Morning journal and courier., 1883-08-18
The Status of the Performer,


 For the players who choose for their ife's calling that ministry of diversion, soclety in this country always has a light esteem. Above all, for the human person to become the professional vehicle of public amusement, and let for hire it's features and gestures, its stage display, entails a secret offense to tho inbred morgue of society. which discEeditgs the histrionic calling, however unjugtly.o Nor is this sentiment peculiar to Engiand, On.the contrary, the class of dramatic per. formers has long been held in greater re- spect in this country than on the continent The Kumbles, the Mscreadys, the Ellen Trees, the Helen Faucits have ennobled it. The prejudice against the profession of the stage is far stronger in France and Italy than with us. Roman law marked actors with touch of infamy; the Roman church denied them so much ss consecrated grave. Even in Paris, not strict or prudish in such things, something of the old disdain survives, and 1t was marvel when the most accomplished comedian of the day received from the Pres ident of the republic the decoration of the Legion of Honor. Still, 1t must be con- fessed that there is close analogy between the temptations of the turf and those ot the stage. The former lead the jockey to scale as ieht in truth and in honesty as he seeks to do in avoirdupois reserying sometimes, but not invariably, the duty of his engage ment to the colors for which he rides. The latter incline the actor, and still more the &C., tress to make life masquerade of flash and glare, whirligig of sudden triumph and precipitate reverse For both alike, that most brittle and least moral of all tests, sue cess before the pubic eye, tends to become 8 gradually larger and larger factor. and character and conscience sink under the 1n- huence of professional habit These are the temptations, not, of course, irresistible, but grave and real, which beset the profe ssion of ''those who live to please j" and these have so far prevailed in molding the traditions Of the stage in the past that they tend to exclude any close scrutiny of moral character in the members of 8 company. Unless he rises above those traditions, no manager will care to press such question, It is as much out side his province to consider 1t as 1t was out side that of recruiting sergeant of the great Frederic, who merely wanted his men to be six feet in height. It Is impossible that such traditional facts should not result in some loss of caste, social disrating founded upon moral sentiment, similar to that of Oriental castes, which rests on one ceremonial or so- ciallY artificial. The male performer is con- paratively pachyderm, being proof against imputstions which sting the female reputa- tion to death. Thus on the head of the weakest and frailest falls the whole, or all but the whole of the obloquy, which, if due at all, should be divided between the public who demand, and the male perform CT who assists at, the actress sacrifice, to whatever 1t may amount of social respect. Thus the stage is entitled to say to society,
 ''You exact this work from us and hold us cheap for doing it. You are bound then to protect the weaker members of our craft against the terrible risks which they often run for your sake. Your duty does not end with payment at the doors or applause, | however judicious, in the house. Your pride and self love infiict 8 social disabili | ty; and such disparagement ever tends to l depress the moral status of those who incur | it. The imputation which you freely fling on us ever tends to realize itself in actual l profigacy. A profession which stands at a | disadvantage in the eyes of public opinion, | however unjustIy, is only too likely to de- I serve that of which it is suspected; for the
 sense of hopeless injustice is apt to sting I it's more sensitive and impulsive members | to desperation. Therefore, as you open | the door to disparRgement, you are bound
 by moral reciprocity to guard the opening,
 and keep 1t from becoming, by a natural l and general law, downward slope to per- l dition.'' We do not see how it is possible [ to set aside this claim. The ''Ohurch and | Stage Guild'' is an attempt to recognize
 and meet it. It is only possible to over-
 come evil by good; and, emitting from our present view any specially religious agen- l cies which that guild may enlist 50 far as l it embodies that broad moral principle, we ] cannot but wish it well. For the amusers and 1 the amused to hrve opportunities of meeting, knowing and befr1ending one another will 1 minimize the chances of any of the former 1 dropping into the gulf, while the latter will perhaps be astonished at the amount of self. respect. unimpaired in the face of social dis coursgement, which the ranks of the former have to show.