Civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the County of Kings and the City of Brooklyn, N. Y., Part 126

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909.
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York : Munsell
Number of Pages: 1360

USA > New York > Kings County > Brooklyn > Civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the County of Kings and the City of Brooklyn, N. Y. > Part 126

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

The New York Express remarked: "To dramatize this story and fit it for the exigencies of the stage, was a task not to be lightly and frivolously undertaken. It was necessary to bring a knowledge of the stage and an experience of dramatic writing combined with ability-qualities that do not often go hand in hand. But it must be seen from Mr. Harrison's work that he possesses the qualities to an eminent degree. His characters are deftly drawn, their attributes admirably expressed, while in dramatic construction and climax the play presents a composition that marks a great stage-success. The character of Hester Prynne, in particular, is drawn with a tenderness, grace, and fidelity that offer unusual advantages for the display of dramatic genius. Every salient feature of the story has been seized upon by Mr. Harrison in a manner that evinces keenness of perception, and the ability to put this perception to the best advantage; and whenever he has introduced words and thoughts of his own, so as to fit the story to the stage, it is almost impossi- ble to tell which is Hawthorne, and which is Harrison. The literary qualities of the play are the same throughout; all is harmonious and symmetrical."

Mr. Harrison had one hundred copies of this drama printed in 1876, but waited two years before placing it upon the stage. In this his friends recognized the true delicacy of the man, in refus- ing to do anything which might scem, even remotely, to profit by the public calamity based upon the Beecher-Tilton affair.

In February, 1878, Mr. Harrison produced his dramatization of Hawthorne's "Scarlet Letter," at Wood's Theatre. His daughter Viola made her début as Hester Prynne, to her father's Roger Collingworth. The drama drew crowued houses for a whole week. Many had attempted the dramatization of this beautiful novel, but failed to make it a success, even with the gifted Mrs. Lander to embody the characteristics of Hester Prynne. But

1156

HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

Mr. Harrison presented the play with such dramatie force that every one who witnessed it was hurried along from beginning to end with the most intense interest. Hle so arranged the dra- matie action and seenic effects that they assisted in leading the mind of the audienee into that deep reasoning, and almost enabled it to feel the seeret heart-pulses which seem to vivify the leading characters in the wonderful story of the " Scarlet Letter." At the fall of the enrtain, a storm of applause brought the dramatist and actor to the footlights to receive the eongratu- lations of the audienee for his double snecess.

Mr. Harrison was ever a firm adherent of the school of Edwin Forrest. His affection and regard for the great tragedian knew no bounds, and his andience never failed to be impressed with his faithful study of the mighty model. He became the imper- sonator of the higher elass of tragie and romantie characters, and his acting has ever been remarkable for its intensity, enthusiasm and power, united with perfect naturalncss. His utterance of the English language is perfeet in aceentuation and intonation. With a strong musical voice, made flexible by his thorough study of elocution, it is equally capable of the rich, deep notes so indispensable in tragedy, and the smooth, tender qualities that are suited to the expression of love or pathos. In 1845, the mutual admiration of Edwin Forrest and Gabriel Harrison matured into a friendship that lasted unbroken till the hour of the great tragedian's death. A fortnight before the sad event Mr. Forrest invited Mr. Harrison to spend Thanksgiving Day with him at his residence in Philadelphia. It was a day never to be forgotten by the honored guest. From early morning till late at night they were alone, enjoying reminiscences, or ponder- ing over the dramatie lore with which Mr. Forrest's library of 7,000 volumes abounded. Among the literary treasures there was the first folio edition of Shakespeare's works-1623 which seemed almost to make sacred the actor's sanetum, and which had eost him $2,000. They read to each other mnost of the day. Mr. Harrison laid before Mr. Forest a project which he had contemplated for many years. In 1854, Mr. Harrison had conceived the idea of establishing a Dramatic College, to educate aspirants for the stage, and to encourage dramatie literature. It was partially carried into effect, and the first performance was given at the Brooklyn Museum. The organization lasted about a year, during which time it gave to the public stage Miss Ellen Gray and Messrs. Ringgold, Walton and others. That such an institution, if established, could be sustained, Mr. Harrison had not the slightest doubt : and as Mr. Forrest was a man of wealth, he laid before him this project to establish a Dramatic College, where students for the stage should be graduated the same as in any other profession, and receive diplomas, which in most eases would secure to the possessor a position according to his ability. Mr. Forrest was so impressed with Mr. Harrison's unique idea that he made an appointment with James Lawson and Mr. James Oakes, his executors, to meet Mr. Harrison in Philadel- phia, that he might explain to them his plans regarding the pro- posed institution. Unfortunately, Mr. Forrest left Philadelphia to read in Boston, and on the second day after his return, De- cember 12th, 1872, he suddenly died. As a matter of course, Mr. Harrison was immediately summoned to Philadelphia, where ho aeted as a committee to receive those who came from a distance to attend the obsequies. Two nights he sat beside that body from which a great sonl had fled, bowed in the grief which only those bereft of anch a friend can feel. The fact that Mr. Forrest about a year previous had been bereaved of his only relative, cast a gloom on his last days, and bound him more closely to the friends he valued for other ties than of kindred. He gave to Mr. Harrison many proofs of his nffeetion and esteem. He emphatically pronounced him a man of genins. In a letter to Mr. Harrison, March 8th, 1571, Forrest writes : " I have been quite ill sinee I came home, und am still suffering from my hereditary gout. In a superficial view of such a ease,

