AS YOU LIKE IT.

  As You Like It: Cather's column title is taken from that of Shakespeare's play, As You Like It (1600).

  The Nebraska State Journal: The Nebraska State Journal was founded in 1867 by Charles H. Gere as the Nebraska Commonwealth, a solidly Republican newspaper. It became the leading paper in Lincoln for many years, finally merging with its rival, the Lincoln Star, in 1995. The managing editor for many years was Will Owen Jones; other employees whom Cather knew were Walt Mason, A. L. Bixby, and printer Flora Bullock, a classmate and the first bibliographer of Cather's journalism.

Charles Gere's wife, Mariel Clapham Gere, and their daughters Mariel, Frances, and Ellen, were long-time friends of Cather.

  advance man: An advance man, or advance agent, traveled ahead of a theatrical troupe to make arrangements for its productions in the cities they visited: arranging for newspaper notices and other publicity, conferring with the theater manager, and arranging for accommodations for the members of the company.

  flat, stale and unprofitable: In Shakespeare's Hamlet, Hamlet's soliloquy in Act 1, scene 2, begins: O, that this too too solid flesh would melt Thaw and resolve itself into a dew! Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God! God! How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable Seem to me all the uses of this world! (lines 131-136)

  Thomas Q. Seabrooke: American actor and singer Thomas Q. Seabrooke (1860-1913) was born Thomas James Quigley in New York. He spent some years as a bank teller, then decided to go into show business, making his debut in Rhode Island about 1880. Although he played leading juvenile parts in various stock companies, his talent for comedy was discovered, and he played in several Charles Hoyt farce comedies, making a hit as the Deacon in A Midnight Bell (1889). His first comic opera role was in The Little Tycoon (1888) and he afterwards appeared with De Wolfe Hopper in Castles in the Air (1890). His greatest success was with The Isle of Champagne (1892), which he toured with for several years and revived occasionally. This was followed by Tobasco (1894); his last big hit was with A Chinese Honeymoon (1902). He tried straight comedy and drama several times, unsuccessfully; after 1906 he played in vaudeville.

Seabrooke's first wife was actress Elvia Croix (or Crox), whom he married in 1883; they were separated in 1896, and she sued for divorce in 1899. He later married actress Jeannette Lowrie; a month before his death he married actress Mattie Quinn (Martha Shepard).

  Robert Mantell: Robert Bruce Mantell (1854-1928) was born in Scotland and educated in Belfast, Ireland, where he apparently got his first training for the stage. He came to the U.S. about 1878, and joined Modjeska's company for a time, before starting his own company. He was a popular exponent of Shakespearean roles, as well as the standard romantic dramas, but never achieved much critical success in New York or London. He was popular elsewhere, however (his portrait appeared on cigar bands), and he toured with considerable success well into the twentieth century; he appeared also in some silent films before his death.

Mantell was married five times, the last three to his leading ladies, one of whom (Charlotte Behrens) is said to have died in suspicious circumstances in 1898. By his last wife, Genevieve Hamper, he had a son, Robert B. Mantell, Jr. (1912-1933), who was apparently married briefly to 1930s film star Marian Marsh.

  Felix Morris: Actor Felix Morris (1845-1900) was born in England and studied medicine before deciding to pursue a career on the stage. He came to the U.S., supporting himself occasionally as a drugstore clerk. He became a member of Eugene McDowell's and George Fawcett Rowe's companies in the 1870s, touring in the U.S. and Canada. In the 1880s he formed his own touring company, adapting plays such as Mona(1885) for actress Helene Dauvray, and The Pavements of Paris(1884), starring himself. By 1890, however, he was a member of Rosina Vokes' London Comedy Company. After her death in early 1894 he formed his own company again, writing and adapting plays, such as The Old Musician(1891).

Morris's Reminiscences was published in 1892. He married actress Florence Wood and had two daughters, Mildred and Felice.

  Frank Daniels: Frank Daniels (1856-1935) was born in Dayton, Ohio, but grew up in Boston, where he studied singing at the New England Conservatory of Music. One of his first important roles was in 1879 as the sheriff in The Chimes of Normandy. His first success was as a comedian. He toured for three years in the hit play, An Electric Doll, then had another success as Old Sport in Charles Hoyt's A Rag Baby. His biggest hit was as Packington Gilmedge in A. C. Gunter's Little Puck, which he played for seven years. He turned to comic operas such as The Wizard of the Nile, Ameer, and The Idol's Eye. William Winter called him "the comedian with the trick eyebrows" but says nothing about his voice, though Daniels recorded a Victor Herbert song, "My Angeline" in 1896. The narrator of Kenneth McGaffey's satiric novel, Sorrows of a Show Girl, said, "I was out with a kind friend the other evening whose general disposition is to try and make Frank Daniels look like a spendthrift" (chapter 1).

