New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-10-11

gent" Is not the secret Of the most OF the NJ"
morous effect Of NJ Coquelin's performance OF Nes'
querille In the fact that he wears many clothes
and them absolutely like servant3
WHY 1T IS SO DIFFICULT
Now. why is it so hard to act the gentleman ana
to dress the gentlemen? 1t is just for the same
reason thar 1, Is hard. or rather Impossible. 70
simulate true and perfect beauty. woman VINO
has a beautiful face can go upon the stage and
show a beautiful face. Or she can disguise her
beauty II she pieases. She can paint her race
red and look like an Indian: she can draw lines
upon 1t and look DID, she color II gray ana
appear faded and haggard; she can discoior V
and wrinkle 1t and stop OUT teeth and LOOK
veritable hag But If she is an Indian or IL she
is faded or IL she is bag TO begin with she can
never make herself look beautiful. Beauty cam
not be slammed it must be real. And just so the
appearance of a gentleman cannot be counter.
feited. because the gentleman IL the perfect type
OF manly genuineness and dignity and naturai per.
lection can make itself ook Imperfect out naturaA
imperfeo ton cannot make itself look perfect;
is the most difficult to simulate on the stage, II
is not the only one that Is difhcut Tnere are
apply Indeed it would probably not be far from
true 20 say that some or the same OBJ
ssees are in the way Of n n pSrisc'
Is perfect F In Is ,s oWn May eos mpossibIs
for anybody to wear clothes of sort that he !:
used TO without looking awkward ana aosuro
IN them. The trained actor can wear the ciotneS
Of any country but this and of any time but this
because he is accustomed TO them. Probably ne
time even better than he does those OF others.
only his audience knows all about those ana 10
il Gentleman of the court of Elizabeth could
modern representation OF the play OF Mary
Stuart" he would probably find good deal more
fault with the wearing of the clothes by the
actors than modern audience does with me way
in which they worn in a modern play.
OTHERS HAVE THEIR TROUBLES TOO.
On this very point of the applicability Of the rule
TO other sorts Of clothes than those OF the modern
gentleman the stage is also not barren OF instrucs
tive examples Go but little way from Broad
way-ten fifteen miles, even half a mile might
be enough In some cases. Look al a Shakespearfan
performance. Sec the wretches who represent the
soldiers. the foresters. the senatorstailors dunn
mics and cigar-store Indians Apollos CONF
pared with them Their garments all sit upon
them ii they were hung there TO dry Yet
dress those men in the mechanics garments when
they are used TO- and they will look right and Zig.
nited-perhaps even picturesque Let y oe re-
marked. moreover. in passing, that all tina, has
been said in this essay about applies equally to
women. except in so far as women naturally ana
intuitivey know more about dressing ana aES
But II the actor Is reved for his wearing fdraw-
amateur puts on stage costumes. The ama:eur can
probably wear evening dress better than me aver
professional aetor-of the stage, az any rae.
But when he gets into what actors call "costum:
Piece" nothing fits him. 4 dress that ne has spent
M w cSor IN in sye in He looks annoyed and
panied and distressed every minute that he has =
on and It is clear that he wants 10 ger peniho
something and that he ought to. :.
Fine feathers make fine birds is the saving. S
may be when the birds know how 70 wear thS
feathers When they do they only illustrate
what one OF the best dramatic writer's OF tnis tlme
has said: "Jackdaws strut in peacocks' featners.
And then the jackdaws all the more obvious az
iackdaws because they cannot wear the peacocks
feathers as the peacocks wear them. To come
from the metsphorical to the literal. the tailo.
advertisement says that the habit makes ine
man" only when the man is already made and -
trained and fitted by nature 10 bear the napil.
Again IL is the dramatist who speaks more truy.
and this time IL Is greatest of dramatst5 OF any
time: THE pparel Oft procairns the man % lt
does II procaims his taste and nature II Ne wears
Inc anparel that is natural and right for him. ana
II he iries 10 masquerade in apparel that Is not MS
own the indignant clothes let MS fraud os ST. ss