The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1875-07-30
BEAUTY AND BRAINS.
Dramatic Succe IS In the Long Run Only
Perches Where IL is Deserved.

Perches Where IL is Deserved.
1t is easy for persons who have failed
upon the stage to sulk at persons who
have succeeded, and, sarcastically, to
ascribe their success to various causes
aside from merit and desert. All read
ers of current theatrical comment and
discussion are familiar. for example,
with the ironical assertion that no wo-
man can succeed on the stage unless
she has a pretty face and fine ward
| robe-the Implication being that public
taste and intelligence are low and mar
row, and that good looks and good
| clothes are the surest, if not the only,
passport to it's favor. MuCd nonsense
is talked on this subject. The fact is,
as experience shows, that the public
forms a rational and correct judgment
as to most of the dramatic aspirants
who seek its favor, and tn 1t, upon the
whole, it pays no more attention to
comeliness and fine raiment than these,
in reason, deserve.
To a woman who attempts the stage,
beauty in person and taste in dress are
great advantages. They do not imply
the possession of dramatic talent or
general intelligence but, upon the other
hand, neither does ugliness indicate
voiced ladies who file ont from time to
time as Julia, or Pauline, or Juliet, may
not be able to comprehend this; but 1t
is a fact that mankind prefers beauty to
ugliness, and that talent has always a
better chance of success when beauty
commends it to fpvor. No sane person,
of course, will contend that a pretty
face makes an actress but every OBJ
Is md 20 Oh
must concede it to be fact, and a nat
ural one, that the woman who iS an act
ress, and has pretty face, has an easier
task in achieving public favor than her
homely professional sisters. Almost |
every play that is acted contains love |
story; and in the dramatic illustration |
of love story, youth and beauty are |
imperaIively essential. Romeo must |
not be bow-legged or red-nosed, and |
Juliet must not have hump back or |
swivel eye. Elderly men and women
have been known to act Romeo and |
Juliet, and to succeed in pleasing their
audiences but they did this through
the skillful and effectual stimulation of |
youth, beauty and passion, and not by |
decrepitude; they seemed TO possess,
and therefore practically did possess, !
the physical qualifications necessary to |
create and sustain an illusion. Undue |
estimation of these attributes would be |
an error but all sneers at them, as OF |
little or no value compared with brains, |
are premature and silly. Among the |
requisites that Sir Roger de Coverly |
prescribed in his chaplain were q good |
aspect and clear voice; and this was
a very sound Judgment as to what is
necessary in person who must be often
seen and heard.
Instances are on record of success
upon the stage achieved in despite of
personal defects. Betterton was a
thick limb and pOck- marked man, and
Macready had a bad figure, an IN
pleasing voice, snd a harsh face; but
Betterton had such a soul within him
as transfQured his ungainly body, and
when as Hamlet he beheld th5 ghost,
his countenance blanched to an awful
pallor-so intense was the magnetic
feeling which possessed him and which
he impaired to others and Macready's
earnestness was so profound, his pas
sion so just, his carriage so noble, and
his taste and execution so trne, that he
thrilled the spectator and satisfied him
and made his own grim looks forgot
ten. Miss Cushman upon our own
stage, has, in like manner, been trl-
umphant over some disadvantages of
face and phvsique-for she is a woman
of wonderful magnetic force and
besides, she was wise enough to leave
the Mrs. Hallers a d the Bancas and
adhere to Meg MerilIes, Queen Kathe.
rine, and Lady Macbeth. These and
others like them are exceptions, which
only prompt regret that persons so
highly endowed should not also have
been blessed with physical perfection.
They would certainly have had an
easier time, and probably they would
hav conquered a more extensive and
enthusiastic admiration,
While, however, the public takes
kindly to beauty, there is no instance
in which mere beauty has won success
for dramatic performer. It is usually
the passport to immediate notice, but
it proves an injury rather than a benefit
when it is found to cover emptiness and
incapacity. We might mention several
exceedingly handsome women who
have failed on the American stage be-
cause their talents were found to be of
mediocre description. In the long run
success perches where it is deserved,
and in all the arts, sooner or later, the
true artists get their acceptance and