The record-union., 1892-05-28
Scenes Upon "The RialtO" in Great
Britain's Capital.
and Manliness of British Actors
Their London Home Life and
Haunts at Famous Clubs Charm
ingly Depicted.
Especial Correspondence of the RECORD
UNION. Copyright, 1921

have some particular locality constantly
frequented during certain hours of the
day by actors great and small. The cas-
ual passer fingers curiously within the
region. Even one least accustomed to
striking city phases is instantly inn
pressed with the unusual character of the
neighborhood and with the manners and
dress of its frequenters.
Public houses of a coZy, rather than
sumptuous sort, are characteristic of the
place. Windows above it are filled with
strange costumes. Little low windows,
and still timer glass cases, or receivers,
here and there, display curious examples
Of the wigmaker's art. ''Voice Training
can be secured up this dingy flight of
stairs. "a School of Elocution" will be
reached through another dark entryway.
The legend, Fancy Steps," will appear
where the stairs hint of serious STUN bling
instead. Next the roof of one building
Pupils will be Fitted for the Stage"
''Banjo Taught has broken out upon
every doorway directory. And signs of
Dramatic Agency where the first and
perennially successive looting of actors
is done, cluster like beacons Of wreckers
to entice the veteran, as well as the young
est skipper, upon the shoals of treacher-
Gus dramatic seas.
In general and particular everything
needful to 1.-The profession" and many
things which its members could safely
eschew, are gathered in and about this
strange little city world within the great
city. 1t is called 1.-The Rialto." And
upon these "Rialtos," by day, walk for
pleasure or profit, in idleness or anxiety,
IN pompous plenitude or in pitiful power
ty, all those hundreds and thousands who
by night charm and cheer us upon the
mimic stage,
Cur American 'Rialtos'' are more
marked in concentration and character
than those of European cities. This is
particularly true in New York. In Lon
don, where are the haunts of probably
more actors than exist III any other four
or five of the greatest cities, there is no
spot which exactly corresponds with the
American actors "Rialto," except one
That one is the greatest resort in the
world for music-hall performers. 1t is
just across the Waterloo Bridge from the
Strand, on the Surrey side of London; is
called in local parlance, poverty juno
tIon," and Of this locality and its odd fire.
quenters l shall speak at length in my
next letter.
But between these folk, who are called
professors or "pros," in the vernacu-
llr, and the actors of London there is an
ever impossible gulf. In our country
there is considerable cOmmingling and
association of these elements or classes.
This almost wholly accounts for the
characteristic groupings of business and
loungers forming our "Rialtos." Here
the actor not only scorns the pros" as he
would tramp, and will have none of
him as a companion, but he will drink
no liquor, eat no food, transact no bust
ness and frequent no thoroughfare or
haunt where the ''pros' is permitted to
come.
There are reasons for this close drawing
of professional lines. An important one
is found in the fact that for a very long
time London theatrical managers have
sustained an absolute monopoly of all
dramatic performances. BY law the pro-
prietors of music-halls are forbidden to
present any exhibition of a dramatic ma
ture. Their compensation is in being
permitted to sell all manner of liquors by
hands of hewitching barmaids; of itself
a great source of attraction and profit.
To the Legitimate dramatic performer,
any one who has appeared in 1.-The 'alls,"
from his standpoint of ethics, can by no
possibility ever become genuine actor
or attain to his social standing.
On the other hand you will seldom find
an English, Irish or Scottish actor who is
not gentleman born and bred. l do not
mean that he is always Of the so-called
British gentry" stock.
But ] do mean that the stock from
which he has sprung Is usually Of the best
quality; that he has had the advantage of
being well bred; has been given excel
lent home and school, and very often
university training; that he is reader, a
student and traveller; and that the best
regime and athletic sports have done for
him, physically, what his education has
done for him mentally, and his una
yoidable culture, Oft and on the stage,
has done for both his ethics and his man
nerS.
This is universal rather than excep-
4 l. al, -. y
his vocation. Such names as those of
Shakespeare, Kemble, Garrick, Macready
and Mathews furnish endless pique and
spur to his ambition. His excellent social
status keeps him in touch with the best
rather than the undesirable elements
He is well paid and certain Of employ
ment II he has ability and experience;
and if he possesses only the former, with
some learning behind it, his period of
apprenticeship is one of fair opportunity
and considerate treatment.
Without leaving his home and his daily
haunts and work he has before him the
highest opportunities to which an actor
can attain within the confines of London
itself And his every surrounding, ac-
ceSsibIe aid In his profession, and, even
IN his hours Of relaxation, which bring
him the fine friction of the brightest
minds of our time, he is an actor contin-
ually, unwittingly and perforce bettered
and improved.
The latter is as true to-day as it was in
Shakespeare'S time. And all this is why
the haunts of London actors differ from
the hauntS of American actors, and WHY,
also, their environment naturally pro-
duces the abIeSt delineators not of intense
and exaggerated character and situations.
as with the French, and somewhat with
our American school, but of those fade
less good and mellow comedies, dramas
and tragedies which appeal to the intel
lect and heart, rather than TO sensation
hunger, the nerves and the passions
These changeleSs conditions naturally
give London actors, as class, but two
places that may be regarded as their real
haunts-their homes and their clubs.
The first of these may seem to Americans
an odd sort of actors retreat. For, though
we have many among US who possess
genuine homes, and it is good sign that
their number is increasing, there are too
few actors who possess or seek a home.
1t is different in London, and l think
there is nothing on earth achieyable in
which a London actor takes such manful
and eXaltant pride.
They are seldom grand affairs. 1t is
their great number and their sweet and
good homelineSS which make them re-
markable. The exigencies of provincial
professional travel and frequent Ameri-
can tours often render their continuous
occupancy impossible. Frequently the
husband goes IN one direction and the
wife, it she be an actress, in another. But
the abiding place is Mecca to both. and
there is always some one to hold the be-
longingS together and train the little ones
against the homecoming.
The English actor has a great abhor-
ence of big and snowy home. / could
,,rint the names of scores whose incomes
our eminent theatrical people, in ap-
l1royed West End luxury in winter and