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170 letter 57 To William Winter [November 16, 1874] [New York City, New York] Monday Dear Willy Stoddard and I are delighted with your Field,1 it is so kind, quite just, and inexorable. I am happy that I did not stand in those satin boots before your judgment. I was irritated all through the performance by Stedman’s attempt to shove her afloat, greasing the ways with flowers and clappings &c2 —Miss F was so dull, so hard, so angular, so passionless. For what interior purpose was she in the Triplet’s attic? There was no links uniting the whole into harmony—suddenly we heard her sing, and saw her dance. After the performance, Mrs Stedman looked from her box and spoke to Mrs [Groot?] (one of the strong minded) and said—“It is a success, isn’t it?” Mrs [Groot?] for a second felt a hesitation, then with energy answered yes, and catching sight of my face, said yes in spite of Mrs Stoddard.3 There was not one person on the stage that did not act better than Miss F and for my part I felt humiliated before them, that a woman of my own profession should with sound and trumpet gather such an audience and take a lead before those trained and experienced actors. I should like to apologize to them. If Wheatleigh4 did prepare her for the stage why did he not tell her, what she could never be. Hope I have not bored you. In haste EDBS Manuscript: Robert Young Collection, Folger Shakespeare Library 171 notes 1.JournalistandlecturerKateField(1838–1896)decidedtobeginastagecareer in 1874 at the age of thirty-six. She debuted on November 14 in the role of Peg Woffington in Masks and Faces at Booth’s Theater on Broadway. William Winter, a friend of Field, published a largely negative review in the New York Tribune on November 16. “If Miss Field possesses the faculty for acting,” Winter asserts, “she did not largely display it upon this occasion. It is difficult justly to describe this performance. It might, perhaps, be said that Miss Field made both a success and a failure. The one was of the woman; the other was of the actress.” Stoddard corresponded briefly with Field, and they had several friends in common, but they don’t seem to have become close. 2. Stedman, who was an intimate friend of Field’s,invited a number of friends to her performance and seems to have promised Field his assistance in publicly supporting her endeavor. On November 18, he wrote a letter to the Tribune arguing that the critics had assessed Field as if she were “an actress of long standing, not a debutante, appearing under trying conditions.” 3. On November 22, 1874, Marie Taylor wrote her husband that Stoddard had behaved badly at Field’s debut. “The Stedmans had a box and besides Stoddards had invited a few other friends. Lizzie behaved herself immediately upon entering tactlessly and made this statement even before the curtain rose: ‘Well, Kate F. will be a dead failure.’ And she talked in this way the whole time. But still more. In the second act, Mr. [Edward] Smith paid her a visit in the box, sat beside her and remained until the end of the play, so that Stedman and the other guest whom he had invited had to take turns at standing up” (Marie Taylor to Bayard Taylor, November 22, 1874, Bayard Taylor Papers [Ms am 1598], Harvard University). 4. Charles Wheatleigh (1823–1895) played Triplet in the November 14 performance of Masks and Faces. It seems likely that Stoddard is referring to William Wheatley (1816–1876), the director of the production. ...

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