STRANGE CHARACTERS I HAVE MET.

NZ Truth, Issue 79, 22 December 1906, Page 8

STRANGE CHARACTERS I HAVE MET.

(By Cfeorge E. Sims.)

Before Edward Dalziel, the last of the famous "Brothers Dalziel," 'died, "Fun"— -which was for so many years their property— had ceased to exist.

No one who only knew it m the latter days can form an idea of the vogue it once had as a comic periodical. Well-known authors and journalists wrote for it, and equally wellknown artists were responsible for its illustrations. Its early history was a curious one. It was the 'property of a lo.okmgglass dealer who had a shop m Fieetstreet with "the largest plate-glass front m London," and it 1 was m the 4ittlq_„qffipe behind the shop that" many met '^l& : ;4ftierw^4s^B^_e world-rfa-mous,,haa' td interview ti^ir "Chief; ■' Long after I had ceased- my connection with •*Fun, M I mefr one day iri Broadmoor a young man who had been sent' there as insane, after committing an act which might have rendered his name immortal. This young man, detained "during her Majesty's pleasure," was sane enough to read and to keep m touch with ttie affairs of t}ie outside world. When he heard my name mentioned by the medical 1 superintendent who was showing me round, the young man rose from .the table where he was playine whist with three other gentleman each of whom HAD COMMITTED MURDER, . and coming up to us, asked permission to have a view, minutes' private conversation with me. He asked me ii I was the Geo. R. | Sims who had been on the staff o£ "Fun." I replied that I was, and he then informed me that his f at/her was the original proprietor. The young man was' Roderick Maclean, who on March 2, 1&82, presented a revolver at the Queen as she was drivine through Windsor. The unfortunate fellpw had been m sore straits for some time, and he had been m an asylum. But I believe that one of the things that preyed upon his mind was the refusal of Her Majesty, through the Duchess, of Marlborough, to accept the "poetry" with which he bombarded Windsor Cast.le. He was a well-behaved, quiet yoiing fellow at Broadmoor, and whep i;he superintendent assured me that thbre was no danger, I sat dowai by ihe Would-be regicide, and we had a mM; interesting chat over a cup of coffee and a cigar. i •Before we parted " he told me tEiat while he had been m- confinement he had written thestory of his life, a,nd he begged that I would ~ accept iihe M.S. and get it published. By permission of the authorities: I acceded to the request' -'.so .far as ; allowing him to - find and give me ttbe MS., but it- was of' course understood .that ■"'■'.' I SHOULD NUT ATTEMPT to find a publisher for it. I had the extraordinary production .typed, and have kept it by me. Thore can be no harm m my reproducing here the portion of it which refers to •tlie early history of "Fun." ■"My father y/as the proprietor -. of that well-known periodical "Fum," which he puru_thased from my brother and a printer who wanted it more for a hobby than a gigantic speculative enterprise ; . comparatively it was j unknown, but by perseverance and advertising it became a popular periodical. It was eventually purchased by Tom Hood. It was a novel venture, productive of an agreeable . associatiouship with kadlnjj; litemry men. There were Arthur Sketchley, author of *Mrs Brown ;' George A. Sala, the remarkable author regarding whom it is claimed that, he approached the zenith of Shakespesire's genius ; W. S. Gilbert, the learned burlesque writer ; Mr F. C. Btfrnand. a good motto for whom is. *A bird m the b^r.d i&> worth two m the "hush 7 — original ttiis ; Matt Morgan, the original delineator of scenes .it, Rari.s*i«'i.te ami kindred watering plates, und Mr J., the versatile Tailor oi ihe Midlands, who wrote a

