SELWYN LOST JOB AS USHER.
Grit, Self-Assurance, and Impudence
Served Author-Playwright Faithfully
in Long Up-Hill Struggle.
"Although I began as an usher, it was failure to do myself credit in the first part that I ever acted that determined me to take up the stage as a career."
This bit of personal history was whispered to me by Edgar Selwyn, the never-to-be-forgotten Tony of "Arizona," who is now the head of the prosperous play-broking firm of Selwyn & Co., the author of "It's All Your Fault," and two new farces to be brought out by George Cohan.
I sought him out in his offices, the other day, to obtain from his own lips for The Scrap Book the story of his start, and it certainly proved to be one full of incident and bristling with disappointments. I will give it here in his own words, prefacing the narrative with the remark that Mr. Selwyn is dark and good-looking, with the white teeth and swarthy skin that instantly suggest him for such rôles as Tony and José, whose "Pretty Sister," a few years since, was Maude Adams.
"I was born in California, but I always had an idea of getting to the city where the money was—New York. During the World's Fair I had a job in a store in Chicago, and afterward managed to get to New York, where I landed with scarcely a cent in my clothes. Then I started in to tramp the streets in search of a position. I went into store after store on a block, not picking out the most likely places, but taking them all in. You see, my need was desperate, and I wasn't taking any chances.
How a Job Was Captured.
"Well, one Saturday I went into a men's furnishing store on Fulton Street. There wasn't anything doing there, they told me. But as I was going out a fellow was bringing in some fresh stock, carrying a high-piled heap of collar-boxes. He over-balanced them, and over they went on the sidewalk. It was raining, and I made a quick dash and picked up the lot, carrying them back into the store.
"Of course, the proprietor couldn't very well ignore this, and as I had put in a very earnest plea for a job he now came forward and said that he would give me two dollars if I cared to stay and help them through that busy Saturday. On Monday morning I reported for duty again. The proprietor wasn't there when I arrived, and his brother asked me if I had been regularly engaged.
"'I think so, sir,' I said shamelessly.