The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-01-06

touches do not Seem like Miss irwin.
III is odd to see Miss Irwin lending
nerseit to so broad a line and all that
sort of thing. They'd better get over
that idea at once. My goodness! I'd like
to know if I'm not getting old enough to
be little improper with perfect pro-
pnety? What's the use of being the
mother of two grown up young men If
one has to chaperon oneself all the time?
Some things that aren't puritanical are
awfuliy funny, and if the public can
stand the ordinary French farce it ought
to put up with my mild lapses from a
purity that will float Seriously, you
know, it's wonder that with the pres
ent public anything 80 per cent more will
float.
still, you know, I am not thinking of
shocking my nice old laA1fsa bless them
I will be good, only n6tBo good, and
the critics must overlook an occasional
fall from grace, if it's an amusing fall
You know I get great deal more cred
it than I deserve. People seem to think
that I can just stand up and be funny
without any effort, and that 1 make up
all the funny things in, my plays. I've
denied that again and again, but nobody
pays any attention to the denial. It's
a good thing to have a philosophical
playwright. He gives me good lines
and people give me all the credit for
to him, but he grins cheerfully and says
he doesn't care who gets the credit so
long as he gets the royalties. It's a fact
that do not put in much funny business
myself. All I give is the reading of the
lines.
"That isn't the simple thing it seems.
I don't think the average playgoer has
the smallest appreciation of the amount
of art that goes into good comedy. Ev-
n q
role is perfectly spontaneous. Sometimes
I do intuitively know, at first reading,
just how to get all there is in a. line, but
then, again, I try one line in a dozen
different ways before 1 land. Usually
I can tell myself when I do hit it; but
sometimes Tn not sure until rehearsal,
and often I make mistakes even on the
first night. can always tell in a twink
ling, when I have my audience before
me, whether my lines land; and if they
don't, 1 go home and wrestle with them
to find out what's wrong. Then the next
night I try them another way. tell you,
you've got to give a lot of serious
thought to comedy. It's harder to make
men and women merry than to make
them sad. The natural bent of life is
tragic, and both actors and public slip
into tragedy and pathos more readily
than into comedy. One of the best CO.
medians on the stage played tragic role
once and made success of it. He said
to me afterwards:
90 May, don't ever let any one tell you
tragedy is hard to play. One can be
ones self in it. Comedy is high art
81 think about that very often.
There's plenty of nights when I'm in the
mood for anything but comedy. Sounds
funny to hear me talk that way. That's
the trouble, 1 can't help sounding fun
ny, even when I'm not funny inside. In
reality, you know, I'm desperately seri-
GUS No: please. That isn't a joke. I
mean it. [ have keen sense of humor,
thank heaven; but 1 take things hard.
I'm ridiculously temperamental. I've al
ways been morbidly sensitive and I've
had to fight that handicap all my life,
to prevent its queering my work I tell
you, life is tragic for women. They
weren't cut out for light comedy. Things
hurt them too much. When all sorts of
responsibilities crowd upon woman and
number of persons leok to her for the
very breath they draw, and she has her
nerves and emotions all on the surface,
woman fashion, and she carries the
woman's physical handicap, comedy isn't
likely to be her forte. At least, if she
does go in for comedy, it isn't because
she can't be anything but funny, and is
just willingly gay and amusing, in sea-
son and out of season.
Good condolences are the hardest
tning in the world to find. I've puzzled
over that a good deal, and I've come to
the conclusion that it isn't a mere mat
ter of predisposition toward the tragic.
The trouble with the women is that they
are too self-conscious for comedy. There
are very few women who are unaffected.
If girl is the least bit in the world good