Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1895-02-08
ACTORS OLD AND NEW
TIMES HAVE CHANGED, AND THE Az.
DONATIONS HAVE GONE.

TIMES HAVE CFlANGED, AND The Az.
DONATIONS HAVE GONE.
Nowadays Performers Endeavor to Under
stand the Author and to Learn the Sto.
~ and Object of the Play-William H
Crane Comes to the Rescue.
At a gathering of men prominent in
the theatrical world the other night an
author who has had some success with
pne or two plays brought up the old argu-
ment that actors were, in a great measure,
little better than automatons.
A star wanted a play in a hurry. What
he was using was not to the public taste
and the author sent him ono of the man.
which were knocking about in his trunk
Some three weeks after the piece had beer,
produced he ran out to a little town Ut
New Jersey and saw the play. 1t was NIT
. bit like tho play he planned and wrota.
The situations were all there, Il so wcrs
the lines, but ideas he had never dreamed
of in connection with the play were being
conveyed by the actors. This made him
furious, and he rallied at actors in gen.
eral, saying that they had no ideas of
their own, and there was not one actor
cut of ten who could tell you the story of
the play in which he was appearing.
The poor actor has heard this claim re-
peated many times. When Henry Irving
was in this country, the American dram
Artists gave a dinner in his honor. In
responding to the pleasant things said
about him the English actor told how he
had been an actor for many yc@s before
he had ever given any thought to tho
general character of the plays in which ho
was taking part. 1t had only been after
he had risen in his profession that he had
understood the work of the author and
how close a relation one scene bore to an
other. When he became q manager, he
made a study Of these things, and tho pro-
duction of a play meant a great deal more
to him than the memorizing of his lines
and of his cues.
To strengthen his argument that most
actors paid little attention to anything but
their w lines, Mr.. Irving told a story
about the famous Frenchman, Frederick
Lemaitrc. The latter had mado a gigantic
hit in a new play, the name of which I
cannot now recall, and had been giving it
steadily for nearly. two years in Paris.
While dining one afternoon with a friend
the latter as n joke asked him what was
the story of the play in which he was be,
Ing seen. To his amazcmcnt the actor re-
piled that he had only n remote idea.
This will strike most people as being
decidedly odd, but Mr.. Irving's word is
not to be doubted. Lemaitre told the
truth, and while many actors of his day
might have answered like questions in the
same way the actor of today who would
co- t1o ~, thinr xpnr11 Ia loo1~nl ,,p>n
rs a curiosity.
Actors arc not automatons, and the
man who could not tell you the story OF
the play IN which he is appearing would
be an imbccile. Such a man l do not be.
lieve exists in the profession. What Mr..
Irving says and what my friend the au.
thor holds was true in a measure 10 or Ii
years ago, but it is not today.
Years ago, when I was a member of :
stock company, I frequently appeared il
plays of which I knew very little. W.
used to give four or five different plays 6
week, and we rehearsed every day. OF 8
Monday morning I would be given severa.
parts and told to memorizo them. SOM
of these parts would consist Of IS or NOR
pages, and all Of my time was put il
studying, rchcarsing and playing. I hat
no time Tor recreation.
There was nothing but work and worry
with a small salary thrown in and a hop
that I would pull through with the bell
of heaven and the prompter. Had some
one asked me in those days the story 9
any one of the plays in which I was ap
pearing l could not have told him. II
fact, I was not expected to know. Al
that was required was that I should know
my lines. But, to use a very old and mil
dewed expression, times have changed.
The production of plays today is rcduc
ed to a scientific principle. = Mr.. Dial,
or Mr.. Frohman or any Of our big man
ayers decides to produce a new play, a cal
is posted notifying the company to mec
at the theater at a certain hour. The au
thor is present, and it is his or her dut
to read the work to the assembled compan
and explain to it his or her ideas and wher
and how he or she desires to obtain Gel
tain effects. Every point is made clea1
The stage manager has already cast til
play, and, the reading over, tia parts ar
handed around. The next day the reall
hard work begins when the play is place
in rehearsal.
1t is the authors business to be preser
at all these rehcarsals. Bronson Howar
rehearscs all Of his own plays. He take
a seat down near the stage with a copy {
the manuscript in his hand and direct
every little bit Of stage business and co,
rects every mistake. Clay Greene, Davi
Belasco, Augustus Thomas, Paul Potte
Sydney Resented and all of our prom
nent authors attend all Of the rehearsal
of their plays, for they have learned tt
lesson that it is to their interest to do s.
My friend the author, who complaine
90 much about actors being automato1
and being devoid of ideas, had neglecte
to attend the rchearsals of his play ar
was surprised when he saw it to find tn;
all of his ideas had not been carried GU
The man who staged it drew his own d
auctions, the most reasonable perha]
that he could, and then gave the ideas
the company. Such cases, however, a
very rare.
To my mind, the actors of today are {
enlightened body, and most authors wi
have been brought in contact with the
will bear out this statement.-William ]
Crane in New York World.
The St. Bernard Pass.
The examinations made at the Great s
Bernard show that the pass was not on
used by foot passengers, but by horsem