The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-11-28
THEY CALL 1T "REALISM"
BUT NOTHING IS MORE UNREAL
THAN STAGE BUSINESS"

anger Wnlch - never INDUCED in
by the Real Young Woman-Actors
Who Think Vociferously-ClRare
Always Allotted to Villains and
Cigars Saved for Heroes-The Stage
Drunkerd and the Stage Letter
Writer Show Nancy Hanks Speed.
From the Ne,O York Herald.
By the by, did you ever notice the I'M
reality Of stage realisma That may sound
rather paradoxiosl, but it is straight
goods" nevertheless.
Actors and actresses. and it's a cruel
shame to make fun Of such delightful crea-
lures as actresses are generally supposed to
be, do some very queer things now and
again in their violent and oft strained ef-
forts to be natural You may not have no.
ticed it. You probably wouldn't notice it
unless you are hardened sycophant with
callous spots on the place where your tender
perceptions and soft sympathy ought to be-
have noticed these effective bits, " how
ever, and looking at them from the soured
side OF life | will tell you how they are. /
know that these things at which l would
scott are all in the stage managers manual
way up in 1t, too-aDd of course stage
managers know a great deal more about
their business than do, but nevertheless l
cannot but think that common, everyday
human nature is not set forth quite so
realistically on the stage as are the fire en-
gines and the saw mills
Now, for instance. how does the young
woman in the play always indicate that she
is displeaSedl
TOE TAPPING.
She taps the toe of one shoe rapidly on
the carpet and frowns. Then we in the
audience know that she is mad 1t is gen
Iu fa1 3 Il. =
her supposed feelings.
Did you ever have a real live young
woman actually angry with you who did
that1
pll "'wot not" and I'1I''wot" quite heavy
roll on it. Nine chances out Of ten that she
will forget all about her feet when she is
mad, but abe won't forget a out her tongue
Young women know how to express their
anger In words, even if they don't know
how to swear, and they will express 1t, too.
Adams style of expression may have been
invented when he had that conversation at
the gates Of Eden.
Still we all applaud Miss Ingenue's delicate
and appreciative portrayal of ire "partn
when her little love scheme is frustrated
and she taps her toes, or when the villain in
suits her fathers memory She ALWAYS taps
her toes. The stage slippers Of a whole lot
OF lngenues must be worn thin at the end
Then, too, stage folks always have a very
the thought the farther you can hear 1t.
have heard S4O-a-week stage villain think
80 hard about numbering somebody that his
voice would have been audible across Mad
ison square.
The expression of his couutenance counted
Tor nothing. He might have been thinking
whether he would have oysters or corned
beef hash for lunch for all his face indi-
Gated. AS long as he thinks loud enough a
stage villain does not much care what kind
of game the lines of his features play with
each other. Sometimes they play tag, and
sometimes can't help thinking that they
would like to play paper.
These outbufsts of thought are always pre-
eaded by stride to the wings, and then
comes a deep-chest "AhF'
These "Ahs" usually precede "Now, IL
all goes well, be is mine. Tonight he shall
pay the forfeit with his life. Ali revenge
is sweetW Or, perchance, with the usual
greed for somebody else's money, the villain
shouts this think into the painted canvas of
the wings and possibly the ear OF beery
stage hand: ''Wait; let me think Every
thing goes we'll have the key to the safe
His millions are In my graspn
OF course in real life we usually find out
what people are thinking about by looking
carefully at their faces. All that trouble is
saved at the theater. Yon can Just shut
your eyes and the actor wi ten you vehe-
mently and concisely just "..sg his thoughts
are
l suppose the plot is more sure to be
worked out understandingly that way than
though the thought were left to your own
understanding.
CIGARETTES AND CIGARS.
1t is also curious thing that In plays viii
lains only smoke cigarettes, while the good
men, the heroes, confine themselves excu-
sivelY to cigars. You know the villain al
ways pulls out silver-plated cigarette box
at critical moments-just when some fellow
is exposing him-and lights one with a cool
but reckless air.
The good fellow, however, never smokes
at critical moments. When the curtain
goes up and he is in his library at leisure
waiting for things TO happen he invariably
putfs at a big, black, and hard-Iooking
cigar. He always has Just lit it, by the
way, and smokes 1t much as though it was
the last cigar in the world.
Now, don't question but what it is
very just arrangement to relegate the cigar
cites TO the villains and let the good fellows
have the cigars, and yet / have found lots
OF good men who smoke cigarettes, If they
smoke at all, andthe villains of my personal
acquaintance are much more likely to
smoke cigars than anything else Imagine
thoroughbred bunko steerer wasting his
time on cigarette if you can.
Hungry Joe" would feel insultsd at such
an insinuation.
RAPID WRITER'S.
kgain, did you ever notice how these
stage scribes can rattle off a letter? If l
could only turn out manuscript at the rate
I've seen people do it on the stage Mr..
Gould would have to rustic around pretty
lively 70 keep pace with me financially.
When man has note to write he sits
down and scribbles off a long epistle ex-
planning the whole situation and debating
to himself. He can write just as fast as he
can talk, and one dip of the pen will, on an
average. last for about four sheets OF manu-
script. 1t is rather curious, too. the num-
Der Of words an average actor can crowd
onto page. They fnd no trouble in get
ting about a quarter of a column on an
ordinary sheet Of note paper.
That beats me, and | write very close"
Then, II you will notice, stage ink never
bloIs and tie writer never misspells word
or hesitates in his construction.
IL some Of these people really lived they
would be invaluable in a newspaper Office
''HANG THE EXPENSE"
1t is also interesting to note the utter
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&: Co., -r, -