what an injustice seeins the penalty, that the innocent unborn must suffer for the guilty-but it is an irrevocable natural law.

" ' For just disease to luxury succeeds, And every sin its own avenger breeds.'"

With this interesting letter, he sent to Mr. Harrison his portrait, stating that he considered it the best of him ever taken. On another occasion, he presented Mr. Harrison a life-size head of himself in the character of King Lear, which had been painted especially for him. A fac-simile letter accompanying this per- trait is published in Lawrence Barrett's life of Forrest. We here give the following letter, which is characteristic of Mr. Forrest :

PHILADELPHIA, September 4, 1871.

GABRIEL HARRISON, Esq.

DEAR SIR, -I should have acknowledged the receipt of your several very kind letters, long since received, but the bereave- ment suffered by the death of my only relative quite unfitted me, even for the daily occupations of life.

I duly received the engraving of Mr. Booth as Iago, and which would have answered quite as well for Romeo.

The photograph of Lear I sent you is rather a portrait of a general quiescent state of lunacy, and not of any paroxysm, or specific revealment of any point in the performance, and so far, I think it worthy of mueh commendation.

Next month, when I resume my professional life, I hope to be able to sit for another picture of King Lear, which shall be more pronounced than the one yon have. If you could be here at the time, yon mnight greatly assist the pose.

As you expressed a wish to ascertain some facts in the life of John Howard Payne, I asked Mr. James Rees, of this city, to furnish you a brief and reliable biography of him, and which I now take great pleasure to enclose you.

Truly and sincerely yours, EDWIN FORREST.

While in New York, February 23d, 1871, he wrote to Mr. Harri- son, saying, " If Saturday next should be fine weather, I should like to visit with yon the studio of the artist whom you think qualified to paint the portrait of Edmund Kean." Mr. Harrison met him according to arrangement, and decided to give the honor of painting the portrait to Victor Nehlig. But as Mir. Forrest died soon after, and his executors deelined to act in the matter, the portrait of Kean was not painted. Mr. Forrest pre- sented Mr. Harrison with a picture of Edmund Kean, which he, Forrest, considered the most correct he had ever seen. Mr. Harrison's friendship for Mr. Forrest was not " interred " with the tragedian's " bones." It still lives, and will be perpetuated in W. R. Alger's " Life of Edwin Forrest." Although a personal friend of Forrest, and a man of letters, Alger's vocation in life preelnded the possibility of his cultivating any adequate knowl- edge of the dramatie stage. It was, therefore, largely through the devoted and disinterested assistance of Gabriel Harrison that Mr. Alger was able to give a proper estimato of Forrest's genins as an actor. This assistance was not only solicited by Alger, but by James Lawson and James Oakes, Forrest's execu- tors, who realized that no other man had studied so deeply and understood so thoroughly Forrest's artistic merits. In a letter to Mr. Harrison, February 12th, 1875, Mr. Lawson writes: "No ono has a fairer insight into Forrest's aeting than yourself. You appreciate him fully, and with an artist's eye. You have drawn him as he is, the tragedian of the age, perhaps of all ages." Mr. Alger wrote from Boston, December 9th, 1874 : " My Dear Mr Harrison, I suppose you have not yet got the proofs of your essay on Forrest in Brutus. When you have them, I pray you loan them to me for a few days, as you agroed. Any criticisms on the acting of Forrest in his chief rôles, any hints or sugge tions yon will write out for my aid, I will gladly pay you for liberally." Again hc writes, February 25th, 1875, expresing hes obligations to Mr. Harrison for his "very suggestive and helpful notes on the Matamora of Forrest. I like them very much, an l shall be greatly aided by them. If at any time you feel like scratching off reminiscences and hints on the Gladiator, Den, William Tell, or any other of the leading roles of Forr t, it will

