The San Francisco call., 1898-03-27

cline to give dates now I had been touring and returned to Philadelphia at 5 o'clock in the morning. Reaching home 1 was confronted with the an nouncement that by evening l must have a new role. and a long one, ready Mir Bronzely in Wives as They Were and Maids as They Are But 1 swal- lowed the part and played it all right.
 Tn fact. l am a quick study But the quality of a part often determines the ease or difficulty of learning it. For instance, it required more time for me to learn the Comte de Candale iG the Marriage of Convenience than to paem- orize Dick Rudyard. my present role. The latter is colloquial, whereas the Cornte'S lines are very clear cut and precise, and one must be very exact in speaking them. have always found it easy to learn blank verse The rhythm of the verse seems to suggest the word.'
 Tn everyday matters, said Henry Miller, names escape me, but thHF do not in theatrical roles. 1 suppose I must remember them by the aid of sound, as one remembers harmonies in music. They form, as it were, part of the dramatic harmony of the role.
 "So far as actually committing part to memory is concerned l may say that I never study. I doubt if l have de-
 
 The Master I absorb my lines by go- ing through them at rehearsal. l my self do not believe in the formal mem- orizing of lines I think the effort de- stroys spontaneity. You get the lines instead of the general tone of the role.
 During the long run of The Wife at the Lyceum Theater I had rather curious experience. MT. Lemoyne and myself had a good deal of time on our hands, so we decided to devote it to mastering a system of memor1zlng which was taught by a specialist. We went to him and took course Of les sons, with the result that as we began to master his system we began to for get our lines in The. Wife We ac- quired the whole line of the Presidents of the United States, but we lost the lines of Belasco. So we stopped kill ing time that way"
 Swallowing a part Is all very well. said Charles Walcot of the Lyceum Theater Company but you know 'swallower' forgets the role the next day as completely as if it had been wiped off slate. l have had to do considerable swallowing in my time. When l was playing at Winter Garden II don't think I will tell you how many years ago-we got up a benefit for the family of Fire Chief Morgan, who had been killed at a fire At 4 o'clock one afternoon I was cast for Captain Hawksley. in still Waters Run Deep It's a role of at least tWen- ty lengths and has a lot Of algeora problems and algebraical expreSslons which have to be rattled off with ao- solute correctness, and l never stuuled algebra. But the next morning. at lo o'clock, rehearsed the part letter per | feet. and played it that night. sup 1 pose it would take me two weeks now l to learn that role. But when you're i young you can do almost anything, Tor l ours is a profession in which the older
 you grow the less you find you know | about it.
 Tn the old stock company days, which are being revived in a measure. the stock star was supposed to know all the leading parts going. besides sec ondary roles, in which he might be
 obliged to support some special star
 during some particular engagement
 So many roles and so many costumes
 were his stock in trade. and if he could
 not go on at moments notice he was l likely to lose his position.