My Chicago Author:Anna Morgan Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: Bernard Shan: reading to Anna Morgan, from the manuscript of Captain Brassbound's Conversion. The play had been written for Mansfield and had been declin... more »ed by him. It was afterwards played professionally by Sir Forbes Robertson, with Gertrude Elliott as Cleopatra. Richard Mansfield happened to be playing at the Chicago Opera House while I was working on the play. I invited him to attend a rehearsal, which he did. The next day to my astonishment he sent me the following letter: The Virginia, Chicago. My Dear Miss Morgan:—I neglected to congratulate you upon the excellent acting of your fupils yesterday; I really was quite astonished, and am sure their remarkable proficiency is due entirely to your admirable method of teaching. Pray accept this sincere word of praise now, with the best wishes of your very faithful servant, Richard Mansfield. Miss Jeannette Gilder, editor of the New York Critic, in writing of my work said, "It is safe to say that no other school has called forth more universal expressions of approval from thoughtful persons in public life whose opinions are worthy of note. . . . Miss Morgan's young people have presented Rostand's "The Romancers" and Maeterlinck's "The Intruder." They have boldly plumbed the depths of Ibsen; they have played Stephen Phillips' poetical drama; they have tried Henry Fuller's parodies, and spoken Edith Wharton's subtle, finished dialogue. The astonishing thing is that they have done all of these things well. The performances are looked forward to as a unique feature of the Chicago season— to an extent they take the place of a Theatre Libre. "Mr. G. Bernard Shaw's 'Caesar and Cleopatra' has been given its first appearance in Chicago before selectaudiences, largely composed of the literary and artistic people of th...« less