DAVID GARRICK, (1717-79)Actor, Manager

David Garrick was the most innovative and successful actor and manager of the Eighteenth Century. In the British Isles, then year 1776 is not remembered as the year of the unpleasant revolt of the English colonies but as the year of Garrick's retirement from the stage. "Davy" did not come from a theatrical background. His father, Captain Peter Garrick was a recruiting officer who married the daughter of the vicar-cathedral of Hereford. Young David began his education at the Lichfield Grammar School, but was sent in 1736 to study at the "academy" newly opened by Samuel Johnson at Edial. When the school failed six months later, Johnson and Garrick walked up to London together intending to study for the bar. Instead, they had come up to London to conquer their respective worlds.

Garrick soon tired of his legal studies and entered the wine trade, but soon found his time spent in amateur theatricals. A play he wrote, Lethe, was accepted at Drury Lane. He broke into the ranks of professional actors in 1741 when an actor took ill and Garrick took his place as Harlequin in a panto, Harlequin Student. It was sufficiently successful that Garrick decided to go to the provinces to truly hone his skills. After a few performances under an assumed name, he triumphed as Richard III (above, right, as played at Drury Lane years later) at the out of the way Goodman's Fields theatre in the title role. William Pitt, who was there for the debut, declared Garrick "the only actor in England." The super-declamatory Quin said of Garrick's relaxed, natural playing style, "if this young man is right, then all of us are wrong." The young man was right. In short order, he was established at Drury Lane under Fleetwood's management for 600 guineas a year. He set up housekeeping with Charles Macklin, the premiere actor of the day and Peg Woffington, the fabled actress.

Fleetwood's management was inefficient at best, and when Macklin and Garrick tried to expose his ineptitude to the Lord Chamberlain, they found themselves pitted against a popular and deft politician. Garrick, shamefully, threw in with Fleetwood, abandoning Macklin to the streets. The streets responded by rioting in favor of Macklin until he was back on the boards. An icy few years ensued.

By 1746, Macklin had departed, Fleetwood had been forced to sell and Garrick alone was the star and artistic director. He brought in John Lacey, an excellent businessman and administrator and the fabled Garrick years began. When Garrick married a charming young dancer, Eva Marie Veigal, in 1749, the Woffington departed for Covent Garden.