The Washington times., 1894-04-08
Gallery, PHI and
Gr60n Room.

Richard Mansfield once said to bright
newspaper woman: ''If I had the minutest
pittance slowed away fer support I would
leave off acting tomorrow. l think it is posi-
lively the silliest occupation in the world
capering about to amuse lot of people or
strutting as tinsel kings, shouting challenges
in pasteboard forests or groaning threnody
at papier-mache tombs. Actors only see the
pretense of it all. We have none Of the gilt
ter, soft wells of distance. or delightful decep-
ton of lights, mechanical devices or make
ups. 1t is all bosh to US. The silvery moon
in tin and calcium, the swaying trees. present
nothing but drab canvas and cut pine from
our side OF the woodland; fountains are as
dishonest as local elections, and beauties are
painted into frights. 1t is wigs, it is powder,
it is mockery. l wish were well out Of 1t. :"
Which is all exceedingly clever, Of course,
aud true, too, if you look at it from
Mr.. Mansfeld's point of view. I don't
mean in the least that Mr.. Mansfield meant as
much as he said. He didn't, except in mo-
mentary, conversational sort OF way. 1t
sounded bright to him and it expressed con-
tempt. Mansfield delights in being clever
even If he sacrifices his half beliefs. and it is,
of course. the part Of man Of his character
to express contempt for everything. But in
as much as he did believe what he said, 1t is
true from his point Of view. There is great
amount of canvas and tinsel and stage moon
light on the stage. Who ever said there
wasn't? And no doubt to man who doesn't
believe in himself or any one else or anything
else the stage may seem the greatest farce Of
them all.
But however much We may admire his art
-trickery he calls tive must feel less SYM
pathy and less real liking for man who
acknowledges that he considers himself an
impostor.
There are other people who believe with
Mr.. Mansfield. But there is another side to
this. There are few players who believe as
thoroughly in the players trade as they do
the singers or the painters. Why shouldn't
there be all these fictitious accessories? What
legitimate artistic canon is there against arti-
fetal aids in producing effects in any trade
artistic? And where everyone understands
that these things are so, who can object to the
agreed deception when it gives pleasure2
Felix Morris Is one of the men who believes
in the legitimacy Of the drama. He believes in
stage production. He is in love with his art
for itself, besides liking its financial side and
realizing fully that there is one. These two
men have methods that have been likened in
certain parts. Mansfield would, I suppose,
be very much like Felix Morris in
'The Rose" and Morris portrait OF Beau
Brummel" would be like that OF Mansfleld's.
1t seems to me that in certain ways Morris Is
the greater artist, aside from, although per-
haps for the reason of his better artistic
morals. Mansfield says that he himself is a
trickster, and implies that every one else is.
too, and that he hates the trickery. OF course
art is only trickery when one thinks 1t so.
Now the fact is that this man who hates
shams uses more of them than most artists.
Mansfield is a prestigitator. don't blame
him for his Jekyll-Hyde, but wonder why he
should rail at art and himself go further in
artificial delusion than any one else. Morris
is not trickster, because he believes sincerely
in art. He has ideals. He is trying to do
something, and it is good thing. He makes
true pictures. They are full of poetry and
tenderness and pathos, and they are beauti-
full. One listens to and sees them with the
pleasure that he looks at q painting or reads
a poem. In certain of these pictures
Mansfield has never equaled him and
can never do so because Of the strain Of
charlatanism that runs through him, the
charlatan that recognizes itself and believes
that the same is in every other person.
The Morrises have been here, and have
gone, and a great many people have
recognized the exceeding good things that
they have done for US, but there are great
many others who have not. We do not always
recognize good things In America immedi-
ately, do fe, unless some one points them out
to us? Mr.. Morris had an instantaneous and
remarkable success several years ago in Lon
don. After working fifteen years in America
and not accomplishing one signal triumph,
his first night before a London audience
won the profuse commendatton of every one
Of the London dramatic critics. He stayed