The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-02-21
HOW ACTORS szsMcalxx.
INev York C;raap,hic. !.

New York Graphic.
 No man can tell yoa more about che vagaries of memory than member oi the sock and huskin. In the 6rst place, there are what are called "Qnick studies "-men or women wh0 can mem ori1e a para very quickly; but the very quick stadY,n ss . ysle eannoe retain that is, if Ae has sandi d part very quickly and playe6 is. if he is called upon to repeat the same part after an in. te4sai of lev monSss, oT even weeks, he has to re-Stndy ii as thoagh 1t vas an en- tiFeay new role. Then comes the slow study "-shose who have to labor at 1t carefully and patiently, wOvd by word, line bf hae. before they can utter the words < trippingly on the tonguey but it is singular fact that the " slow study 1" is as a rule the best actor. The quick study" is too sure he can gahble oue the words with ease; in short, he is par. rot-hke. SalNini, the great Italian trage- dian, once said that !" Nothing so spoiled dramatic entestairment as when the actors appeared to anticipate the dialogue of the action." This is exactly what the @quick study" does. The slow one Is nervous. To memor ze the words of his part aAs Sssz. had =-c-kk ..: s;s. shese is an effort to retain them, and this very effort gives him fire, and he acts his character with an impulse which is, after all, the very essence of tho his,rionic art. To commit to memory ioaS part say, for instance. Hamlet" and wA:ch, next to "Iago," is the longest in the le gisimate drama-is no easy task. A man playing that character has to recall to mind many thousands of words not only what he has to say himself, but the cues given to him by others, independent of bearing in mind his own advice to the players" Of "suiting the action to the word, the word to the action," and the special observance that follows Differ ent actors have different methods .fcow. miting their lines to memory: one vii; keep in close scclusion, locking himself in room to study another sill study his part anywhere and at any time, and it is not by any means an uncommon oc- currence for . thespian to be memor'xing his lines while he Is talking to friend. The late Charles Thorne used to boast of the fact of having studied some of his best parts while waikir 6 alsng the streets
 There is general opinion that Shake speare is difficult to commit to memory, whereas he is far easier than many other authors, for there is a musical rhythm in his language that is easily fixed upon the reccollection. Among the comparatively modern authors Bulwer is far more dii- hcult to memorixe, but there is no dramatic writer whose works are as hard to memorjse as those of knowies-l lor his blank verse. beautiful as it is, Is SO cramped that old and experienced actors dread to study it. Actors have, by the constant use of the memory, accomplished some strange featx. The comedy of The Game of Speculation was translated from the French, rehearsed and produced at the Lyceum theatre, in London, in four days. Mir. Charles Mathews, who played the leading part, "Afable Hawk" ]" and who is on the stage throughout four long acts without hardly any intermission. committed the character perfectly to memory in twenty.four hours, or, to make use of his own words after the first night: "I sw aliowed the whole dose, and don't think spilled drop"
 When the curtain rose on the first pro- duction of @Pixarro," the last act of tie drama was not ~.;s.en, and Brinsley Sheridan wrote of the 6tth act in the green-room, the call-boy taking it from him and then distributing it to the differ ent actors as the first four acts were be- ing played, to be studied by them as best they could. Not long ago, in one of the uptown theatres in this city, an actor was brought to the theatre at % at night to take the place of brother pro- fessionai who was sick. He knew noth- ing of the piece and had never seen it, for 1t was a new one from London. He arrived at the theatre lev minutes snly before the play would begin, and he had to appear in one Of the leading roles. His only opportunity to commit the language to memory was during the intervals he was of the stage. Yet that night he vas what is professionally lnown as dead letter perect."
 Some actors can take the word quickly from a prompter. A sign-a mction- from his hand will set them right but there are other old actors to whom the prompter Is of little use, and it is no in. frequent cccurrence for them |" to 6sh tor words" or suhseituse language of their own until they remembes the words oi the aufhoF