Morris tribune., 1884-08-06
THE NOSE In TRAGEDY.
Its Help to Make Mccullough, Booth
and Irving Great.
The Successful Actor rs He Who
Follows His NOse-- The Over
Big as Fatal as the Pug
1.-THE Tragic.
NEW York ,Journal.1

New York Journal.
Two actors sat discussing "The Gladiator"
one night last week at the Star theatre. The
principal gentleman supporting Mr.. McCul-
Tough was on the stage, and with his 'front.'
face to the audience was declaring some
heroic speech. He looked noble and spoke
we'll and appeared every inch a tragedian.
He turned his side-face, and the illusion was
gone.
THAT man will never make a tragedian,"
said one of the actors.
"Why" asked the other.
Because he has turn-up nose" answered
the first, "and you will notice that nobody
without a good long nose ever played tragedy
Rcceptably.n
Then they got into discussion on noses.
But the remarks suggested a topic, and The
Journal writer spoke to Mr.. Horace Nc
Wicker about it. This young gentleman, the
brother-in-law of Edwin Booth, thought
there was a good deal in the tragic nose.
"Look at Edwin Booths face" he said.
"The nose is the most striking feature of it at
the first glance. 1t is long, pronounced
nose, neither thin nor fat, and suggests
character and lends an ample proportion to
the face. 1t is not an over-big nose-that is
as fatal as a pug-nosa. Both of these sug-
gest comedy. But the Roman and the aqui-
line nose are the distinctive badge of great
actors as they are of great generals. We'll
lington had the most pronounced nose of his
time. You can't think back of any tragedian,
taking his picture as an example, without
being struck by this fact Kemble had a
long nose so had Macready Edmund Kean
had pronounced nose and so had the elder
Booth, though it was broken. Nevertheless
it was there"
"We used to say" said John P. Smith,
chat Booth and George Fox had the most
pronounced noses of the day. But Fox had a
comedy nose. 1t was so long that it would
haVs ruined him for tragedy. Yet when he
played the burle$que on Hamlet the re-
semblance to Booth was quite striking A
quarter Of an inch more on Mr.. Booths nose
and he could not have been tragedian. Take
quarter of an inch off McCullough's nose
and he would have followed some other line
of business. The nose in tragedy is essential,
and it must be so long or it won't do.
''McCulloughs is essentially that Of the
Roman, and that is why he is spoken of so
often as being the ideal Virginius in appear
ance. 1t gives character to the whole part,
and there is nothing more Romanesque than
the side face of Mr.. Mccullough in picture.
G. v Brooke, one of the best actors of his day
had long nose, and John Scott was pro-
nounced in this respect. The only man who
ever succeeded in tragedy with a broken
nose was the elder Booth, and his own ire
mendouS personality remedied this.
"If you want confirmation on this point"
said an English actor with little pimple on
his face where the nose ususally is, "look at
Henry Irving. 1t is full, long, curved and
pronounced without being too thick. His
imagination is strong, his knowledge is great,
but where would he be with nose like mine
playing comic serving men or butts-the
poor devils the author always conceives as
proper to be kicked off the stage when he
wants to bring down the house? l have to
wear kicking shield half the time because
my nose is not as long as 1rving's."
Don't quote me-" said an actor who him.
self has had some aspirations in the tragedy
line. "but when l saw that Fred Warde had
left his company after two seasons of loss, l
said to myself that it was the natural result
of a turn-up nose. When a man is prosper
GUS that is all right. But man cannot af-
ford to turn up his nose when he is struggling
for recognition. Fred Warde is first rate in
the second position, but they won't have his
nose in the Roman father and that sort of
thing Forrest did not have an aqui-
| line nose, but it was a good one,
and came out strong in imprisoned
parts He worked the voice and the
legs. against the nose anyway. If he lived
| to-day doubt that we would accept him in
| certain parts he played. In The Gladiator
| he used to wear mustache and imperial.
Those would have to be cut off in these days.
Because of his nose Barrett never tackles
Roman parts, except the snappy, irascible
| part of Cassius. He has something of a
| turn-up nose, and it will answer well enough
for Yorick or some fat Lanciotto, but it
breaks down the grandeur of Richelieu.
Barrett was meant for comedian, anyway.
In his younger days he used to play Rose
dale and pieces of that kind, and the nose
was all right. Do you know that an actors
line of business is very much determined by
that very member? Coghlan always aspired
to tragedy, but his nose wouldn't permit him
to adopt it. His nose killed his Hamlet
nothing else. Osmond Tearle is a good actor
who, in the north of England, played
| tragedy. But he has light comedy nose
with tragedy voice. That is the combina-
| ton that make him f1rst-rate in melodrama
"a cut between the two.
comedians make a great deal of their
noses. Some even paint them to make them
| more pronounced, and there is general
idea that a red nose is comic Now, McCul-
| Tough couldn't be comedian any more than
Stuart Robson could play Virginius voices
and noses are opposed to it, though it may
never have struck you that way.
"The late H. J. Montague was another man
with light comedy nose, pretty and attract
i've, but thin and wanting in character. He
could never have gone beyond his bailiwick.
He was ON the limit, so to speak, and the
nose was the limitation. Keene has splen.
did tragedy nose, and you see how he sue
ceeds. Yet Keene, Mccullough and Booth
are small men, but they have long noses,
with character to them. The fact that Bar
rett has not will always prevent his reaching
the first position in tragedy. There is a com.
fort about it-that this one fact will always
keep the race of tragedians within measur.
able limits"