scathing satire on the much maligned Napoleon III." This is the story of the beginning of "Fun" written m Broadmoor by th.c son of, its first proprietor; Most of the men mentioned worked for it then, and many others. The only person about whom I am iq doubt is the ' "VERSATILE TAILOR OF THE MIDLANDS. " . Th« office was above Maclean's shop, then known as the Commercial Plate Glass Co. H. J. Byron was the editor ; F. C. Burnand, Clement Scott, Tom Robertson, the dramatist, and W. S.. Gilfcuit were ;on the staff. Sir Frank Burnand told me only the other day that he usfed to go to Maclean's shop to draw ."the money for his contributions, arid that it was to Maclean m the little office behind the shop that he read the MS. of "Mokeanna." Maclean refused it, and Burnand took it to "Punch," was on its staff for 19 years, and sat daily' iri , the editorial chair for another 26 years. ■ • In. 1865 Mr Edward ,Wylam was the proprietor. Later on Mr Wylam became interested m a well-known dagbiscuit business, and wanted to find a purcharer for his comic periodical. Tom Hood sought the Brothers Dalziel, who eventually became the proprietors, paving £6,000 for the goodwill arid copyright on the condition that Tom Hood remained the editor. I That was 1670. In 1874 Tom Hood I died, and left behind a letter m whioh Ihe asked the DaMells to let Henry | Sampson succeed him. It was early m 1874 that my first contributions appeared m the "Penny Punch," and on poor Hood's death I ; JOINED THE STAFF and remained with Henry Sampson until the "Referee" was started, and . we both severed our' connection with "Fun" together. I am glad to say, however, that I enjoyed . the friendship of the Brothers Dalziel to the last hour of their honored lives, and I think of them still with the most sincere affection. There is nothing like "Fun" to-day, and prohably there are few among the "new journalists" who, hearing it mentioned, have any idea of the literary and artistic memories which its name awakens among -the small band of "Fun" men who still survive. . W. S. Gilbert's world-famous "Bab, Ballads" first appeared m "Fun," andhe was still working for it when I joined the staff. As a matter of fact, Mr Gilbert sent. some of his earliest efforts to the first proprie-. tor, Maclean, of the looking-glass shop m Fleet-street; and Maclean accepted and published them. ' ''' . The "Bab Ballad?" ,were originally offered to ' 'Punoh. ! ' '^ hut ' 'The Yarn of the Nancy Bell" was "too cannibalistic" for the taste of the editor, and so "Punch's" loss was "Fun's" - gain. Tom Robertson, the dramatist, who p*ave us "Caste," "Society," "Ours," "School," and helped to make the management of the Bancrofts at the Prince of Wales's Theatre m Tottenham Court road ever memorable m theatrical annals, was __ "Fun" man and a REGULAR ATTENDANT A.T THE "FUN" DINNERS, which were held at a tavern m Fleetstreet. Clement Scott, Henry S. Leigh, whose delightful "Carols of Cockayne" still commands an admiring public ; Charles Leland, the immortal "Hans Breitman" ; Jeff Prowse, a genius with a style absolutely his own : Georee Augustus Sala ; Godfrey Turner ; Dutton- Cook ; W. B. Rands ; Ashby B terry (haprilv still with us and still giving up his graceful work); Austin Dobson (his delightful poems appeared principal! vin "Tom Hood's Annual") ; Arthur Sketchley, a cler-Krinari-his real name was the Rev. Georee Rose ; and Edmund Yates were among the hand of brilliant wrisc**s who worked under ihe editorship of Tom Itood,

And the artists of "Fun" were as famous as the writers. Among them were Paul Gray, Henry Doyle. (a brother of Richard), Hubert Herkomer, R.A., George Pinwell, Hal Ludlow, W. Brunton, P. S. Walker, Gordon Thomson, and F. J. Sullivan ; and m the early days Matt Morgan, who later on was to startle us with those astounding cartoons m the " Tomahawk." F. J. Sullivan's "British Workman" series was one of the cleverest things ever contributed to comic journalism.

When Paul Gray, a charming Irish artist, died m his youth, there was very great and sincere grief for his loss, and a wonderful programme was given at the Haymarket Theatre fbr the benefit of his widowed mother.

The performers were all amateurs, and . principally contributors to "Fun." Just after the death of poor Tom Hood, who ■-.".' WORKED TO THE VERY LAST and helped .to send the number to press that appeared three days after he. himself had passed a-Wav, I wrote an "epigram" m "Fun" which was not at all well received ip. literary circles, where the subject ' of it was as well known m those days as he is m these. Now he is "Toby, M.P.," but then he was Mr W. H. Lucy. It is a loni: time ago since I committed the Youthful indiscretion of attacking; this eminent: joijrnalist. When I chatted with Bim at the Frederick Greenwood dinner last year 1 woiidered.if he remembered _?7 "epigram.-' J did 'not remind him of the circumstance that introduced us to each other 32 years ago. The literary and artistic life of 4 the early seventies, when I was an habitue of Fleet-street, was frankly Bohemian. Men of good position m both worlds were not ashamed to gather together m bar parlors and smoke clay pipes and drink more hot grogs than were good for them. One of the favorite meeting places for the "Fun" staff on editorial days was the Ludgate Hill /bar, which was one of the first refreshment buffets that Messrs Spiers 'and Pond, then but recently arrived from Australia, introduced to the. London public. I can nee. as I write, the old bar at 'Whtoh we uaed to stand, louhkuir and unashamed, our pipes m our mouths, arid ■drink brandy, Irish whisky or gin. Gin was a "literary" drink m those days, and you heard "a gin cold" m bar-lounging Bohemia as often as you heard •' a brandy hot," • I can see Tom Hood, tall, handsome, and* distin-niished, standing amon--*" the little crowd for whose !'re-' frpphment" he generally paid at ' these informal editorial .gatherings,. He himself rarely touched spirits. * He nrpferred the liqueurs of Frsnoe to the liouors.of Ireland and Scotland, and his usual CALL WAS "A GREEN CHARTREUSE." .'■ Looking back on those days, and remembering the gay gatherings at Bohemian clubs and night resorts, at Cremorne, North Woolwich, and the Surrey Zoological Gardens, the card parties generally held at some friend's chambers m one of the Inns which used to last till 6 o'clock m the morning, sometimes later, I often wonder howl came through it all undamaged.. I worked jn the city all day and wrote for "Fun" and other papers after I got home. And jwhen the work was done I would' often join the midnight gatherings of the Bohemian Brotherhood. ,

In those days : there were plenty of clubs around Fleet-street, and .the Strand, which never 'put out their lights till 5 o'clock m the morning. And when the clubs closed it was the practice of some of the more robust of the members to go to one of the Covent Garden early houses and have breakfast before going ho* Ambrose Bierce, the "Dod Grile". of the "San Francisco News letter" came to England about the end of the sixties, and- became a regular contributor under Tom Hood, and remained with us m Sampson's time. He was our companion m many an excursion to the pleasure haunts of London whioh have long since passed

away. ' • Bierce ,w«as a brilliantly clever man, whose work has not made the mark m this country that it should have done. Some short stories he published under the title of /'ln the Midst of Life" are worthy of Kipling at his best.

