Mary Frances Scott-Siddons
She was well received there and in Edinburgh, and in the following year, attained a great success as a Shakespearean reader in London, where in 1867 she played the part of Rosalind in As You Like It at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, and afterward appeared as Juliet, drawing immense audiences.
Her beauty and grace of person contributed more to her success than her histrionic talent, and though a spirited and thoroughly natural actress, she lacked the technical training and necessary vigor.
Her performance of the young Mortimer in Friedrich Schiller's Mary Stuart exhibited so much ability as to induce one of the principals of her school to consult with Charles Kean as to the desirability of educating her for the stage.
[12] Her first American appearance as an actress was at the Boston Museum, and her metropolitan debut on the dramatic stage occurred November 30, 1868, at the New York Theatre, as Rosalind.
Following the last-mentioned date, Scott-Siddons was engaged on a "starring" tour in the United States and Australia in 1872, with some sources critical of her performance[3] In July 1873 she gave a recital before Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyle at Grosvenor House.
[22] Mrs. Scott-Siddons and her protege "Seraphael" (Master Harry Walker) performed at Fulton Hall, Lancaster City, Pennsylvania on Monday, December 7, 1874.
[30] By December she had taken the company to the Gaiety Theatre putting on "Romeo and Juliet' and "As you like it"[31] Scott-Siddons gave a final recitation at St. George's Hall, Belfast prior to leaving for America.
[32] On 23 April 1888, she made her appearance as a reader at Steinway Hall, New York, accompanied by her adopted son, the child prodigy, Henry Waller, formerly known as "Seraphael".
[2] A DRAMATIC recital was given by Scott-Siddons before the Emperor and Empress at Berlin, including the sleep walking scene from - Macbeth," a sketch "Western Life in America," and other pieces.
Her 8 April 1867 performance as Rosalind was thus noticed in the Daily Telegraph (April 10, 1867):—[36]"The favourable opinion of the histrionic qualifications of Mrs. ScottSiddons formed by the distinguished auditory who listened last week with so much satisfaction to that lady's Shakespearian readings at the Hanover Square Rooms, was on Monday evening fully confirmed by a fashionable and crowded audience, assembled to witness her dibut on the metropolitan stage as Rosalind A lady who can boast of a direct descent from the most illustrious of our actresses, comes accredited with the strongest recommendation to all who hold in reverence the names which adorn our Thespian annals; but Mrs. Scott-Siddons has a fair claim to theatrical distinction apart from hereditary honours.
Possessed of a fine expressive face, which may be called classical in its profile, and endowed with the advantages of a neat symmetrical figure, Mrs. Scott-Siddons effectively supplies the external requisites for this most fascinating of Shakespeare's heroines.
Judging by the enthusiastic plaudits so frequently bestowed through the evening, her performance would seem to have exceeded the most sanguine expectations her friends had entertained; but the good sense of the actress may be safely trusted to discriminate between the liberal applause which is intended to encourage a young aspirant, and a fervent spontaneous acknowledgment of a great triumph fairly won in the world of art.
It is when Rosalind dons the doublet and hose that Mrs. Scott-Siddons gives her impulses full play; and the bantering of Orlando in the forest and the vivacious raillery of the imitative wooing were as effective as could be desired.
That the young actress who has been received with so warm a welcome is deservedly entitled to the highest position on the metropolitan boards, it would be too much to affirm; but Mrs. Scott-Siddons is unquestionably a valuable acquisition to any theatre in which comedy is performed, and there may be latent powers which only need time and opportunity to favourably develop."
Further, he Daily News (April 9, 1867) expressed the opinion that:—[36] "Mrs. Scott-Siddons's neat figure, pretty face, and pleasing arch delivery, qualified her for light comedy, and her ease, confidence, and freedom of gesture showed that she had an aptitude for acting.
Her reception last night by a friendly audience will doubtless encourage her to adopt the stage as a profession, and her sprightliness and evident intelligence will make her path easy.
Her conception of a character, confessedly one of the most beautiful in the catalogue of Shakespere's heroines, was marked by great intelligence, and in the forest scenes, by vivacity and sprightliness of the most effective kind.
A criticism of her November 30, 1868 performance as Rosalind at the New York Theater appeared in the New-York Tribune, December 1, 1868:— [6]"She was greeted with frank and cordial applause on the occasion of her entrance, and she aroused real enthusiasm before making her final exit.
Nothing could be sweeter than her interpretation of Rosalind's capricious moods— her gladness in the presence of her lover, her veiled joy in him, and in her love of him, and her tantalizing assumption of whole-hearted levity.
With so much beauty, with delicate sensuousness of temperament, brilliancy of animal spirits, and sunny, breezy clearness of intellect, it cannot be but experience will make her an actress of the first class in comedy character."
