, 1884-10-03
JOSEPH JEFFERSON
INDUCES in a Pleasant Chat About
Players and Their Characters.
strip Van wrinkles" Views of Bur
lesque-rhe Enect OF Playing
One Part Night Amer
Night.


~lfhuadelphia Times
Joseph jefferson sat in the drawing-roon
OF hs beautiful residences at Hohokus, N. j..
recently. and expressed his views OF thea
tres things theatrical and various other mat
ter.
Comedy, - said he, ais a very pleasant line
q business. Audiences like to laugh, and II
is generally very easy to make them do so
In fact, d commedian's greatest annoyance Is
that bis auditors will persist in thinking that
everything he says or does Is funny and in
laughing at It just as society used 10 laugh
wien the lnts Sydney Smith asked some one
10 pass the mustard.
In that scene Of RIP Van Wrinkle In
which poor Rip, after returning from his long
sleep, reveals himself TO his daughter Meenie,
which, to my thinking, is indescribably pa
thetic, l have heard people laugh as though
it were the funniest thing In the whole play.
l am convinced hat this il-timed mirth is
not due to any in-ensibility to the pathos OF
the situation, but TO the fact that tho people
who give vent to il, having come T. see a
comedian, think that his every word and
action must necessarily be funny, and that
II they do not laugh others around them will
do 50, while they win be thought ignorant
and stupid by reason Of their silence.
"Of all modern humor / think that OF
Charles Dickens the best and most lasting.
1t will never lose its charm. Like Shakes
peare, he wrote for all time. The oftener
you read him the funnier b eseems. He grow
upon you. hat last phrase, by the way, re.
minds me Of a capital thing l heard once at a
dinner party in London. IL was during a
rage for false hair among the ladies and one
gentleman was speaking to another Of the
hair Of a female friend. She has the most
exquisite hair, but beautiful rs It seems
when you first seeit, 1t grows upon you All
aid the other, but does 1t grow upon herr
RIAL BURLEsouE DEAD.
Gone OF the mest humorous burlesques ]
ever saw was one produced In London, called
Broken Hearts and Cracked Heads The
heroine OF the piece was in love with the
town pump, n when she implored it TO
wear one Of her rings as a pledge Of affec-
ton the pump replied: Put It up the spout
For broadly humorous writers there Is Ger
tainly no better field than burlesque, yet It Is
A form of entertainment which In this coun-
try seems entirely dead. The kind OF
burlesque which l mean-that which
really does burlesque some serious pro.
d~uotion-has been dead for a number OF
years, but what old theatre-goer does not re-
member Stuart Robson's capital burlesque OF
Hamlet; or, The Wearing OF the Black, and
his equally funny '~Black-Eyed Susan; or,
The Little Bill hat Got Taken Upf This
admirable style of burlesque died out, how.
ever, and was succeeded by meaningless ex.
travaganzas burlesquing nothing and serving
merely to introduce pretty girls in handsome
costumes, and songs and dances, together
with any nonsensical dialogue or ridiculous,
grotesque actions hat might suggest them.
selves to the performers. This style OF
burlesquo WAS first made popular IN
this country by Lydia Thompson, and for a
long time IL seemed as though American
thoatre-goers would never tire of IL: but al
length they did. and 1t now soems TO have
lost all attraction for them. A striking proof
Of this is afforded by the fact that during the
past theatrical season there was not one such
burlesque company in existence here. Doubt
less one reason Of this is hat the perform.
ance of the less Objectionable French comic
operas, which has become so general of late
years, has taken the place Of burlesque. II
has all the features that made The latter at
tractive-beautIful women, broad fun, rapid
action and rich, picturesque costumes, while
tho infinitely better quality Of its music
draws a class OF patrons who found nothing
10 interest them In burlesque. 1t is not q
matter for regret that this Inter style OF
burlesque Is extinct.
EFFEcT OF PLAYING mi ART
a hRve often been asked what effect the
constant repetition OF one part has upon AZ
actor. There Is one curious effect that il has
and that Is that after playing one part for d
great length OF time an actor Is apt to forget
his lines and take up wrong cues. A story is
told OF an English actor, who. after playing
one part for a very long time, forgot his lines
one night: ITS very strange, said the stage
manager, whom the actor came off, that you
are not perfect In that part by this time.
You have been playing 1t for 200 nights
Well said the actor, do you expect me u
remember 1t foreverr | think ono part can
not DO played too often II the actor does moi
lose his interest in it. 1t Is just as 1t Is with
age. We are old according to our feelings,
not our years
"one great advantage that English actor,
have over those Of America Is that they min
gle with much better society. There is an
upper middle class In England which In thi,
country we do not have, In England the 80
ciety Of actors is much sought and Their
presence Is welcomed at some OF the best Lon
don dinner parties, What splendid affair
those dinners are, by the way. You will
meet nearly everybody worth meeting, and
will hear more brilliant conversation and
bright, witty things than you ever heard be.
fore in the snme space Of time, In thi.
country women learn the customs Of society
and adapt themselves to them much more
readily than men, but the reverse Is the case
In England, English women do not dress a.
we'll as those OF America, but English meu
dress better than Americana