  Clara Morris: Born Clara Morrison, Morris (1848-1925) made her New York debut in 1870 and was a great success playing passionate, suffering heroines in roles in such plays as Jezebel, Camille (1874), Miss Multon, a version of East Lynne (1876), Jane Eyre (1877), and The New Magdalen (1882). She formed her own company about 1878 and toured the country. She was never famous for her beauty, and her voice was flawed, but the emotional power of her acting overcame these defects. Morris retired in the 1890s as the new kinds of realistic plays of Ibsen and Shaw and Pinero made the older dramas seem old-fashioned and histrionic. In retirement she wrote articles and columns on acting, as well as volumes of reminiscences that show her acting was not so instinctive and unpracticed as Cather supposed.

Image available at the New York Public Library Digital Gallery.

Image available at the University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections.

Clara Morris Clara Morris Clara Morris Clara Morris Clara Morris

  Julia Marlowe: Marlowe (born Sarah Frost in England in 1866) made her stage debut in 1878 and first appeared in New York in 1887. Her beauty and refinement made her immensely popular with audiences, and she toured frequently with her own company, with both her first husband, Robert Taber (married 1894, divorced 1900), and her second, the almost equally well-known actor, E. H. Sothern (married 1911). She was considered a romantic rather than an emotional actress, especially famous in Shakespearean roles. She retired in 1924 and died in 1950. Julia Marlowe Julia Marlowe Julia Marlowe Julia Marlowe

  DeWolf Hopper: William DeWolf Hopper (1858-1935) made his stage debut in 1878. At 6 feet 2 inches he was considered too tall for serious acting roles, and his big bass singing voice drew him to musical theater; he starred in The Black Hussar in 1885, and had his first pairing with Della Fox in Castles in the Air in 1890, followed by Wang in 1891 and Panjandrum in 1893; he starred in many more Broadway shows. One of his most popular acts was his recitation of Thayer's poem, "Casey at the Bat," which he helped to make popular; he recited it at curtain calls, recorded it in 1906, and performed it in a silent movie in 1916, and on the radio.

Hopper married six times, most notably to actress Elda Furry, best known as the feared gossip columnist Hedda Hopper. His son by her, William DeWolf Hopper, Jr., played Paul Drake on the 1950s Perry Mason televion series.

  Miss Marie Tempest: Marie Susan Hetherington (1864-1942) was born in London. She studied singing abroad, then returned to study under Manuel Garcia, who had taught Jenny Lind. She made her London debut in 1885, then took over the lead in Erminie (1885). She became famous when she took over the lead in Dorothy (1887) turning it into a hit that ran for 931 performances. She took The Red Hussar to New York in 1890, and toured the U.S. in operettas, including The Pirates of Penzance, The Bohemian Girl, and The Fencing Master. She was considered one of the few who could rival Lillian Russell. Tempest ceased singing operettas in 1899, devoting herself to comedy. Noel Coward wrote a part for her in his Hay Fever (1925). She toured until the year before her death, and was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1937. Marie Tempest

  William H. Crane: William H. Crane (1845-1928) was one of the best known comic actors of his day. He partnered with Stuart Robson from 1877-1889, then took off on an independent career. Popular as he was in the 1890s, his greatest success was yet to come, in the title role in David Harum (1900), a role he recreated in the silent film (1915). He appeared in other silent films, notably as Buster Keaton's father in Keaton's first starring role, The Saphead (1920).

Humorist George Ade, classing Crane with such actors as Joseph Jefferson, said, "William H. Crane is another veteran of the stage who holds the regard of the public. It knows him as the kind of man we should like to invite up to our house to meet the 'folks'" (Century, December 1910). Critic Lewis C. Strang, who also compared Crane with Jefferson, said "He is a character comedian, whose one character is himself. His is a whole-souled, frank, and genial personality . . . that suggest shrewdness and generosity, keen good sense, and tender-hearted chivalry. . . . His command of pathos is not so sure" (Famous American Actors of the Day in America [1900] 149, 151). Crane wrote a volume of reminiscences, Footprints and Echoes (1927).

Image in the New York Public Library Digital Gallery.

William H. Crane

  The Black Crook: Often called the first American musical, The Black Crook opened at Niblo's Garden in New York in September 1866. It was the most expensive production of its day (sources give figures from $25,000 to $50,000), the most successful (it ran for over a year and earned over $1,000,000), and the most scandalous (for its scantily-clad chorus of a hundred French ballet girls). The Black Crook began as a melodrama by Charles Barras (1826-1873) about a crook-backed practitioner of black magic, Hertzog, who conspires with the demon Zamiel to steal the soul of the poor painter Rodolphe, who loves the beautiful foundling Aminta. When the theater in which a troupe of French ballerinas was to perform burned down, the managers offered the dancers, with their costumes and scenery, to William Wheatley, the producer of the Barras play. A libretto based on the play incorporated music, dances, and dazzling scenic effects; the show lasted for more than five hours.

The Black Crook had been revived eight times in New York, most recently at the Academy of Music from September 1, 1892 to May 20, 1894, when it ran for 306 performances and took in over $350,000. Agnes deMille choreographed a revival in 1929. Other companies revived it all over the country for the rest of the century, and it was made into a film in 1916.

The Black Crook in Lincoln in April 1894 was not that of the New York revival, which starred Morris Lipman, Charles Plunkett, Grace Tabor, and Louise Freeman.

Image of the Black Crook chorus available at the New York Public Library Digital Gallery.

