A SILVER JUBILEE

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2418, 25 March 1915, Page 9

A SILVER JUBILEE

SIR GEORGE' ALEXANDER'S CAREER "HOW I BEGAN" (From the "Westminster Gazette.") Twenty-five years ago Sir George Alexander was playing in "London Day by Day'' at the Adelphi and, without lelinquishing his part, he entered into llie management of the Avenue. The first play was "Dr. Bill," a farcical comedy adapted from the French, and it was a success. He himself assumed the name part in the middle of Mai eh and at the Avenue he remained for exactly a year. Then came the lemoval to the St. James's; the beginning of a bri'liant and still unbroken record. Looking back upon this long and splendid achievement, it is queer to think that Sir George Alexander was warned solemnly against taking tlia St. James's. If tho prophets had been inspired Sir George Alexander would have. found himself hopelessly sidetracked and at tho edge of things; St. James's would scarcely have been lifted to tho eminence of "the premier comedy theatre in England." One might j urge, of course, that neither Sir Georgo Alexander nor many of his plays could have been side-tracked under any circumstances. The list of St. James's plays certainly is quite remarkable and no summary of the English stage during the past quarter of a century would be complete that did not include several of them. Even after reducing tho list to its minimum -we should still have "Lady Windermere's Fan" and "The Importance of Being Earnest," "Liberty Hall," '"Hie Second Mrs. Tanqtieray" and "His House in Order," "The Prisoner of. Zenda," and "Paolo and Francesca." A Runaway Match. Sir George Alexander had been on the stage •tweuty-tUree years when he became a manager, and before that ho was a keen amateur. His first application for a professional engagement 'was clandestine. Mrs. Swanborougli— still remembered in the theatres—was the first to employ him. In fact, without Mrs. Swanborougli there might have been no George Alexander. "What is your name?" tho lady asked "George Alexander Samson," replied the aspirant. 3 . "Oh, we can't have any Bible names m our company," said the lady firmly. And in that instant George Alexander was born.

This reminiscence caused Sir George to reflect, upon the fact that during these twenty-five years the old practice of assuming names for the stage lias very largely disappeared. "Prejudice agaiust the theatro haß died out almost completely," he said. "When I entered into management most parents thought it ( outrageous that their sons, to whom they had given •an expensive education, should dare to think of the stage as a suitable means of livelihood. Now there is a large number of public school and 'Varsity men ou the stage. I tliiuk . this—let me call it academic, influence has been for good.

_ The case being otherwise at that time, the young- actor took French leave.- "I had to obtain an engagement on the sly," lie said, " and I remember slipping away from home, bag in hand, ono Sunday morning to join the company. It was a runaway match I" Playing With Irving. Not until he played with Irving, three years later, and began to make a career, waste father reconciled. "I was given a part in 'Tha Two Roses,' " he said, "and was taken back to the family fold. _ I was very jumpy and nervous (I still suffer severely from stago fright), and probably looked for help ■and encouragement at home. Ono night I was lying awake, worrying over my task, conning my words, when suddenly a ghostly, white figure, carrying a candle, walked into the room. 'Are you awake P' said a voice. And then: 'How can you have the audacity to attempt to act with Henry Irving?' It was my father!"

One striking change that Sir George Alexander lias observed during his career has been the steady growth of the volume of prosperity. "The theatre as a trade has developed so much," he said. "Such a large number of theatres are now prosperous undertakings. America has been opened up for tho English dramatist and actor, too, and one might say that London has become the chief manufacturing centre. Twenty-five years ago there were not more than three or four theatres doing serious work or open for that purpose. "In those days the theatre was really * fashion. The young people who took an interest in the theatro did so mainly because it was the theatre, and .that kind of interest has gone more and more to the music-halls. But the increase in play-going is extraordinary. As declared above, they have been pleasant years, made all the more interesting by what Sir George calls "o'utsido interests." Ho admits a strong liking for politics, and fow are awara of the immense burden which six years of conscientious work on the Londou County Council set on his shoulders. And he very narrowly escaped being the Parliamentary candidate for Stepney. "Had I- gone into Parliament," bo said, cheerfully, "there would havo bean considerably less 'acting on ray part during the past iew years."