Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-02-24

reform spirit holds out it will in time be-
come safe to walk through the Tender
ION after dark.
The labor attached to membership in a
dramatic organization like Richard Mans
heids is something tremendous Young
people planning a career on the stage and
anticipating all the alleged bohemian di-
versions of stage life have little idea of
what the real work is. What one sees of
the actor in the scene is not really work.
out only the result of work of much I'M
ceasing, monotonous work Yet the oppor-
tah'ies ior work in the Richard Mansfield
company, the value of association with this
eminent actor and the benefit of training
on MS stage Surpass any formal schooling
Just as experience surpasses theory One
Is confronted at the stage door with the
evidence of Mansfield organization Here
is peculiar board which has little f1ying
doors. ON it in three perpendicular rows
are the names of the one hundred or so
people in the company. Before each name
Is the number of the actors or actress
dressing room. After the name are the
words in or Out with little shifting
shutter which hides the word I'm when
1t exposes Out" and vice versa. AS a
member OF the company comes in or goes
whether he has arrived or departed Every
member. too, has his card of identification.
which he must show to the stage door
Keeper Just as surely as the visitors in the
audience show their tickets at the front
door. Here is the practical working of the
Mansfield register. The call boy keeps a
book containing the names, dressing room
numbers. residence address and characters
and understudies played, by each person.
Three-quarters of an hour before each act
he consults the register, his book in hand
III some one who is to appear in the first
act is marked Out the call boy first looks
up the understudy of the role the absent
one plays, sends him word to dress at once
in his principals costume and then sends
a messenger to the absent actors house to
hurry him to the theater-or know the rea-
son why. Thus the possibility of embar-
RAISING the probability of u performance Is
minimzed.
OF course, in the casting of play Mr.
Mansheld's first concern Is to place in the
various roles those OF his support best able
to sustain each character. Once a cast Is
made up and trained, no time is lost in
making up a second cast from the same
company, but quite inverted. No one PLAYS
the same part he did in the first cast This
Is the understudy cast Then another "a at
is made with another complete change
Thus there are three persons ready to piay
each character. The company is kept "up'
IN eleven plays. The obligation to study
has the correlative gain in training. Even
fields company has a repertoire of from
fifteen to thirty characters.
The librarian of the Mansfield company
is not an unimportant person. In his care
are the manuscripts. When a new play is
put up for rehearsal he receives the orig
inal copy. This he has manifolded and
three or four copies of each role are made.
These he gives out under the stage man
ayers direction: keeping an account of the
parts given and by whom received When
a part is lost he replaces 1t. When it be-
comes torn misused or used I'D he at
tends to the substitution Of a fresh COPY
II a line Is changed or new one written
in upon him devolveS the responsibility of
seeing to the insertion Of the change in all
the complete manuscripts and in all the
parts affected. Directions about business.
position, infection and so on must all find
their way into their proper places or on
the librarian comes the blame So IT will
be appreciated that his share Of responsi-
bility in the organization is no small item
and mis- trunk is larger than might have
been imagined.
Henry Miller has a well-defined and com.
prehensive view Of the theatrical business
as associated with dramatic art In a re-
cent interview he said:
"Theaters-that Is, the running of them
is much like keeping shop. Your average
manager doesn't care a picayune for art
What he wants Is to give the people the
sort of goods that he thinks they want
Just as broadcloth gowns may be the fash
Ion one year and Scotch plaid goods the
next, SO plays-certain kinds, l mean-come
into fashion. One manager puts on a cos
tune play, and it makes a hit. Oh cry
the managers, what the peonle want q re
costume plays'-and we have a deIuge ri
them. Does a romantic drama succeed. lol
full score of others follow in its train Is
one war play successful-and behold. YOU
hear the martial beat of drums on the
stage for couple of years afterward
Then comes surfeit, and its Inevitable con.
comitant-a change. Which reminds me
that about ten years ago the stage seemed
to be in the throes of the inane farce com
edy. People held up their hands in horro,
and murmured to each other: What is the
poor, degenerate stage coming toy Blu;
Is this--no matter how seemingly deprayed
the popular taste, there always remains q
goodly quantity of people-the judicious
few, if you will-who viii patronize what is
good. true and wholesome on the stage
people who seek the elegating influence OF
the theater and who have no time for the
meretricious or thesisalacious In every
community this judicious few obtains-an6
no good, wholesome play. or no actor nor
actress of ability but VIII be accorded due
recognition, no matter how great the n,eed
OF transient patronage that the unthinking
may bestow on the froth of the stage
Thus Irving and Mslba are always sure o,
their following-no matter what the fash.
ion in plays or how crowded the other thea
ters."
The success of The Only Way" is inter.
esting apart from its mere theatrical dis.
tinction. for the adapter of the novel. Free
| man Wills, Is said to be clergyman who
enjoys the privilege Of prefixing Rev" to
his name. Consequently, We have here !
very charming and harmonious union OF
the church and the stage. 1t is somewhat
singular that Notwithstanding the distin.
guished reputation which Mr. Wills has
achieved as a dramatist and especially as
the first to place Dickens absorbing stor,
satisfactorily on the stage very little has
become known of his personal career. This
is possibly due to characteristic clerica
modesty. Mr.. Wills interest in the dram
| Is, however, not surprising when one con
| siders that his brother. r. G. wills, is a
dramatist Of fine position in England. III
is the author OF The Bells and SONS
years ago wrote a new version of Black
eyed Susan He has, besides these, othe,
plays to his credit.
All the humor of western dramatic crit.
| icism is not exhausted In the famous re-
| mark Of an occidental but unnamed critic.
Hamlet is good piece. but it is too full
of quotations.
| An impressionable woman in a good.
I sized western city on her first hearing OF