  Richard Mansfield: Richard Mansfield (1857-1907) was the son of soprano Erminia Rudersdorff, and grandson of violinist Joseph Rudersdorff. His start on the stage came in light opera, including character roles in Gilbert and Sullivan's Pinafore and Pirates of Penzance. Mansfield came to America in 1882 and joined Palmer's Union Square Theatre company, making his success as an aging roué in A Parisian Romance (1883). His title roles as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in 1887 further increased his reputation, which was never simply that of a leading man or romantic hero; he played Richard III and Cyrano de Bergerac and Beau Brummell along with more conventional roles. His early success enabled him to form his own company, and as a manager he was noted for lavish and meticulous staging—sometimes financially successful and sometimes disastrous. He was one of the first to produce George Bernard Shaw's plays in America, playing the anti-hero Bluntschli in Arms and the Man in 1894 and Dick Dudgeon in The Devil's Disciple in 1897. Mansfield was a serious student of acting, and was one of the most important actors of his time, though a minority of critics felt he was unsuited for some of the parts he played. He married his leading woman, Beatrice Cameron (1868-1940), in 1892. Richard Mansfield in multiple roles

  Alexander Salvini: Alessandro (usually anglicized to Alexander in the U.S.) Salvini (1860-1896) was the son of the great actor Tommaso Salvini. He was born in Italy but came to America with his father's troupe. His New York debut was in 1882; he earned a reputation as a romantic actor in such roles as D'Artagnan in The Three Guardsmen. He married Maud Dixon, also a member of the troupe. He formed his own company and began to earn a reputation as a tragedian, especially as Hamlet.

Clara Morris, in her My Life as a Star (1906), discusses the young Salvini's preparations for his New York debut.

  Lansing Theatre: The Lansing Theater, on the southwest corner of 13th and P Streets, was built in 1891, displacing the Funke Opera House as the largest and finest theater in Lincoln. The owners were J.F. Lansing (b. 1842), a Lincoln real estate man, and his brother-in-law Henry Oliver (b. 1857); Edward A. Church was the manager. According to the program of the opening week (November 23-28, 1891) the auditorium consisted of the orchestra and parquet seating on the main level, with dress circle at the rear and sides; three tiers of five boxes each and six loges were at the sides. Above were the balcony and the gallery. With standing room, about 2500 people could be present.

The building also housed offices, including that of Cather's friend and fellow reviewer, Dr. Julius H. Tyndale. It was renamed the Oliver Theater in 1898.

The Oliver Theater, Lincoln, Nebraska. The theater was originally named The Lansing Theater.

  Mr. Church: Edward A. Church (d. 1927), had been manager of the Funke Opera house in the late 1880s, and became manager of the Lansing Theater after it was built.

In 1894 Lansing Theater manager Ed Church organized a touring company to perform Goethe's Faust. George Baker of Beatrice, Nebraska, played the role of Faust, according to the Nebraska State Journal (18 December 1894). The company had an engagement in Chicago.

Cather referred to this company in her September 13 and 16, 1894 columns.

  the new Boyd: In Omaha, the New Boyd Theatre, at the corner of 15th and Farnam, opened in September 1891, after a fire destroyed Boyd's Opera House (built 1881). Cather visited Omaha once in 1892 to see Sarah Bernhardt, probably at this theater. The theaters were named for their proprietor, the former mayor of Omaha and governor of Nebraska (1891-93), James E. Boyd.

  Omaha: The largest city in Nebraska, Omaha is about fifty miles east of Lincoln, on the western bank of the Missouri River. There was always some jealousy between the two cities: Omaha felt it ought to have been the capital.

  Gustave Frohman: Producer Gustave Frohman (c. 1854-1930), brother of producers Charles and Daniel Frohman, was probably born, like them, in Ohio. According to his obituary in Time, he worked as an office boy for newspaper editor Horace Greeley. He and his brothers entered show business in the 1870s, as managers and advance men. Their first success was as managers and then owners of Callender's minstrel troupe. By the 1880s they were producing plays in New York and buying theaters. They developed the system of traveling road companies for their New York shows, bought theaters, and developed stars. The brothers formed a motion picture production company in 1915, shortly before Charles' death; Gustave and Daniel ran it until 1920.

  Frohman's company No. 13: The Frohman brothers, in addition to their stock companies in New York, sent out many touring companies, with casts appropriate to the size of the cities in which they would play. Gustave Frohman's no. 13 company had several actors just at the beginning of their careers; a few, such as Thomas Reynolds and Brandon Tynan, would become successful, if not long-remembered, actors.

  "never touched us": The source of this quotation has not been found.

