Nesbitt Memorial Library Journal, Volume 1, Number 4, March 1990 Page: 116
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Nesbitt Memorial Library Journal
Perhaps the most popular performances with
the Columbus audience were those of Annie Burton in Dad's
Girl on December 2 and of Katie Putnam in Love Finds a Way
on April 4. It was Putnam's second performance in the
Stafford Opera House, and her second triumph. She was to
return, but not until theater had all but died in Columbus. It
was she who gave the last known professional dramatic
performance in the history of the opera house. Her produc-
tion of The Little Maverick, on January 10, 1894, was
apparently the only attraction of the 1893-1894 theatrical
season.
The opera house's fifth season brought the great
actor Frederick Warde to town. Warde had started his
American career with Booth at the Booth Theater in New
York City. A few years later, he had toured with John
McCullough, and in 1888 he had been Lillie Langtry's leading
man in California. Decidedly in the front rank, many regarded
him as the foremost actor in America immediately after
Booth's retirement.
In his autobiography he related a story which
indicates how convincing an actor he could be. Once in
Austin, with Warde playing lago to McCullough's Othello, a
member of the audience became so distraught over his
villainy that he drew a pistol and threatened to kill the actor
onstage. Thankfully, another audience member restrained
the man, no doubt convincing him with some difficulty that
Warde was only playing a role.
R. D. MacLean and Marie Prescott made their
second appearance in Columbus on November 2, 1891 in
Ingomar, with MacLean as the title character, a barbarian,
and Prescott as Parthenia, a Greek maiden. Also appearing
for a second time were the minstrel team of Bobby Beach and
Otis Bowers. Two other minstrel shows graced the hall that
year, McCabe and Young's and Al G. Fields'. The perform-
ance of McCabe and Young's Minstrels was unusual in that
it drew an audience that was predominantly black. Field,
whose real name was Alfred Griffith Hatfield and who was
a member of the Hatfield family that feuded with the McCoys116
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Nesbitt Memorial Library. Nesbitt Memorial Library Journal, Volume 1, Number 4, March 1990, periodical, March 1990; Columbus, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth151377/m1/16/?q=%22~1~1%22~1: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Nesbitt Memorial Library.