The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1884-11-20
wOULD-BE ACTRESSES.
Queer Ideas of Certain Young Women.

"
Queer Ideas of Certain Young Women.
when n young woman gets the idea
into her head that she is cut out for an
actress you can never convince her that
she is mistaken" said a theatrical man
ager yesterday. Il have been in the
business thirty-two years now, and
have acted in the capacity Of manage:
for five stars and a great many com
panies. In that time have met scores
of young women who were stage-struck.
Eighteen out of every twenty have
turned out to be flat and dismal fail
ures, but every one of them had an eN-
cuse for their nOn-Success. As rule,
it is the poetic and sentimental side OF
an actress life that catches yoang wo-
men. Then. too, the romantic fancies
which are SO much encouraged by in
discriminate 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 on can
vas So long aud 80 earnestly that the
sub bject itself becomes imprinted on his
mind. aud Wl.rn he lnOks at his paint
ing he docs nut sta. what is actually
daubcI on Ia. canva~. but secs the sub
ject itself. That is the reason why so
many painters whine about the unap-
preciative public and the cruelty of the
critics. The same thing is true of girls
who are anxious to become actresses.
''YOu have heard girls relate 'Curfew
Shall Not Ring o-night?" Yes. Then
you will understand what | mean. You
have seen girl rise among party of
friends in back parlor, strike u dra-
matte attitude and begin a poem. As
she proceed towards the climax you
have heard the piteous shrek and yelp.
the mouthing, gulping and gasping, and
the final sigh. 1t is to you and to
everybody else in the room but her a
silly bit of ranting. Do you know what
it is to the girl? To her it is soul.
You can never convince her that she
is not giving the most stupendous elo-
cutionary effect, and throwing a wealth
of pathos and feeling into the lines.
''The same is true of girl after she
gets on the stage. People snicker at
the bad acting of a poor actress, and
never realize for a moment not only
that she is doing her best, but that it is
to her great performance. She feels
that she is as perfect as can be in the
lines, and hence she does not under
stand the indifference of the audience.
/ don't know of better illustration OF
the perseverance which woman will
show in pushing herself before the pub
lie than that of a young woman who
came on here last season from San
francisco. She is well known out there
as a society woman, and is quite Popu-
lar among the amateur actors. 1t is
said that her people are well to do, and
she has certainly spent great deal OF
money of late. She decided to become
professional actress, and, with the
usual modesty of such aspirants, made
arrangements to begin her career at
the top of the ladder. With all respect
to Der, and | esteem her very highly as
lady, it must be said that she possess
ed fewer advantages in personal way
for the career of an emotional actress
than any woman l ever saw. She was
Verv thin and round-shouldcred, and
extremely awkward Her face was not
only of commonplace type, but it
was of such character that 1t was ut
terly impossible to make it up SO that
l
When | tell YOU she was also unable to
dress becomingly, you will perhaps sns-
pect that she lacked some OF the ele-
ments that go TO makp . Spcces5ful and
popular actress. She had Il series o1
costumes made for the role in which
she was to make her debut here. Each
one was more grotesque than the last.
| As l have said, she was fragile and
| light The dressmaker constructed d
series OF costumes which would have
been too big too gaudy and too heavy
for Il woman fifty pounds heavier than
she was. The actress came on here,
hired a theatre and made debut. She
had good company to support her
and it Is said that her experiment cosi
| her family $4,000. She made an in
Simultaneous and distinct failure. Sh,
played Julia. Pauline and one al tive
other standard romantic characters
! She proved conclusiyely that she cOult
! mt act al all :"
Did she give up the stage and g
back TO San Francisco?'
Not bit of it, She insisted tLa
eyEry one Ut her audiences for a weel
in New York, that every circle in tn,
city. and that every candid man whos'
advice she asked was lcagued agains
her. She stuck to the stage. She i
al it yet About a week ago | saw /
dispatch in one of the dramatic paper
which told of the hard treatment sh,
had been subjected to in one of thu
| small towns in the interior of the state
where she was travelling about with
small company of her own. The audi
ences We're very rude. The fact Is
they almost mobbed her All this i
aiscouraging, but it will have no ef1ec
upon the young woman. She vii
probably keep on acting forever.
| "There are hundreds of women who's,
careers on the stage are similar to this
except that they do not have the none,
to provide company of their own
they appear as stars for one consecu
tive night, and then are forced to tax
any sort of place that offers in a trav
cling company. Half the girls who ar
now playing servants parts in small
theatres or dancing about in variet,
shows began their careers as Juliet o
Julia. ."-NetO York Sun.