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About The Omaha morning bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 1922-1927 | View Entire Issue (April 22, 1923)
Tow Frnd Stone Decided He Could Remain a Comedian and Still Be a Good Christian After Hearing Curious Old Legend of the Juggler / Who Won Heaven's Favor With His Tricks and Comical Capers Mary t.ard.n an the juggler In "The Juggler of Noire Umm," an opera baited on Ute legend wliieh runrlured bred Slone that it would not be wrong for him to rnntinue on the stage. FrfJ Mr. in onr of thr rv4r< ubirli h»»e non liira >oth • <*r tty. Fred Stone, the famous comedian ha* rededic«t<d himself to the cause of Christianity—renewed his faith, after a lapse of many years, in the religion of his fathers and his own boyhood days. Henceforth he will lead the life of an earnest Christian, reading the Bible daily, saying his prayers night and morning, giving one tenth of his income to the service of God and doing all he can to win others to the peace he has found But won as he is to the church. Fred Store still is not lost to the stAge. To the delight of the mil lion* of theatergoers who think his antics Inimitable, be will continue to amuse them just as he has been doing for n any years. How Stone reached his moment out decision that there need be nothing irreconcilable lietween the life of a God-fearing. God serving Christian and a professional coined! all's care" is an interesting story— one as attention-e-omprlling ms is to be found anywhere in the history of religious conversion or reawaken ing. It was only after long and care fill pondering that the comedian de • hied not to lay aside forever his -•reuse paint and grotesque cos •nines. His first impulse after being -oiled wnh an overwhelming d<*ire ■wo return to the "glory of God" was to quit the stage at ance—to turn his back on its glamour and gay ety and occupy himself with more serious things Curiously enough. It was a clergy man—the IS»v. fir. Hubert A Cameron, of Hillings, Mont.—who finally convinced him that very probably he could serve God better by continuing on the stage than by retiring to private life or taking up some other profession. And the Bllnnga pastor did it l»y pointing out the striking parallel bet we*d Stone* case and tliat of the medieval juggler who found out that Ood was as well pleased with th«' clownish tricks that were all lia could do as He was with the hymns, prayers and works of art of his fellow monks. Fred Blone was on a train drag King its way across the bliraard swept plains of North Dakota, when lie suddenly awoke to the emptiness of lua life ami came to the conclusion that It could be re medied only by a return to the re ligion of bla boyhood. He craved the consolation th* Bible might have given him. hut he had none, nor could lie find any fellow pas senger who had a copy to loan him. Ho when he finally reached Bit tings lie hurried straight to a hook store and asked for the best ver •u of the Holy Scriptures. An . tier customer who oxerheard his ■ ue«t said. "There's a sky pilot ■• may help you find what you nt." amt pointed acres the aisle 1 ! xvhere the Ilex Dr. Cameron V < *od, Tlie comedian Introduced him • f. explained how much tie mauled Dice and accepted the clcrmr tuan's Imitation to have a talk with him Heated before a hinging fir* hi the pastoral study, FYed stone lulled hi' seul as nakedly as perhaps any pious Christian ever did to a father confessor. "But why quit the stage?” a.sekd the clergyman when Stone had On ished the account of hia spiritual awakening and hia half made plans for the future. "Have you never heard the story of the juggler who found hia tricks and comical taper* highly acceptable in God’s aight?” Stone replied that he never had and then the clergyman told ban that strange old legend which has come down to us from the Middle Agej and has furnished inspira tion to se many poets, novelists and artists. It forms the theme of an opera In which Mary Garden and other famous prima donna* have often appeared and our Amer ican poet, Edwin Markham, wrote one of his most bc-autiful poems around this subject. Ttie opera is called "The Juggler of Notre Hame" and the Juggler hero is named Jean. Markham's poem is entitled 'The Juggler of Tourains" and the hero is called Bamaha*. But the story jn all its main details is quite the same in both. According to the operatic version Jean ia a roaming juggler whose travels l>rlng him to a little French village where a Mayday celebration ia in progress. He is amusing a group of the villager* with his tricks, dances and ribald songs, when the prior of a Heights*ring monastery comes along and stgrls upbraiding him for hia folly. The prior urges him to leave bis vaga bond life and become a monk. Jean ha* no Intention of doing anything of The kind until he sees' Boniface, the monks' plump, well fed cook, passing with a donkex heavily laden with provision* The poor Juggler is so famished that the sight of these good things to eat make* him suddenly decide to accept the prior s invitation and enter tl>« monastery. But his life there proves very unhappy. He cannot speak or read 1-nMn. and therefore Is unable to taks part in the religious sendees He know* nothing of painting, and so is barred from helping the monks who are decorating the chapel with pictures of the Blessed Virgin and the saints. His Juggling tricks and dan.vs and songs are his only ac complishments. snd for these, his fellow monks tell him (hers is no place In the worship of God. One day. when he fa feeling mop* unhappy than ever over his inability to do anything for the glory of (bid. something impels him to steal Into the chapel and perform some of his Juggling feats In front of the life sise painting of the Blessed Vir gin. Some bne tells the prior where Jean has gone and he and the other monks quickly follow. They are Oiled with indignation to see Jean in that sacred place Jug gling three Kails In the air while he dani-ea to the rhythm of a ribald song he hums. ‘'Sacrilege!