Joseph Jefferson; reminiscences of a fellow player . evisedversion of Rip Van Winkle which Jeffersonbrought back with him from England in that time forward, he was Rip and Ripwas he. It might be said that the play was anincident, more or less important, in the life ofevery other player who had performed it, but that,comparatively speaking, it was Jeffersons wholeexistence. After Boucicault revised it, doubtlesson lines suggested by Jefferson, it was never nec-essary for Jefferson to play anything else. Hevaried his performances, it is true, with CalebPlummer, Bob Acres, Dr. Pangloss,
Joseph Jefferson; reminiscences of a fellow player . evisedversion of Rip Van Winkle which Jeffersonbrought back with him from England in that time forward, he was Rip and Ripwas he. It might be said that the play was anincident, more or less important, in the life ofevery other player who had performed it, but that,comparatively speaking, it was Jeffersons wholeexistence. After Boucicault revised it, doubtlesson lines suggested by Jefferson, it was never nec-essary for Jefferson to play anything else. Hevaried his performances, it is true, with CalebPlummer, Bob Acres, Dr. Pangloss, Dr. Ollapod,and Golightly, but most of all he played Rip VanWinkle, Boucicaults revised Rip Van Winkle, Jef-fersons own skilfully developed and revised ver-sion of Boucicaults revision of Rip Van a fertile actor in the upbuilding of a scene, agenius in fact in this respect, much that Bouci-cault did acted as a spur, a suggestion, to Jeffer-son, who, as we are told on good authority, sodeveloped the play that Boucicault himself, ever 36. JOSEPH JEFFERSON AS RIP VAN WINK^LEi^rom a photograph. Copyright 1^94 by B. J, Fallc RIP VAN WINKLE sceptical of the plays worth, was astonished andgreatly impressed thereby. I count It one of the privileges of my life tohave heard Joseph Jefferson with kindling eyedescribe the September night in 65, when, at theAdelphi Theatre in London, an American come-dian in an American play, Rip Van Winkle,began a theatrical engagement which lasted forone hundred and seventy nights. Somehow, though different in many aspects, itrecalled the first London performance of Shy-lock by Edmund Kean, when that unknowngenius flashed comet-like and with startling effectacross the English dramatic sky. Jefferson could see indeed what the Londonsuccess meant for him, not only in England, butin America, whither, after an absence of fiveyears, he wended his way, and where, in NewYork just a year later, at the Olympic Theatre,he gave his fellow countrymen an
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