Mr. Skiff formed a partnership with Eph. Horn and Walter Bray in August, 1869, and gave minstrel performances for a brief period. In 1871 Mr. Skiff called his company the “Albinos.” He later deserted the minstrel field, and for several years traveled in an executive capacity with legitimate attractions.
M. T. Skiff was born in New Bedford, Mass.; he died in Baltimore, Md., June 13, 1890; age 55 years.
The Famously Funny Lee Dinner, as told by the late W. J. Florence to Seen and Heard; Philadelphia:
“Philip Lee,” said he, “was the husband of the beautiful and gifted Adelaide Neilson, since whose death we have never seen a Juliet upon the stage to equal her. Lee was the son of an English clergyman, and in demeanor and apparel was a gentleman. He accompanied his wife to this country, not as her business manager, but simply as her husband. He was a harmless, pleasant, gentlemanly fellow, with but little knowledge of American ways. It is not true, as has frequently been stated, that he knew so little of this country that he expected to see buffaloes plunging down Broadway and Indians tomahawking people in Central Park, New York, nor was his astonishment at the absence of such surprising adventures the inspiring cause of the joke of which he was made the victim. Its inception was in this way: At the time Lee was in New York City, in the Fall of 1877, he was a patron of the Fifth Avenue Hotel, where I was also staying, as I had been for years, and Mr. Sothern was quartered at the Gramercy Park Hotel. One night the three of us met at the Lotos Club, which was then far down town, and, as we were about leaving there, Sothern and myself, desiring to pay the Englishman some attention, invited him to accompany us to the old chop house kept by George Brown, and there have a bite and sup before going to bed. We walked up Fifth Avenue together, and, as we were opposite the Glenham Hotel, our attention was attracted by a disturbance across the way, evidently caused by a brawl between a policeman and some jovial young blades. Lee, who was very curious about everything he saw, exclaimed, ‘Bless me! what’s that?’ Mr. Sothern replied in the most nonchalant manner, as he continued walking on, ‘Oh, only another dead man.’
| BOB. SLAVIN | ED. H. BANKER | “HAPPY” CAL WAGNER |
| BURT. HAVERLY | SAM. HAGUE | EUGENE STRATTON (1878) |
| JOHNNY SHAY | M. T. SKIFF | JOHN W. THOMPSON |
A GROUP OF GENUINES.
“‘Another dead man!’ gasped Lee; ‘Lord bless me, what do you mean?’
“‘Oh, that’s nothing,’ exclaimed Sothern, with a wave of his hand; ‘I stumble across them every night on my way home. They are killing men around here all the time. I trip over them, but pay no attention to them, but keep right on my way home. I don’t care to be summoned as a witness before the Coroner every day of my life.’ ‘Bless me!’ exclaimed Lee; ‘what a remarkable country!’
*****
“We finally reached Brown’s, and, having secured a table, we ordered chops and ale. Sothern and myself had not prearranged any joke upon our guest, but he had given me a wink, which I knew meant mischief, and I was ready to play second to any part he proposed performing. While we were eating, Sothern suddenly reached over and placed his fork in one of my chops, attempting to remove it to his plate. I prevented this by the insertion of my own fork, and then said, in calm but determined tones, ‘Ned, I don’t like that,’ to which Lord Dundreary responded, but not in the feeble tones of that stuttering stage nobleman, ‘Mr. Florence, I don’t care whether you like it or not; I want that chop!’