Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1895-03-26

Its Powerful Effect.
1.-THE ability TO express, in voice and
lace and motion, the ideal which the
mind conceives is the actors talisman
Of success. said well known instruct
or in one of the dramatic schools when
asked to define the essential qualifica-
hon of an aspirant for dramatic honors.
"Not to represent character. but TO be
It. is what wins the audience. Great
sarnestness counts, of course, and deli
sacy of conception. careful training, ex-
perience, and all that but complete
abandon to the emotions of the moment
Is what sways mems minds. That is
genius
Every child is born actor" he
went ON, ''and to prove that we have
only 20 watch the expression and move
ments of little child when it is in q
room by itself and is unaware of specta-
tors twill DO initiating in pantomime
alternately the persons and animals it
knows or has seen. Enter the room and
ask the little one to do that over for
auntie or uncle, or whoever it may be.
and Immediately there is change. Self
consciousness has come in with the
| locker on, and the child is constrained
and shy. The grace of movement, the
bright, animated gesture and inimitable
expression arc gone. As the child grows
older this constraint, this repression, i'm
creases, particularly in America, where.
from babyhood, she is taught to disguise
her real feelings. you must not laugh
aloud, it isn't refined; you must walk
| quietly and sedately and not attract at
| tention.
"This is a sample of the lesson of self
repression, inculcated line upon line,
precept upon precept, day after day, I'M
til the real nature becomes walled in
within the artificial one When that
girl gets to be 90 or more, she has
yearning for the stage. She feels that
| she can portray some of the characters
which so interest and appeal to her. She
enters dramatic school; but, alas. it
is too late. The desire to act is there,
and the accurate conception, but the ar
| tificial routine SO instilled by precept
and practice has become inextricably
interviewer with the natural instinct,
and it cannot be eradicat,d. She is in
the shackles of self consciousness.
my greatest find in the last year or
two," continued the speaker, sis a
| young Pennsylvania girl who came to
| me with her mother last season. My
daughter has been educated in Paris,
and she is most anxious to go on the
stage. She feels that she can do some
thing in that line and will not be con-
tented until she tries. said the mother.
looked at the girl, who sat quietly by,
with rather an indifferent expression on
her face, and was not prepared to find
in her anything very promising. She
was about II, very dark and quite good
| looking. asked her to recite something.
She stood up and began to repeat poem
about an Indian nurse. The nurse was
foster mother to a kings son. had nurs-
ed him at her breast along with her own
child of the same age. In revolution
the mob came to kill the kings son,
| and the nurse, in loyalty to her SOW
/ sreign, substituted her baby for the heir
TO the throne. Before the girl was half
through with the story had to stop
| her. The tears were running down her
checks, and Irealized that my own eyes
were moist. That girl is going to make
name for herself. She seemed to acquire
by intuition what other pupils would
take months to learn. attribute her ex-
traordinary power of expression to her
having been brought up in Paris, free
and unconstrained in an atmosphere
where every one is enthusiastic and is
not ashamed of it, and where emotion
is expressed naturally.
'fAfter brief interval of instruction
| placed her ON the road where she
would come directly in contact with the
technicalities of the business and have
the advantage of being with a good
company. 1t will not be long before the
public hears from her.
cit has been my experience that the
French, Italian, Spanish, Mexican, He
brew-any of thesouthern races-possess
this nameless abandonment, this per-
sonal magnetism, as it were, in excess
Of any other nation continued the
| speaker. And where ID is found in an
J eminent degree in Americans they gen.
orally have some strain of foreign blood.
Americans make unsurpassed character
actors-that il, when we wish to per-
senate miners. westerners. New Eng
landers. farmers, darkies, any of the
various phases of typical American life.
we find ample material right at hand.
If, however. we wish to depict draw
ing room scene with setting complete
and to the life, we must call on for
sign country for the actors. 1t is lam
entable fact that, so far as the stage is
concerned, we must 90 to England for
our gentlemen For some reason the
leisure class in America, the men of
breeding and culture, when choosing
profession, do not select the stage 1t
may be that the calling of an actor is
not looked upon. On this side of the wa
| ter, rs sufficiently dignified; but. be
that as it may. of all the applicants for
histrioric honors in this country only a
few Of them are recruited from the
ranks of recognized gentlemen's sons.
In England it Il different There are
numbers of younger SONS there who
have nc rluiey. who IRE declared from
going into trade On account Of the fam
| lily sscnirheni, VITO have not the men
| tai ability 90 bceanle doctors and law
gers. and u whom the stage offers a
nractirai hna interesting solution OF the