of London, and who created the part Hackett played here in
"The Walls of Jericho") as _Sir Thomas Clifford_.

From Daly's he passed to the road under the management of Arthur Rehan as
leading man in successes from Daly's, which led to his becoming a star in
the same modest orbit in a repertoire of old-timers such as "Mixed
Pickles" (on which his amateur venture, "The Pink Mask," had been based),
"The Arabian Nights," and "The Private Secretary."

He was lifted into the prominence imparted by a Broadway run through the
agency of "Madame Sans Gene," in which Dan Frohman saw him, with the
result that in November, 1895, he appeared with the old Lyceum stock
company as a character next in importance to Herbert Kelcey, then leading
man of the troupe. The play was a serious one, "The Home Secretary," by
R.C. Carton, who had not then taken such wild farcical flights as "Mr.
Hopkinson."

It was just at this time that Mr. Frohman decided to try rather an odd
experiment. As had been his custom, E.H. Sothern had opened the autumn
season at the Lyceum, and this year with even more than his wonted
success, for he had appeared in the first transfer to the stage of "The
Prisoner of Zenda." Previous bookings compelled his relegation to the road
in the very height of the New York hit, and in mid-winter, after sizing up
his new acquisition to the stock forces, Mr. Frohman decided to duplicate
the outfittings of "The Prisoner of Zenda" and put it on at the Lyceum
with Hackett in the dual part of _Rassendyll_ and the king.

What Kelcey thought of this arrangement has never been made public. But he
was temperamentally unsuited to romantic roles, and did admirable work in
the heavier part of _Black Michael_, with the explanatory line "by special
arrangement" beneath his name on the program.

This was Hackett's opportunity, and he availed himself of it to the full,
winning the Lyceum clientage for his firm adherents, so that when Kelcey
went starring the next autumn with Effie Shannon he stepped into the shoes
of the leading man of the house. In the opening bill, "The Courtship of
Leonie," he met for the first time the new leading woman, Mary Mannering,
who in due course became his wife.

It was two years later that Mr. Frohman launched Hackett as a star in the
"Prisoner of Zenda's" sequel, "Rupert of Hentzau," which had no Broadway
showing. Its successor, "The Pride of Jennico," made up for this by
setting Hackett on a pedestal so firml