PN 2287 15 ^^^^^mmA ^Kf^ Wi& N McCULLOUGH. Wm^mW; m. • ( \ C- _ , A SAN DIEGO J This book, In Memory of John McCullough, was printed from type, at The De Vinne Press, and the edition is strictly hmited to five hundred copies. No more will be made. W. W. IN MEMORY OF JOHN McCULLOUGH * "Sleep sweetly, tender heart, in peace. Sleep, holy spirit, blessed soul, While the stars bum, the moons increase. And the great ages onward roll." TENNYSON. ^ NEW-YORK THE DE VINNE PRESS 1889 TO WILLIAM M. CONNER IN LIFE AND IN DEATH THE AFFECTIONATE AND DEVOTED FRIEND OF goftn a^cCuUouglft THIS MEMORIAL OF THE LOVED AND LAMENTED ACTOR IS HEARTILY DEDICATED CONTENTS. PAGE Life of McCullough . . . > C 9 >BY William Winter-? Tribute to McCullough > (23 Funeral Oration by Henry Edwards 37 The McCullough Monument 47 Address by W. F. Johnson 52 Oration by Steele Mackaye 55 Elegy by William Winter 60 Subscribers to McCullough Monument 65 A SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF JOHN McCULLOUGH.* • By William Winter. • JOHN McCULLOUGH was born at Blakes, near Coleraine, Londonderry, on the seacoast of Ire- land, on November 14, 1832, — the year that is memo- rable in this century for its association with the death of great men. His parents were situated in humble cir- cumstances and were poor. His father, James Mc- Cullough, was a " small farmer." His mother, Mary, died in 1844, leaving her son John, then a lad of twelve, and three daughters, Jane, Mary, and Elizabeth. Their father was unable to provide for these children, and shortly after the mother's death they were obliged to * See " Actors and Actresses of Great Britain and the United States," edited by Brander Matthews and Laurence Hutton. Five volumes. Published by Messrs. Cassell & Company, London and New York. lO 3;oJ)n a^€u«oiigf)» seek their fortune in America. In the spring of 1847 John and his sister Jane came to this country, and having a cousin, named John McCuUough, in Phila- delphia, they proceeded to that city, where, walking in Front Street, young John saw the name of his relative upon a sign, and entering the house claimed kindred there and was acknowledged. This cousin was a chair- maker, and in the business of chair-making John McCullough was now employed. His father and the sisters Mary and Elizabeth followed to America shortly after this time. The father, an unsuccessful man, but independent in spirit, worked all the rest of his life as a farmer in the neighborhood of Philadelphia, seeming to prefer an humble station, and declining to accept aid, even from his son, in the days of prosperity which eventually arrived. His death occurred at Moorestown, Burlington county. New Jersey, in 1878. He is remem- bered as a small, thin man, who spoke with a heavy brogue. He did not maintain intimate relations with his children. He was a faithful worker and an honest man, but he had no ambition, and he was of a reticent and inoperative character. These ancestral peculiari- ties are to be noted for whatever they may happen to signify. The sisters of John McCullough were married in America. Elizabeth, his favorite sister, became the wife of Mr. Thomas Young, and died at Dunmore, Pennsylvania, in 1869. Mary became the wife of Mr. James Smith, and died at Statington, in the same State. Jane was married to Mr. John Wirth, and is a resident of Dunmore. John McCullough, 3[oftn 09cCu!lougl|» II shortly after he came to Philadelphia, made the acquaintance of Miss Letitia McCIair, daughter of Mr. Samuel McClair, of Germantown, and to her he was married April 8, 1849. Two children were born of this marriage — James McCullough, July 4, 1850, and William F. Johnson McCullough, December 2, i860. The latter died on February 25, i886. This second son was named for a friend who knew McCullough throughout the struggles of his early manhood, and stood by him through all vicissitudes till the last of " difference and decay." When John McCullough, a youth of fifteen, came to America he could read, but he could not write. He had received no education, and he was in ignorance of literature and art. Dying thirty-eight years later (1885), he had become a man of large and varied mental acquirements, a considerable scholar in the dramatic profession, and the most conspicuous heroic actor of his time on the American stage. Such a career, beginning in obscure and ignorant penury and ending in culture, honorable eminence, prosperity, and fame, is extraordinary, and in dramatic annals it makes John McCullough a memorable name. No ancestor of his was ever upon the stage. Dra- matic faculty, however, is one of the peculiar attributes of the Irish race. In McCullough it was developed by the accident of his meeting with a " stage-struck " workman in the shop of the Philadelphia chair-maker. This person, whose " spoutings " and whose general vagaries had at first been suggestive of lunacy, made 12 5[oftn !3r^€iinouglj» him acquainted with the tragedy of " Richard the Third " ; stimulated in him a taste for reading Shak- spere ; acquainted him with the delights of rehearsal ; introduced him to a theatrical society; and finally took him to the theater itself The first dramatic per- formance that he witnessed was, according to his own recollection, a performance of Shiel's tragedy of " The Apostate," in the old Arch-Street Theater, Phila- delphia. From this time onward he read with avidity every play that he could obtain, and, without the distinct intention of becoming an actor, — probably with no view whatever to the future, but only from natural relish for this pursuit, — devoted his life and thought to the study of acting. One of his first steps toward the stage taken at this period was his affiliation with " The Boothenian Dramatic Association," of Philadelphia, a local club which held meetings and gave performances in the fourth story of an abandoned warehouse, once a sugar refinery, and of which the principal spirit was Mr. Lemuel R. Shewell, in later years an actor well known throughout the cities on the eastern seaboard of America. McCuUough took lessons in elocution from Mr. Lemuel White, a teacher of this art; and at the house of this gentleman he became acquainted with various friends from whom he received not only sympathy but instruction, and through whose kindly and judicious efforts he obtained substantially all the education it was ever his lot to enjoy. His experience at this time led him to branches of learning apart from the stage. One of the books that he read gioijn a^cCuHougfj, 13 was " Chambers's Encyclopaedia of English Literature," and in less than a month he had absorbed the whole of it, becoming so familiar with its contents that he could descant on the British authors as if he had been trained for nothing else — so eager was his zeal for knowledge and so retentive was the memory in which he stored it. McCuUough's theatrical career, beginning in 1857 and ending in 1884, covered a period of twenty-seven years. His first engagement was made at the Arch- Street Theater, Philadelphia, under the management of William Wheatley and John Drew, and his first appear- ance there was made on August 15, 1857, as Thomas in " The Belle's Stratagem." His rise in the dramatic profession was gradual. In the early days of the American stage it was more difficult to win position than it is in these times of speculative theatrical management, when all the arts of advertising are pressed into the business of manufacturing fame. Every step of the way had then to be made with toil- some effort. There were many obstacles to be sur- mounted and many hardships to be endured. The histories of such actors as Cooper, Forrest, Booth, A. A. Addams, E. L. Davenport, and Jefferson teach the same lesson of persistent effort and of patience under privation. McCuUough, in his quest of professional recognition, had the usual trying experience; but he was in earnest, and he proved the integrity of his talents, the force of his character, and the sincerity of his devotion by a steadfast adherence to that serv- ice of the drama which was the purpose of his life. His 14 Sol^n flr^€uftoiigi)» novitiate at the Arch-Street Theater lasted until the summer of i860, when E. L, Davenport, at that time manager of the Howard Athenaeum, in Boston, engaged him at that theater, where he remained for one season — that of 1860-61. In the ensuing season he was back again in Philadelphia, engaged at the Walnut- Street Theater, under the management of Mrs. Garret- son. Here he was when presently he attracted the notice of Edwin Forrest, who chanced to be in need of an actor to play the parts second to his own, and who procured his release from Mrs. Garretson and gave him an engagement for leading business. This was " the tide which taken at the flood leads on to fortune." McCullough's first appearance with Forrest was made at Boston in October, 1 861, in the character of Pythias. His line of parts now included Laertes., Macduff, lago, Edgar, Richtnond, Icilhis, and Tittts. He cooperated with Forrest also in those plays that were the exclusive property of that tragedian — in "Metamora," "The Gladiator," "Jack Cade," and "The Broker of Bogota." In later times, when For- rest revived " Coriolanus " (November, 1863, at Niblo's Garden, New York), McCullough acted Cominius. From the time of his engagement with Forrest he had a clear field and he advanced in the open sunshine of success. An incident connected with his early life upon the stage is mentioned as significant of his solid character and inveterate purpose. He has more than once re- ferred to it in the hearing of