Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1895-01-18
ACTORS OLD AND NEW
TIMES HAVE CHANGED, AND THE AU-
DONATIONS HAVE GONE.

sss. "sS0 IN
DONATIONS HAVE GONE. ~
Nowadays Performers Endeavor to Under
tand tho Author and to Learn the sto-
r. and Object of the Play-william H.
Crane Comes to the Rescue.
At q gathering Of men prominent in
the theatrical world the other night an
author who has had some success with
M 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 one Of the many
which were knocking about in his trunk.
Some three weeks after the piece had been
produced he ran out to a little town in
New Jersey and saw the play. 1t was not
a bit like the play he planned and wrote.
The situations were all there, and so were
the lines, but ideas he had never dreamed
of in connection with the play were being
conveyed by tho actors. This made him
furious, md he rallied at actors in gen.
eral, saying that they had no ideas Of
their own, and there was not one actor
out Of ten who could tell you the story of
the play in which he was appearing.
The poor actor has heard this claim ro-
peated many times. When Henry Irving
wa in this country, the American dram
atists gave a dinner in his honor. In
responding to the pleasant things said
about him the English actor tolS how he
had been an actor for many ye~s before
he had ever given any thought to tho
oonoro0 cha ,sactor IF fhn r,1ouc -, x1.I,iol, In
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 a manager, he
made a study Of these things, and the 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 own lines, Mr.. Irving told a story
about the famous Frenchman, Frederick
Lemaitre. The latter had made 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 a joke asked him what was
the story Of the play in which he was be-
Ing seen. To his amazenlcnt the actor re,
piled that he had only a remote idea.
This will strike most people as beink
decidedly odd, out 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
say the same thing would be looked upon
as q curiosity.
Actors are not automatons, and the
man WHIT could not tell you the story OF
the play in which he is appearing would
be an imbecile. Such a.man I do not be.
lieve exists in the profession. What Mr..
Irving says n what my friend the ALL.
thor holds was true in a measure 1G or IL
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
week, and we rehearsed every day. OF 6
Monday morning I would be given severa
parts and told to menorize them. SOM
of these parts would consist of IS or NOR
pages, and all Of my time was put il
studying, rehearsing and playing. I haG
no time for recreation.
There was nothing but work and worry
with a small salary thrown in and a hop
that I would pull through with the hell
Of heaven and the prompter. Had some
one asked me in those days the story o
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 reduc
ed to a scientific principle. 4 Mr.. Dial!
or Mr.. Frohlman or any of our big man
ayers decides to produce a new play, a cal
is posted notifying the company to NEE
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 Ger
tain effects. Every point is made clear
The stage manager has already cast tn
play, and, the reading over, the parts ar
handed around. The next day the reall,
hard work begins when the play is place.
in rehearsal.
It is the authors business to be presen
at all these rehearsals. Bronson Howar,
rehearses all of his w plays. He take
a seat down near the stage with a copy o
the manuscript in his hand and direct
every little bit of stage business and COZ
reefs every mistake. Clay Greene, Davi'
Belasco, Augustus Thomas, Paul Potter
Sydney Resented and all of our promi
nent authors attend all of the rehearsal
Of their plays, for they have learned tn
lesson that it is to their interest to do Sc
My friend the author, who compliance
so much about actors being automaton
and being devoid of ideas, had neglecte
to attend the rehearsals of his play an
was surprised when he saw it to find tina
all of his ideas had not been carried out
The man who staged it drew his own de
auctions, the most reasonable perhap
that he could, and then gave the ideas t
the company. Such cases, however, ar
very rare.
To my mind, the actors Of today are a
enlightened body, and most authors VII
have been brought in contact with then
will bear out this statement.-William b
Crane in New York World