" The veteran light
comedian, Lewis, who at a very advanced age appeared in juvenile
characters, to the complete satisfaction of his audience, was famed
for his skill in costume and making-up. But one night, a roguish
actress, while posted near him in the side-wings, employed herself in
converting one of his calves into a pincushion. As soon as he
discovered the trick, he affected to feel great pain, and drew up his
leg as though in an agony; but he had remained too long unconscious of
the proceeding to persuade lookers-on of the genuineness of his limb's
symmetry. With regard to Othello's complexion, there is what the
Cookery Books call "another way." Chetwood, in his "History of the
Stage," 1749, writes: "The composition for blackening the face are
(_sic_) ivory-black and pomatum; which is with some pains cleaned with
fresh butter." The information is given in reference to a performance
of Othello by the great actor Barton Booth. It was hot weather, and
his complexion in the later scenes of the play had been so disturbed,
that he had assumed "the appearance of a chimney-sweeper.
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