  Mr. Charles Frohman: Charles Frohman (1860-1915) became the most important theatrical manager of his time; he was one of the founders of the Theatrical Syndicate which for a time controlled U.S. theaters. His first big success was with Bronson Howard's Shenandaoh in 1889. He developed the star system when he engaged John Drew in 1892 for his Empire Stock Company, and later managed many other of the top stars; he encouraged many playwrights such as Clyde Fitch and David Belasco. Frohman died in the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915. Charles Frohman

  Sowing the Wind: The popular four act play, Sowing the Wind (1893) by Sydney Grundy was produced first in London in October 1893 and was still running when the New York production, starring Viola Allen and Henry Miller, opened January 2, 1894. The play, set in the 1830s, concerns Mr. Brabazon (Miller), who opposes his adopted son's desire to marry Rosamund (Allen), a singer. Brabazon had been forcibly separated from the woman he loved in his youth; at the denouement he finds that Rosamund is his daughter by his lost love, and permits the two to marry. The New York Times reviewer compared Sowing the Wind favorably to Wilde's A Woman of No Importance, running on Broadway at the same time. Grundy's play was made into a movie in 1921.The title is based on Hosea 8.7: "He that sows the wind shall reap the whirlwind."

  Emily Bacher: Neither the New York Times drama review index nor Odell's Annals of the New York Stage list an actress named Emily Backer or Backer.

  Our Flat: Our Flat (1889), an English farce-comedy by Mrs. Musgrave, was a success at the Strand theatre in London when Daniel Frohman bought the rights to it to fill a gap in his schedule caused by the illness of a leading actress. Our Flat, which opened in New York on 21 October 1889, concerns a young wife whose furniture is all removed because she can't make the final installment payment. "She extemporizes furniture by means of boxes, barrels, bathtubs, ironing boards and similar articles" (New York Times, 22 October 1889). When the secret is revealed at last, the hard-hearted father relents and the couple is restored to prosperity. Louise Thorndyke-Boucicault played the young wife in the New York production.

  Rose Coghlan: Rose Coghlan (1853-1932) was born in England and began acting when she was still a child. Actor-manager E. H. Sothern brought her to America in 1871; she returned to England for four years, creating the role of Lady Mandan in All For Her, playing it for 400 nights at the St. James Theatre. Returning to New York in 1877, she became the leading woman in Lester Wallack's famous stock company, gaining fame as a player of emotional parts and adventuresses in such roles as Camille, Vere Herbert in Moths, Pauline in Lady of Lyons, and Nellie Denver in The Silver King. Her range extended into comedy also—she was considered one of the best Lady Teazles of her time, and a successful Rosalind. Critic Frederic E. McKay called her "Rose Coghlan, the wide-eyed, velvet-voiced, caressing, fascinating, divinely smiling." Coghlan formed her own company in 1888, when Wallack retired; she married actor John T. Sullivan, who was her leading man, in 1890; they divorced in 1893. She returned to England in 1892, then came back to America in 1894, playing in Wilde's A Woman of No Importance; other popular roles were in Our Joan, Princess Olga, Lady Barter, Diplomacy, and Forget-Me-Not. Jocelyn and Madonna were written for her by her brother, actor Charles Coghlan. Rose Coghlan became an American citizen in 1902. She appeared in three silent films before her retirement.

Image available at the University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections.

Rose Coghlan

  Georgie Cavyan: Actress Georgia Cayvan (1858-1906) was born in Bath, Maine; she graduated from the Boston School of Oratory and earned her living as a professional reader before going on stage as Hebe in Pinafore with the Boston Ideal Opera Company in 1879. She was afterwards a member of the Union Square Company before signing with Daniel Frohman in 1886, becoming the star of the Lyceum Company. During this time she became, as an obituary said, "the most popular actress in this country." Her health began to fail in 1892, when an operation was performed. By 1896 she was touring with her own company (which included the young Lionel Barrymore); she was involved in a divorce case that same year, but was exonerated after defending herself and with the support of many women's groups. In 1900 her health forced her to retire to the sanitarium in which she died.

  The Amazons: In The Amazons, a farce by Arthur Wing Pinero (1855-1934), three aristocratic English girls are brought up as boys; they discover their true natures when they meet the right men. Herbert Kelcey and Georgia Cayvan were two of the stars. The New York Times reviewer said, "Mr. Pinero gets all the fun that is possible out of his idea" (20 February 1894).

  Aladdin Jr. Extravaganza company: The New York Times reviewer noted, when the spectacle of Aladdin, Jr. opened there in April 1895, that it had been playing in Chicago and had been long heralded. The review praised the beautiful costumes, scenic effects, and dancing, and predicted its success although the cast was not particularly strong and there were no particularly new ideas. Anna Boyd played the part of Aladdin in the New York cast.

  If Mr. Church were here: The Lansing's manager, Edward Church, had formed a company to perform Faust and taken it on tour to Chicago and elsewhere.

  Ada Bothner: Actress Ada Bothner was born in England and came to the U.S. about 1890, appearing first in comic opera. She joined Charles Hoyt's company and appeared in the original cast of The Voodoo. She toured as Teddy Keys in A Bunch of Keys until shortly before her death from spinal meningitis in May 1899.

  Bunch of Keys: Hoyt's first play, A Bunch of Keys: Polished Up to Date, opened in New York in 1883. A man leaves a hotel to one of his nieces—Rose, May, or Theodosia Keys—whichever niece is declared to be the homeliest by the first traveling salesman who comes to the hotel.

  Katie Emmett: Actress Katie Emmett starred in a production of The Waifs of New York which ran for several years in the early 1890s in various minor theaters, according to Odell (XV). The New York Times records her appearance at a Broadway theater in Killarney (1892), and notes that she was "known 'on the road' in productions of that sort," that is, sentimental and/or Irish plays. After 1892, according to Odell, she alternated performances of Waifs and Killarney.

