TREE IN HAMLET 



have never quite seen it realised." It was an appre- 

 ciation and a forecast of one of the greatest artistic 

 triumphs ever achieved. 



Mention of Hamlet reminds me of so many years 

 ago when Herbert Tree appeared as an amateur at 

 the St George's Hall, Langham Place, doubling the 

 parts of Polonius and the First Gravedigger. Frank 

 Gates was the Hamlet and Miss Maud Branscombe 

 — the most photographed beauty of the time — the 

 Ophelia. Miss Branscombe, I suppose, was a pro- 

 fessional, as she had figured in one or two small 

 productions prior to this. I found a place among the 

 courtiers close to Walter Pallant. But what a great 

 performance it was ! Herbert Beerbohm, then known 

 as Mr Beerbohm Tree, was marvellous. I met Frank 

 Gates afterwards in Australia, where he had made quite 

 a name. He was a good-looking chap and, who knows, 

 had he remained in England and not got into the 

 monotony of Australian professional life might have 

 become great. To the best of my recollection both 

 of these old associates, Tree and Gates, were in the 

 tea trade; Herbert Tree had an office somewhere in 

 Great St Helens. The first time I ever saw him play 

 was in a suburban drawing-room in Stoke Newington, 

 close to Glissold Park. He was in Toole's old farce 

 of Ici on Parle Frangais. He was wonderful, too, in a 

 show called The First Night, when he played the 

 French father of a debutante. 



Time has gone on, and I am not writing a life of 

 Tree. When, however, all that early keenness is 

 recalled, and how evening after evening was given up 

 by us all, as amateurs, to a forthcoming show, it is 

 wonderful that any of us escaped going on the stage. 

 Those who left it out might have done well, but I doubt 

 it. Some of us might have cultivated enough art to 



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