The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-08-02
"woRKING UP" ON THE STAGE.
Experience of an Amateur Actor who Tried
to Follow the Advice Given Him.


to Follow the Advice Given Him.
New York Mail and Express
Professionals, who have been on the stage for
years make it rule 10 cry out against amateurs
ms Is nonsense and prejudice. If there are to
De actors there must also be amateurs. or, in
other words, beginners. How else shall the
ranks be recruitedl Stage aspirants are invari-
bly, greeted by managers with stereotyped
threadbare. and at present absurd bit of advice
which is, Begin at the bottom and work M the
ladder" This was saga counsel at one period
Ii would be still were il onlv
practicable But with the disappearance of stock
companies 1t is not practicable. Managers may
point out a means of getting a beginner on the
lowest rungs of the ladder, but they cannot show
him satisfactorily how TO reach the top and
merely because they do not themselves know
They may deluge him with advice. the mockerv
of which will soon be discovered if he attenpts
to follow it. Then, and then only. will he form
some idea of the stage as it exists in America
to-day Let us take an example which will. illus
trate, to certain extent, dozens of cases.
Some five or six years ago young man called
on one of our best-known New York managers,
the director of leading theatre. The young
fellows friends, having seen him in private
theatricals, had endeavored to convince him that
he possessed unusual ability. But he was
sensible chap, and while he did not place much
faith in the laudations of pfejudced we'll wishers,
he had a certain amount of confidence in himself,
ana he was honestly, not foolishly, in love with
the art of acting. The manager TO whom he
went received him twice, very coolly
and with evident disbursement At a third
interview he invited his caller into the
theater lit was IL o'clock in the morning) and,
if to effectually annlhilate him, said that he
would give him five minutes in which to lump
up on the stage and show what there was in
him. The young man walked out upon the
boards, and. instead of an allowance of five min.
utes, he was listened to for three-Quarters of an
hour, the verdict being that he possessed all the
qualifications necessary for future success. The
To nfsth nYh Ms
tions, offered the aspirant position for the sea-
son in his own company What was the results
The beginners first part consisted of not quite
dozen lines. He was the stage each evening
for just five minutes, and the play ran for
over one hundred nights. His second
part there were only two productions during
the season. was not much better than the first.
1t being a rigid law of the theater that actors
should not stand in the wings during a perform
apce, he had no opportunity to learn anything
from observing the old members of the company
at their work. There had been but four weeks
rehearsals of the two dramas produced, and he
picked up only few points at these periods ow~
ing to the fact that actors do very little acting at
rehearsals. The end of the season. therefore,
found him almost where he had started at tho
beginning. In other words he had acquired
nothing during his year upon the stage which he
did not possess prior to his public appearance.
The year was good as lost.
You will say that he had gained professional
footing. 1t was weak indeed, for wnen he ap-
piled to other managers, they desired, naturally,
to know VIII at roles he had previously appeared
in, and having been informed, they replied
invariably that those parts were no criterions of
ability and they could not intrust him with
responsible roles on the strength of them. Nor
would they afford him opportunity to dis
play his talent at private rehearsal. And they
were perfectly justified. for a managers time
is generally too valuable to be utilized in
such way. Well to finish with our young
friend, he continued in the profession for four
years, playing anything he could lay hands on
land playing it pretty much as he pleasedl and
then seeing only remote possibilities of achieving
Importance, he became disguised and discour-
aged, and turned his attention to mercantile
pursuits What he had accomplished, so far as
acting was concerned, in his four tiresome years,
he was capable of accomplishing the first day he
set his foot upon the stage. Perhaps you
will now understand how easy it is to
advise ambitious individual to ''begin
at the beginning and work up" You will
also understand that it is we'll. nigh impossible
to work up 1t was possible when stock COM
panies were the rule not the rare exception
Then beginner had a glorious opportunity,
inasmuch as he frequently played three and
four parts week, and was certain, during the
course of season, to capture some role which
would enable him to demonstrate whether no
possessed ability or not. All that has been
changed, and young actor, in this era of trav-
cling combinations, usually meets with the same
fate which befell our ambitious friend. Here,
then, we will explain in what way dramatic
college can accomplish vast amount of good