Daily Kennebec journal., 1884-10-24
Gales and Skftehe5.
Young Women on the Stage.
QUEER NoTIoNs WHICH CERTAIN AM
BITIoUs GIRLS HAVE ABOUT ACTING.

QUEER NOTIONS W HIGH CERIAlN AM
BITIoUs GIRLS HAVE ABOUT ACTING.
"When young woman gets the idea
into her head that she is cut out for an ac-
tress you can never convince her that she
is mistaken" said theatrical manager
Yesterday. 81 have been in the business
80 wears now and have acted in the capacity
of manager for FIVE stars and great many
companies In that time have met scores
of yopng women who were stage struck.
Eighteen out of every twenty have turned
out to be fiat and dismal failures. but every
one had an excuse to offer tor her nom
success, As rule, it is the poetic and
sentimental side of an actress life which
catches young women.
Then, too, the romantic fancies which
are so much encouraged by indiscriminate
novel reading and the stories of such
writers as Ouida tend to give them false
idea of the life they are actually obliged
to lead They say that painter will
sometimes look at the subject he is trying
to put upon canvas so long and earnestly
that the subject itself becomes imprinted
on his mind, when he looks at his painting
he does not see what is actually daubed
] Oh Tie CduFds, Oul cCCo tuC ouOJOSS ihoNAA'
That is the reason so many painters whine
about the unappreciative public and the
cruelty of the critics. The same thing is
true of girls who are anxious to become
actresses
You have heard girls recite "Curfew
Shall not Ring tonight? Yes, then you
will understand what mean. You have
seen girl rise among party of friends
in back parlor, strike dramatic attitude
and begin a poem. AS she proceeds
towards the climax you have heard the
piteous shrek and yelp, the mouthing.
gasping and gulping, and the final sigh.
1t is to you and everybody else in the
room, but her, silly bit OF ranting. Do
you know what it is to the grip To her
it is soul. You can never convince her
that she is not giving the most stupendous
elocutionary effect and throwing a wealth
of pathos and feeling into the lines.
The same is true of a girl after she
gets on the stage. People snicker at the
acting of poor actress and never realize
for moment, not only that sde is doing
| her best. but that it is to her great per-
formance. She feels that she is as perfect
as she can be in the lines, and hence she
does not understand the indifference OF the
audience. | don't know a better illustra-
! ton of the perseverance which woman
will show in pushing herself before the
public than that of young woman who
came on here last season from San Fran
cisco. She is well known out there as
society woman and is quite popular among
the ameteur actors. It is said that her peo-
Pile are well-to-do, and she has certainly
spent a great deal of money of late. She de-
cided to become professional actress
and with the usual modesty of such aspir-
ants, made arrangements to begin her ca
reer at the very top of the ladder. With
all respect to her, and esteem her very
highly as lady, it must be said that she
/ possessed fewer advantages in personal
way for the career of an emotional actress
than any woman ] ever saw She was
very thin and round shouldered and ex-
tremely awkward. Her face was not only
of commonplace type, but it was of such
character that it was utterly impossible
! to make it up SO that it would look attrac-
tive from the front. When tell you that
she was also unable to dress bccomingly,
you will perhaps suspect that she lacked
some of the elements that go to make up
a successful and popular actress. She had
a series OF costumes made fer the role in
which she was 10 make her debut here.
Each one was more grotesque than the
last. As have said, she was fragile and
slight. The dresSmaker constructed Sc
ries of magnificent costumes which would
have been too big, too gaudy and too
heavy for a woman 50 pounds heavier
than she was. The actress came on here.
hired theatre and made her debut. She
had a good company to support her and it
is said that her experiment cost her family
$4,000. She played Julia. Pauline, and
one or two other standard romantic char
acters She proved conclusively that she
couldn't act at all.
did she give up the stage and go back
to San Francisco ?"
''Not bit of it. She insisted that every
one of her audience for week in New
York, that every critic in the city and that
every candid man whose advice she asked
was leagued against her. She stuck to
the stage. She is at it yet. About week
ago saw dispatch in one of the dra-
matte papers which told of the hard treat
ment she had been subject to in one OF the
small towns in the interior of the State.
where she was travelling about with a
small company of her own. The audiences
were very rude. The fact is they almost
mobbed her. All this is discouraging, but
it will have no effect upon the Young
woman. She will probably keep on act
ing forever"
There are hundreds of women whose
careers on the stage are very similar to
this. except that they do not have money
to provide company of their own. They
appear as stars for one consecutive night
and are then forced to take any sort of a
place that offers in travelling company
Half the girls who are now playing SER
wants parts in small theatres or dancing
around in variety shows began their ca
reer as Juliet or Julia.-N. Y. Sun.