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Joseph Haworth’s Versatility
Joseph Haworth was the most versatile actor of his time. He was a romantic,
swashbuckling matinee idol who thrilled men and boys with his athletic acting and
swordplay, and who made female audience members swoon at his love scenes.
Additionally, he was an accomplished character actor, a deft comedic player, and a
brilliant farceur. He could also sing and dance. In Shakespeare, he was a master of both
the classic and heroic schools of acting.
The Englishman, William Macready, was the seminal exponent of the classical school.
He was a slender, somewhat awkward actor who created a modern, subtle and more
human approach to the great Shakespearian roles. His rival, American born Edwin
Forrest, was of the heroic school. Forrest was a powerhouse vocally and physically who
dazzled audiences with his energy and strength. The classical school produced the great
Hamlets and Romeos, while the heroic school produced the great Lears and Macbeths.
Joseph Haworth’s first mentor was Charlotte Crampton. Miss Crampton had played
opposite Macready and Forrest, and she taught young Haworth the “stage business” of
both actors in all of their major roles. Joe was therefore uniquely equipped and able to
succeed in both styles. He acted successfully with Edwin Booth and Lawrence Barrett,
the two leading actors of the classical school, and was also leading man to John
McCullough, a great heroic star actor, who had been a protégée of Edwin Forrest.
In Haworth’s early years with John Ellsler’s theatre in Cleveland and the Boston Museum
Theatre, he was called upon to play all sorts of roles and styles. He concluded his tenure
in Cleveland with his first Hamlet. As leading juvenile in Boston, he played Romeo, Iago,
Joseph Surface, etc. Then the Museum staged the American premieres of two Gilbert and
Sullivan operettas and Joe stunned audiences with a complete change of pace. A press
book for Joe’s 1895 starring tour in Rosedale recounted this extraordinary display of
versatility:
“There appear to be no confines to Haworth’s talent. He is as austere in tragedy as he is
clever in travesty. Not long ago he packed away the togas and armor of Caesar, went to
Boston and played Grosvenor in Patience with an assurance and a self-consciousness that
was beyond the understanding of most lookers-on in these days of one-part and one-line
actors. And his Grosvenor was a big ‘go.’ His achievement seemed almost incredible,
but the doubting ones were forced to acknowledge his ability, and applauded him.
“This feat, however, did not surprise those who knew how he had previously walked out
of a heavy melodrama into the character of the Boatswain of Pinafore, and had danced
and sang with as much ease and abandon as though he had been reared in a burlesque
company.”
In her book “Old Boston Museum Days,” Kate Ryan wrote: “Everyone about the theatre
was somewhat doubtful as to the success of Pinafore. Even Mr. Field was uncertain
about the outcome till the song ‘He is an Englishman’ sung by Joseph Haworth took the
audience by storm and received encore after encore. Joseph Haworth played the part of
Bill Bobstay and added greatly to the success of the opera.”
Haworth was enormously popular in costume plays, romantic melodramas, and drawing
room comedies, but throughout his career he would eschew commercial theatre to take on
the great classical roles. In 1887, Joe was leading man to Julia Marlowe at New York’s
Star Theatre. He played a sensational classical Romeo, the grave and foolish Malvolio in
Twelfth Night, and then returned to the heroic style as the title role in Ingomar. Since Joe
Haworth’s time, the only actor who has shown a similar range in the classical canon was
Laurence Olivier.
In 1889, a double bill had a long run at the Madison Square Theatre in New York. A
Man of the World was a one act romantic drama that featured Maurice Barrymore, while
Aunt Jack was a three-act farce in which E. M. Holland starred as a lovesick elderly
barrister. When the production was sent on tour, Joseph Haworth played both the
dashing leading man in A Man of the World and the comedic old lawyer in Aunt Jack.
Manager A. M. Palmer brought Joe’s touring company to Broadway in 1890, so that
metropolitan audiences could witness this theatrical hat trick by Haworth.
Joseph Haworth always played leading male roles, but he constantly sought to expand the
range of his characters. In 1896, he played the uncouth Ira Beasley in Bret Harte’s Sue.
Wearing a long thick beard, Joe played a dull-witted, dirty, selfish, and maudlin character
that entered into a loveless marriage with the play’s title character. Haworth who was
known for success in society plays, melodrama, comedy, and classical roles, astounded
critics and public alike with a vivid characterization of a rube in an American folk play.
In Joe’s co-starring 1898 Broadway engagement with Helene Modjeska, he portrayed
Modjeska’s warrior husband in Macbeth, her errant brother in Measure for Measure, her
father in Magda, her young ardent lover in Camille, and an athletic Orlando in As You
Like It. While on tour Modjeska also presented Joe in Hamlet, playing Ophelia in his
support. Over the years, Modjeska’s leading men included Otis Skinner, William S. Hart,
and Maurice Barrymore. Of all these excellent actors, Haworth played the broadest range
of roles opposite Madame Modjeska.
A 1901 starring engagement in San Francisco again exemplifies the variety of roles
Haworth offered to his audiences. He opened as Elliot Grey in Rosedale, a popular
adventure melodrama in which he employed his great singing voice. Next came
Richelieu, and then the dual roles in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He followed these with his
first Shylock in Merchant of Venice, and closed the lengthy engagement with Hamlet.
Haworth’s final three Broadway performances were as different from one another as
night and day. He played the heroic Vinicius in Quo Vadis in 1900. Then he played
opposite Richard Mansfield as the “lean and hungry” Cassius in Julius Caesar in 1902.
And finally in 1903, he was the tortured and remorseful Prince Dimitri in Tolstoy’s
realistic modern play Resurrection.
There have been actors capable of some of what Joseph Haworth successfully attempted.
But none have been able to do it all. In addition to everything else, Joe was a sex symbol
and leading man. Imagine if you will, a romantic star like Errol Flynn also succeeding in
Shakespeare, musical theatre and character roles, and you will begin to take the measure
of the versatility of Joseph Haworth.