Lillah McCarthy (1875-1960)

In Press and Literature

Leading Ladies - A Chat With Miss Lillah McCarthy
(The Era [London, UK] - 20th October, 1900)

(The Era [London, UK] - 20th October, 1900)
Leading Ladies
A Chat With Miss Lillah McCarthy
(By our special commissioner)

Possessing a handsome presence, a graceful carriage, and an easy manner in all things, Miss Lillah McCarthy at once impresses you and makes you feel that an actress of great promise is before you. Miss McCarthy has gained a high position very rapidly. If she has not gone all through the mill, she has made the best use of the opportunities chance has afforded her. A daughter of the gods divinely fair, Miss McCarthy has a sweet, persuasive style with her that in pathetic and tragic parts stands her in good stead. She possesses, too, that indefinable charm that melts a man - that when she is impersonating a character causes him to hold his breath and listen, and to wait upon the words as they drop with varied tones from her expressive lips.

"I have so little to tell," says Miss McCarthy, "I don't believe I have the least bit of information of interest to impart. Why, it is only five years since I joined the profession; but, of course, I had been an amateur. And I must admit that I have been very fortunate, and have in the five years of my stage career played many parts, and, I must own to my surprise and pleasure, quickly found favour with the public. I have always been madly enthusiastic about all things dramatic, and from my earliest girlhood longed to be an actress. And thus it happened that I turned my attention to Shakespeare and studied him both as a dramatist and a poet, and, perhaps I should add, player."

Miss McCarthy's attention to the Bard and his works drew her towards The Shakespearean Reading Society of which she became a member in 1894. Her most noteworthy effort in connection with the Society was an impersonation she gave of Romeo in a reading of Romeo and Juliet at Steinway Hall, in march, 1895. She next played Lady MacBeth at saint George's Hall for the Siddons Memorial with Mr. Glossup Such, and Mr. Bernard Shaw, who, with all his eccentricities, is no bad judge of acting, prophesied that Miss McCarthy had a big future in store for her. And she's honestly and ardently trying to live up to the expectation of greatness. Perseverance, we may suggest, is likely to end in realization, and of perseverance Miss McCarthy has her full. After his time, with the exception of a short season with Mr. A.E. Drinkwater, Miss McCarthy had devoted herself to amateur performances and Shakespeare readings. But Mr. Drinkwater gave her her first real professional appearance, and of this she is justly proud.

"Then came my chance in 1895. Was I not fortunate? Mr. Ben greet engaged me to play a lead with Mr. H.B. Irving in a repertoire of old comedies and Shakespeare - my beloved Shakespeare. On this my first tour I was incessantly at work, and had to play every sort and kind of leading part - Juliet, Desdemona, Beatrice, Pauline, Peg Woffington, and many others - more than I can remember off-hand. Yes it was hard work, but I did not mind. I 'learned the ropes' as actors say, and the experience did me good. How foolish some people are - women and girls especially - who think the stage life a life of pleasure. Ah! if the outsiders new what a life of hard work, of fearful struggle, it is they would not be so anxious to venture upon the unknown seas. But I forget. In January, 1896, I received a very flattering and generous offer from Mr. Wilson Barrett to join his company for the part of Berenis, in the London production of The Sign of the Cross, at the Lyric. That was a great event. Subsequently I went on tour, playing Mercia, and during the absence of miss Maud Jeffries I returned to the Lyric to play the same character which she created. After that I went to America as leading lady under Mr. William Greet's management, and I look back upon that experience with every feeling of pleasure. I found the American people most kind in every way. They are keen critics certainly, but just even in their humour, which to us is odd and somewhat curious. I hope one day to renew my acquaintance with friends who proved themselves so sincere."

In March, 1897, Miss McCarthy returned to England, and went on tour, playing the lead in The Sorrows of Satan; and then she rejoined Mr. Wilson Barrett for his autumn season at the Lyric theatre, and his tour to Australia, which followed.

"We left England," says Miss McCarthy enthusiastically, "in October, 1897, and came back in the August of 1898. I would not have missed that and all that it brought me for worlds. The voyage out and back, was full of delightful interest and charm. Australia is a grand country, and the climate simply beautiful. We played over there to enormous business and were received everywhere with open arms. It is impossible to understand without going there the wonderful love the colonists have for the old country, the tender regard and esteem with which England and its people are held. On my return home, I again went on tour, playing lead with Mr. Wilson Barrett, and then came a rest."

Miss McCarthy is so unaffected and quiet, and relates her travels and small ups and downs so easily, that, knowing how some leading ladies bear themselves, one grows quite enchanted to find modesty on its proper throne - the brow of beautiful woman. In the early part of 1899 Miss McCarthy took a holiday for a few months to recuperate, and to interest herself in Mr. Swinburne's Locrine, which was given at the saint George's Hall last March. In this she played the part of Gwendoline, and played it very well. The stage was unadorned, but Miss McCarthy's elocution and cleverness made the character live, and gained her golden opinions from all sorts of critics.

"Last October, yes, I was engaged by Mr. Robert Arthur to play lead at the Princess's in Alone in London and The Absence Minded Beggar, which ran till the middle of last January, and now I am with Mr. Wilson Barrett again, in Quo vadis, The Silver King, and the whole of the well-known repertoire which Mr. Barrett has made famous. We tour certainly until next Christmas, when I hope to be in London again. After that, as far as I know, I am in the hands of the fates and theatrical managers. In other words I have nothing settled."

This somehow, does not dismay Miss McCarthy, and personally we think she need have no fear for the future. Such charming actresses are not met with every day.