  Marie Basta Tavary: German-born soprano Marie Basta Tavary was singing leading roles with the Minnie Hauk Grand Opera Company by 1891. She made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni on March 4, 1893; she sang with Campanini, Eames, Scalchi, and others. She also sang with Gustav Hinrich's Opera Company in Philadelphia, from which she would draw many members of her own company in 1894. Her company toured the U.S. and parts of Canada for about three years. In October 1899 she appeared for a week at a vaudeville theater in Omaha.

Images available at the State Library of Victoria and also available here

  Tavary Opera company: The Marie Tavary Grand English Opera Company toured for several years beginning in 1894, managed by Charles H Pratt. Marie Tavary was the leading soprano, with Thea Dorre, mezzo-soprano; Nina Bertini Humphreys, soprano; Helen von Doenhoff, contralto; Albert L. Guille, Payne Clarke, tenors; William Mertens, baritone; William Hamilton and William Schuster, bassos. All of these singers had been members of Gustav Hinrich's Opera company in Philadelphia. Other members included Emma Mariani, Dora Escott, Sofia Romani, and Karl Clause, William Warren, and J.C. Cheviot. Their repetoire included Cavalleria Rusticana, Rigoletto, Il Trovatore, Martha, Carmen, Bohemian Girl, I Pagliacci. Emerico Morrealle was the conductor.

The company visited Lincoln in December 1894 and April 1896.

  Thomas Q. Seabrooke: American actor and singer Thomas Q. Seabrooke (1860-1913) was born Thomas James Quigley in New York. He spent some years as a bank teller, then decided to go into show business, making his debut in Rhode Island about 1880. Although he played leading juvenile parts in various stock companies, his talent for comedy was discovered, and he played in several Charles Hoyt farce comedies, making a hit as the Deacon in A Midnight Bell (1889). His first comic opera role was in The Little Tycoon (1888) and he afterwards appeared with De Wolfe Hopper in Castles in the Air (1890). His greatest success was with The Isle of Champagne (1892), which he toured with for several years and revived occasionally. This was followed by Tobasco (1894); his last big hit was with A Chinese Honeymoon (1902). He tried straight comedy and drama several times, unsuccessfully; after 1906 he played in vaudeville.

Seabrooke's first wife was actress Elvia Croix (or Crox), whom he married in 1883; they were separated in 1896, and she sued for divorce in 1899. He later married actress Jeannette Lowrie; a month before his death he married actress Mattie Quinn (Martha Shepard).

  In Old Kentucky: This popular play by Charles T. Dazey (1855-1938) premiered in New York October 23, 1893. Set in the bluegrass and mountain areas of Kentucky, the plot featured feuding families and climaxed in a horse race. The play was made into a novel by Edward Marshall, and several films using this title were made—one in 1909 by D.W. Griffith, others in 1919 and 1927, and another in 1935 with Will Rogers and Bill "Bojangles" Robinson.

  Eugen Sandow: Body-builder Eugen Sandow (1867-1925) was born in Prussia, and was impressed at a young age by Greek and Roman statues of gladiators and athletes, from whom he derived his ideal of the perfect body. He performed as a strongman in Europe and then in America, where he appeared at the 1893 Fair in Chicago. Under the management of Florenz Ziegfield, he added muscle display to his strongman feats (Edison filmed this in 1894), as well as posing as famous statues such as "The Dying Gaul." Sandow published five books on body-building and exercising for health; he also organized the first body-building contest in 1901, and developed and marketed exercise equipment. He is considered the father of modern body building.

  Mr. Russell: Sol Smith Russell (1848-1902), an actor, singer, and drummer, arrived in New York in 1871, where he joined Daly's Company. He became well known for his comedic performances and for his comedy, A Poor Relation, and he toured widely throughout the United States during his career of nearly 40 years. He became paralyzed in 1900 and died two years later.

Image available at the New York Public Library Digital Gallery and also at Northeastern Illinois University

Sol Smith Russell

  The Charity Ball: The Charity Ball (1889), a play by David Belasco and Henry DeMille, opened at Daniel Frohman's Lyceum Theatre November 19, 1889. The plot concerned a clergyman who believes himself in love with a young woman, only to find her weeping one night in his study with a confession that concerns his devil-may-care brother. In the end a marriage is arranged between the fallen couple, and the clergyman realizes his love for the saintly Ann, who has long loved him. The original production starred Georgia Cayvan as Ann. The New York Times predicted a long run for the play with its beautiful effects and "easily appreciated pathos and humor" (24 November 1889). In one of the scenes, at a charity ball, a debutante auctions off the privilege of dancing with her, for the sake of the charity; the Times considered this an "extraordinary" incident.

  Mme. Herrmann: Adelaide Scarcez (1854-1932) married Alexander Herrman in 1875; she served as his assistant and after his death of a heart attack in 1896, continued the act with his nephew, Leon Hermann. She wrote The Art of "Palming" (1905).

Image available at the University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections.

