Ellen Terry and Her SistersPemberton, T. Edgar (Thomas Edgar)
History
Ellen Terry and Her Sisters
Pemberton, T. Edgar (Thomas Edgar)
Actresses -- Great Britain -- Biography; Terry, Ellen, Dame, 1847-1928
But it must be recorded that Fancy, as let loose and impersonated by
Ellen Terry, is taken from the theatre in thousands of hearts, and that
it enters into many a home circle where the memory of it gives unbounded
and enduring pleasure. Into the simple homes of those who elbow each
other in the gallery, as well as into the luxurious mansions of the
wealthy folk who sit at their ease in the stalls. In many a workman's
dwelling I have come across a carefully framed photograph of Ellen
Terry, and a treasured play-bill kept in commemoration of a
never-to-be-forgotten evening enjoyed in her realms of Fancy.
But she did not drop from cloudland to delight us. Her great
achievements have been won--as all great achievements are won--by early
training, deep and constant study, hard work, and possibly, above all,
by family tradition.
In theatrical lore the name of Terry is, indeed, an old and honoured
one. In Lockhart's beautiful biography of Sir Walter Scott, and again in
the happily published Diary of the Magician of the North, we read much
of the energetic Daniel Terry who was for many years connected with the
Edinburgh stage, and who subsequently joined Yates in a memorable
management of the Adelphi Theatre. Daniel Terry, with the appreciative
eye of the true actor, set his heart upon making stage versions of the
Waverley Novels, and though at first Scott (in common with all great
novelists) objected to this process, it was subsequently allowed, and
adapter and author became friends. It was in the spring of 1816 that
Terry produced a dramatic piece entitled "Guy Mannering," which met with
great success, and is still from time to time seen. "What share," says
Lockhart, "the novelist had in this first specimen of what he used to
call the art of 'Terryfying,' I cannot exactly say; but his
correspondence shows that the pretty song of the Lullaby was not his
only contribution to it; and I infer that he had taken the trouble to
modify the plot, and rearrange, for stage purposes, a considerable part
of the original dialogue."
Of the intimacy that commenced and grew between the poet and the
playwright, Lockhart records:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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