The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1899-01-05
SECRET OF SUCCESS.
Mr. Favor Says Actor Should Be IN
Touch With His Audience.
Must Quickly Recognize What Audience
Wants and Then Provide Il.

Edward M. Favor, the we'll known light
comedian today, in the course of u little
chat about stage affairs, 'is TO put
yourself quickly and accurately IN
touch with your audience. Now and
then, you will hear an actor complain
about the GOODNESS of an audience, or
say that the audience doesn't appre-
ciate art. Well, either one or THESE
assertions, or perhaps both. may De
true, but to make the assertions ana
leave IL there doesn't win success Tor
the actor.
THE truth is, you wont find any TWO
audiences alike. OF course every inca
tire has what you may call It's cnenteiie'
certain class Of people In the coin-
munity who attend that house with
regularity; and in most cities an intel
ligent observer may recognize easily
the sharply marked lines defining the
varying character of the makeup OF
the audiences i'm the various theatres.
| TO go even farther than this, no TWO
| of the audiences on the six days on
any one week in the same theatre VIII
| be alike, even though made up from
| the same classes in the community.
lit is for the actor, then, IL he wishes
| To make an impression, Whlch is ohiy
| another word for success as popularly
| understood, TO size up his audience
/ ana tntfl at Oiitt 40 thNNs'N'J
as he can TO put himself in touch with
| them In other words, he mls.S recog-
| nize what they want and then give IL
| to them. L remember an experience
| when l was playing the Royal Treas
| urer in 1892 that well illustrates this.
| one night, / spoke line after line tnat
| ordinarily produced laughs, but thls
| time without starting smile. L spoke
1 them the same as usual; but there was
| no response. Just as L made an exit,
| one OF the stage hands said, The only
way To wake up those people In front
| is to hit them on the head with an axe.
| saw the point and Immediately de-
| cided on my course; and when j made
| my next entrance / rushed on and kick
ed over the throne. much 10 the sur
| prise OF everybody else on the stage,
one Of the chorus girls even remarklng,
| sotto voce. why, i never knew Defore
| that he drank Instantly, there was
the biggest kind of "a shout of laughter
followed by loud applause. From that
time on, / demolished about everything
in sight; and throughout the act kept
| them i'm an almost uninterrupted roar.
/ didn't like il a little bit, for this was
not real comedy, In no sense art or act
ing and it wouldn't have excited the
faintest smile with me had i seen IL
from the front. Ii was what that au-
dience wanted, however: and gave IL
| to them. L don't believe in huinor Oh
that kind: but an actor, especially IN
| comedy parts, is there to please his au-
dience. and that is all there is TO il.
IF you had come i'm to keith's this
week and seen our act every time we
have gone on, you must have noted this
fact, that we have not played twice just
| alike simply because we have tried TO
meet the audience each time on pre-
| cisely it's own ground.
THE same principle j have referred
1 .atat In laA sale
of the sketches in which we appear.
| An actor in vaudeville may have a
! number of sketches in his repertoire,
some one OF which he personally may
prefer TO any of the others, and yet
that may not be the one that the pub
lie seems TO prefer: and. as the busi-
ness of an actor is to please and enter
tain the public, not to satisfy his own
| preferences of course he selects for
| presentation in each city the act that
experience or good advice leads him &c
believe will best satisfy the pubic
oh, yes, one grows very tired or any
one act after playing IL "a long time;
and il is natural to want TO do some
thing new, entirely aside from the con-
sideration that the public wants some
thing fresh now and then. OF course
, not every act can display an actor :
powers in just the same way, and nc
. reasonable person Will expect it; anc
! each act should be judged by itself
and, If IL seems TO suggest the lack OF
, | something that was in another act, ina
. fact should serve rather to emphasize
! the actors versatility, provided the new
act is cleverly done.
, "Oh. / don't like TO talk about my
self" said Mr.. Favor, in reply TO {
. leading question in another line. y
would much prefer TO talk about my
profession. Here's Mrs. Favor-Editl
Sinclair. as you know her on tn
|, stage" as the plump and handsom,
| lady entered the dressing room. Il
tell you something about her. though
Her career on the stage began whel
| she was carried as a baby in com
/, ! pany supporting Edwin Booth in 'Rich
: ard III in New York; so you see sh
!, began under excellent auspices. He
!, ! first speaking part was in East Lynne
!. | with Lucille Western, when she wa
only years old; and she won man,
| condiments for IL. AS a child actres
! everybody predicted great future 10
: her in emotional roles; but, yor see
!, her reputation has been won entirely L
comic opera and i'm vaudeville and a
:. a Coincidence. for which she has al
WAYS believed she was best fitted. Sh
played I'm stock companies In New Yori
a Philadelphia, Baltimore and othe
- cities supported Mrs ID. +. Bowers
: Marie Prescott Mrs. Jeffries Lewis, w
J. Scanlan, Joseph Proctor and othe
II | well hDoNn SAtHN iiSheNf N'R 80 -
q years at the head Of her own coined
:, company, and has sung in about ever
g comic oDera success, and is perhap
i best remembered from her work
:. ship Alloy and 1892.
q Here. that will do" interrupted Mis-
Sinclair. with a merry laugh. Il al
n ways stop him-when he gets there. fo
the rest of his story is all gush abou
g my beauty and my ability and heave
i knows what and know you don't car
" n little bit to hear ". But I'm going
= have nv innings now. I'll tell you wha
# he wouldn't tell; and he isn't half $
,r modest as he'd have you think. eithe
d ed comes from a theatrical family. an
II got his voice from his mother ana n
II gifts as an actor from his father. n
claims ne can trace his ancestry ava
back somewhere, goodness Know
where; but | tell him the best he ca