The sun., 1881-11-27
thusiasm speak OF. And the beauty OF It all

,husiasm speak Of. And the beauty Of 1t all
is. that night after night IT is the same" :,
Surely they do. Sometimes tho audience Ia
unsymrn'hetc and cold that 1t chls the actors
every effort. But tell YOU it is n great triumph
you altogether"
. Does it takea long time for you to find out
whether an audience is responsive or not 2"
Oh. no. An actor OF experience can tell
almost as 5000 ms he has spoken his fret lines
II he has such an audience. You can. 80 to
speak. judge its tone IA easily as n musician
can Judge ot an instrument when he has struck
me iirst chor,'s and just as a musician loves
tone. just so an actor loves TO let his feelings
play upcn an audience perfectly attuned."
When You have such an audience before
you. do you not often Yield to momentary Inn
pulses p, and make changes here and thero either
There are glorious moments in the Iise OF
an actor when he feels that he has thrilled his
nobIer effort: when he knows that every ges-
ture, every accent will be true 10 nature; when
he abandons himself To- inspirattOn. and speaks
AMI moves under its indueBce."
eiiaas after the curtain has fallena'
elder them. and IL then think them worthy OF
adaptation .,, @ they bscomo permanent part OF
DO you only ieel the influence OF the audi
ence. or do you actual y SEQ laces among it?"
see and recoe nizs faces. and sotnetimes
watch II and act to 1t all through tho play. Let
me tell you an anecdots illustrating this habit.
Once when | was acting Vir0iaius In Chicago n
little girl. whom knew 30 we'll TINT she called
me Uncle John. was in one OF tho proscenium
boxes l love her dearly. and I watched her
almost ms closely as she did me- You should
hnv. seen h ~ her faco lit np when came on
tho stase. and how shn beamed on me in the
earlier parts of the play. and how happy 1t
mad" her to hear me tai ing kindly and loving
ly To Virginia. 1t would have done you good
Joy when l rushed upon the stage and
clasped Virginia in my arms Just In time
To- lead her myseif to the forum. Well.
lost sight Of her during thesoene in tho forum.
for the last time. Suddenly l saw her shrink
back in terror. and she followed my look to-
ward the knife. l saw her terror becoming
stab, an tho curtain fell. J. saw her hide. her
head in her mothers Lap. felt SO alarmed Tor
her that went to the box door to reassure her.
Cai nR her so.lyby name whispered: Don't
be alarmed it's only fun. only killed her in
fun In q moment she was running toward
Sss Srs S1n
my neck. and kissed ms again and again."
Which is your favorits chai acterY
- think. said Mr. Mccullough. Il prafcr
Viroinius People may condemn tho diction.
but they cannot deny that II is a flne acting
play. full OF life and dramatic situation. Then,
too. IL is n nc touch OF the author to keep W.
etnius on tho stage an entire act. and after the
ward just In time. l have often seen people
shed tears over that one touch Of nature"
Mr.. Mccullough. in speaking OF his London
said. was espeeially grent IN mstodraWa and in
nyetical and picturesque cha racters. Iie iwelt
with special emphasis upon Irvine's feeling oi
th., hs nws. hs sss
positlon aud friends in high pL.ce ~ his uis-
dnction as an actor"