His Versatility
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Joseph
Haworth was the
most versatile actor of his time. He was a
romantic, swashbuckling matinee idol who
thrilled men and boys with his athletic
acting and swordplay, and who made female
audience members swoon at his love scenes.
Additionally, he was an accomplished
character actor, a deft comedic player, and
a brilliant farceur. He could also sing and
dance. In Shakespeare, he was a master of
both the classic and heroic schools of
acting.
The Englishman,
William
Macready, was the seminal exponent of
the classical school. He was a slender,
somewhat awkward actor who created a modern,
subtle and more human approach to the great
Shakespearian roles. His rival, American
born Edwin
Forrest, was of the heroic school.
Forrest was a powerhouse vocally and
physically who dazzled audiences with his
energy and strength. The classical school
produced the great Hamlets and Romeos, while
the heroic school produced the great Lears
and Macbeths.
Joseph Haworth’s first
mentor was
Charlotte Crampton. Miss Crampton had
played opposite Macready and Forrest, and
she taught young Haworth the "stage
business" of both actors in all of their
major roles. Joe was therefore uniquely
equipped and able to succeed in both styles.
He acted successfully with
Edwin Booth
and Lawrence
Barrett, the two leading actors of the
classical school, and was also leading man
to John
McCullough, a great heroic star actor,
who had been a protégée of Edwin Forrest.
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In Haworth’s early years
with John
Ellsler’s theatre in Cleveland and the
Boston Museum
Theatre, he was called upon to play all
sorts of roles and styles. He concluded his
tenure in Cleveland with his first Hamlet.
As leading juvenile in Boston, he played
Romeo, Iago, Joseph Surface, etc. Then the
Museum staged the American premieres of two
Gilbert and Sullivan operettas and Joe
stunned audiences with a complete change of
pace. A press book for Joe’s 1895 starring
tour in Rosedale recounted this
extraordinary display of versatility:
"There appear to be no
confines to Haworth’s talent. He is as
austere in tragedy as he is clever in
travesty. Not long ago he packed away the
togas and armor of Caesar, went to Boston
and played Grosvenor in Patience with an
assurance and a self-consciousness that was
beyond the understanding of most lookers-on
in these days of one-part and one-line
actors. And his Grosvenor was a big ‘go.’
His achievement seemed almost incredible,
but the doubting ones were forced to
acknowledge his ability, and applauded him.
"This feat, however,
did not surprise those who knew how he had
previously walked out of a heavy melodrama
into the character of the Boatswain of
Pinafore, and had danced and sang with as
much ease and abandon as though he had been
reared in a burlesque company."
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In her book "Old Boston
Museum Days," Kate Ryan wrote:
"Everyone about the theatre
was somewhat doubtful as to the success of
Pinafore. Even Mr. Field was uncertain about
the outcome till the song ‘He is an
Englishman’ sung by Joseph Haworth took the
audience by storm and received encore after
encore. Joseph Haworth played the part of
Bill Bobstay and added greatly to the
success of the opera."
Haworth was enormously
popular in costume plays, romantic
melodramas, and drawing room comedies, but
throughout his career he would eschew
commercial theatre to take on the great
classical roles. In 1887, Joe was leading
man to Julia
Marlowe at New York’s
Star Theatre.
He played a sensational classical Romeo, the
grave and foolish Malvolio in Twelfth
Night, and then returned to the
heroic style as the title role in Ingomar.
Since Joe Haworth’s time, the only actor who
has shown a similar range in the classical
canon was
Laurence Olivier.
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In 1889, a double bill had
a long run at the Madison Square Theatre in
New York. A Man of the World
was a one act romantic drama that featured
Maurice
Barrymore, while Aunt Jack was a
three-act farce in which E. M. Holland
starred as a lovesick elderly barrister.
When the production was sent on tour, Joseph
Haworth played both the dashing
leading man in A Man of the World and
the comedic old lawyer in Aunt Jack.
Manager A. M.
Palmer brought Joe’s touring company to
Broadway in 1890, so that metropolitan
audiences could witness this theatrical hat
trick by Haworth.
Joseph Haworth always
played leading male roles, but he constantly
sought to expand the range of his
characters. In 1896, he played the uncouth
Ira Beasley in Bret
Harte’s Sue. Wearing a long thick
beard, Joe played a dull-witted, dirty,
selfish, and maudlin character that entered
into a loveless marriage with the play’s
title character. Haworth who was known for
success in society plays, melodrama, comedy,
and classical roles, astounded critics and
public alike with a vivid characterization
of a rube in an American folk play.
In Joe’s co-starring 1898
Broadway engagement with
Helene
Modjeska, he portrayed Modjeska’s
warrior husband in Macbeth, her
errant brother in Measure for Measure,
her father in Magda, her young ardent
lover in Camille, and an athletic
Orlando in As You Like It.
While on tour Modjeska also presented Joe in
Hamlet, playing Ophelia in his
support. Over the years, Modjeska’s leading
men included Otis Skinner, William S. Hart,
and Maurice Barrymore. Of all these
excellent actors, Haworth played the
broadest range of roles opposite Madame
Modjeska.
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A 1901 starring engagement
in San Francisco again exemplifies the
variety of roles Haworth offered to his
audiences. He opened as Elliot Grey in
Rosedale, a popular adventure melodrama
in which he employed his great singing
voice. Next came Richelieu, and then
the dual roles in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
He followed these with his first Shylock in
Merchant of Venice, and closed the
lengthy engagement with Hamlet.
Haworth’s final three
Broadway performances were as different from
one another as night and day. He played the
heroic Vinicius in Quo Vadis in 1900.
Then he played opposite
Richard
Mansfield as the "lean and hungry"
Cassius in Julius Caesar in 1902. And
finally in 1903, he was the tortured and
remorseful Prince
Dimitri in Tolstoy’s
realistic modern play Resurrection.
There have been actors
capable of some of what Joseph
Haworth successfully attempted. But none
have been able to do it all. In addition to
everything else, Joe was a sex symbol and
leading man. Imagine if you will, a romantic
star like
Errol Flynn also succeeding in
Shakespeare, musical theatre and character
roles, and you will begin to take the
measure of the versatility of Joseph
Haworth.
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