Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1896-05-02
ABOUT Stage TEARS.


Esnny Davenport Claims That They Are
tho Genuine Article. =
v OF course shed real tears on the stage,
writes Fanny Davenport in the Philadel-
phia Press. So do other actresses.
But they arc by no means any indi-
cation of real feeling, and do not possess
1he significance they possess in real life.
Occasionally my sympathy with the charac-
Ger am playing has been so keen that my
eyes have filed with tears and have been
unable 10 restrain them. But this should
not be so, and it is not commonly the case
with me, The shedding of tears with an
retress is simply matter of art know
two prominent actresses who can turn on
the waterfall at a moments notice, and OF
eeurse impress their audiences through the
operation Bernhardt, know, has habit,
Oher most tragic scenes, where she is sob
hiug until her whole form shakes convul-
sively, OF guylng people who stand in tho
wings and of making funny side remarks
fbr their benefit and indulging in grotcsque
Frimaccs which would do credit to q low
comedian.
For the effective stimulation Of grief, how
ever, l much prefer sobs to tears. An au-
dience can hear you sob, but it can not sec
you weep. On this question / agree with
Rachel, whom consider the greatest tragic
actress who ever trod the stage. Her sobs
bad Il wonderful effect upon her audiences.
She used TO say that ii had taken five years
constant study TO reach perfection in this
line and to get the sobs so they thoroughly
suited her. She could crescendo and dimn-
uendo these demonstrations of grief with all
the power of piano virtuoso over the ivory
keys.
As have said, l am occasionally carried
away through the force of my Imagination
50 that am in the kecnest sympathy with
the sufferings of the character l portray,
and am for a brief period of time. perhaps,
actually the character But, as Il general
thing, ! am entirely mistress of myself. ]
do not believe il is possible thing to feel
actually the same as the person whose
feelings you are depicting Take my ex-
uerlcnce i'll "La Tosca" for an illustration.
In the fourth act murder man. Is it to
be supposed for one moment that ! have the
same emotions as the woman had who
actually committed the crime, How can i!
Iuever murdered man. Yet | believe it
isperfectly possible for me, through the
devices of stage art, to set clearly before an
audience picture of the mingled remorse
and terror which ovcrtakes the woman who
has done the deed. .r1'---r~-ssctt>'StsrtdstE5
To demonstrate how absurd this theory
the emotions OF the character he or she is
enacting, consider for n moment how it is
possible for player to appear in the same
Fzrt nightaf night for forty weeks and be
vFung with anguish for the two or three
hundred times thus made necessary. To
attempt this one would die of mental ex-
haastion before half the season was over
Itis true that there arc parts of LA Tosca'
where am so wrought upon by the dra-
matic situations that my hands shake and
+ grow cold and rigid, but this is essen
italy physical and not mental or emotional.
Khave come off the stage after one of these
scenes trembling and weak, but there was
Radeprcssion of spirits such as would have
resulted from my passing through such
emotions in life. If l had over felt as LA
Ensca'' must have done at the end OF the
fhnrth act, l should not have been able to
finish the play. "a