Nat Goodwin's BookGoodwin, Nat. C. (Nathaniel Carll)
General
Nat Goodwin's Book
Goodwin, Nat. C. (Nathaniel Carll)
Actors -- Correspondence
The laughter soon quieted down as it became apparent that Robson was
endeavoring to play the part legitimately and a subdued silence greeted
him as he began his speech for the third time. He started in even a
lower key and continued the speech. As he got into it he began to feel
the meaning of the words and tried to read them with true expression.
As he gave them the necessary emphasis his voice, that most ready of
organs, refused to obey the dictation of the brain and the gradual
crescendo required for the delivery became a succession of Robsonian
squeaks! The audience loyally tried to suppress its hilarity. At first
it smiled, then giggled, then peals of laughter hurled themselves
across the footlights like shots from a Gatling gun. All upon the
stage, except poor Robson, heard the merry storm. He was now thoroughly
engrossed and squeaked away to beat Gilmore's band, utterly oblivious
of the fun he was creating. Thinner and thinner came Rob's squeak;
louder and still louder came the laughter until it became a veritable
avalanche. As he reached the line,
"Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder the old Anchises bear"--
He realized that the audience was laughing at him and he continued,
"Did I, the tired Caesar, you blankety-blank, blankety-blank!", his
added interpolation being really unfit for publication.
Fortunately the laughter drowned the words. Had the audience heard them
the performance would have ended then and there. We all thought that it
must have heard, that the end had come. I prayed fervently that it had,
but no such luck! It gradually quieted down and the play proceeded.
When my turn came to end the act some of my friends said I did very
creditably. At all events I got through without a laugh. And that I
considered a triumph. We often referred to it in after life and always
with great pleasure.
Robson was a unique person, gifted with the most thorough sense of
right and wrong of any man I ever knew. His word was a contract and
with it went the liberality of a king. He absolutely refused to grow
old and sought only the young. He tried to emulate the deeds of
charity of the Good Samaritan and had a kind word for all humanity. He
possessed the soul of a saint and the heart of a fawn. His motto was
JUSTICE. He wrote the words and music of HONOR.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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