"Leave that to me, Mr. Tinsley," I said. "I"ve knocked "em in the provinces and I"ll be surprised if I don"t get a hand here in London.
Folks must be the same here as in Birkenhead or Glasga!"
"Don"t you ever believe that, or it will steer you out of your way,"
he answered. "They"re a different sort altogether. You"ve got one of the hardest audiences in the world to please, right in this hall. I don"t blame you for wanting to try it, though. If you should happen to bring it off your fortune"s made."
I knew that as well as he. And I knew that now it was all for me to settle. I didn"t mean to blame the audience if I didn"t catch on; I knew there would be no one to blame but myself. If I sang as well as I could, if I remembered all my business, if, in a word, I did here what I"d been doing richt along at hame and in the north of England, I needn"t be afraid of the result, I was sure.
And then, I knew then, as I know noo, that when ye fail it"s aye yer ain fault, one way or anither.
I wadna ha" been late that nicht for anything. "Twas lang before ten o"clock when I was at Gatti"s, waiting for it to be my turn. I was verra tired; I"d been going aboot since the early morn, and when it had come supper time I"d been sae nervous I"d had no thought o" food, nor could I ha" eaten any, I do believe, had it been set before me.
Weel, waitin" came to an end, and they called me on. I went oot upon the stage, laughin" fit to kill mysel", and did the walk aroond. I was used, by that time, to havin" the hoose break into laughter at the first wee waggle o" my kilt, but that nicht it was awfu" still. I keened in that moment what they"d all meant when they"d tauld me a London audience was different frae any ever I"d clapped een upon. Not that my een saw that one--the hoose micht ha" been ampty, for ought I knew! The stage went around and around me.
I began wi" "Tobermory," a great favorite among my songs in yon days.
And at the middle o" the first verse I heard a sound that warmed me and cheered me--the beginnings of a great laugh. The sound was like wind rising in the trees. It came down from the gallery, leaped across the stalls from the pit--oh, but it was the bonny, bonny sound to ma ears! It reached my heart--it went into my feet as I danced, it raised my voice for me!
"Tobermory" settled it--when they sang the chorus wi" me on the second voice, in a great, roaring measure, I knew I was safe. I gave them "Calligan-Vall-Again" then, and ended with "The La.s.s o" Killicrankie."
I"d been supposed to ha" but a short turn, but it was hard for me to get off the stage. I never had an audience treat me better. "Tis a great memory to this day--I"ll ne"er forget that night in Gatti"s old hall, no matter hoo lang I live.
But I was glad when I heard the shootin" and the clappin" dee doon, and they let the next turn go on. I was weak----I was nigh to faintin"
as I made my way to my dressing room. I had no the strength to be changin" ma clothes, just at first, and I was still sittin" still, tryin" to pull mysel" together, when Tinsley came rushing in. He clapped his hand on my shoulder.
"Lauder, my lad, you"ve done it!" he cried. "I never thought you could--you"ve proved every manager in London an a.s.s to-night!"
"You think I"ll do?" I asked.
He was a generous man, was Tinsley.
"Do!" he said. "You"ve made the greatest hit of the week when the news gets out, and you"ll be having the managers from the West End halls camping on your doorstep. I"ve seen nothing like it in years. All London will be flocking here the rest in a long time."
I needn"t say, I suppose, that I was immediately engaged for the rest of that week at Gatti"s. And Tinsley"s predictions were verified, for the managers from the west end came to me as soon as the news of the hit I had made reached them. I bore them no malice, though some of them had been ruder than they need ha" been when I went to see them.
They"d had their chance; had they listened to me and recognized what I could do, they could ha" saved their siller. I"d ha" signed a contract at a pretty figure less the day after I reached London than I was willin" to consider the morning after I"d had my show at Gatti"s.
I made verra profitable and happy arrangements wi" several halls, thanks to the London custom that"s never spread much to America, that lets an artist appear at sometimes as many as five halls in a nicht.
The managers were still surprised; so was my agent.
"There"s something about you they take to, though I"m blowed if I see what it is!" said one manager, with extreme frankness.
Noo, I"m a modest man, and it"s no for me to be tellin" them that feel as he did what it is, maybe, they don"t see. "Deed, and I"m no sure I know mysel". But here"s a bit o" talk I heard between two costers as I was leavin" Gatti"s that first nicht.
"Hi, Alf, wot" jer fink o" that Scotch bloke?" one of them asked his mate.
The other began to laugh.
"Blow me, "Ennery, d"ye twig what "e meant? I didn"t," he said. "Not "arf! But, lu"mme, eyen"t he funny?"
Weel, after a", a manager can no do mair than his best, puir chiel.
They thocht they were richt when they would no give me a turn. They thocht they knew their audiences. But the two costers could ha" told them a thing or two. It was just sicca they my agent and the managers and a" had thocht would stand between me and winning a success in London. And as it"s turned out it"s the costers are my firmest friends in the great city!