' Wher. Bierce first joined "Fun" John Camden Hotten was a famous, publisher of shilling hooks, of American humor. .

Bierce had a boy full of cuttings, his contributions to American papers, and Sampson introduced him to Hotten, who agreed to give £75 for a collection and bring it out under the title of "The Fiend's Delight.", Another collection -■ followed, and then a contract was made for a third, which was to be called "COBWEBS FROM AN EMPTY SKULL." The transaction was concluded at Hotten's publishing house m Piccadilly, and Bierce received a cheque for the usual amount, £75. He hadn't a* banking account hew, so Henry Sampson gave . him an operi cheque for Hotten's cros-jed one, end paid Hotten's into his own bank. The cheque was returned unpaid, arid Sampson rushed off to Bierce with it. . Bierce was indignant. He had heard that Hotteri was ill, but thought ..that he was merely keeping away.' ; He took a cab and drove to, HattOri's. private house m Maitland Park Villas, thinking that he should find his publisher's illness an invention. A pale-faced servant opened the door. *;Where's Mr Hotten?" exclaimed Bierce. "Upstairs, sir— l'll show you," said the girl. , Bieroe followed her. The girl opened a door, and- Bierce, who was still m a rage about the unpaid cheque, strode into the room. "Look here, Hotten," he exclaimed, "what tho " Then he stopped and UTTERED A CRY OF HORROR. John Camden Hotten lay dead upon the bed. The girl, when Bierce asked where Mr Ho tton was, imagined that he had come from the undertaker's, and had shown him into the room where Hotten, who had died the nrevious day from typhoid fever, had been laid out. The matter of the cheriue was settled by the executors, *vho returned the MS ; and tlie '-ook under another ti-tlp, was i'*.enr! , ?.l.y published by Rout-led trta

Mr Andrew Chatto, who was with Hotten at the time of these happenings, purchased his business, and is now the head of the big publishing house of Ohatto and Windus.

During the three years I was on "Fun" I contibuted on an average three columns a week to it. The method of payment was simple. On the Thursday after publication we went into the little front office, and Mr Moffat, the cashier, took down a piece of twine from a hook by his desk, and turning to the copy of the paper which the editor had marked by putting the initials of the contributor against. each paragraph' or poem, proceeded to measure wp our work with a little bit of string.

THE PAY WAS £l A COLUMN, fractions of a column m proportion. The work having been measured, Mr Moffat handed us our. money m cash.

Moffat was a good fellow, heartily m sympathy with the Bohemian wayy of the Fleet-street of that day, and and so it frequently happened that there was only a balance to come to us. We had drawn a portion of our remuneration before it was earned.

In the Maclean -days ifc was not unusual for hard-<up humorists to do a cash -deal among the lopking-glass frames. One or two of my old comrades would write a short poem or a comic "bit," pop into Maclean with it, and. offer it him for half-a-sover-igii ''ready." In the days of Tom Hood— his name was* Thomas, but he called himself Toni m order to avoid confusion with the hall-mark of his famous fatherr-there had been,' as I have shown, quite a number of eminent literary men contributing , to. "Fun." But Henry Sampson was a businesslike editor, and a man of very, independent ways. He insisted on "edit-, ing" his 'contributors, and would not have any who considered -that -they

WERE SUPERIOR TO CORRECT-' ■ IQN. .'..;■•■ . "'' "As loyal and true, a friend as ever breathed' '—Tom Hood wrote . those words; of him upon his deathbedSampson was also an implacable enemy His editorial chair was not stuffed with roses. He had quarrels with mariv well-known writers,, and they were often fierce-ones..;-,; He was at various times at "dag-" gers drav.«n with George Augustus Safe; H. 1 W. Lucy, Clement Scott, Edmund- Yates -, and the Lawsons- ,of the " Dai ly Telegraph , " and •he had very strong • views with regard to soiric of the popular actors of the , day. Those he never hesitated to express m his printed^ criticisms.

Dui'ln-' the B a tern an regime- at .the L3*ceUm "Fun" said many uncomplimentary things of the v young; tragedian, Henry Irvine;, who .was then, -'as. he. remained to the end, the premier actor of the British stage.

The • notices of the Lyceum were frankly unfriendly. Taking; my .cue from these. T one day wrote a letter "To- a fashionable Tragedian," whidi was duly published m "Pun." It brought the editor to the Guildhall Police Court, with his contributor tp keep him company.