Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-11-17
MUSIC AND DRAMA.
KINKS AND MANNERISMS OF MR.
ROBSON AND OTHERS.
Players -Marls-The Present Con-
dition of the Drama-Foot-
light Flashes.

Players Trade-Marks-The Present Con-
dition of the Drama-Foot-
| light Flashes.
One of the criticisms made by the every
day theater-goer who is not yet quite able
to distinguish between melodrama and a
comedy, is that this actor or that one is
always the same The trouble with Lester
| Wallack, for example-and Wallack is al
ways favorite illustration with these
critics-was that he always was Lester
| Wallack and that he never lost his indi-
viduality in the character he was portray
ing. Their idea of successful achievement
on the stage is that Mr.. Robson or Mr..
Goodwin or Mr.. De Wolf Hopper should
SO disguise their features and so change
the natural infections of their voices that
their most enthusiastic admirers in the
audience must fail to recognize them.
This would not be an easy thing to do.
and no successful actor is in the habit of
sinking his personality in the character he
seeks to delineate, or is accustomed to dis
guise the accents of his voice and the size
of his gestures to such an extent as to mis-
lead his admirers concerning his identity.
Mr.. Robson is Mr. Robson all through,
with the same squeak and the same pecul-
lar stride, whether he is playing Professor
Gillvpod in "Our Boarding II USE" or one
of the Dromios in the Comedy of Errors" :"
Joe Emmett is certainly always Joe En-
met, and De Wolf Hopper is never by any
chance anything except Mr.. Hopper,
whether he be young man in the 'Clo-
yer" or an old man in "The Black fus-
sar."
Everybody recognizes the fact that Mr..
Robson's squeak is his trade mark, and if
by some curious operation of nature it
were to be taken out of his voice Mr.. Rob-
sons commercial value at the box-offices
of the theaters throughout the country
would be sensibly diminished. People
who go to the theater to see Mr.. Robson
want to see him because they admire his
personality and his peculiarities, and when
he comes on the stage they want to recog-
nize him at once.
The whimsical individuality of Henry
Irving is something which has captured
the admiration of the theater-goers on
both sides of the Atlantic. 1t may be an
acquired taste, but the taste exists, so that
these peculiarities of the tragedian have
price in the open theatrical market to-day,
and if he were stripped of them he would
be somebody else than Henry Irving, and
not the theatrical attraction he is now
! OF course, the stickler for dramatic art
does not like to think that if Henry Irv-
ing played a part with such complete
subordinatiou of himself that Irving would
disappear, the first consequence of such
success would be that theater-goers would
no longer flock to the Lyceum Theater in
London or wherever Mr.. Irving might
happen to be playing. Yet such would
probably be the case.
81 do not want to sink my identity"
said well-known player the other day
81 want to emphasize it. want the
public to know me, and to like me, and
to grow fond of my kinks and turns and
little maneuvers. When l come on the
stage | want them to recognize, not by
any mental process driving them to the
conclusion that | am myself or by refer
ence to the programme, but because they
hear and know my voice; because my
stride across the stage is familiar to them
| mean that every part | play shall be
dominated and eolered out of my own life
and being, and not that l shall put it on
as | would an overcoat, to cover up and
perhaps dishgure me. l don't want peo-
pie to say Il did not recognize him. He
played the part splendidly.' What 1 do
want them to say is, i had no idea that
there was that side to his character 1t is
a surprise and a very pleasant one"
"a mans mannerisms on the stage, espe-
cially if they are quaint or picturesque, or
attractive to the ear or the eye, are of alb
solute commercial value" said another
actor. 'They furnish theater-goers some
thing to talk about They are tangible.
The humorous way is which player is
able to present different character, for
example, is something which eludes the
powers of description of the unframed
play -goer, but Mr.. Robson's squeak or Mr..
Irving's walk is a subject on which they
can expand. The consequence is that
players who are gifted with kinks of this
sort are advertised in private conversation
in way which cannot fail to be of box
office benefit to them. And not only do
people ask about such eccentricities, but
the amateur mimic is apt to produce them
in drawing-rooms on the spur of the mo-
ment, and such performances give Mr..
Irvings walk or Mr. Robsons squeak
wider advertisement than ever.
"And then the mimic of the variety
stage or farce-comedy singles out such
| conspicuous stars | mean conspicuous be-
cause of their mannerisms, and advertises
them throughout the country. Mr.. Irving,
as matter of fact, objects to these pleasing
little attentions, but great majority of
players are proud of the distinction thus
shown them, and in many cases players
| have been known to ask mimics to include
reproduction of their peculiarities in
| their programmes. | do not think Mr..
Robson has ever sought any reproduction
of this sort, but it is well known that when
Nat Goodwin made his first appearance in
New York and gave an imitation of Stuart
Robson in the Black Eyed Susan bur-
lesque, Mr. Robson gave the young come
dian number of rehearsals, so that he
might perfect his imitation, and also fur
nished him with his own business in the
part"
1t Is scarcely necessary 10 point out tnat
the performance of the Comedy of Err
rors," in which Robson and Crane played
the two Dromios, was far more effective
because Mr.. Crane had striking person
ality to initiate, instead of colorless
player without any mannerisms or pecul-
iarities to speak of. In such case the re-
semblance of the twins would simply have
been a matter of little moment. Then
occasionally Mr.. Robson does not appear
on the stage for several days at time,
and at such times he has an understudy
who is able to do his part, and not one
theater-goer in five is able to note the ab-
sence Of Mr. Robson.
Such peculiarities do not constitute dra-
matte art, but they figure very largely in
box office valuations.
CONDITION OF THE DRAMA.
Fred Ward, the tragedian, is credited by
the New York Mirror with the following
statements relative to the present condi-
ton of the drama and its actors in this
country "There is only lingering rem