The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1894-11-10
News Of the Green
Room and Foyer
Some Of the More Important Doin9s
Of These, Our Actors.
PREJUDICE AGAINST ACTORS
1t Exists Among All Glasses and Vance
Thompson Explains Why-Beauties Of
Paul pottcr's Latest Play Other
Theatrical Intelligence.

thompson Explains Why-BeautieS or
Paul potter's Latest Play Other
Theatrical Intelligence.
Why is there such q deep-rooted
prejudice In the minds of people against
the actor? \ prejudice il is that no
eminence of achievement can wholly
overcome. 1t exists throughout every
grade and level Of civilization and re-
hnemsnt, yes. even among men who
pretend 70 be above it, What is the
cause? The explanation OF Vance
Thompson is interesting, to say the
least Il believe" he writes that the
origin and continuance Of the prejudice
Is To be explained by the material in
, which the actor works-himself He Is
the sculptor and the marble: the painter
ana the canvas: the musician and the
instrument. To use Gallicism, He
pays with his person. You cannot as
in the case Of the novelist. separate the
man from the artist This popularity
Is at the root of the whole matter. NJ
Coquelin recognized this when he re-
fused to play Scapln. because he had a
son and could no longer submit TO the
indignity of the coup-a-pled. Ii is the
root OF the whole matter. The urchin
who grins from the billboards Is token
that The New Boy is coming. do not
know who plays the titular role in the
coming production, but l call up Weldon
Grossmith's drollllttle figure, IN child :
frock and sailor hat, with thin legs and
whimpering face. And i laugh, not at
| the new boy at DR.. Candy's school, but
at Weldon Grossmith. the lean and
comical little man. Did he lose any
thing Of the dignity Of manhood by this
exhibition? If he did, think you have
discerned the causa causans Of the old,
invinclble and instructive prejudice. In
one Of the comic operas being played in
Broadway there Is a fat and unWieldy
woman. The sole reason for her pres
ence there Is the fact that she Is un-
wieldy and fat. Ifyou see q loss Of dig
nifty In permitting capital 10 be made
out Of these physical disadvantages you
have again got al the cause Of the preJu-
| dice against players Should it not work
the other way with equal force? All
acting is not buffoonery, not the por-
trayal of soiled and unlovely charac-
ters. If Mr.. Grossmith loses some of
his natural dignity by being kicked
across the stage IN Robert AIacaire,
does not Mr.. Irving gain in dignity Of
manhood when he merges his person
ality in 'Becket" The actor who de-
picts heroic characters should, one
would think. gain In those very respects
In which the player OF humlliating roles
loses But the prejudice, old and inn
placable, does not recognize this dis
tinction. What 1t does recognize is the
loss Of identity, and this, as have said
Is the bedrock Of the whole prejudice,
1t Is feeling that mans personality
his face, his voice, his body--are not to
be lightly tampered with. II Is some
what akin 10 the contempt one feels
for the man IN everyday life who wears
a wig. dyes his mustache, or paints
out the crows feet on his face. He has
sophisticated his personality"
This is how Vance Thompson eulog-
lies "'rhe Pacific Mall" l have indi
Gated one reason why Mr.. Potter should
be permitted to remain on earth. OF
the other similar reasons there Is one
worth noting Mr.. Potter is good. He
is sincere and modest and gay. he
does not know the New Woman and he
does not write about her. Her little
moral discrepancies do not concern
him. She may go into Il lonely corner
half dozen times day to pull up hel
little enfranchised soul by the roots tC
see how it Is growing. Paul Potter M
more thinks of spying on her than hc
would have thought Of spying on tn,
Duchess Of Salisbury upon a memor
able occasion.
We who are weary, very weary, o.
the New Woman"-of the flop of hel
loose shoes and the yammer OF her sill!
little tongue--love Paul NJ. Potter fol
this.
All. the beauty Of 1t! ~
Not an ulcered soul In whole play
not female with q mission; not fal
len woman; not even one of those seri
Gus. self-analyzing females who are al
ways eviscerating their little minds t
see where the golden eggs come from
not Tanqueray first, second or third
Just every day girls; rather foolish
emlnently kissable; Just plain human
girls. '"t
Ii is indeed very beautiful.
Mr. Potter is not profound; he is no
bitter; but he Is gay-with the gayet!
of the fifties and sixties Rather thread
bare gayety, you suggest? Even tn
shabbiest, most discrepit spirit Of mirtl
should be reverently treated in thes
days. Gayety is infinitely more preclou
than all the ''profundity' and "bit
terness'' and ''modernity" of pinchbecl
, philosophers like Grundy and Piner
and Jones; and infinitely more rare.
, And so--with q full sense Of my re
sponsibility-I say, Let Paul Potte
live"
4 singular coincidence of stage com
. edy and real tragedy occurred at In
opening OF Marie Burroughs dramati
company in Detroit the other night
. Minnie Monk as one Of the characters
has these words: My husband is no
! dead. but mad" She holds the stag
at this point with single companion
AS she reached these lines her utter
ance failed she hestated twice in tn
delivery and went to the prompt sid
for assistance. while the audience Til
tered. Then she came back and wen
on with the scene. Just before the &C
began Minnie Monk had received
telegraphic message which read: you
husband died this afternoon"
Make way for new triumph of stag
/ mechanics. In James W. Harkins' ".
I Man Without a Country" there Is