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The following is a transcript of a newspaper article:
CAME TO STAY 2 WEEKS, REMAINED FOR 52 YEARS
by Josephine Eather Nevada State Journal, Reno, Nevada
22 May 1938
Eureka, 21 --- Mrs. Albertine McCabe Burdick celebrated her 85th birthday at her home in
Eureka on March 24. She came here with a vaudeville show in 1886 and soon after that
married T. A. Burdick of Eureka.
She jokingly said, “I came to Eureka to stay four weeks but instead sayed fifty-two
years.”
Mrs. Burdick came to Reno with a troupe in the early ‘80s. She remembers “barnstorming”
Reno when that city had only one hotel and one theater. She said the contrast between the
pioneer Reno and its present appearance is remarkable.
Her father was a theatrical agent in San Francisco in the early days. He numbered among
his friends Lawrence Barrett, John Drew, J. Booth, David Belasco and other prominent
actors of that time. Many of these famous men were also known to Mrs. Burdick, who took a
minor part in the “Ghost Show” with David Belasco.
When she was three years old Mrs. Burdick entered the Schmitt and Therese Dancing School
on Stockton Street in San Francisco. At the age of five years she became a member of the
Bingham Juvenile Company in San Francisco. Michel De Young, who in later years owned the
Chronicle daily newspaper, was also a member of this juvenile troupe.
Could Do Anything
Albertine McCabe was a versatile actress for she was a good pianist, soprano singer and
dancer, and she spoke the French, Italian, Russian and German languages. She says in
those days an actress had to be able to do anything, even to cleaning the theater before a
performance and seeing that the lamps had enough oil in them to last through the evening’s
entertainment.
At eighteen years of age she and her sister were “barnstorming” northern California,
Oregon and Vancouver, B.C. In those days the journey to coast cities must be made by boat
as railroads were not as numerous as they are now. People coming to the theater to see a
show brought their lanterns with them and in the smaller, more remote towns these lanterns
were the only means of illumination. The stage curtains were sheets, a far cry from the
velvet draperies of the modern theater.
Came to See Lights
She recalls how the audience would arrive at the old Baldwin Theater in San Francisco
especially early right after the first electric lights were installed in order to watch
the manager turn on the electric lights in the large chandeliers in the center of the
auditorium. She sang soprano in a chorus for the first time at the old Maguire Theater in
San Francisco when Chris Alpers was the impresario in the late ‘70s. Sixty years later,
in fact less than a year ago, Mrs. Burdick says she heard Chris Alpers sing over the
radio. Previous to Mrs. Burdick’s appearance at the Maguire she had studied music
at the Italian Conservatory in San Francisco. Later she sang masses at various churches
in that city. As Albertine McCabe she was a member of the Crocker Gaton Dramatic Club and
played in such plays as “East Lynne” and “Cinderella”.
She still cherishes a large make-up box which was brought to her by a friend from China
when she was a girl and has carried it with her whenever she was touring the country as an
actress and singer. She sang as a chorus girl in grand opera in the old California
Theater on Bush Street in the Bay City. Once, when she was “barnstorming” in southern
Arizona it was so hot her raincoat melted.
San Francisco Dangerous
Lincoln was assassinated when she was about ten years of age. She recalls how San
Francisco was a dangerous place to live in at that time as political feeling ran high. So
her father took his family to the country until the excitement wore off.
Mrs. Burdick came to Eureka with a theatrical troupe in 1877, soon after the “big flood”
before the narrow gauge railroad was finished. She says bull-teams were still used here.
She stayed in Eureka only a short while on her first trip but returned here in 1886 and
has remained since then, with the exception of several short visits to California.
Afer her seventh child was born, Albertine McCabe Burdick again turned her attention to
her profession. Coaching local amateurs for plays and teaching music occupied her time
until recent years. In the late “nineties” she organized the “Base Range Dramatic Club”
and later “The Red Rosette.” Announcements of plays given by these clubs may still be
seen posted on the Eureka Sentinel printing office walls. Mrs. Burdick might well be
called the originator of the “Litte Theater” movement in this community.
Her memory is still clear and she reads with intelligence. She began life in the
horse-car days but accepts modern innovations, such as cars, airplanes and radios as
naturally as the younger generation.
Born in San Francisco, Mrs. Burdick has become a loyal Nevadan, and from the wisdom of her
85 years believes the world is a better place to live in today, in spite of present
national problems, than it was in her girlhood.