The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-03-24
KISSING ON THE STAGE.
Most Actresses Apparently Believe
That the Kiss Should BE Real.

"
That the Kiss Should BE Real.
Pail Mall Gazette.
AS so many ladies on the stage have de-
clared their professional kissing, or kiss
one is bound to take their word, and this is
the more easily done that Frau Leuthold,
the Viennese actress, whose conduct now
raises the question, has presumably, herself.
during her entire professional career, re-
ceived the embraces of her male colleague
without protest. IF this paragon is at
only, l gather, because of the fulminations
of a too jealous husband, who. not being an
actor, cannot be supposed to speak on this
subject with authority.
The professional ethics of the question
sseem clear enough. The kiss is supposed to
mean no more than the words of endear-
ment set down for the parties to speak.
And yet I confess to being able to under
stand and even to sympathize with the
husbands view. 1t may be a question of
temperament, but / am never able complete
ly to identify the best actors in the world
with their assumed characters. I am always
conscious of the man or the woman under
meath the mask, and that small knuckle-
end of reality in a mass of illusion might
very well suffice to arouse jealousy in a ma
ture prone to that passion.
Then, the spoken words of endearment and
the living kiss are not quite the same thing.
Most men would forgive a wife for having
f nlI t and fo1m we m enow T yThax that mon, n n lts a d
readily forgive a kiss. Yet flirting, as car
ried on between a couple of accomplished
players, both versed in the ways of the
world, may occasionally rise to ~eloquence.
The melting look, the downcast eye, the
troubled voice may say q as AS m hsra, as Is sf eyer yer
most passionate love tale.
If possessed of the ideal temperament, the
faculty of complete self-detachment, a fond
husband would no doubt be able to look
upon the stage-kissing of his wife unmoved.
ever acts upon the supposition that the
part taken on the stage is wholly detach-
able from real life, and that the woman
can become completely merged in the ac-
tress? To assume that a husband sitting in
front could treat the stage and its deniZenS
as pure distractions and lose the conscious
ness az having a wife at all, is to reduce
the professional contention to an absurd
ity. ~
so-called illusion of the scene ever be per
feet; there must always, to normal minds
in the proceedings. Although Frau Leuthoid
and her professional friends, therefore,, are
quite entitled to say that stage ove-making
Is nothing to them, and although COM
placent husbands may fall in with that
view and disagree with Herr Leuthold, the
real originator of all this pother, they are
not I think. entitled to base their opinion
on the ground they do-namely, that an
actress naturally loses herself IN ner part.
s.Frou-Frou." where Gilberte, taking her
first lesson in amateur theatricals with
is all prescribed? That seems to me to rep
resent the attitude of the normal woman
' of whom a. stage kiss is demanded. There
m,,st always be a womanly shudder on her
part at the strange contact which she e1-
perienceS.
But remember. / am speaking Of the nor
NAL woman. The experienced actress prob
anly stands in a different category To
begin with, the traffic of the stage can be
accountable only to certain specially con-
stituted organizations, whether male or
female. and then a long experience of the
footIichts must tend to blent such sus-
capabilities as are common, looked Ior N
the woman who does not happen to be
gifted with the artistic temperament. TO
Efss unfortunately on the stage, IN &C
corlance with an authors directions, must
be pretty much the same thing "a wearing e ring
w5thout q unaIni, bur not by the normal
woman, Constrained to apP sann,n on q the
or less accustomed to the condition OF the
profession, but her natural, suscept1bllItles
/ Imagine, could never Whohy lose 'neit
edge. -.- c,,ar~o,
with Herr LaufhoId, whose fault in becnm-
ing the husband OF q star actress appears
to have been that he did not play tne SANE 5
have been prepared to allow his vile e
lsiss her professional partners with Al tns