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| Maud Jeffries (1869-1946) |
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In Press and Literature |
(The Decatur Review, 12th December, 1897)
MISS JEFFRIES
Success of a Talented Southern Girl
After a Triumph In England She Goes to Australia to Support Wilson Barrett
Miss Maud Jeffries, who is going to Australia to support Mr. Barrett, was born In 1870, "way down south in Dixie," on a cotton plantation in Coahoma County. Miss., and until she reached the age of 12 years she had never seen a city or a village of any kind. The solitude of the surroundings in which she lived so happily was doubtless the means of inculcating in her a love of home, parents and brothers which to this day is one of the most marked of the many beautiful and worthy traits in Miss Jeffries' character.
At this period in her life she was sent to a large college In Columbia, Tenn., where she remained until her nineteenth year. During her school days all the entertainments promoted were placed in her hands to conduct, and every week she was relied upon for an interesting programme for the Friday night concert. Monetary lasses of a very serious nature made it necessary for her to earn her own living, and, looking upon the stage as one of the most likely vocations, she wrote to Mr. Augustin Daly, and as a result was given work with him in New York.
Among the various plays she performed in under his management were "A Midsummer Night's Dream" And "As You Like It." It was about this time that Miss Jeffries first saw Mr. Wilson Barrett act, and the romantic element surrounding the play in which he took part so delighted her that she felt nothing would satisfy her until she became a member of his company.
The outcome of a communication to Mr. Barrett was an offer from him which Miss Jeffries immediately accepted, and she then made her first journey to England, playing a variety of small parts and understudying some of the larger ones, her first appearance in that country being at Liverpool. Miss Jeffries then went to London, starting at the Olympic theater, and it was shortly after this that Mr. Barrett experienced some little difficulty about a leading lady. Miss Jeffries received an invitation to Mr. Barrett's home, where a few friends had assembled, and after dinner, she was asked in a casual way to give the end of the second act of "Claudian." This was done, those present arranging themselves round and forming an audience, and at the conclusion they all expressed the utmost pleasure at her performance.
It was then that Mr. Barrett told her he wished her to play "leading business." She was so utterly surprised at the proposition that she burst out sobbing and said she would not do it, for she not only felt incapable of accomplishing it successfully, but she did not believe in such "jumps." Miss Jeffries immediately cabled home to America, telling her parents that she was leaving England by the next ship. The following day, as Mr. Barrett knew, she was lunching with some American friends, and he sent word to them to do all in their power to persuade her to accept his offer. Miss Jeffries friends did nothing but talk to her of the advantages which would accrue to her from taking such a position, and, eventually, out of sheer desperation, she accepted, and it may safely be said has never regretted it.
She had 14 leading parts to get ready in three weeks and since then she has been constantly with Mr. Barrett, a period of about seven years. During this time she has played many parts and has appeared in the following plays: "Hamlet," "Othello," "Ben-my-Chree," "The Color Sergeant," "Chatterton," "The Miser," "People's Idol," "The Acrobat," "Jenny the Barber," "A Clerical Error." "Our Pleasant Sins," "The Bondman," "Pharoah," "The Silver King," "The Stranger," "Claudian," "Virginius," and lastly "The Sign of the Cross." Miss Jeffries prefers "Virginius," chiefly because it departs somewhat from the beaten track, the interest not lying solely in the love of Icilius for Virginia, but as showing the great love between father and daughter.
The reason Miss Jeffries turned her attention to the stage instead of teaching, which exercised a strong fascination for her, was because her parents felt she was more fitted for such a calling. And they had a good chance of judging, for in early youth — her years could not have numbered more than five in this great world — one of the joys of her father and the many friends assembled for the shooting season was to coax her out of her cozy bed after their day's sport and have her recite some simple or dramatic old poem.
She is passionately fond of an athletic and outdoor life, and her innumerable accomplishments — especially with the gun — are of no mean order. The sweet disposition of Miss Jeffries carries everything before her and makes her loved and respected by everybody.