The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-07-19
WHATMAKES:AN ACTRESS
THE AMERICAN ACADEMY pIREC-
TOR ON THE REQUIREMENTS.

of the Requisites of the Dramatic
Professionalism Action as an Art.
(Copvrioht)
New YORK, July 1S.-Acting is an art
which must be learned by hard study both
on and off the stage. 1t requires much and
varied preparation. OF course natural gifts
are power within themselves, bat it re-
quires experience to ripen them. and it is
only by study that the simplest effects can
be properly reached.
To be natural on the stage is not matter
Of casual mood, but of 4 trained habit.
A young woman may be exceptionally
we'll gifted. She may be pretty, have a
good facial expression, O fine-speakinR
voice, a commanding stature and have the
necessary physical conditions, and yet be
unable TO portray the emotions Of the
human mind in such a manner as 10 be en-
| PERTAINING and Ineligible TO others.
Let any one go upon the stage before an
audience and say the same things and act
the same deeds which ordinarily occur in
everyday life, and he will appear wholly
stupid and uuinteresting. 1t will be no
more entertaining TO an onlooker than is
any commonplace visit into any ordinary
family, such as occurs every day. No one
is particularly interested or entertained.
People must be taught how they should
act, move, walk, speak and sing, if they are
to do these things as perfectly as to please
others.
Long ago, nature might have been so
lavish with her children that each man and
woman said and did exactly the right thing
at the right time and with exactly the right
expression. But all that has passed away.
We are taught in etiquette books and in So
ciety to conceal our emotions. A ladylike
monotone with smooth aud even accent and
voice that never rises or falls beyond
certain pitch, are things ordinarily to be
cultivated. Never, in ordinary parlor cons
versation must the face express extreme
emotion. Passion, rage, anger, disgust,
contempt, pleasure and surprise, must all he
yelled beneath an out ard mask of serenity.
The woman of breeding will never show
by the lifting of an eYelid that she thinks
person is bad tempered, unknd or even
cruel. At all times a beautiful calm over
spreads her features; she walks slowly,
speaks deliberately, and whatever effect she
may wish to produce she does entirely by
means Of little ways and actions that are
pretty, rather than effective. In q parlor
this may be quite agreeable, but upon the
stage the effect is lost and the woman would
appear inane and lifeless.
1t Is because of this that theatrical man
ayers dread the society woman who goes
have prestige and name as social leader.
and if she is connected with fine family and
has gone upon the stage because Of domestic
or other disturbances, this fact goes far 10
arouse curiosity in advance from an in
dulgent public who, having heard of her
previously, are willing to go once to see her
behind the footlights.
All this is very we'll as long as the new
ness and freshness and novelty lasts, but
there comes time when the society
woman, having been seen c" ce by all the
world, must sink into oblivion in the
minds of the fair-minded public. They see
that, actuated by other motives than those
which should impel any one choosing a vo~
cation, the actress is either frivolous, vain,
indolent or incompetent. They notice that
she does not improve, and that, having
seen her once and gratifed their curiosity,
they have seen all that there is to be seen.
The pretty little mannerisms. sweet voice,
style and figure, which in the
first place made any lady at
tractive upon the stage, are not suf-
ficient to keep them interested beyond the
first nights performance. And that is the
reason that high standard schools of acting
and theatrical managers hesitate to take
society woman and bring her before the
public Occasionally there will be one
that will find thac she has chosen the
proper vocation, and wall, after time, de-
vote herself to study SO earnestly that good
results are achieved, but more oftea there
is no Improvement after the first week
and the manager finds that he has a star
who is white elephant upon his hands,
ana who cannot keep her place before the
public.
In examining candidates for our school Of
acting, frequently have young women
come to me and mention the fact, as a
point in their favor, that they are never
nervous when appearing before the public.
They say that they are always calm, cool
collected and unimpressionable. When
satisfy myself that this is really the case
and that young woman cannot be aroused
so as to exhibit or at least to feel nervous
ness, at once make up my mind that she
is wholly unsuitable for the stage. A sue
cessful actress must be highly nervous; she
must be scared when she goes behind the
fOotlights, her heart must beat faster as she
sees the audience. There must he a state
of nervous tremCr and she must feel in
sympathy with the audience or she will be
wholly unsuccessful in catching their atten.
ton and holding their interest throughout
the part.
One of our first tests in examining candi-
dates is TO put them upon the stage and
after pioturing dramatic scene and locat-
ing the characters. ask them to say certain
lines. L say to young woman, Suppose
that opposite you stands your lover and
seeks to eStrange you. A woman who is
the heavy villain of the play stands in the
background, scowling and lowering upon
you. Your lover says: Il was wrong For
give-forgive. Show this woman that yon
can forgive How can you reply and
where would you locate your charactersl"
Now, young woman with the true
dramatic instinct will locate all these char
acters, put them in their right positions
upon the stage, and, keeping each one in
her own mind, will say her lines so wildly
that you can see in your minds eye each
and every character. She may not, being
untaught, say the lines with proper inject
ion, but you can plainly see that she real
ICES how many people are upon the stage,
where they are and TO whom she should
look when making an appeal.
Another girl, with good voice, aud ap-
parently the same dramatic properties as
the other, will have a vague look in her
eyes, and will say the lines looking here and
there and yet nowhere in particular, thus
rohbing them OF all in crest.
What kind of a girl do we like best to
train for an actressl
WE'LL Il is hard to tell exactly, because
the subtle element enters into the compost
ton 50 largely, that given all the qualities
which | am about TO enumerate, a young
woman might yet come to us and be refused
admission. We first consider her nation
atty. The French and Irish are the best.
as they are the most adaptable and suscept-
IDLE. The Germans are next, if we except
Americans, who being a mixture Of all
nationalities. are brightest of ALL There
are roles upon the variety stage which make
Americans inyaluabla and THAR readv wifi