^ they cry , but before they can lay hands on the Imploua one and drag him from th« chapel they are paralysed yvith nwe nt the change they sec coming over the (Minted figure of the Blessed Virgin. Her fare lights up with the ani mation of life and her head is In clined toward the juggler. Her hands are lifted and stretched out in the attitude of benediction. At sight of this Jean stops his pranks and falls to his knees in prayer. “A miracle''' cry the other monks as they kneed beside him. - A brilliant light enveioi«s the fig ure of the Virgin, angvls are seen hovering about her head and celes tial voices are heard sieging the sweetest melodies ever heard b.v mortal ears. The opera ends with Jean dying ia the arms of the now forgiving prior and murmur ing with hie last breath his eatisfao lion lhat "now h< ' understands I At- i in." This was the story the lulling" clergyman tohl Kred Stone. As he finished It he took down from one of his book shelve* a volume of Markham's pnein* and read the dosing stanza of ' The Juggler of Touraine." “Ah.” cries the pnos: beating the breast, ‘So the lowly deed is a lofty test: And whatever is done from the heart to Him Is done from the height of the Seraphim.” lred Stone, deeply impressed with the parallel which the Rev. Dr. Cameron found between his raise and that of the legendary Juggler of the Middle Ages, decided then that there to remain or. the stage and to seek there the opportunity to serve God and his fellow nun u he wants to do. That night, at Fred Stone's earnest request, the clergyman stood in the wings while the comedian went through his per formance and won the enthusiastic approval of the audience that crowded the theater. "Rut I saw not what the others saw." says the Rev. lw. Cameron. "I saw an offering made to God— just such an offering a* the legend teils ns the juggler made In the moivastry chapel so long Ago." The following Sunday found Fred Stone In Ruttc, Mont, lie attended service at the Mountain View Meth odist church, and before tt was over he liad publicly declared him self a penitent fotlowei of Christ and promised to give one-tenth of his income to the ehuivh. • My labors In the theater shall 1-e ean ied on as before," says Fred Stone. "I will give my l-cut, aa al ways. to my audiences, with an added inspiration, for I shall do all I do for the clary of God. “If my experience helps others to gain a happier, healthier view of life and if l can In my humhK way be the means of advancing the faith I have so sincerely adopted I shall feel that I hare been re warded far beyond my desert a. " Kred Stone's spiritual reawaken ing stirs unusual interest because of the dramatic circumstances un der which it was made and the odd chance that led him to an adviser who was able to supply him with reasons for continuing his stage career. But It should not be thought from this that men and women of profound religious convictions are a great rarity in the theatrical pro fession. Er*ry denomination number? among Its members a large number who earn their living on the stage There ia an Actors' Church alii .me. with a lengthy membership list of actors and actresse* who are actively interested in spreading the cause of religion. Almost every reader of this page has probably heard of or seen the Brothers Byrne who won such pop ularity In ‘ Eight Bells’’ and other spectacles ti and mors years ago. The eldest of these brother* was always of a strongly rvlig ous turn of mind. When death broke up the family combination back in IBM he retired to a monastery in the south and lived there until his death a tew aaonths ago. The bulk of the property that he left was bequeathed to the monastic order. Many of the most su.vessful min ister* were at one time actors lNr haps the »wst conspicuous example •f this kind was the Rf». George Horace Lorioer, a hose lug «r~d distiusuirhed <»reet as a preacher was divided between Immanuel Bap tad church in Chicago ail Tre mont temple ir, Beaton. He was con sidered one of the country s great est pulpit orators. The Kev. Sir Imruner'a coimr sior. was quite a* remarkable as Bred Slone's recent spiritual re awakening It occurred in Loutsviiie and the late Henry Water-sou once wrote a dramatic account of it. While waiting o’ e evemag at the stage door of a theater where he eras playing in a stock company Is-rimer became deeply interested ,n the exhortations of a hard of street evangelists. A few days U:er he threw up hi theatrical engum r.ient without ary explanation He gave h.mseSf a years training in ttuwton work, then took up the study of thooh>gv. f nalty ecte-i^g the church as an ordained Bapi.st minist -r Fred Stone is if years ohi He has been ait using the public ever since, as a mere lv>y. he >«ned a circus that visited his home town in Kansas. For several year* he a-d ha leother did an acrotatio aM la the sawdust ring Then he went on the stage—first In a stock wunar. later in a misstrel troupe and fi nally In musical comedy It was In the latter field. ;n partnereto-p w.th the late Dave Montgoesery. that he won great S lices* In suck plays as The Wiaard of Oa” "The Red MUl" aid "Chin CMk"
