Wichita eagle., 1886-09-29
A CHAT WITH AN ACTOR.
HOW FRENCH AND GERMAN PLAY
HOUSES TURN OUT PLAYERS.


diences-Result Of VARYING Conditions.
When the curtain falls on the last act OF
SPrince Karl,' the comedy, Mr. Richard
Mansfield skips blithely to his dressing room,
throws his stage costume to his valet and in
| five minutes is dining at the Carleton club.
| Usually he is surrounded there by small
circle of friends to whom his "reminiscences OF
| his unique career and terse comments on the
stage, interspersed with anecdotes and MINI
icries, are an unfailing source Of entertain
ment.
If some of our ambitious young American
actors could take short course Of training on
the German or French stage" he wcs saying
the other evening, ''they would be apt to modify
| their ideas about their art very materially.
| Here, if a manager or the head Of company
complains about tac way utility man reads
line or does bit of business he is immedi-
ately denounced either as an ignorant crank,
who knows nothing about dramatic effects,
or el oyerbearing, insolent, intolerable ego
list. Over there the young actor has to en-
dure q great many worse things than receiv
ing mild suggestions about his work. He is
pretty liable to get torrent of abuse at
every rehearsal very like the floods of billings
gate that western steamboat mate i.ours out
On negro decihand. Likely enough be will
have to repeat one line fifty times, while Ct
every repetition the stage manager or author
informs him in the most vigorous language
that he IS q cirivcling IDIOT and ought to be at
work on the streets. have seen even as old
q man as Coquelin or Hlrdou put an actor
through one piece OF business for an hour, all
the time stamping up and down the stage and
turning the air blue with French profanity
and abuse OF course, hat sort of thing is
pretty rough on a young man with delicate
feelings, but he gets used 20 it after awhile, or
dies, or gives up the stage. That is the way they
make great actors-by patient, persistent,
laboriCus training in the innutest details, un-
til the dramatic picture is as perfectly and
Celicately wrought out in every light and
shadow as q MeiSsonier And it Is the lack
of that sort of incessant and painstaking pol
ishing that afilicts the American stage with
young persons with good natural ability who
arc not capable actors.
"The Germans and the French have the best
actors in the world-thc Germans in tragedy,
the French in comedy, The Germans, as q
rule, arc not particularly successful os come
dians and the French are woaful in tragedy
This is the result of the respective charac-
teristics CT the nations The French sing
tragedy through the nose, as the Englisl, dis
covered to their disgust when they heard
Nine. Dernhardt in Macbeth. III their own
field, however, they are exemplars. The Eng
l;sh stage, too, is filled with people who have
gone through just the kind of rigorous train
ing I spoke of 4 moment ago. and are conape-
tent actors None of these countries i any
better supplied with dramatic ability liz the
crude than VIC are. But their acting, as o
rule, is superior to anything We possess
There is very great difference il
the audience, too. American audiences
arc quicker to appreciate good points.
particularly il comedy, but the English ou-
dicnccs are more loyal and faithful to their
favoritcs Here the people have so many
other things TO think Of that they forget the
actor who has pleased them ten minutes after
they have left the theatre. There they never
forget him. l have seen half dozen sue
cesscs Cn the stage in this country that were
the rage Of the moment ard quickly passed
into oblivion. Any one Of them would have
made its creator permanently great man on
the English stage.
1T Is q curious tl,irS-:his study cf audi-
ences. There is almost a5 much difference
between your hearers in the sumo house one
night and the next IS there would he if one
were composed of college professors and the
other of Esquimaux. One night your audi
cnce is dull, languid, slow to notice good
points, tar(ly in applause in spite of ell you
can do. Tho next night it is eager. attentive,
quick TO notice everything, ready and apprc
ciativc. Every experienced actor has noticed
this again and again believe that the TT
mospheiic condition is accountable for these
things On cool night, with a fine bracing
air, you can 90 almost anything with your
audience. Another thing. perhaps, is to set
a wave OF magnetism ard good feeling started
as tie play begins. | know that the differ
encc cannot be in the different conditions Of
the actors themselves.
What is the secret Of success on the stages
MaSnetisnG-inagnetiSm and hard work. OF
course, {. man mustn't Ike n fool. That being
granted, tho other things are bound to bring
him some measure Of success III time.
"Of course the secret Of the success OF TIE
great creation Of the stage is their nearness
to human nature and their appeal to human
interest. Consequently, when an ambitious
and thoughtful actor gets a part to create, he
Immediately thinks over the mental pLoto-
graphs which he has of oil the types Of men
he has ever known. When he finds one that
viii fit the case he makes his stage creation a
close copy in every detail of the living ideal
When played the Old Baron in the Paris
ian Romance had constantly in mind my
old grandfather. When play Prince Karl
have before ME the image of o student friend
of mine in Germany Every part / have
ever played with any success has been
nodded after some one have seen or known,
or Q combination, perhaps, Of two persons
That sort of thing is not mere mirnicry,
either. It is the truest kind Of holding up to
ratUre her own IMAGE