1157

BIOGRAPHY OF GABRIEL HARRISON.

be a great favor. Come over some Sunday morning to my church, and then stop and dine with me, and talk to me of For- rest, of acting, and of the Theatre of Art." Mr. Alger had re- ferred to Edwin Forrest's acting as " melodramatic." Mr. Harri- son, writing to Mr. Alger in protest against this epithet, gives his estimate thus: " Are the wonderful figures of Michael Angelo melodramatic because they are so strongly outlined ? Is Niagara unnatural and full of trick, because it is mighty and thunders so in its fall? When I looked at it, its sublimity made me feel as if I were looking God in the face; and I never thought that God was melodramatic. I have seen Forrest more than four hundred times. I have sat at his feet as a pupil-artist learning of a master-artist. In all his chief rôles, I have studied him with the most earnest carefulness, from his tout ensemble to the minu- test particulars of look, tone, posture, and motion. I say, without doubt, he was the most honest, finished and powerful actor that ever lived. Whenever I saw him act, I used to feel with exulta- tion how perfectly grand God had made him. How grand a form ! how grand a mind ! how grand a heart ! how grand a voice ! how grand a flood of passion, sweeping all these to their mark in perfect unison! My memory of him is so worshipful and affectionate, and so full of regret that I can see him no more, that my tears are blotting the leaf on which I write." The above passage MIr. Alger has quoted in his life of Forrest. Gabriel Harrison received a letter from James Lawson, April 13th, 1875, which contained the following: "About Mr. Alger's progress, I am afraid he has done little or nothing since he accepted the church in New York. I shall be delighted to see your articles on Othello and Lear. I don't know of any man living so capable of doing justice to our departed friend. Your knowledge and taste in art is difficult to please. You want perfection to which few attain."

In the critical essays on Forrest's rendering of character in Alger's Life of Edwin Forrest, Mr. Harrison's hand is conspicuous, and where his words are used the sentences sparkle with his enthusiasm. Lawson was perfectly aware of the great service Harrison had rendered Alger in the Life of Forrest, and writes, February, 1875 : "You have done Forrest good. But for you he would not have been placed in the elevated position he so truly merits. Your article on Matamora came to hand this morning. It came near to my heart. It touched me deeply. I think as I read your words that I see the old fellow in all his grandeur. The latter part of the article especially is truly pa- thetic. It went to my very soul. It is sweetly poetic, that passage particularly: 'The sweetest music lies in the strings of the harp, awaiting the touch of its master to express its mel- ody.' Alger must appreciate what you have done, and if he uses, as he ought to do, your own words, your beautiful portrait of Matamora will add to his fame, and enhance the interest and value of his book. I have better hopes than ever that the life of Forrest will be a success. Thanks to Gabriel Harrison with all my heart." On the first anniversary after Forrest's death, a company of gentlemen met in New York and organized "THE FORREST CLUB," of which Gabriel Harrison was elected corre- sponding secretary. After many eulogies had been paid to For- rest, Mr. Harrison said :

" Gentlemen, however well the world may know Mr. Forrest as an actor, it knows comparatively nothing of him as a man. A kinder heart never beat in the bosom of a human being. In the finer sympathies of our nature, he was more like a child than one who had felt an undue share of the buffets of ingratitude. When speaking to him of the trouble of others, I have often seen his eyes suffuse with tears. The beggar never knocked at his door and went away unladen. Many is the charity that fell from his manly hand, and the relieved knew not whence it came. And I may say with conscientious pride, that, however much any of the great actors may have done for their national stage, Mr. Forrest, equal to any of them, has done as much for the theatre of his country, and will remain a recognized peer of the highest in the everlasting group. The longer I allude to the tragedian the stronger becomes the sadness that pervades my feelings, to think that he is no more, and that the mundane existence of the

gifts nature had so liberally bestowed upon him, had to cease with the cessation of his pulses."

