 | HILSON AND PAUL PRY. The little Frenchman and his water lots, with other sketches of the times |  |
HILSON AND PAUL PRY.
“It is a singular fact, but nevertheless eminently true, that of all persons,
actors in general are the worst judges of an unacted play. It was given in
evidence, before the committee of the House of Commons anent Dramatick
Affairs, that the plays which, by the unanimous consent of the green-room, had
been esteemed to be all that they ought to be, were, on the first night of representation,
almost uniformly condemned.”
—Sunbeam.
We remember, on the first announcement of “Paul
Pry” at the Park theatre, meeting with Hilson just
as he was coming out of the house after rehearsal.
“Well,” said we, “what sort of a piece is Paul
Pry?”
“Poor stuff,” said Hilson. “It won't do.”
“How do you like your own part?”
“Not at all—it's very heavy: I wonder how Liston
made anything of it.”
“What sort of a part has Barnes?”
“Not good.”
“What will Mrs. Wheatley do with Mrs. Subtle?”
“Nothing—the piece is bad!”
Who would have thought after this, that this same
play was performed at the Park by these same performers—Barnes
as Colonel Hardy, Hilson as Paul
Pry, and Mrs. Wheatley as Mrs. Subtle, upwards of
two hundred nights, and that it was decidedly the
most popular play ever produced at that theatre?
| HILSON AND PAUL PRY. The little Frenchman and his water lots, with other sketches of the times | |