Page:One of a thousand.djvu/54

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40 BARRETT. BARRETT. two following years were spent in St. Louis, Chicago, and other western cities. His first appearance in New York was at the Chambers Street Theatre, December, 1856, as "Sir Thomas Clifford" in "The Hunchback." Mr. Barrett accepted the offer of Mr. Burton, and opened at his new Metropolitan Theatre, supporting Charlotte Cushman, Edwin Booth, and other promi- nent actors. In 1S58 he joined the com- LAWRENCE BARRETT. pany of the Boston Museum as leading man, but for the four following years was seen in New York at the Winter Garden, making steady progress and playing many parts. At the outbreak of the civil war Mr. Barrett accepted a captaincy in the 28th Massachusetts infantry, where he served with credit until his resignation, August 8, 1863. After the war he was engaged at the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia, and subsequently at Washington. During this engagement began an acquaintance which ripened into friendship with the martyred President, Mr. Garfield, who at that time was a young congressman from Ohio, with Mr. Lincoln, and other great statesmen of that stirring era. From Washington he returned to Phila- delphia and subsequently to New York, where he was engaged by Mr. Booth to play " Othello " to his " Iago." Mr. Barrett then accepted a partnership in the manage- ment of the Varieties Theatre in New Or- leans, playing leading parts and meeting with great success. In 1S64 he purchased " Rosedale " from Lester Wallack, and after acting its leading character for a while at New Orleans, made his first tour as a star actor. In 1867 he visited England, meeting there Charles Dickens, Mr. Fechter, and renewing an old acquaintance with Charles Mathews, and the other principal actors of that day in London. He re-visited England in 1868, '81, and '83, playing in the principal cities, and being most favor- ably received. In 1868 he went to California and took the active management of the California Theatre, which had been built for him, at a salary of eighteen thousand dollars a year. During the twenty months of his management of this noble theatre, which had cost half a million dollars to build, the success was unprecedented. In 1870 he opened at Niblo's Garden, New York, later playing with Mr. Booth in opposite charac- ters in Booth's Theatre. He produced " Vorick's Love " at the Park Theatre, New York. His most recent successes have been as " Lanciotto " in " Francesca di Rimini," " Rienzi," " Pendragon," "The Blot on the Scutcheon," and " Ganelon." Mr. Barrett has been essentially a scholar, a man of wide cultivation, an indefatigable student of his art, and resistless in his am- bition. His wonderful industry has gone hand in hand with a large and liberal cul- tivation of his dramatic instinct, and to-day Mr. Barrett stands an honorable and con- spicuous figure among the leaders of his profession. Mr. Barrett was married September 4, 1859, in Boston, to Mary F., daughter of Philip J. and Mary F. Mayer. They have three daughters : Mary Agnes, now the Baroness von Roder, Anna Gertrude, who married Charles J. Anderson, brother of the celebrated actress, Mary Anderson, and Edith M. Barrett. BARRETT, ROSWELL, son of Oliver and Lucy (Fairbanks) Barrett, was born in Bolton, Worcester county, December 16, 1819. He attended only the district schools until he was twenty years of age. He then availed himself of the advantages of a private academy for five months. He began his life work as teacher in the common schools, continued in the profes-