Real folk know one anither, wherever they meet. If I just steppit oot upon the stage and sang a bit song or twa, I"d no be touring the world to-day. I"d be by hame in Scotland, belike I"d be workin" in the pit still. But whene"er I sing a character song I study that character. I know all aboot him. I ken hoo he feels and thinks, as weel as hoo he looks. Every character artist must do that, whether he is dealing with Scottish types or costers or whatever.
It was astonishin" to me hoo soon they came to ken me in London, so that I wad be recognized in the streets and wherever I went. I had an experience soon after I reached the big toon that was a bit scary at the first o" it.
I was oot in a fog. Noo, I"m a Scot, and I"ve seen fogs in my time, but that first "London Particular" had me fair puzzled. Try as I would I couldna find ma way down Holborn to the Strand. I was glad tae see a big policeman looming up in the mist.
"Here, ma chiel," I asked him, "can ye not put me in the road for the Strand?"
He looked at me, and then began to laugh. I was surprised.
"Has onything come ower you?" I asked him. I could no see it was a laughing matter that I should be lost in a London fog. I was beginning to feel angry, too. But he only laughed louder and louder, and I thocht the man was fou, so I made to jump away, and trust someone else to guide me. But he seized my arm, and pulled me back, and I decided, as he kept on peering at my face, that I must look like some criminal who was wanted by the police.
"Look here--leave me go!" I cried, thoroughly alarmed. "You"ve got the wrong man. I"m no the one you"re after."
"Are ye no?" he asked me, laughing still. "Are ye no Harry Lauder? Ye look like him, ye talk like him! An" fancy meetin" ye here! Last time I saw ye was in New c.u.mnock--gie"s a shak o" yer haund!"
I shook hands wi" him gladly enough, in my relief, even though he nearly shook the hand off of me. I told him where I was playing the nicht.
"Come and see me," I said. "Here"s a bob to buy you a ticket wi"."
He took it, and thanked me. Then, when he had put it awa", he leaned forward.
"Can ye no gie me a free pa.s.s for the show, man Harry?" he whispered.
Oh, aye, there are true Scots on the police in London!
CHAPTER XI
Many a strange experience has come to me frae the way it"s so easy for folk"s that ha" seen me on the stage, or ha" nae mair than seen my picture, maybe, to recognize me. "Tis an odd thing, too, the confidences that come to me--and to all like mysel", who are known to the public. Folks will come to me, and when I"ve the time to listen, they"ll tell me their most private and sacred affairs. I dinna quite ken why--I know I"ve heard things told to me that ha" made me feel as a priest hearing confession must.
Some of the experiences are amusing; some ha" been close to being tragic--not for me, but for those who came to me. I"m always glad to help when I can, and it"s a strange thing how often ye can help just by lendin" a fellow creature the use o" your ears for a wee s.p.a.ce.
I"ve a time or two in mind I"ll be tellin" ye aboot.
But it"s the queer way a crowd gathers it took me the longest to grow used to. It was mair sae in London than I"d ever known it before. In Scotland they"d no be followin" Harry Lauder aboot--a Scot like themselves! But in London, and in special when I wore ma kilt, it was different.
It wasna lang, after I"d once got ma start in London, before I was appearing regularly in the East End halls. I was a great favorite there; the Jews, especially, seemed to like me fine. One Sunday I was down Petticoat Lane, in Whitechapel, to see the sichts. I never thocht anyone there wad recognize me, and I stood quietly watching a young Jew selling clothes from a coster"s barrow. But all at once another Jew came up to me, slapped me on the back, and cried oot: "Ach, Mr.
Lauder, and how you vas to-day? I vish there vas a kilt in the Lane-- you would have it for nothing!"
In a minute they were flocking around me. They all pulled me this way, and that, slapped me on the back, embraced me. It was touching, but-- weel, I was glad to get awa", which I did so soon as I could wi"oot hurtin" the feelings of my gude friends the Hebrews.
The Hebrews are always very demonstrative. I"m as fond o" them as, thank fortune, they are o" me. They make up a fine and appreciative audience. They know weel what they like, and why they like it, and they let you ken hoo they feel. They are an artistic race; more so than most others, I think. They"ve had sair misfortunes to bear, and they"ve borne them weel.
One nicht I was at Sh.o.r.editch, playing in the old London Music Hall.
The East Enders had gi"en me a fairly terrific reception that evening, and when it was time for me to be off to the Pavilion for my next turn they were so crowded round the stage door that I had to ficht ma way to ma brougham. It was a close call for me, onyway, that nicht, and I was far frae pleased when a young man clutched me by the hand.
"Let me get off, my lad!" I cried, sharply. "I"m late for the "Pav."