William Winter

“An oldtime companion of mine at this period was John T. Malone, studying for the Catholic priesthood. But beneath the cassock my friend harbored a great love for the Stage, and among his intimate circle had won quite a reputation as a Shakespearean scholar. I remember the morning he came to the Baldwin Theatre and told me the story of his ambition. I engaged him at once, struck by his personality! ’I’ve been waiting many years,’ said he, and now the time has come.’... Later, he supported Booth and Barrett and his name will ever be associated with that splendid gentleman who founded The Players. As the years passed he became a victim of Time’s revenges; nurtured in the blank verse school, his engagements became fewer and fewer until they utterly dwindled away. Often I picture him as an actor of exceedingly great talent, but it had no outlet for its practical use. His is one of the many sad cases in the theatrical world of ’exits’ marked by poverty and loneliness.”

I know not whether Malone ever studied for the priesthood: I know, however, that he was educated for the profession of law, and that in his young manhood he practised law in San Francisco. He was born in 1854, I believe in that city, and he died in New York, January 15, 1906: he richly merited commemoration. He was a good man and a talented, zealous, reverent servant of the Stage. No actor of our time more dearly loved his profession or more devoutly and unselfishly labored in its support, though his career was not attended with any specially brilliant achievements or extraordinary incidents. He was a careful and thoughtful student of Shakespeare, and his acquaintance with the works of the great dramatist was intricate, extensive, and minute. He wrote much upon that subject, and his contributions to contemporary magazines, in the vein of Shakespearean criticism, are of peculiar interest. In his domestic life he was unfortunate and unhappy, but to the last he retained a philosophical spirit and a genial mind. As a comrade, among intellectual men, he was both loved and admired,—because his nature was noble, his heart was kind, his taste was pure, his mind was rich, and his manners were gentle. It was a pleasure to know him, and the remembrance of him lingers sweetly in the recollection of a few old friends.