Volume I: Narrative History

Chapter 1: On the Road with Salvini

Sketches of Alexander Salvini published in an unidentified newspaper on December 16, 1896, the day after Salvini's death.

Courtesy Thanhouser family archives, courtesy of Pego Paar (P-320)

From about 1894 until 1896, Edwin Thanhouser toured America with Salvini. His son Lloyd recalled:

Edwin's stage career lasted about four years. He journeyed all over the country with the Salvini troupe, which played mostly "one-night stands" in numerous cities, towns and hamlets from coast to coast. Edwin was never starred, but he earned some favorable press notices for the minor roles he played.

His life on the road must have been grueling. Travel was usually by train, with little sleep possible in rattling Pullman cars and noisy frame hotels. Meals had to be consumed hastily in dining cars and small-town restaurants. In many places the troupe would present one play in the afternoon and another that night. Then, in the early morning hours after the last performance, they would climb aboard another train and take off for their next stop.

Never a robust person, Edwin sometimes became ill while on the road. Once he felt so miserable that he went to see a local doctor. After looking Edwin over, the doctor handed him a pint bottle filled with bright red liquid, and a box of large pills, with advice as to the frequency of dosages. When Edwin asked how much he owed the doctor, the latter replied, "That will be fifty cents."

"As soon as I got outside," my dad related, "I threw the medicine into a garbage can and felt much better."

Edwin Thanhouser's personal scrapbook preserved in later years by his family contains many programs and newspaper notices from the 1896-1897 years. It gives insight into his activities during the end of his tour with Salvini when he first set out on his own, and reveals that Edwin left Salvini's troupe because he sought a better opportunity elsewhere.

Under the aegis of Salvini, Edwin Thanhouser played 18 different roles. His most important parts included those in Hamlet, Othello, The Three Guardsmen, and Don Caesar de Bazan. He was best known as a grave digger in Hamlet.

Pages from Edwin Thanhouser's personal notebook, laying out the scenery an Act 1 for the play THE THREE GUARDSMEN.

Thanhouser family archives, courtesy of Pego Paar (M-14)

Edwin Thanhouser's scrapbook of press clippings reveals that during the week of April 20, 1896 Alexander Salvini and his players presented, under the direction of W.M. Wilkison, a varied program at the Schiller Theatre in Chicago. On Wednesday evening, April 22nd, the romantic five-act play, Don Caesar de Bazan, had Salvini in the title role, while Thanhouser, his name misspelled as "Tanhouser," appeared far down on the cast list as "A Beggar."

By this time, Edwin was accustomed to the beggar role, having performed it many times. A month before, on February 13th, The Denver Times noted:

With the same regularity that brings The Three Guardsmen to Denver annually, Don Caesar was on the boards at the Tabor last evening. It is the same piece as ever, played with the same infectious sang froid and careless bonhomie that marks Salvini's D'Artagnan. Note The audience was large and fairly enthusiastic. The charm of the play was, as it has always been, the vagabond duke who repudiates his debts as easily as he goes to his hanging, and makes little more of marrying than he does of killing, all of which commends itself to one's envy and admiration.

Salvini carried the entire performance, more so than ever before, because his company was unable to do so, and when the star was off the stage the lights went out, figuratively speaking, and the play dragged stupidly. Miss Klein, as the apprentice to the armorer, however, came very near to doing something with her slight role, while Edwin Thanhouser was out of the usual with the make-up of the beggar. Tonight The Three Guardsmen Note will be repeated, and tomorrow night Mr. Salvini extends to the Denver public another opportunity to witness his original and remarkable performance of Hamlet.

During the mid-1890s Edwin Thanhouser considered Atlanta his home, and when time permitted returned there. In the summer of 1896, Thanhouser spent a month or so in Atlanta, where he was interviewed several times by the press. The Atlanta Journal reported on June 24:

The many friends of Edwin Thanhouser will be pleased to know that he is in the city to spend his vacation. For two seasons past he has been one of the leading members of Alexander Salvini's company and has appeared in many important parts. He has won golden opinions from the public and his professional associates. He has been engaged for next season by Charles Frohman Note and will appear in the strongest company of that great manager. Mr. Thanhouser is to be congratulated on his brilliant success and his fine prospects.

The Constitution, on June 28th, printed an expanded article in the same vein:

Edwin Thanhouser, the clever young Atlantan who has been a member of Salvini's company during the past season, is back home and will spend some weeks here before returning to the East. Next season Mr. Thanhouser goes with Charles Frohman's forces to be a member of his leading comedy company - the organization that is to do Thoroughbred. This is an excellent engagement - better in its opportunities than those with the Salvini company - and its offer is the highest kind of tribute to the capability of this young actor.

Mr. Thanhouser has had splendid success with Salvini, and Manager Wilkison is my authority that he is one of the promising young men of the stage. "I have had a wonderful time," said Mr. Thanhouser, in talking about his past season, "one both of pleasure and real profit, for a man could not be in Salvini's company without profiting artistically. I decided to take a position with Mr. Frohman because I thought it best for me to get into modern comedy. The engagement is a magnificent one, and I am sure I am right in making the change."