The
most remarkable thing about Joseph
Haworth and Aunt Jack is that
he did the play at all. As produced at
A. M. Palmer’s
Madison
Square Theatre in 1889, it was the
second half of a double bill. The
first offering was Augustus
Thomas’ A Man of the World,
in which matinee idol Maurice
Barrymore excelled as a
sophisticated gentleman in early
middle age who engineers
reconciliation between his young ward
and her husband. Aunt Jack, a
three-act British farce rounded out
the evening.
The
leading role in Aunt Jack was
an elderly barrister who is smitten
with a young woman he is prosecuting
in court for breech of promise. The
character was deemed outside of
Barrymore’s range as an actor, and
the role was given over to character
actor E.
M. Holland. However when Palmer
put together a touring edition of the
double bill, Joseph Haworth starred in
both plays. This kind of versatility
is seldom seen in leading men. Haworth’s
success on the road led to a Grand
Opera House engagement in October of
1890, and New York audiences got to
see this extraordinary display of
virtuosity.
