Sacramento daily record-union., 1889-06-16
ABOUT STAGE KISSES.
WHAT PROMINENT ACTRESSES SAY ON
THE SUBJECT.
Simply Matter of Business - Minnie
Maddern and Fannie Rice Do
Not Object at All.
From the New York Press. I


Press two weeks ago, and entitled Foot
light Kisses" has created a great deal o
comment not only from theatrical people
but also in circles which are distinctly
non professional. The interest excited by
this open discussion of matter which, al
though a fruitful field for active imagina
tions, has Hitherto been yelled in silence
has manifested itself in inquiries from
correspondents as to why the ladies of the
stage, more directly concerned even thar
the men, should not be given an opportu.
nifty to express their opinions.
Fair play is jewel, and we fully recog.
nize the right of the ladies to be heard or
this subject. The most prominent actresses
now before the New York public have
been interviewed, and their opinions are
given below.
KATHRYN KIDDER REGARDS IT AS BUSINESS
"The first play l ever appeared in, y
said Miss Kidder, "was Under the Gas
light but my part did not call for kissing
of any description. In Nordeck' | was
supposed to be kissed, but it all ended in
supposition. | forget whether | was kissed
in Davy Crockett or whether we again
deceived confding audiences. My first
real kissing experience on the stage was in
England during a tour of the provinces.
This experience became vividly impressed
on my memory on account Of the attend
ant circumstances during the first night of
the play.
At the first rehearsal ! was very much
surprised by the leading man saying to me:
"'The scene calls for kissing here Do
you object to me actually kissing you? y
al was very much surprised at being
asked such question, and I told him that
| hadn't the slightest objection that | re-
garded kiss a piece of stage business
which called for as faithful production as
any other piece of stage business | forget
the name of the town we opened in, but
can never forget my experience that night,
as it gave me my first acquaintance with
the peculiar methods of an English au-
dience.
| had a love scene in the first act. |
was seated on sofa, with my face toward
the audience, and my lover stood at the
back of the sofa At the point in the scene
where he declared his love and had ac-
cepted him, he leaned over and kissed me.
There Immediately rose from the audience
such confused medley of sounds as | had
never heard before in my life. From all
over the house came sounds strikingly sug-
gestive of smacking the lips, and long
drawn out m-m-m-m. ! was so indig-
nant and ashamed | could hardly speak nv
lines, and when | came off the stage re-
paired at once to the stage manager and
demanded to know what he meant by al
lowing me to go through piece of bust
ness which he knew would be guyed His
answer was TO me, as an American, a
genuine surprise.
Why, Lord bless me! They weren't
guying. That's the way they show their
approval of the scene.'
81 made up my mind they wouldn't
have another opportunity of manifestlng
their approval again in the same way, and
the next night had the kiss cut out.
AZ do not feel the slightest delicacy
about kissing on the stage, nor have | the
slightest hesitation or objection TO being
kissed. | think you will find very few
actresses who have. 1t is regarded purely
as a matter of business by both men and
women"
MINNIE MADDERN's VIEWS.
Miss Minnie Maddern, whose stage kiss
an enthusiastic Western critic describes as
linked and drawn-out sweetness kiss
that merges mans very soul into single
caress," says; "a kiss on the stage is
nothing more than any other stage busi-
ness. Every action on the stage should be
made as life like and as true to nature as
possible.
"This applies TO the stage kiss in COM
mon with other actions. If the play re-
quires two people to shake hands on the
stage, mere pretense Of shaking hands
will not do. 1t must be made evident to
the audience that they actually do shake
hands or the meaning of the scene is not
brought home to the audience. Worse
than that, the audience is abruptly re-
called to the fact that the scene going on
before them is only acting, and very arti-
fetal acting at that.
Nothing so rudely destroys stage illu-
sions as a palpable pretense of doing any
thing. To pretend to drink from glass
which the entire audience can see contains
nothing to drink, or to write letter,
which would necessarily occupy ten or
fifteen minutes, in as many seconds, are
common methods of destroying stage illu-
sions. The pretense of kissing, while not
of such frequent occurrence, will do more
to shatter stage illusion than will the
transparent stimulation of almost any other
piece of stage business.
dramatic license may condone writing
or pretending to write a note containing a
hundred words in ten seconds, and the
property man may be viliied for his neg
lect to fill the glasses with water, but moth
ing can in the least excuse a fagrantly
transparent pretense of kissing.
81 always kiss on the stage whenever
the scene calls for it. There is absolutely
no feeling in it, except in the abstract
Personalities do not enter into it in any
manner, shape or form. l might not be
on good terms with the man who was
playing my lover on the stage, or | might
positively dislike him, yet l would kiss
him with as much fervor as a girl in real
life would kiss her husband or lover. l
would kiss him with the same feeling as
l would speak the words of love put into
my mouth by the author of the play The
only feeling that enters into such an inter-
change is the feeling for the part-for
the ideal"
MINNIE PALMER SURPRISED.
"What next?" queried Minnie Palmer,
throwing aside the cigarette she so daintily
puffs as she appears in the costume of a
naval cadet at the conclusion of Act II. of
My Brothers Sister," "What will be
the next subject one of my good friends on
the press will propose as theme for dis
cussion? l thought you had exhausted
the gamut of stage emotions and here you
appear with a new one. You ask me
about kissing Mercy you 90 every
where, see everything, know all things,
and should think that would be the first
subject you'd know by heart and the last
subject you'd need to inquire about.
81 always think of kiss as either
everything or nothing.
"A kiss? Oh a kiss is nothing at all:
Yet, maid might die for the lack of it,
Just a touch of the lips-but suppose heart
Puts the whole of its love at the back o; it"
g You ask about stage kissing. If you
will think back little maybe you will
remember that for number of years l
have only played the roles of young girls,
merry and romping, maybe, but at any
rate innocent and guileless as child at
its mothers knee. Love-making there has
been, of course, in all these roles, but it
has always been the natural, simple, pure
and sweet dawn of girls affection for one
who has been kind to her, one who has