The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1885-02-09

House
Some nights after, a moral solon insisted
upon me accompanying him to the theatre.
I did so, and in the ballet of the wretched
place recognized my little nurse girl Of
the House. This was Clara Morris, and the
next day when she appeared, with her old
novel and young kids, spoke to her. At
that time she was in the ballet receiving
five dollars a week for dancing, when the
manager had it, and three dollars week as
nurse. when the leading lady had that much
over and above her weekly salary.
found this little mother, of great name
to be, In theeyes of pedagogue, totally I'm.
educated That is, she had never really had a
days schooling, but the child had been taught
somehow to read, and the amount and variety
Of thoughtful reading she had accomplished
amazed one.
My legislative entertainment terminated
in the two sessions of one term. 1 was elected
by handsome majority, and I retired
with the unanimous consent of all parties,
including my own. The ballet dancer passed
from my personal knowing, although I re-
membered wildly her many talks and
original views, and frequently pondered on
what had become of her.
One night years after, while in New York,
saw her name on playful, and imme-
diately wendell my way-that is, 1 got in
one of those exaggerated mousetraps called
an omnibus and ratified up Broadway to
Days little theatre. I waited impatiently
for the curtain to rise on Wilkie Collins
play of oman and Wife" 1t was rolled UP
| on time to a crowded house, and I soon
saw my little nurse girl come in, as subdued
and quiet as she used to steal in the Ohio
House of Representatives. 1t was not long,
however, before she had the stage and
entranced audience to.herself. That night
returned to my hotel with red nose and
| inflamed eyes, and could not sleep for a
question forced on myself as to how that
homely little girl produced her wonderful
effects
That question has puzzled more brains
than mine Alta dinner Tparty, one night,
| given by the late Uncle Samuel Ward, Gar
| field, Lamar, Hill, Henry Watterson and
several other distinguished men fell into a
| talk on the decay of oratory in our day,
when Garfield commanded the attention of
| the table in an eulogy of Clara Morris, Jas the
most gifted elocutionist he had ever met
'tAnd her mystery is" he said, Sin how she
| produces her Effects
eyes" added Lamar, the most eloquent
man of the Senate, ''I followed her through
one play for two nights, and came away with
| all the study could give her efforts without
satisfying myself how she did it, and must
| say was as much affected on the last night
| as at the first"
| had seen Rachel in her crowning glory
/ Cushman at her best. l remembered little
Charlotte Wilkinson, woman of wonde r
full genins, and in each I could trace at
least shadows of the scaffold from which
| they built their artistic effects. But there
| is nothing of this about Clara Morris. She
wins her way to the deepest emotions of the
heart so easily, so naturally, that it seems
to be without forethought or effort. And yet,
| knowing her as / do, I know that these
| finished efforts are the result of the hardest
and profoundest study. Natural and spon-
| taneous as they appear on the stage, there
is not word spoken or a gesture made that
| is not the result of the most careful study
and preparation.
The first and last intent she has often told
me, is to get clear of the stage e'The stage
is artificial, y she would assert +sand taints
| with unreality all it touches. Now, to be
effective one must be real, and the shortest
| road to this is in the homely, every day ex-
preston of thought and feeling"
| We have been through generations &C
| cepting the artificial. The Kemble school,
| as it is called, is so far removed from real
life that to appreciate the excellence of the
authors method one has to be educated up
| to a condition almost as artificial as the
actors rendition. The stage walk, the stage
voice, the stage gesticulation are all grace
/ Ell off IN hair Int how
are soremoved from real life as to leave only
the enjoyment that comes through the intel
| Iect and counts out all emotions of the heart.
When a man sorrows over the loss of a
wife or child, his expressions of grief are
almost the same with those of an animal in
pain, and through these he carries his
| anguish to the hearts of his listeners. Let
| him put on tragic air and utter high
toned poetic lament, and shis hearers will
turn away in disgust.
The French were the first to discover this
| great truth, and in fetching poetic delinea-
ton down to the homely joys, sorrows and
6isappointments of everyday life made the
stage a power. The English are slow to
learn, and as we trot after, like little dogs
under wagon, the pump handle, buttoned
thunder of the stilted' Kemble school, bid
| fair to hold our theatre down to the artificial
for generations. when little untaught girl
| of genius from the West created revolution.
| We have now what is called the emo
| tional, or Clara Morris school of acting; the
word emotional" being coined to relieve the
critics AS all acting is purely emotional,
| from Macbeth to Miss Mutton, and is that
and naught else, to be acting, one perceives
| the utter stupidity of a word so used, which,
| in fact, covers all there is in tragic ex-
preston. When Richard Ill starts from
his ghost-haunted camp bed, and staggers
pale and trembling to the footlights; when
Macbeth follows the air-drawn dagger to
the bed of the sleeping Duncan the great
master of all tragedy uses and appeals to
| the emotional as much as the French play
wright when he infuses the ferceneSs of q
tiger in the poor mother making desperate
| fight for her chill dren.
The word, however, serves its purpose in
hberating the critics and disposing of Clara
| Morris. With the so-called critics this
| shrinking, sensitive woman has had a hard
trial. We're she less sensitive her lot were
easier. With the great public at her back
| and the best intelIec of the land her en-