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bobertsbobgomery said:
i was going to be naughty and read some of my copy at work but it wasn’t in my purse like it usually is. imagine my sadness!
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deforest posted this
![deforest:
By way of firewater, dramatist Edward Sheldon had convinced a “retired” Lionel Barrymore to appear as the wicked Colonel Ibbetson alongside his brother John and Constance Collier in the haphazard Al Woods production of Peter Ibbetson in London in 1917.
Lionel was deeply frustrated, unable to figure out the characterization and bearing of the loathsome Colonel. With the dress rehearsal close at hand, Lionel didn’t know his lines. Despite this, Constance and Jack gently urged him to attend the renowned actor Sir Herbert Tree’s opening of Colonel Newcome with them at Tree’s eager behest.
That evening Lionel groaned his way into a dinner jacket, snarled his way to the theatre, where he arrived earlier than the others, and growled his way through the reading of the program. When Constance and Jack appeared beside him, Lionel was surly and introspective. He was trying to decide upon some violent excuse for bowing out of the Colonel Ibbetson part entirely. Perhaps he should leap from the Brooklyn Bridge or sit on the tracks of the subway express train.
When the curtain rose, Lionel paid little attention. Then, as applause greeted Sir Herbert Tree’s entrance, Lionel grudgingly looked toward the stage. His eyes opened wide. And now, to the embarrassed wonderment of Constance, he began to cackle.
“What’s wrong, Lionel?” she whispered.
His neighbors looked at him reprovingly as he announced, “The hand of the Holy Ghost has descended upon my shoulder!”
What no one else knew at the time was that Lionel saw in Sir Herbert Tree’s sideburned portrayal of the noble, pure-hearted Colonel Newcome the precise characterization for the vile Colonel Ibbetson.
[…]
The dress rehearsal was a success in every way. Not only had Jack made a great impression, but Lionel had electrified everyone, particularly Constance Collier, by his sudden characterization of Colonel Ibbetson.
[…]
After the dress rehearsal Lionel found Sir Herbert studying him intently. Lionel asked Tree what he thought about the characterization of Colonel Ibbetson.
“The Colonel was magnificent,” Tree replied. Then he said, “You know, as I sat watching the Colonel, I kept asking myself again and again, ‘Tree, where have you seen this fellow before?’”
— Gene Fowler, Good Night, Sweet Prince: The Life and Times of John Barrymore](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lz58g0pSgI1qd48zdo1_500.jpg)
By way of firewater, dramatist Edward Sheldon had convinced a “retired” Lionel Barrymore to appear as the wicked Colonel Ibbetson alongside his brother John and Constance Collier in the haphazard Al Woods production of Peter Ibbetson in London in 1917.
Lionel was deeply frustrated, unable to figure out the characterization and bearing of the loathsome Colonel. With the dress rehearsal close at hand, Lionel didn’t know his lines. Despite this, Constance and Jack gently urged him to attend the renowned actor Sir Herbert Tree’s opening of Colonel Newcome with them at Tree’s eager behest.
That evening Lionel groaned his way into a dinner jacket, snarled his way to the theatre, where he arrived earlier than the others, and growled his way through the reading of the program. When Constance and Jack appeared beside him, Lionel was surly and introspective. He was trying to decide upon some violent excuse for bowing out of the Colonel Ibbetson part entirely. Perhaps he should leap from the Brooklyn Bridge or sit on the tracks of the subway express train.
When the curtain rose, Lionel paid little attention. Then, as applause greeted Sir Herbert Tree’s entrance, Lionel grudgingly looked toward the stage. His eyes opened wide. And now, to the embarrassed wonderment of Constance, he began to cackle.
“What’s wrong, Lionel?” she whispered.
His neighbors looked at him reprovingly as he announced, “The hand of the Holy Ghost has descended upon my shoulder!”
What no one else knew at the time was that Lionel saw in Sir Herbert Tree’s sideburned portrayal of the noble, pure-hearted Colonel Newcome the precise characterization for the vile Colonel Ibbetson.
[…]
The dress rehearsal was a success in every way. Not only had Jack made a great impression, but Lionel had electrified everyone, particularly Constance Collier, by his sudden characterization of Colonel Ibbetson.
[…]
After the dress rehearsal Lionel found Sir Herbert studying him intently. Lionel asked Tree what he thought about the characterization of Colonel Ibbetson.
“The Colonel was magnificent,” Tree replied. Then he said, “You know, as I sat watching the Colonel, I kept asking myself again and again, ‘Tree, where have you seen this fellow before?’”
— Gene Fowler, Good Night, Sweet Prince: The Life and Times of John Barrymore
