St. Paul daily globe., 1895-11-27

ing them talk to each other. In
music the orchestra is the dramatic
element, while the soloist, the man
who blows the cornet or plays the
piano, is the orator. The same is true
of painting and sculpture. The pho
tograph or portrait of person is the
oratorical element and the group
picture or sculpture is the dramatic
handling. This is why so often the
family declares a mans picture to
look wholly unlike him. He tries to
look like himself and succeeds in
doing just the opposite, because he is
not amid his home surroundings, and
acting naturally and unconsciously.
So the oratorical and dramatic ele-
ments pervade all the arts.
Il do not wish now to be under
stood to disparage oratory. 1t is
often greater than acting. Marvel
louS it is to see one man, alone and
single-handed, unaided by any
scenic advantages or any costumes
or any support hold vast audience
of people in his power. l simply wish
to show the great distinction between
the two. And now of genius and art.
1t is very seldom that any two per-
sons agree as to the relations of the
two. Few people have the same ideas
as to where art leaves off and genius
begins. 1 wish to emphasize the i'm
portance of art because it is often
belittled, and genius sometimes
scorns it and looks upon art in con-
tempt, being self-satisfied. But art
is great as well as genius. Genius
produces, but art reproduces. Genius
cannot succeed without the assist
ance of art. Yet art is very humble,
and only wishes to be the handmade
and the servant of genius. Art longs
to be the sweetheart of genius, but if
art deserts genius, then genius is un-
done.
LAS to art in acting, now word OF
two. A character cannot be too often
produced if the actor does not lose
interest, but if the old story begins
to fail to start and kindle the old
fire the character has outgrown it's
power and should be cast off. AS
long, however, as the actor feels the
thrill of his character, it will never
grow old to audiences. If your audi
ence does not show the old enthusi-
asm it betokens not that they are
tired of the character, but that you
yourself have lost interest in the
part" Mr. Jefferson here related an
incident where Mrs. Warner told Nc
Ready why he had failed to rouse
the crowds enthusiasm in an old
play. Not because they have tired OF
you,' said she to the great actor,
"but because you have tired to the
part you play" Jefferson then said:
my remedy is simply that L have
always tried to school myself into
listening always to the questions Of
fered me by the other characters in
the play as if they fell upon my ears
for the first time in my life, and then
| try to turn them over i'll my mind
and to answer them as if had never
done so before. This is hard to do,
I admit; in fact, 1 do not claim to
have accomplished it yet, but L am
convinced that it is the only right
way to do. Spontaneity and feeling
are the touchstones of art. A p1ct-
ure must be spontaneous to be great.
You can draw as carefully as you
like, but lacking freedom and feel
ing your effort is not good picture.
1t must be as free as air. The ele-
ment of spontaneity is all important
in acting, just as it is all important
in all arts.
"Now as to tragedy and comedy. L
remember seeing the famous paint
ing by Reynolds, 'Garrick Between
Comedy and Tragedy 1t was once
asked of Garrick, which line of his
work was most difficult, tragedy or
Garrick said: Sir, am al
ways equal to tragedy, sick or we'll,
but comedy-well, that is serious
business And he said just what is
true. There is serious side to
comedy. A comedian must not give
humor as if he recognized the humor,
but as if it was spontaneous and un-
known upon his part, unless, OF
course, he says it with intent to be
funny, as in the case of F'alstafr.
Utter nonsense sometimes becomes
funny when given with a dignity
upon the part of the speaker that be-
tokens a consciousness that it is phil
osophy deep as that of Plato or of
Socrates in the mind of the speaker.
Mr.. Jefferson here brought his dis
course to a close by rendering the
dialogue between the two grave dig
gers in Hamlet" which was cheered
to the echo. He then said that he
would be glad to answer any ques-
tions that might be asked. He told
how once he had been asked if he be-
lieved in starrin. AT that time he
did not, being a stock actor, but had
changed his opinion on the SUBJECT.
he said evidently wrote
for stars, as in all of his great plays
there is a star to which all the other
characters are subordinate. In
"Romeo and Juliet" there seem to be
two stars, but it is simply a double
star having one single ray.
All of Shakespeare's plays were
written to display the effect of some
passion. Othello depicts jealousy,
Hamlet is vacilating and weak, Mac
beth is ambitious, Shylock is the en-
bodiment of revenge. When the great
playwright wanted TO portray the
passions of love, he was forced to use
two chracters, as the passion of love
could not be shown with one char
acter. Great actors take different
views of the same subject and act
the same character differently. Thus
once, when Garrick and Barry were
both playing the part of Romeo to
a famous actress Juliet, she was
asked which was the best Romeo,
Garrick or Barry. She replied that
she could not say, since both were
so entirely different. When Garrick
played Romeo he was SO impaSsioned |
that she felt he would jump up to
h o,, Uyhi1o mlan Rarru was Romeo |