The autobiography of Joseph Jefferson . e houses themselves. People who had lived be-yond their means found their extravagance checkedby an unlooked-for depression of their precariousincomes. Horses and carriages were sold for asong. That conventional army of gentlemen whoare always selling their teams, because they andtheir families are about to go to Europe, increasedso alarmingly that column after column of thedaily papers were filled with announcements oftheir intended departures. Under such conditions naturally the theaterswere great sufferers. Salary day — that ever-wel-come Monday — was
The autobiography of Joseph Jefferson . e houses themselves. People who had lived be-yond their means found their extravagance checkedby an unlooked-for depression of their precariousincomes. Horses and carriages were sold for asong. That conventional army of gentlemen whoare always selling their teams, because they andtheir families are about to go to Europe, increasedso alarmingly that column after column of thedaily papers were filled with announcements oftheir intended departures. Under such conditions naturally the theaterswere great sufferers. Salary day — that ever-wel-come Monday — was deferred first until Tuesday,then until Wednesday, then until Thursday—andfinally disappeared altogether. The bands struckwith one accord, and as usual got their money;the actors revolted and as usual did not getit. The public despondently staid at home,the theaters were empty, the managers de-pressed, and the actors jolly. This seems in-credible, but the members of my profession, atleast in the old time, were always in the best. JOSEPH AS DK. IANGLOSS OF JOSEPH JEFFERSON 189 of spirits when business was bad and salaries wereuncertain. Just at this juncture Miss Keene produced a localfarcical comedy called Splendid Misery —a mostappropriate title and well suited to the financialcrisis through which the country was passing, andin keeping, too, with the straitened circum-stances of many families that were suffering fromtheir previous extravagance. There were severallocal hits in the play which pointed so plainly tothe prevailing panic that they were much enjoyedby the slim audiences that beheld them. Business had fallen off and the theater was in afair way to follow in the train of bankruptcy thatwas dragging everything after it, when I hit uponthe idea of producing what was deemed a shock-ing innovation in a legitimate Broadway about for a novel that might be turnedinto a strong military drama, I came upon GeorgeLepards Revolutionary story ent
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectjeffers, bookyear1890