  James: Louis James (1841-19?) played with John Drew, Sr., at the Arch Street Theater in Philadelphia; he was a member of Daly's company in the 1870s. He later played in Lawrence Barrett's company before teaming up with Frederick Warde. Louis James

  Whitney Opera company: The Whitney Opera company, headed by F. C. Whitney, toured extensively in the 1890s and early twentieth century. In 1893 Whitney joined forces with Col. Henry Mapleson and his wife, prima donna Laura Schirmer Mapleson, to produce De Koven's The Fencing Master. The rest of the cast at that point included Grace Golden, Thea Dorre, Marion Langdon, Georgie Dennan, Marie Belval, Hubert Wilkes, Gerald Jerome, Basil Tolson, Charles Bigelow, Fred Buckstone, George H. MacKenzie, and Max Eugene. However, a program from c. 1894 shows that Marie Tempest was the company's leading lady, so there may have been other cast changes as well. One of the Whitney's biggest hits was Smith and De Koven's Rob Roy (1894) which ran for at least 250 performances.

  Paul Kauvar: Steele Mackaye's play, Paul Kauvar; or, Anarchy (1887) is set during the French Revolution. Paul Kauvar, a high official in the Republic, repudiates the Reign of Terror and tries to save the woman he loves and her aristocratic father from both the mob and the government, putting himself in great danger as well.

  Russel's comedians: Possibly Sol Smith Russell's company.

  "A Club Woman"..."A Friend of Clubs": Cather wrote critically of women's clubs in several of her columns.

  Philistia: Philistia, the country of the Philistines, and thus metaphorically all those opposed to the true spirit of art.

  Bohemia: Metaphorically, Bohemia represents all artists and those opposed to the merely conventional ways of thinking and living.

  Eleonora Duse: Eleonora Duse (1859-1924) was born into an impoverished Italian acting family and began performing at an early age; when her mother became ill, Duse had to take over her roles. Her first success was as Juliet in 1873, though her career did not take off until 1879, after performing in Zola's Thérèse Raquin. She toured Italy and by 1885 was acclaimed as Italy's greatest living actress. After a tour in South America, Duse formed her own company in 1886, with a large repertoire ranging from classical and contemporary French drama to Shakespeare and Ibsen. She met with great success in Paris, where she was considered Bernhardt's only rival. In 1893 Duse came to the U.S., where the restraint and naturalism of her style (for many years she wore no makeup on stage) were also acclaimed. She became the type of the actress who subsumes herself in her art. Her health was fragile, and she retired from the stage in 1911, returning to it in 1921; she toured Europe and then the U. S. in 1923. She collapsed and died in Pittsburgh in April 1924; her body lay in state there and then was taken to be buried in Asolo, Italy.

Duse became known for her love affairs, both with men and (perhaps lesser known at the time) with women. She was married to actor Teobaldo Checchi in 1881, with whom she had a daughter; they were divorced in 1885 after an affair with another actor. The most famous affair was a tempestuous one with Italian poet and playwright Gabriele d'Annunzio, whom she met in 1895; he wrote several verse dramas for her.

Image available at the New York Public Library Digital Gallery.

Eleonora Duse Eleonora Duse

  "like a city set upon a hill": In the Bible, Jesus says in Matthew 5:14, "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid." Puritan leader John Winthrop said of the Plymouth colony in 1630: "we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill; the eyes of all people are upon us" as an example to the rest of the world.

  Mrs. Madge Kendal: Madge (née Margaret Robertson) Kendal (1849-1935) was born in an established English theatrical family (her brother Tom Robertson was a well known playwright), and was made a Dame of the British Empire in 1929.

Image available at the New York Public Library Digital Gallery.

  the Usher: The Usher was the pseudonym of a dramatic critic for the Dramatic Mirror.

  The Dramatic Mirror: The New York Dramatic Mirror began as the New York Mirror in 1879 and assumed this name in 1889; millionaire Harrison Grey Fiske (1861-1942) became editor at the age of 18, and sold it in 1918. By then it had become the Dramatic Mirror of Stage and Motion Pictures and survived under variants of that name until 1922.

  a little tin anything on wheels?: The title of Robert Grant's novel, A Little Tin God on Wheels (1879), became a popular expression for a self-important person.

  The Second Mrs. Tanqueray: Arthur Wing Pinero's 1893 play deals with a man who marries "a woman with a past"; she is not accepted by his innocent young daughter or into his social circle. When it is revealed that the daughter's fiancé is one of Mrs. Tanqueray's former lovers, the daughter condemns her stepmother for the same sin that she condones in her fiancé. Mrs. Tanqueray then kills herself. The play created a sensation and was condemned by many for subject matter unfit for the stage. Mrs. Patrick Campbell created the role.

  prostrated themselves in the dust before her: Originally a literal description of acts of abasement, prostrating oneself in the dust came to imply spiritual and emotional shame or, sometimes, humility.

