The Jersey City news., 1899-12-09
The AMATEURS.
Their Weakness and It's
Cause Discussed by a
Looker-on.
MORE DETAIL NEEDED
Florence, Empire, st. Mich
ael's and st Lucy's
Players at Work.

Players at Work.
An ex-aanateur actor, who has not faced
the footlights in some years, had lively
discussion on the progress made by anna
teur theatrical people in the last few
years. His familiarity with the favorites
of the local amateur stage and their abili-
ties was accounted for when he said ne
had seen every play that had been pre-
sented by the best known amateur COM
panies of this city for some years.
81 have not attended amateur produc-
tions in the hope of seeing successes that
compare with professionals, he said but
rather to see what Improvement is made
in the individual work of the players. AS
a whole have not seen a company that
might be justly called evenly and well
balanced There are always from one to
three and sometimes four persons, accord
ing to the size of the company. who show
up poorly 1t would be difficult to say in
what particular detail of the work their
unfitness is shown. In some cases the
difficulty might be called mannerisms.
For instance, there is one well known
young man who always plays juvenile
parts. He is the same in all his roles.
The only difference il. that he changes his
wig with his words. Others seem to be at
a loss as 20 what their hands and feet are
for and still Others are unable to do or
say anything unless they are safely an
chored on one particular spot.
On the other hand some are lost unless
they are praneing back and forth wav-
ing their hands in the air like maniacs.
These are the points with which one has
right to find fault and mention them
so that the guilty ones may see their er-
rors. There are times. too, when an en-
tire performance lags. There is something
missing and the fault is with the perform
ance in general. All these faults may be.
overcome by the actors paying more
strict attention to details.
Some one has said, rAll actors are de-
taiists, mere detailists. This is undoubt-
edly true, The actors who are detailists
are the best artists of the profession. That
the remark cannot be truthfully made of
more than few amateurs explains why so
few are really deserving of being called
actors.
'T attended the early rehearsals of a
play, which was in the hands of a well
known amateur organization and the
coach talked more on the value of at
tention to details than of anything else.
The production was the best Of that sea-
son in amateur circles and I am salts
fed that strict attention to details was
more than half responsible for the sue
cess"
The Empire Comedy Company will pre-
sent the old favorite drama, Hazel
Kirke. on January 80 1900, for the benefit
of a council of Knight of Pythias. The
details of the production are being ar
ranged.
One of the events Of the season will be
the production of ~All the Comforts of
Home'' by the Florence Players. This
will take place in the latter part Of jan
uary or the early part of February, 1900.
The leading parts will be placed in the
hands of Miss Katherine Hicks, Mr. Har-
ry Rossell and Mr.. Robert Deats, and the
best of results are expected The play
is an excellent one and has been played
by some of the strongest and most pop
ular companies in the country. There
are unusual opportunities for the display
of talent
St MichaeFs players have secured the
manuscript Of "Red, White and Blue"
drama founded on incidents in the
Spanish American war and the parts have
already been distributed. Rehearsals will
begin shortly. The cast is well chosen.
ST. Lucy's parish enjoys two dramatic
companies and it seems to thrive on the
matreials There are st. Lucy's Junior
Thcspiens and St. Lucy's Senior Thes-
plans. The younger element scored big
success a short time ago in Among the
Breakers" and now the Seniors are busy
rehearsing the beautiful comedy drama
MAY Blossom Theatricals are almost
new branch in this parish, but it is said
that great strides have been made with
the companies. The Rev. Father Boylan.
the pastor, directs the rehearsals and
productions.
Peter A. Graham and William Quirk, the
organizers of the Empire Comedy Com
pany have gotten up a team sketch that
is said to have worth. They also do single
turns in the manner of vaudeville people
and are said to be successful in this
branch of the business. Neither is new to
the monoIogue class of performance but
their material at present is an improve
ment over matter they used some time
ago.