IN THE LAND OF THE KANGAROO
We were to have opened our Australian engagement in Sydney—but we didn't. At the dock, awaiting us, was James C. Williamson, then and until his death the magnate of the Antipodes in theatrical affairs. I had known him back in New York in the eighties when he was just "Jimmy." I had played under his management and had always found him a likable, fair-minded man. We were to play in Australia under the management of Williamson and Musgrove. Mr. George Musgrove had made the contract with me before we started.
Well, as soon as I landed Williamson informed me we were not to open in Sydney but must go through to Melbourne that very night.
The sting of this disappointment was largely lessened by our finding on the pier, ready to greet us, two American girls, one of them little Sadie McDonald whom we all loved. Poor little Sadie McDonald! How she wanted to go back to God's country! She died before we finished our engagement in Australia.
That night we went to Melbourne was the coldest I ever lived through. It was like a December blizzard without the snow. And the date was July 24!
Forgetting that we were going to a land where the seasons are upside down I had no heavy clothing with me and almost froze.