In 1860 Jolin H. Gion, for many years connected with the press, and the manager of Miss Matilda Heron, wrote a letter to Mr. Harrison urging him to continue in his profession. He says:

"I have had you constantly in my mind, and sincerely regret that you have not been enabled to take the steps for a series of successes that, I feel assured, wait you in a brilliant career in the profession for which you are by nature so peculiarly adapted. I have seen enough of you, both on and off the stage, to know that there are many with but a moiety of your ability on the high road to fame and fortune. You possess rare genius, and talent withal, to which I may add an admirable conception, suffi- cient education, and a most capital stage voice. What more do you need? Is it wrong that flowers should bloom unseen, or that diamonds should be buried in the ocean's depths ?"

Such is the esteem in which Mr. Harrison's genius and talents are held by all who really know him. His wonderful knowledge of the great " bygones," his discriminating discernment of char- acter, his interest in current events, his artistic and literary tastes, his noble and generous impulses, the magnetic power of his voice and manner, together with the pre-eminent purity of his character, have inspired in many hearts warm sympathy, rever- ence and affection.

If Mr. Harrison did not constantly pursue the profession of the stage, which was the first choice of his life and ambition, it was because adverse circumstances prevented it. He never failed as an actor. Every character he performed was a success in his hands. His magnetic influence over his audience at once made them his, and gained their admiration. It can be said of him, as it is said of Fanny Kemble, that, had he devoted his whole life to the dramatic art, he would have stood one in the group of actors who have made the drama a glorious institution. After a lingering nervous prostration of seven years, brought on by overwork, he gradually became a teacher of elocution and acting. As such, Mr. Harrison is unique and unrivaled. No master in art stands in truer relations to his pupils. Measuring their abilities with due appreciation, impressing them with the justness of his criticisms, and understanding perfectly the anat- omy of the vocal organs, and the means to produce the happiest efforts, he obtains from his pupils the highest possible results.

Mr. Harrison has contributed many graceful poems to the public press. The following poem, entitled "Morning," was ex- tensively reprinted, and much praised for its construction of measure :

MORNING.

BY GABRIEL HARRISON.

The azure gates of morn unbar, Where light awakes from sleep, And greet the sun, while fades the star, In morning light so sweet. Fairies, Spirits, Angels,

Arouse the birds from rest ! And let their song salute the morn While light creeps o'er the nest.

O light of day, thou glorious day ! But touch the beanteous flowers

That lie in wait the livelong night, To scent the sunny hours. Fairies, Spirits, Angels,

The little buds unfold, Expand their leaves, their colored leaves, The white, the blue, and gold.

Thou glorious sun, refulgent sun ! Illume the hill, and warm the dell, And touch the brooklets as they run,

Or waves to mountains swell. Fairies, Spirits, Angels,

Now chant your praise to Him Who made the sun, the glorious sun, And taught the birds to sing !

115%

HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

Mr. Harrison has written the following plays : The Author, Dartmore, The Thirteenth Chime, and Magna. He has also put in blank verse and adapted to the English stage Schiller's Fieseo and Don Carlos. Lights and Shadows of Daguerrean Life was the title of a series of poetic and intensely dramatie articles which he contributed to the New York Photographie Journal. He also wrote several stories for the New York Home Journal, among which were Tasso's Love, and The Nose. His story of The Tiro Artists, which was published in the Aldine, was extensively eopied.

Gabriel Harrison has great reverence for the genius of others, and the walls of his studio are hung with the trophies of cele- brated people, stage-properties, swords, shields, and old engrav- ings of great aetors and actresses. Among them may be seen mementoes of Forrest, Cooper, James Sheridan Knowles, Rachel, and the seales of the great Kean used in the part of Shylock.

Gabriel Harrison, in the winter of his life, is still earnestly toiling as teacher and author. Baffled as he is for the want of sufficient means to carry out his best ideas, many of those friends say, who know him intimately, " The Emblem of Genius in Chains." Although thwarted many times when on the threshold of success by overwhelming circumstances, and his life is in a measure obseure and uncomprehended, yet no eitizen has done and is doing more for Brooklyn in the way of dramatie culture and art- education. He makes necessity a virtue by devoting his ma- turer years to the task of raising many of his fellow-citizens to a higher condition of æsthetie eulture. By giving his time and strength to others, he is wielding an influenee that shall long survive, when the seulptured monuments and descriptive memorials whien he has raised for other men shall have erumbled into dust.

