Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-05-27
A RIALT0 IN LONDON.
Splendid Tribute Paid to the Char
acter of British Actors.
THEIR HOME LIFE AND HAUNTS.
Famous Clubs of London Charmingly De-
picted by Wakeman.
ACTORS RETREATS in THE BIG CITY

CAVITY constantly 1reQuenteO during certalu
hours of the day by actors great and small
The casual passer fingers curiously within
the region. Even one least accustomed to
striking city phases, is instantly impressed
with the unusual character of the neighbor-
hood and with the manners and dress of its
frequenters.
Public houses of q cozv rather than q
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 wig
makers 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, "Fancv Steps," will appear
where the stairs hint of serious stumbling
instead. Next the roof of one building
Pupils" will be gifted for the Stage"
''Banio Taught" has broken out upon every
doorway directory. And signs of "Dra-
matte Agency" where the first and peren-
nially successive looting of actors is done,
cluster like beacons of wreckers to entice
the veteran as well as the youngest skipper
upon the shoals of treacherous dramatic
seas
The Rialto of London.
In general and particular everything
needful to 'the profession" and many
things which its members could safely es-
chew, are gathered in and about this strange
little city world within the great city. 1t
"Rialtos," BY day, walk for pleasure or
profit in idleness or anxiety, in pompous
plenitude or in pitiful poverty all those
hundreds and thousands who by night
charm and cheer us upon the mimic stage.
Our American "Rialtos" are more marked
in concentration and character than those of
European cities. This is particularly true
in New York. In London, where are the
haunts of probably more actors than exist
in any. four or five of the greatest cities,
there is no spot which exactly corresponds
with the American actors 'tRialto," 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 Junction." and of
this locality and its odd frequenters 1 shall
speak at length in my next letter.
But between these folk, who are called
'iprossers" or "pros," in the vernacular
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 group
ings of business and loungers forming our
"Rialtos" Here the actor not only scorns
the ''pros" as he would q tramp, and will
have none of him as a companion, but he
will drink no liquor, eat no food. transact
no business, and frequent no thoroughfare
or haunt, where the ''pros" is permitted to
come.
Professional Lines Drawn Taut
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 per- |
formances. By law the proprietors of music |
halls are forbidden to present any exhibi- |
tion OF a dramatic nature. Their compensa-
tion is in being permitted to sell all mar
ner of liquors BY hands of bewitching bar
maids; of itself great source Of attraction
and profit. To the Legitimate" dramatic |
performer anyone who has appeared in "the |
'alls, /" from his standpoint of ethics, can by |
no possibility ever become a 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 a gentleman born and bred. 1 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 excellent home and |
school, and very often university training; |
that he is reader, tudent and a traveller; |
and that the best regime and athletic sports |
have done for him, physically, what his ed |
ucation has done for him mentally, and his |
unavoidable culture, off and on the stage |
has done for both his ethics and his man
ners.
Mighty Proud of His Calling.
This is universal rather than exceptional. |
He is therefore justly proud of his voca-
tion. Such names as those of Shakespeare, |
kemble, Garrick, Macready and Mathews |
furnish endless pique and spur to his ambi-
tion. His excellent social status keeps him |
in touch with the best rather than the unde-
sirable elements. He is we'll paid and GER
tain of employment, if 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 op-
portunity and considerate treatment
Without leaving his home and his daily
haunts and work, he mas before him the |
highest opportunities to which an actor can
attain within the confines of London itself.
And his every surrounding, accessible aid
in his profession, and, even in his hours of
of the brightest minds of our time, he is as
an actor continually, unwittingly and per-
force 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 produces the
ablest delineators not of intense and exag-
gerated character and situations, as with the
French, and somewhat with our American |
school, but of those fadeless good and mel |
low comedies, dramas and tragedies which |
appeal to the intellect and heart, rather
than to sensation hunger, the nerves and the
passions.
Only Two Haunts for Actors
These changeless conditions naturally
give London actors as a 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 q good sign that their number is in
creasing, there are too few actors who pos
sess or seek home. It is differe mt in Lon
don; and think there is nothing g on earth
achievable In which a London actor takes
such manful and exultant pride.
They are seldom grand affairs 1t is their
great number and their sweet and good
homeliness which makes them remarkable.
The exegencies of provincial professional
travel and frequent American tours often
render their continuous occupany impos- |
sible- Frequently the husband goes in one
direction and the wife, if she be an actress,
in another. But the abiding place is Mecca
to both, and there is always some one to