  Lily Langtry: Lillie Langtry (1853-1929) was born Emilie Charlotte Le Breton on the Isle of Jersey, the daughter of a clergyman; she was nicknamed "Lillie" because of her fair complexion. In 1873 she married sportsman Edward Langtry, and the couple moved to London in 1876. A year or so later, she met the painter John Millais, who had lived in Jersey; he painted her in "The Jersey Lily" and she quickly became a famous beauty and a favorite in London society. She had affairs with royalty, including Edward, Prince of Wales, and his cousin Prince Louis of Battenberg, by whom she had a daughter. However, there was no money to support life in such circles; the Langtrys went bankrupt. Friends such as Oscar Wilde suggested she go on the stage; she worked hard at her acting, and was very successful: despite interests in racing horses and gambling (she was the first woman to break the bank at Monte Carlo), she invested her money wisely. She was acclaimed in America on her first tour in 1882, and she returned often, becoming an American citizen, which enabled her to divorce Langtry in 1887. Returning to England to live, she married Hugo de Bathe in 1898, becoming Lady de Bathe in 1907. She separated from her husband and lived her last years in Monaco with her companion, Mathilda Peat.

In Cather's The Song of the Lark (1915), Ray Kennedy removes a calendar that pairs Lily Langtry and Edward, Prince of Wales, by printing their pictures together before Thea and her mother can see it. The novel's British publisher, John Murray, asked that the passage be removed. The central character of one of Cather's last stories, "The Old Beauty," has many similarities to Langtry.

  harlequin: The Harlequin, a mischievous character in traditional Italian commedia dell' arte, one of the rivals for the love of Columbine. He traditionally wore a costume composed of alternating light and dark diamond-shaped pieces.

  Sarah Bernhardt: Sarah Bernhardt (1844-1923), generally acknowledged as the greatest actress of her time, was born Rosine Bernard. She made her debut at the Comédie Française in 1862. By the mid 1870s her position was secure; though critics were divided as to her beauty, they agreed on the power of her golden voice, her realism, and her magnetic personality, which she cultivated off-stage as well. She owned her own theater in Paris and toured throughout the world in the 1880s and 1890s; Cather saw her in Omaha in 1892. Bernhardt played most of the great roles of the 19th century theater, and American and English emotional actresses such as Morris and Fanny Davenport frequently followed her lead, since a role Bernhardt made popular had a good chance of success elsewhere. University of Pennsylvania Library Sarah Bernhardt Sarah Bernhardt Sarah Bernhardt Sarah Bernhardt

  La Tosca: Victorien Sardou's five-act tragedy, written for Sarah Bernhardt, was first produced in Paris in 1887. The play takes place in Rome in 1800; Floria Tosca, in an attempt to save her lover, Mario Cavaradossi, a revolutionary, agrees to submit herself to the Baron Scarpia, chief of the Roman police. Instead she kills him and goes to the Castel Sant' Angelo, where Cavaradossi is being held; however, the firing squad arrives and she flings herself from the tower to her death.

Sardou's play was the basis for Puccini's opera, Tosca (1900). Fanny Davenport starred in an English-language adaptation in New York in 1889, but the response to Tosca's suicide was so negative that the ending was changed so that Tosca is shot by the soldiers also. Bernhardt starred in a 1909 film version of the play; other film versions were made in 1911, 1918, 1921, 1922, and later.

  Tiber River: The Tiber River, the third longest in Italy, flows through Rome. According to the legend, the twins Romulus and Remus were abandoned on the river to die, but the river god Tiberinus flooded the river, carrying them to the Palatine hill, where they were rescued by a she-wolf, who nurtured them. The boys were found and raised by a shepherd; they later founded the city of Rome at the site.

  little editor: Edward Rosewater (1841-1906) was born in Bohemia and came to the United States in 1854. He worked for Western Union as a telegraph operator; when the Civil War broke out, he enlisted and was assigned to the Telegraph Corps. He was serving in Washington, D.C., in 1863, when it became his responsibility to send out the text of the Emancipation Proclamation. He moved to Omaha in 1863, where he served as Western Union's manager and as the western correspondent for several newspapers. An ardent Republican, he founded his own newspaper, the Omaha Bee, in 1871. He ran twice for the U.S. Senate but was defeated both times. Edward Rosewater

  Omaha Bee: The Omaha Bee was founded by Edward Rosewater in 1871. Politically progressive in many ways, its reporting was also aggressive and considered sensational by many opponents--an example of the school of yellow journalism.

  Bee building: Edward Rosewater built a new home for his newspaper, the Omaha Bee, in 1889 on the northwest corner of 17th and Farnam streets in downtown Omaha. The building was adjacent to the City Hall and across the street from the Douglas County court house.

Image available at the Omaha Public Library ; another view available here ;

  "entrez!": French, "enter!" or "come in!"

  "pride of two continents": Presumably an advertising slogan used by Edward Rosewater, owner and editor of the Omaha Bee.

  the Paxton: The Paxton hotel in Omaha was built by the Kitchen Brothers in 1882 on the southwest corner of 14th and Farnam and named for cattleman William Paxton. It was considered the finest hotel in Omaha at the time, the place for distinguished visitors to stay. The 1882 building was demolished in 1928 and an Art Deco-style Paxton Hotel was erected on the site.