the present writer, as gtojn a^cCuUougt), 15 having had a marked influence upon his subsequent fortunes. While yet a youth, at the Howard Athe- naeum, he was suddenly summoned to play, at short notice, an important and formidable part. Davenport, then the star, had been taken ill, and could not appear. The character was Robert Landry, in "The Dead Heart," one of the longest parts in the modern roman- 'tic drama. McCuUough was directed at noon to be in readiness to come on and read it at night. He took the part home, committed the whole of it to mem- ory within a few hours, and without previous explana- tion to anybody in the theater he went on at night, letter perfect, and played Robert Landry in such a way as to make a hit. These facts came to the knowledge of Forrest and aroused that interest in the young actor which soon afterward took a practical form. McCullough's professional hfe after he joined Edwin Forrest was not more eventful than is usual with a leading man in a theatrical stock company. He trav- eled through the country season after season, playing seconds to the more famous tragedian, and constantly gaining in experience and popularity. At this time he was much under the influence of the style of Forrest, and indeed he habitually imitated the manner of his leader. This was the weakness of many young actors of that period, and perhaps it was not easily to be avoided by an actor who lived and labored in constant association with that strong and singular personality. In after time, however, McCuUough entirely discarded this fault; but he could at will give astonishing imita- i6 9io6n !3r9c€unoiigf)» tions of Forrest's peculiarities, and this he sometimes did, with humorous effect. In 1866 he accompanied Forrest in a trip to California, where he was received with uncommon favor, and where he found many friends. Many of these friends were among the wealthy citizens of San Francisco, and he had not long been in that city before it was proposed by them that he should remain there as the manager of the California Theater, in partnership with his distinguished contemporary Lawrence Barrett, This plan was sanc- tioned by Forrest; the enterprise was carried into effect, and McCullough remained on the Pacific coast for eight successive seasons. The history of the Cali- fornia Theater makes a brilliant chapter in his career. Plays were mounted there with magnificence, the ripe scholarship of Mr. Barrett proved a signal service, and both Barrett and McCullough filled engagements of uncommon profit. Their partnership lasted until No- vember, 1870, when it was dissolved by the amicable withdrawal of Mr. Barrett, and McCullough remained alone in the management. It was in the Cahfomia Theater that he first acted Virginius, and one by one added to his repertory the other great parts to which he had formerly played seconds under the leadership of Forrest. He remained connected with the California Theater until 1875, when, in the ruin of the banker Ralston, he suffered a heavy loss which led to his relinquishment of that institution. It never was his ambition to be a theatrical manager. At the time he lost his voice, in Boston (1876), he expressed to a friend, gjoljn ai^cCuHougf)* 17 in touching language, his grave apprehension of being compelled to relinquish his career as an actor, and sink to the level of theatrical management. On May 4, 1874, McCullough made his first appear- ance as a star actor in New York, coming forward as Spartacus, in " The Gladiator." He acted at Booth's Theater until May 30th. He was seen as Richelieu and Hamlet, and he took part, as Philip Faulcotibridge, in a revivalof" King John," which was effected on May 25th. At the end of this engagement he returned to CaHfornia to attend to the interests of his theater in San Fran- cisco, but in the course of the summer he came back, and when Mr. Boucicault's new play of " Belle Lamar " was brought out at Booth's Theater, August 10, 1874, he acted in it as Colonel Bligh. This was under the management of Messrs. Jarrett & Palmer. On September 14th these managers produced an altered version of Otvvay's tragedy of " Venice Preserved," made by Mr. Boucicault, and in this McCullough acted Pierre — a character that was always a favorite with him. On the 19th he took a benefit and said farewell, and he did not appear in New York again till April 2, 1877. The interval was passed in the fulfillment of ambitious, laborious, and lucrative engagements in many other cities. In the fall of 1874 he went on the West- ern circuit and visited New Orleans, proceeding thence to San Francisco in December and reappearing at the California Theater, where in an engagement of four weeks he drew $36,000. He remained in San Fran- cisco till the autumn of 1875, when he once more came i8 gjoljn