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Chapter 2. First Vision of a Name in Lights
- University Press of Mississippi
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19 5 C H a P t e r 2 First Vision of a Name in Lights A critic once said of me: “Mr. Webb wears a top hat as if he was born in one.” Like all statements by critics, that one is somewhat exaggerated. Only my career was born in a top hat. Webb frequently refers to “Gran” (Mabelle’s mother) as though she were living with them in New York City. Obviously, she did spend some time there, but he never indicates how long she stayed. the 1900 census of Manhattan shows the raums living at 101 Seventy-seventh Street with son Webb and Mabelle’s widowed mother, Grace. ten years later they were at 214 West eighty-third Street, except there is a separate entry for Mr. raum with an address at the alexander Cummings hotel on reed Street. When the tall visitor to the dancing class dropped in to see Gran the next day, he turned out to be Mr. Malcolm Douglas, manager of the New Amsterdam Theatre. He was about to produce a series of matinees by and for children at Carnegie Lyceum, known then as the Children’s Theatre, and had fallen upon me during his search for a boy to play the role of the dude, Cholly Boutonniere, in a revival of Palmer Cox’s Brownies. It called for a youth who could sing and dance, abilities which had eluded Mr. Douglas until desperation took him to Constantine’s dancing class. My stepfather, as expected, strove to prevent what he considered a fatal social gaffe. Mabelle and Gran were resolutely on my side. A Parmelee aunt in Granada, Mississippi, informed of my impending debut, f i r s t v i s i o n o f a n a m e i n l i g H t s 20 wrote Mabelle a note which began, “You are sending my nephew and your son straight to perdition.” It was a most diverting situation while it lasted, but even then I never felt the issue in any particular doubt. I still own the impeccable, miniature, glossy topper which Young’s, the famous hatter of the period, made for me. Fortified by that, a white waistcoat over a straw-stuffed false belly, tails, a monocle, and a brassheaded cane, I sang and danced my one number in Brownies: Miss Virginia, Can I win ya’ Tell me, honey, Tell me, do . . . The play was feeble beyond description and an immense success. G. B. refused to attend, although on his insistence I was billed as Master Webb Raum. Most gratifying of all was a note from Palmer Cox saying that I was the first actor to play Cholly Boutonniere as he had conceived him, a magnanimity not often found on the part of dramatists. While I was strutting my stuff as Cholly, a rather obscure manager– playwright, Alexander Hume Ford, came backstage after the matinee and asked to speak to Mabelle. He explained that the following season he wanted to present a program of children’s matinees—a ghastly form of entertainment which has happily since vanished—featuring Oliver Twist, the tower scene from King John, and various short plays from his own pen. When he asked Mabelle if she would permit me to pursue a career behind the footlights, I noticed that a glazed chintz expression beclouded her eyes. She realized that there would be more than a little hell to pay if G. B. heard of such a notion. She told Mr. Ford as much. There was a pregnant pause during which I feared that my elders would ruin my career irreparably. Since I had no intention of allowing such a calamity to come about, I ended matters by informing both of them that I accepted the kind offer and would assist in concealing it from Mr. Raum. In a fine spirit of compromise I agreed that I would submit to various tutors during the interim. It was an unhappy experiment. A succession of odd gentlemen used to arrive at our house bursting with optimism and erudition, only to depart after a few weeks’ contact with me. It was discovered that I had a definite resistance to formal education. When rehearsals began, my stepfather, not unnaturally noticing the sudden gaiety that filled the air, suspected that something unpleasant [18.189.13.43] Project MUSE (2024-04-18 00:39 GMT) f i r s t v i s i o n o f...