Photograph by Byron. Belasco’s Collection.
DAVID WARFIELD AS WES’ BIGELOW, IN “A GRAND ARMY MAN”
“I am very grateful, ladies and gentlemen, that you have given me this opportunity to speak a few words of welcome to you—of welcome warm as heart can make it, to each and every one of you, the friends who have been kind enough to honor me by coming to this little house-warming to-night in our new, and, I hope, our permanent, home. It is a privilege to come before you; to see you here; to see and recognize, as I do, so many of the faces of those who have given me their support ever since I came here from that dear, far-off city of the West where I was born. It gives me such great happiness, ladies and gentlemen, to see you here; to know, as I do know by your generous applause, that you like the play we have produced for you and that you still love, as I am sure you do, that splendid actor and loyal and dear friend of yours and mine, Mr. David Warfield, who is playing here so beautifully to-night. Ladies and gentlemen, I hardly am able to express myself to you. In one of the great plays in which I myself used to act, many, many years ago—and which, before I die, I hope to have the privilege of placing before you, here, in New York—there is a speech that has kept coming back into my mind all this evening, as I have listened to your applause and tried to think what I could say to you:
“‘You have bereft me of all words,
Only my blood speaks to you in my veins.’
“But I think that you must know what I wish to express, that you must understand without any words what it means to me to have you here to-night, and to know that all the lies and all the perjuries that have been printed and spoken against us cannot shake your approval and support. We need it! Remember, we are only a handful, fighting against a mighty Trust: but, ladies and gentlemen, this little theatre flies the flag of independence, and as long as we have your approval and support and sympathy nobody can dictate to us and nobody can ‘put us out of business.’ And I am sure that we shall have you with us just as long as we deserve it, and we shall strive to deserve it and to serve you and the beautiful Art we all love just as long as we live. I thank you, again and again, for all of us,—for Miss Phelps and Miss Short, and for Mr. Warfield and for my company and all my associates as well as for myself,—and again and again I bid you heartily welcome to this little new theatre.”
This is the original cast of “A Grand Army Man”:
| Wes’ Bigelow | David Warfield. | |
| Judge Andrews | Howard Hall. | |
| Captain Bestor | Reuben Fax. | |
| Jim Bishop | George Woodward. | |
| Cory Kilbert | Of the | James Lackaye. |
| Let’ Pettingill | G. A. R. | Stephen Maley. |
| Comrade Potter | Tony Bevan. | |
| Comrade Tucker | Thomas Gilbert. | |
| Comrade Tate | Henry F. Stone. | |
| Robert, Wes’ Bigelow’s adopted son | William Elliot. | |
| Rogers Wellman | Taylor Holmes. | |
| Hickman | John V. Daly. | |
| The Drummer-Boy of the Rappahannock | John Morris.[5] | |
| Hallie | Antoinette Perry. | |
| Letitia | Marie Bates. | |
| Mrs. Bestor | Amy Stone. | |
| Alida Bestor | Veda McEvers. | |
| Mrs. Pettingill | Jane Cowl. | |
| Mrs. Kilbert | Louise Coleman. | |