Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1886-07-25
1ail9 IF eagle
A DRAMATIC WORKSHOP.
HOW YOUNG WOMEN ARE MOULDED
INTO STAGE JULIETS, ETC.

INTO STAGE JULIETS, ETC.
stilling Elasticity Through the Agency
of Fencing Foils-A veritable Human
workshop-Picturesqu Wives.
The first thing to be done with the young
: lady-but, by the way, having paid for her
first course, she is no longer you lady,
she is an "Aspirant"-is to get her clothes to
hang They never do in real life. In real
Life women dress. In professional lie they
drape. 4 lady has plaits and things An
actress has folds If she has embarked on
the sea of high comedy she might as well DO
gin by getting her sheets In the wind. he
must look like Juliet before she can talk like
her.
/ Here she is. learning sweep" 'pose," ire
bose and impose" Her first lines are in
Ter skirts. She has to get these beforf she
let's shakespeare S. All her lessons are
taken in costume She has to manage her
ftrain while the teacher manages the train
ing. She may be said to be hanging on the
the skirt of the drama. Dress first, address
after wards. Tragedy begins with the monu
u4cut0l anu culS Win VIC oChsiiAShCdt.
After the aspirant has learned how to have
things hang right she must learn to have
them move right She has got to loosen our
her joints, and it is proverbiai that every
social young lady who has not become an
aspirant uses Ter arms from the elbow and
her elbow from the wrist and her wrist from
the finger-tips She cannot strike out nor
stride She is a charming combination OF
sidle slope and slump She meltS from ono
action to another in snow flake fashion
without muscular purpose. She has de-
ightful inclination to glide when she ought
to step out assressively.
HOW t. STAND. MOVE AND SPEAK.
So she has the foils put into her hands to
loosen her UP and astonish some Of the girl
muscles that have been lying dormant. For
this exercise she dispenses with her skirts
and dons pair of short trousers and blouse
jacket She looks very pretty in it If she
has trim figure, and it is interesting to
note how rapidly her supple body adapts
itself to the rules of the art AT first she
e q little tiIuid. She is afraid of having
her eyes put out and winks with her head
averted, and reminds you of girl on
washstand killing mus4uitoes. But as soon
as she finds cut that she has fexors there is
fine vital grace gets into her limbs, and
fine glow comes into her cheeks-two shades
excitement and one shade muscular exercise.
OF late, boxing lessons have become quite
fashionab bic at the dramatic Schools most OF
the aspirants preferring the gloves to the
tolls, though a rule they do not take to
them SO We'll, and certainly do not appear
TO the same picturesque advantage as with
the duellist's weapons
Having learned how to stand and how to
move, the next thing is to learn how to
speak. Here comes in the whole elocution-
ary business. Most Of the theatrical coaches
have cut the old recitation nonsense. Aux
italiens" and the Maniac" have no place in
their text-b books They put the 'spirant
into an acting role at once, and make her
90 THROUGH it with all the stage business, as
if she we're before an audience. The pro-
lessor always lets her do it her own way
first. and enieavors to make her think it
out with her own intelligence, thus preServ-
ing, if possible, her individuality and or
iginality.
1t is very pretty sight to watch some of
these girls developing into stage pictures
from neophytes to nymphs natural
uymph is of no account, it seems for the
stage She has to be reconstructed, have |
her feet turned out, her knees strengthened. |
her toes pointed, her arms bent into curves. |
But it all comes about by degrees. She |
gets structural ease and pcise after awhile; |
finds out that she has legs instead Of limbs
and begins to have pictorial sense OF |
things. And it is the achievement OF these |
technical graces that marks the aplomb OF |
the professional actress
TRAINING FOR PICTURESQUE wIFEHOOD. !
This human workshop deals with two |
kinds OF material OF late new order Of |
spirant has crowded into the field. She is \
The social declaimer-the amateur profess |
Iional who doesn't want to so on the stage, |
,nly to make a sensation in the salon with |
4 'Ostler Joe" and similar sentiment But |
The wants TO do it with the air OF an actress |
who knows ell about it. This order of
spiranr is distinct from the girls who mean
business But it is interesting to know that
hs begins with the same methods and puts
N the gloves before she puts on the sock and
Duskin.
Ii you could drop in some morning on the
,upils you would see Juliet in all stages Of
Kate, ethereal, voluble, quiv-
ring with Intelligence, would have climbed
lAst the balcony and arrived at the potion
cenen Ruth, trim and graceful as spray
4 golden rod, would be hanging at Romeo's
bread basket and Cora would be har
nguing the nurse or asking the wall paper,
wherefore art thou" Alter which she
vould throw herself into a cushioned chair
nd present to us the picture of elegant re-
ose, out Of which stuck little foot that
nd more elocution in it tnan you can find
q some peoples whole bodies.
DOUBTLESS there is an enormous advantage in
hese lessons, even if the 'spirantS never
zach the Psrnassus of the stage door, and
My fall by the way into some matrimonial
ltfall They become at least picturesque
ives, and it is generally understood that
nat is what men want There is a certain
harm in having a wife who can receive like
Ledea and entertain like Lady Macbeth, who
IN play the piano as if she were playing
ucrezia Borgia, and read the morning
aper as if she were reading Dante's "ln
'rno" To be able to make soup with
What ho.' and order tue milk with a
ithee come up" and discharge the red
led cook with grand Me thinks this
30 much" and wave away the gas man
it'll an arm-sweep superb, are attachments
mt do not come by nature York
Torld.
Old Uncle Pompey's Gallantry.
Old Uncle Pompey Camden lives in De-
oft He is past 20 years OF age, black as
e absence Of all light and endowed with
n n,,s litiaS thst ma la the natural courier |