The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-10-15
MONSTER IN EVERY CITY
RICHARD MANSFIELD,s DEsCRJP.
TION OF HOW AUDIENCES APP
PEAR TO HIM
WAITS NIGHTLY TO BE FED
The Acte- Tells of His Struggles 20
Satisfy the Appetites of the
BLACK Mass Across the
FOOtlights.

!
! Copyrighted by Golfers Weekly Re.
printed by Permission
Audiences? Audiences? You as,, M,
about audiences? 20 Some years ago, l
don't know how many years ago-abo,,t
the time that I made my first independents
| Cor shall l say very DEPENDENT ventures
and audiences were scarce-I should have
answered you glibly enough. Indeed. ]
| thought knew all about audiences. inst
as once upon time I thought I knew
! all about lots of things, including the art
of acting. But now? Let me seee. Audi
| enees?
| Yes, to be sure, those are the things we
play to- Eth? The sombre shadow on tho
other side OF the footlghts. You ask me
what 1t is like-what it seems to me. |
tell you 1T is black mass, a monster
outside there on the other side ri nv
| little world. 1t seems TO me to be wait
ing there to devour ME. sunnose somo
day it will kill me because 1 shall have
nothing more to give it. That monster
waiting there every night has to be fed.
| Sometimes [ think it is Unsuitable. I ,iv,
/ and l give and [ give, and if sits tbere
intent, waiting for mole.
How punctually it comes for IFS food
now! A long time ago I desired il ve,v
much for a pet What infinite Mains T
| took to teach it to come to ne, How oh !,
| it was! It's shadow fell only In notified
| Spots here and there in the great house,
and l would have the lights turned low
that | might not see the great white or
red snlashes of seats that the welcome
! darkness still failed to hide
I fed it and fed il and fed If and 7
fretted and fumcd when 1t was not there
| and L gave it my best tid-bits every
night, every night, all I had. Anal Twas
| as pleased as d child when IT slammed
ana parked and growled for more. So
now It has grown, plethoric during the
last TWO years and fills the walls beyond
the footigf5ts with its fat shadow sn1
laps over into the Hobbies and statrwavs
Ihere It is always, az s, or earlier. And
L must be there. I wonder as T. drive
Gown to face 1T If i can feed it still. NV
heart beats and nay breath comes short
An, wonder If that monster has a heart
Is there a great heart in that great audt-
ence? Does it love me- Or is If .onlv
there to be fed2 And when I am worn
cut ana -dFcp down ana 1t goes cut
hungry to drag itself elsewhere for ,ts
lG
bestow passing thought upon the lit
tie man in the linelieht that threw his
life to it every night. every night. across
the 1oothghts, to- be shredded and torn
and chewed, swallowed and digested.
Does 1t know what l am suffering IS
stand there before the first few words
md their way through the dry and chok
Ing passage of my throat? Do YOU know
what it IS to me to face that monster2
| - y Ind
humor or Will it quarrel with what
can give cit? 1t IS always The best have
go marketing for it and then cook 1t
into some new and fanciful dish and
make 1t appetlzing and season it and
serve 1t daintily, What an Epicurean
monster! So many heads with. SO many
WAYS of thinking
r How differently do. different mons terz
affect met The instant [ step into the
hmelight know, / know by some fac
ulty of perception which is nv own.
whether the monster is friendly. I can
tell. could put my fingers here and
there across its dusky back upon the
spots of disafection. And see no face
no feature clearly. It is all that great
mass. inert, breathing heavily, waiting
for its food. If it only knew! Knew
what? How shall L tell it? Will it ever
wake up? Can I make it feel? Will it
weep with me? VIII it laugh? VIII it
get drunk with me? Drunk with cham
paigni Shall we have a revel together
or will 1t crouch there, slow and heavy
and just feed? Must 1 drag it to Its feet
by main force and give my all, nv all
tonight and lie afterward exhausted and
awake, or will it inspire me and give me
strength, VIII 1T exude magnetism and
the thrill of genius? Will it make me
live and delight in living, happy and
proud that [ have made 1t happy, at
once my child and my God? Can make
1t my eonfidant, my friend2 VIII it
know what is In my heart? May I tell?
1t is my sweetheart when love it, and
that Is when it lets me love 1t, and nv
cold and freezing enemy when it's face Is
stone. Think, think what all this is to
me, to US, to all of us-shall I say?
There are audiences and audiences
How greatly they differi Inexplicable
On the first night the dreaded critic,
the cynical and skeptical frst-nighter,
the sarcastic man of the world, a troup
of enemies sometimes bound upon an
errand Of slaughter. The comments In
the lobby between the acts to distract
judgment. The breathing desires OF rival
managers, the interest and policy of
newspapers. The personal dislikes and
petty animosities. A friendly few A
dfsinterested. impartial and sometimes
indifferent public. Shall we win out?
The amazing influences Of time and
weather! How many a good play and
good player have succumbed to a muggy
night and distempered audience. How
many bad play on the other hand. has
been crystalized into success by an at
mosphere Of champagne. bright, brisk,
exhilarating air in which every man at
every breath says: How good it is to