John Ellsler
(1822-1903)

"Although I was born I Providence, I have always regarded Cleveland as my home, as my father took up his residence there when I was a child, and I was brought up there, together with my three sisters and my brother William, who as you know is both an actor and a playwright. The first time I went to the theatre was when I was about ten years old. My cousin, Jack Akers, who received a dollar a week for spending money from his folks, took me up to the top gallery of the Cleveland Academy of Music to see Monte Cristo. I was greatly impressed with what seemed to me, on that occasion, the most magnificent place in the world…

"The next time I went to the theatre was to see Mrs. D. P. Bowers as Lady Audley. After that I saw Lawrence Barrett as Cassius, Adelaide Neilson as Rosalind, and many other stars of the day. By that time I was simply gone about the stage. I wrote under an assumed name to Uncle John Ellsler, and he answered my letter, asking me to call upon him. When I called, he offered me a place as a super, which injured my dignity, and I declined his offer. About that time my father, who was surveying for the government, died in Nashville. So I left school and went to work in a newspaper office. Again I wrote to Uncle John, and he allowed me to recite ‘Shamus O’Brien’ at a benefit performance. Charlotte Crampton heard me from the wings. She was about to appear as Richard III, and offered me the part of Buckingham, which I eagerly accepted. For that performance I sold $500 worth of tickets.

"It took place in May, 1873. After that performance Mr. Ellser gave me a position at $10 per week, and I played all sorts of parts. Charlotte Crampton, who was a member of the stock company, took a great interest in me, and gave me much valuable instruction in the art of acting. She was a great actress. Macready said of her when she played Lady Macbeth in his support that if she had been four inches taller she could have commanded the world.

"When Edwin Booth came to Cleveland he opened in Hamlet, and I was cast as Laertes. For several days before the opening I practiced assiduously for the combat in the last act. When, however, Mr. Booth on the evening of the performance winked gravely as a signal for the fight to begin, I was so flabbergasted that I stood as if glued to the stage. He winked again but I was still rattled. Then Mr. Booth, noticing that I was nervous, invited me in a tone of kindliness rather than defiance to ‘come on!’ and I at once recovered my nerve and fought through the combat to the best of my ability. Mr. Booth after the play complimented me on my personation of Laertes. And when it was told me that after watching me in the wings one night, Mr. Booth had said ‘that boy has genius and will be heard from yet,’ you can readily imagine that I appreciated the compliment most highly, coming as it did from the greatest actor on the American stage. Soon afterward Mr. Booth offered me an engagement in his company, which I was unfortunately compelled to decline owing to my having been previously engaged for the stock company at the Boston Museum. At my farewell benefit in Cleveland, I appeared for the first time in Hamlet."

Among Haworth’s many appearances at Ellsler’s theatre are:

Twenty years after leaving John Ellsler’s theatre, Joseph Haworth was an established Broadway star. In the winter of 1898, Haworth co-starred with Helene Modjeska in Macbeth, Measure for Measure, Magda, Camille, and As You Like It at New York’s Fifth Avenue Theatre. Joe was enormously popular with audiences and had gained a new respect from the critics as the legitimate successor to Edwin Booth.