Octoroon.
From 1864 to 1866 he was at the Olympic, where he played Moneypenny in The Long Strike. In 1867 he went back again to Wallack's Theatre on Broadway at Thirteenth Street, and in 1875, after two unsuccessful seasons of touring as the star in The Long Strike, joined the company of Albert Marshman Palmer at the Union Square Theatre. He remained with this famous organization for two decades, moving with it to the Madison Square Theatre and playing in almost all the dramas to which it gave life.
Consequently, he was identified at one time or another with most American actors of his period and with the works of many rising American playwrights, including Bronson Crocker Howard and Augustus Thomas. One of his famous roles was that of Pierre Michel in Rose Michel. Another, which illustrated his versatility and his sympathy with the newer drama of local color, was that of Colonel Preston in Augustus Thomas' play, Alabama. Here, in spite of his Scotch ancestry, he gave a convincing performance, carefully composed and natural in execution, of an old-school Southerner.
During the season of 1901-02, at the Republic Theatre, New York, he played Lachlan Campbell in a dramatization of the then popular story by Ian Maclaren (John Watson), Beside the Bonnie Briar Bush. He was still playing this role when he was stricken with paralysis in April 1905 in Galt, Ontario.
He died in 1907 at his home in Sewaren, New Jersey.
James Henry Stoddart's career as an actor lasted sixty-three years. Though, in all conscience, his career had been a long one, it was not till five years later that, for the second time, he became a star, and for the first time a successful one. In 1902 he published his Recollections of a Player. Till his final illness, he scarcely ever lacked employment in the best companies, and for fifty years was a valued and beloved figure on the American stage.
(Excerpt from Recollections of a Player These reminiscenc...)
(Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We h...)
Stoddart was so striking in appearance, especially in later life, that disguise was impossible, and he applied his skill to fitting his own personality to a part. Tall and slender, wiry of frame, with an extraordinarily wide mouth and wide-set, penetrating blue eyes, he had the face and figure of some old Scotchman carved out of rock and heather. But it was a face and figure oddly appealing, and Stoddart knew how to make the most of it, both for humor and pathos. He could play with a light touch, and he could strike deep.
He had waited long, and worked hard, for his honors.
His wife was Matilda (Phillips) Conover, whom he met and married, October 28, 1855, when both were playing with Lester Wallack. They had two sons, one of whom died young, and a daughter.
