The herald., 1898-11-20

The subject Of what is unfortunately
termed ''Stage Elocution" is just now being
widely discussed, both in the English dra-
matte newspapers and in the leading jour
mails here, notably the New York Dramatic
Mirror, which, in its last issue to hand, de-
votes over column of editorial comment to
the argument.
The discussion appears to have taken rise
from an incident unusual in the old country,
and impossible here, where a person in the
audience rose to interrupt an actor on the
stage for the purpose of correcting his pro-
nunciation of certain word he used. The
actor so interrupted ventilated his grievance
in a dramatic newspaper, claiming in long
ywinded communication that actors should not
''servilely follow the orthoepy of the lex
icon." The actor, whose name is not given,
is of course an ass, but the trouble is that he
is not the only one in the theatrical corral.
Time and again the theory has been ad-
vanced that the less an actor knows about
elocution the better would be his fitness for
the stage. Ordinary people have the idea,
which seems to be innocent enough that
people go to the theater to hear what the
performers say upon the stage; that it is i'm
possible to excite interest in dialogue un-
less the words of it are so uttered that they
can be both heard and understood. An
art, therefore, which teaches correct pro-
nunciation, true emphasis and the free use
OF the voice so that it may be heard with its
proper notifications in every part of large
theater, and which combines a teaching of
the true principles of gesture, is not to be
despised..
Those who oppose the teaching of elocu.
ton as an art and who deny its fitness for
the stage are for the most part cheap pre-
tendss, or on the other hand cranks who
think that everything should be done upon
the stage as it would be done in the same
scene in private life. For instance, if two
personages have to whisper in a corner of
room, they should really whisper, and the
audience be none the wiser for what they
said. This may seem to be an extreme
view, but it is actually held.
''Stage elocution" is misnomer and as
such is entirely misleading. The art Of
speech has no one side exclusively adapted
for stage purposes. The error of thinking
differently has been encouraged by the sur
vival of the old Legitimate" style of decla-
nation which itself was born of a stilted
manner of delivering sentiments of a grand
kind couched in the language of blank verse.
Italian opera furnishes a parallel instance of
bombastie-- expression given to all things
from the most important to the most nsig-
nificapt.
So long ago as Shakespeare's time, the
fashion of heated rhetoric and extravagant
expression were common. Hamlet says
to the actor: "But if you mouth it, as many
OF our players do"
The rest of his advice is couched in Ian
guage about which there can be no mistake,
and yet it is, while commonly admired, as
commonly ignored.
There should be no such thing as "stage
eocution," and there would not be any talk
of it if teachers understood their business
better and if actors were not so self sufti-
cient and egotistical. The attempt to segre-
gate "elocution on the stage as an art dis
tinct from elocution as it applies to other
forms of public speech in that it must be
subservient to the other arts Of the actor"
is an error that goes to the foundation.
Elocution does not mean the art of mouth
ing on the stage, and of speaking in the pul-
pit 1t is the same art, wherever prac-
ticcd, and differs only in it's expression as
the subject treated of is different.
If there were some national school where
elocution might be taught to the actor,
singer, parson, lawyer and legislator alike,
the community would be the better for its
existence.
Mrs. Leslie Carter, the fair heroine of
''The Heart of Maryland" !" 1.-The Ugly Duck
ling and various other dramas more or less
thrilling has been compelled by the force of
circumstances to file her petition in bank
rnptcy She declares her liabilities at $685.
O13.. Her asets consist principally of her
wardrobe, which is placed at the modest fig
ure of 5000.
The creditors named in the petition are
the estate of Writ Dexter, Chicago. $40, 7O4,
for cash loaned; Marshall Field & Co., Chi
cago, $l39l; White & Howard, $4673 Julius
Bien, S4725; Henry Purvogel, $l4O9; Caroline
Roth, Dayton, O., $4,000. cash loan; Cath
crime Dudley Phelps, $500; Hitchcock,
Darling Co. of the Ffth-avenue hotel,
s497; Mollie O'Iiara, $2l09; Clark Gapen.
Omaha, $1,000; and the following Partisan
modistes: NJ. L. Felix, $3l0S: Aexandrine,
$1,000; Lentheric, $1,000, and Nine. Judith.
S270S.
In nearly every instance, it is said that
Mrs. Carter has already been sued and judg-
ment obtained against her for the several
amounts named in her bankruptcy petition.
The claims against her are mostly for bor-
rowed money, store accounts and dressmak-
ers' and costumers' bills.
Mrs. Carter, whose full name appears to
be Caroline Louise Dudley Carter, first came
into prominence through divorce suit
brought against her by her husband, Leslie
Carter, a millionaire lawyer of Chicago, in
1880. The Carriers were social leaders in that
city, and the suit created profound sensa-
tion.
Mrs. Carter opened her theatrical career
at the Broadway theater in New York city
OH November 10, 1890. Her engagement was
success, end she followed it up with other
plays. She returned to New York from Lon
don ON September 7th, and will make her re.
entry upon the American stage during the
coming spring in "Zaza," a new play, which
is now being translated for her. Relieved of
the incumbrance of an indebtedness amount
ing to $63, 900, the star will be able to corrus-
cate more brilliantly than ever, and her un-
doubted talent will have free scope in which
to display itself.
o 90
There is a. strong disposition on the part
Of many of the steady patrons of the Orphe-
A. -. - .,l>,