Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1885-10-01
THE NOBLEST ROMAN.
JOHN MCUllOUGH IN THE FULL
POSSESSION OF HIS POWERS.
An After-supper Talk with the Famous
Actor-Theories Of Acting on the
Stage - Triumph Of Conquer
ing AN Audience.
New York Mail and Fxpress1

sioh Va hiic puy eiesi P*tES, yet Win sucn a
vacant look upon his face that YOU thought
involuntarily Of some splendid mansion
from which life ana JOY had fed foreverf J
can conceive of no spectacle moro heart
rending. ! saw it not very long ago. and
that, too, amid the swirl of a ace-track
crowd. Looking down from the grand
stand at tue Sheep,head Bay course upon
the stream uf humanity which surgei
through the space between the stand and
track my eyes tell upon John Mccullough
no, not John Mccullough, not the Royal
Jobn.' a. his friends called him in
moments OF enthusiasm, but the in
teliectual wreck of him. There were ths
tall form wnicn the robes of Othello had
draped, the broad chest from which had
rolled forth the voice that had cheered the
band OF SpartacuS, the strong arms that
had revenged the death Of Virginius Gland
ius, but the face was dead, and no spark Of
reason lit up the eyes He stood immobile
among the surging crowd. Men, whom ha
rad thrilled passed by him, anu women ~
who-e eyes he mad brought tears. looked
upon him without recognizing him. Oace
thought ] saw sign of intelligence upon
his face. One who knew him well and i'm
former days was proud OF his friendship
was approaching. But hs noticed McCul-
,ough and deliberately turned his back
upon him. For "A moment the actor looked
piteously after his former friend and then
his features Were once more set 20 frame a
vacant stare.
Ii seems to me ss though it were but last
night that ! sat with him after the play,
at Delmenicos. washing down terrapin a In
Maryland with Moet and Chanion AMI dis
cusslng with him the cannns OF dramatic
art. lt was because what he said iinpre essed
me 50 deeply that ! remember 1t 80 we'll
IL happened that at that time ! was thrown
into such intimate associations with McCul-
Tough that for while l met him at his
dressing room door after the play and went
with him from the theatre Ihe was then
acting at the Fifth Avenue theatrel 20 Del
monico's. Before that week ] had never
met him, and | never saw him again to
speak To- Ny experience with him. like so
many incidents IN journalistic life. was
brief, pleasant. and never reVea,ei-uniqpe.
Our tsfEap.n supper together vas after a
performance Il Firginius. in which ne had
acted as if be were inspired. He said him
self that he was glad OF the distraction after
the play, becauae the audience had been un-
usually sympathetic and responsive, and hs
had hence thrown himself heart and soul
he said. Il have to do something after the
play TO get myself out of the part III
hadn't como here tonight. would have
been knitting Virginia half the night and
avenging her death on Claudius till morn
ing. ! can't throw or part with the cos
tune. II play Lear, for instance. re-
main Lear and wake mp in the morning u1-
refreshed
This led US into a general discussion # the
actors art and a. John Mccullough will
probably never be able to again practically
illustrate his theories of acting on the stage.
and as his views were the result of histrionic
genius tempered by long experience.
think then. well worth giving At all
events they sill tend % show the sad differ
ence between the John Mccullough of then
and the John Mccullough OF now asked
bi-a if he believed that an actor should act
ullly feel the emotions of the character or
merely simulate them
at may seem paradoxical- was his reply,
but I'M acting passion should never be di-
vorced from reason. i mean by this that
the actor should always know what passion
be Il portraying, and should portray it with
out being himself carried away by it In
this way only can he avoid exaggerations of
voice and gesture which would be ridicu-
lous. Rv exaggerating. the actor really de-
feats himself In "Othello,s for instance.
the killing o. Desdemona should not be so
brutal as to be revolving; because, if it's too
revolving. the audience has no sympathy
left for Othello. and the tragedy Of his sub
sequent suicide will be weakened Salvini
was surprised when he heard that stabbed
Desdemona. He thought that method was
too brutal He smothers her l told him
frankly thought his smothering her while
she was writhing in agony was brutal, and
unnatural, too. because Desiemona fingers
on long enough to speak TO Emalia. Now, il
she had merely been smothered. and had
breath enough left to talk. she would have
recovered entirely
Passing ON TO the subject Of audiences. he
said that when he first began acting they
were different in different parts Of the coun-
try, but they had become gradually more
and more alike. This .he attributed TO the
increased facilities of travel. through which
it happened, for instance that he played il
Chicago to number OF people To whom he
had played in New York but week before
Or all the audiences he had ever played to
he preferred Drury Lane pit. because OF
its critical enthusiasm and because it was
an audience which did not vary in character
Oh ~
In this country the audiences varied from
night to night. Sometimes he found them
and magnetic and then again
cold and unsympathetic. "But enjoy the
triumph" he said, "of conquering an IN
sympathetic audience. or course I prefer
to play upon sympathetic audience, Just
as a musician prefers 70 play upon a symps-
thetic instrument
Sometimes be continued. IL see a face |
among the audience which interests me SO
much that | act to that one face all through /
the play. For instance, once when | was 1
acting 'Virgiaiusr in Chicago saw in one
Of the proscenium boxes a little girl friend 4
o. mine-in fact so great a friend that she 4
calls me Uncle John. 1 watched her all 4
through the performance as closely as /
she watched me. A. in embracing vir-
ginia for the last time in the forum scene I /
yrasped the knife, j saw my little girl shrink
back in terror, and. when 1 gave Virginia
the fatal stab hide her head in her mothers
lap. After the curtain fell fastened to
the box to reassure her. Her head was stil
buried in her mothers lap. Don't be fright
sned,' whispered, it's only fun
@'Oh, Uncle Jouni was 1t really funf she
,obbed, as she rushed toward me and throw
her arms around my neck"
When sked him II sympathetic audi
,ucaa did not insp,ra him ha rsnls~1 Nth