Image available at the Omaha Public Library

  scandalized Russia: Sarah Bernhardt included Russia in her European tour c. 1880-81, scoring one of her greatest triumphs in St. Petersburg, where she performed before Czar Alexander III, who bowed to her as she began to curtsy to him. Skinner's biography of Bernhardt recounts a story of this tour somewhat similar to the one Cather tells: a grand duke invited Sarah to supper; she told his emissary that she would be delighted to attend and would bring Jacques Damala (her lover and soon-to-be husband). The duke recollected a previous engagement and cancelled the invitation.

  Count Zahetoff: A Russian aristocrat of this name has not been identified.

  Guard of the Transfiguration: The Preobrozhensky Life Guard Regiment was founded by Peter the Great in the late seventeenth century, making it one of the oldest units in the imperial Russian army. It had its regimental holyday on the Russian Orthodox Day of the Transfiguration of the Saviour (August 19), but took its name from the village of Preobrazhenskoye near Moscow, a village also named for the Transfiguration. The regiment was disbanded in 1917.

  the Neva: The Neva River in northwestern Russia flows from Lake Ladoga through St. Petersburg, built on its delta, to the Gulf of Finland.

  new novel of de Maupassant's: Guy de Maupassant's first novel, Une Vie (translated as A Woman's Life in English), was published in 1883. His first collection of short stories, La Maison Tellier, in 1881; it contained his first successful short story, "Boule de Suife," published in 1880.

  Guy de Maupassant: De Maupassant (1850-1893), one of France's greatest writers of naturalistic short stories. Afflicted with an advanced form of syphilis, he tried to commit suicide in 1892 and was taken to a private asylum where he died in July 1893.

Image available at the New York Public Library Digital Gallery.

  Harrison Grey Fiske: Harrison Grey Fiske (1861-1942) became editor of The Dramatic Mirror at the age of 18. He married actress Minnie Maddern in 1891, and supported her career by managing and producing as well as writing plays for her and building a theater for her company, a venture that was not a success. H. G. Fiske

  the university library: The library of the University of Nebraska was housed in University Hall, first building on the campus. The rooms allotted to it were very inadequate to a growing university, so the state legislature appropriated funds to build a new library on the southwest corner of the campus. The shell was erected in 1893-94, but enough money to finish the building had to wait on the next session of the biennial legislature. The library was not moved into the new library building (now Architecture Hall and the oldest building remaining on the campus) until late in 1895, after Cather graduated.

In O Pioneers!, Alexandra Bergson comes to Lincoln after her brother's death and lingers outside the library building, hoping to find a student who had known her brother in his student years.

  Miss Mary L. Jones: Mary Letitia Jones (1865-1946) was born in Wisconsin, the daughter of a Methodist minister. She graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1885, and from Melvil Dewey's library school in 1892, becoming the first professional librarian to be in charge of the University of Nebraska libraries (1891-1897), where she trained a number of students in cataloging and library science. She was a founder and first president of the Nebraska Library Association. A new chancellor, who preferred to have men in positions of authority, forced from her position at Nebraska in 1897. In 1900 she became director of the Los Angeles Public Library; she was dismissed in favor of a male, nonprofessional librarian there also. Thereafter she served as director of the University of California's summer library training school, as director of Bryn Mawr's libraries, and then returned to Los Angeles to work for the Los Angeles County Library system.

  Miss Mary E. Robbins: Librarian Mary Esther Robbins left the University of Nebraska and became director of the library science department of Simmons College, Boston, by 1905. She was active professionally in the American Library Association.

  Miss Florence Smith: Librarian Florence Smith graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1894; she had probably taken Mary Jones's cataloging class, for she was hired as assistant librarian, a post she held until Jones was forced out. She then served as librarian in Beatrice, Nebraska, before going to the Kansas City Libraries in the early twentieth century, where she was a reference librarian for many years.

  Albany library school: Librarian Melvil Dewey (1851-1931) was born in New York and graduated from Amherst College in 1874, whereupon he took charge of the Amherst library. He developed a system of classifying books with numbers to indicate the field of knowledge they belonged to, publishing his Dewey Decimal Classification and Relative Index in 1876. After heading the library and founding a library school at Columbia, he became librarian of the New York State Library in Albany, NY, in 1889, where he founded a library school which trained many of the first generations of professional librarians. He founded the American Library Association and its publication, Library Journal.

  George William Curtis: American writer and editor George William Curtis (1824-1892) was born in Rhode Island. He boarded for a time with the Transcendentalists at Brook Farm, then spent some years abroad. He settled in New York, writing for Putnam's Magazine and Harper's Monthly. He became influential in the new Republican party in the 1850s and became a leading speaker and writer (as political editor of Harper's Weekly after 1863). He refused political appointments, and was chosen to chair the commission on civil service reform in 1871, becoming a leader in implementing reform. Towards the end of his life, Curtis was appointed chancellor of the New York State University, a position he held when he died.

  Romeo's ladder: In Act III, scene 2, the Nurse brings a rope ladder for Romeo to use to come to Juliet after their marriage.

  the balcony scene: In Act II, scene 2 of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, perhaps the most famous scene in the play, Romeo slips into the Capulet's garden and overhears Juliet at the window. The two confess their love for each other and promise to marry. The scene is usually played with Juliet on a balcony to which Romeo climbs, but the play only says Juliet appears at a window.