VIRGINIA CHANDLER.

CHARLES STORRS.

C YHARLES STORRS* was born in the town of Mansfield, Con- neetient, January 24, 1822. Asketeh of his life and ehar- aeter is the more interesting because he is really a type of the nobility of New England, whose decorations and estates have been won by that hard toil which Hesiod, the oldest of the poets, says is the "inexorable and undeviating condition of the be- stował of heaven's best gifts on man."

"Stor " is an old Norse word meaning great, strong, in the sense of power, authority; and Storrs, which is one English form, may fairly be interpreted as "strong man." All the American branches of this family trace their pedigree to Samuel Storrs, who emigrated to America in 1663, from Sutton eum Lounde, Nottinghamshire, England. Charles Storrs is sixth in deseent from this Samuel Storrs. His father, Royal Storrs, married Euniee Freeman, daughter of Frederick Freeman, Esq,, of Mansfield, Conn., and grand-daughter of Deacon Edmund Freeman, a graduate of Harvard in the elass of 1733, and the first permanent resident of that name in the town of Mansfield. Royal Storrs was a man of large brain, sound judgment, strict integrity, liberal views and unusual conseientiousness; and his wife possessed fine social qualities, and was attractive both in person and mind.

The district school for about three months in winter gave Mr. Storrs his early education, and he must have studied earnestly to be able in his eighteenth year to beeome, as he did, a school teacher himself. Six months before he attained his majority, he hired a substitute to take his place on his father's farm, and began a earver for himself without a dollar of capital, but with those sterling qualities that have raised him to independence and honor. Hle began selling American made sewing silk to the merehants of New England; Mansfield being the first, and at that time one of the chief places of its manufacture in the United States. He followed this business successfully for three years.

He married July 4, 1844, Maryett M. Cook, of Coventry, Con- neetieut, and in the following year removed to Hartford, where his only ehild, Sarah, was born. Here he engaged his serviees to a manufacturing and commission firm as agent for the sale of their goods. This occupation brought him constantly to New York, and in May, 1850, he chose Brooklyn as his permanent residence. In July, 1853, he was_taken into copartnership with

his employers, who now carried on the commission business in New York, as well as a manufactory in Connecticut. When the finaneial panic of 1854 oeeurred, so many of the parties who had dealings with them on eredit failed, that in September they also stopped payment. Mr. Storrs now assumed the liabilities of his late partners, which were over $300,000, and which were honorably paid in full.

On the 1st of December, 1854, he commenced business as a commission merchant on his own account, associating with him in the new firm of Storrs Bros., his two brothers, Augustus and Royal O. Storrs ; but the latter, owing to other business, never took an active share in the management, and in the course of a year or two withdrew. Mr. Charles Storrs, with his brother Augustus, eontinned the business under the same firm name until December 1, 1879; and, by his business capacity, his care- fulness in avoiding doubtful liabilities, and his high personal reputation for integrity and financial prudence, amassed a com peteney, upon which he retired into private citizenship, and the gratification of those intellectual and artistic tastes and that beneficence which are his eharaeteristies.

In the spring of 1866 Mr. Storrs went abroad for a year nud a half with his family and friends, visiting every country of Europe except Portugal, and afterwards Egypt, Palestine, Syria and other places in the Levant.

Upon the marriage of his daughter in May, 1869, to D. vid Choate Proetor, * a rare man beloved by all, he visited Californi and Colorado with his wife and the bridal party, and in 1571 upon the invitation of Horace Greeley, he accompanied him to Texas.

Mr. Storrs has furnished his own home, No. 23 Monroe place, Brooklyn, with every necessory to material comfort and int l- lectual satisfaction. His eolleetion of pietures is a fine one. His library has attained a literary celebrity from the tributen which distinguished scholars and authors have paid it, and from the fact that it was a favorite resort of his very dear friend Hornee Greeley, who was neeustomed to speak of it as the best private working library he knew of.

In connection with llornee Greeley, it should be mention 1 that Mr. Storrs was one of his executors, and nided in arrangin his affairs, which were complicated, with a personal care dictated solely by the respeet and friendship he had borne him. As the Tribune remarked at the time : " In spite of the embarrassment

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the County of Kings and the City of Brooklyn, N. Y., Part 126

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909. Publication date: 1884 Publisher: New York : Munsell Number of Pages: 1360

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909.
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York : Munsell
Number of Pages: 1360