The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-06-15
NEWS OF The THEATERS
RICHARD MANSFIELD SAYS ART OF
ACTING is IN DECADENCE.
He Denies that He Throws Things at
His Company. However Great
the Temptation.

The New York Herald prints the follow
ing letter from Richard Mansfield:
There is little doubt that certain persons
will write plays and certain people Will per-
form plays and certain people will go to
see plays for some years to come. but the
art of acting is diminishing every day and
bids fair to disappear entirely.
The newspapers are largely responsible
for this condition.
Granted that the art OF acting is not
easy. a waitress at a summer hotel.
Unable person though she be, or Pull
man palace car porter or young woman in
suburban society cannot and does not by
some miraculous interposition of Provi-
dence prance on to the stage a fully
equipped artist. A person TO succeed upon
the stage should be possessed of good
eyes, good teeth (minus gold filing,
good figure. a good voice cultivated by
competent teachers) and a slight knowl-
edge OF the French language Sufficient to
pronounce properly monsieur. madame, au
revoir, monseigneur, etc. He should know
how to sit down and how to stand up and
have the manners of a being accustomed
10 good society.
1t is true that. according to the unwrit-
ten law of the United States, every citizen
is either a lady or a gentleman. We are
constantly reminded. But this does not
obtain upon the stage. Upon the stage ap-
pearance is everything. One must possess
the outward and visible sign. 1t is a fact
that every gentleman should be an honor
able man, but the stage and in society
every honorable man is not necessarily a
gentleman. 1t is manifestly absurd for a
a hOStlPr
attempt to play the Admirable Crichton or
for down East schoolmarm to assume the
role of the Lady We're de We're.
And-given the education, the figure the
cultivated voice and the necessary polish
of manner-the actor must in addition be
the painter and the poet. Without imagi-
nation there can be no actor. By actor is
meant actor, not a puppet. There is no
school for actors. The actor "nascitur non
fit" Observation and experience do the
rest He must be willing TO learn from the
masters. His perseverance, his patience
must be amending. To secure the precise
meaning of line, word, glance of the
eye, movement of the hand, he may
have to try a hundred times for perfection.
Nothing is so harmful as flattery and ILL
considered praise! 1t is. of course, much
more agreeable to commend than to criti-
else 1t is also more pleasant to be told,
You are charming, you are perfection"
than to hear that your manners pro-
vincial and your voice eXpressionleSs. But
broken limbs cannot be cured with sweet
meats. 1t is easier to give a story to
newspaper than to acquire an arduous role
with patience, perseverance, humility and
prayer.
Upon the French and German stage act
informed, in very direct and forci-
BILE language, of their faults, and they
must either remedy them or depart. They
are not permitted to criticise the stage
manager, and the newspapers do not en-
courage incompetency, Incidence and cheap
advertisement at the expense of the artist
That is why there actors in France
and Germany. Here there is a premium on
ignorance and INSTRUMENTATION, and yet dis
cipline is one of the first requisites of the
stage Every tyro who fails to satisfy can
excuse himself by accusing his employer
1t is the duty of the producer, his duty
to the public, his duty to the author, his
duty TO himself, to endeavor to provide
for every character in a play a competent
exponent. This is often an impossible task
1t is also an expensive one. But he should
not be abused because he tries to accom-
plish il.
The actor who is writing these useless
and futile comments, contrary to report
does not fire on his people, throw things at
them or curse them however great the
temptation. This actor while paying his
associates large salaries, does not at the
same time contract to teach to any of them
the rudiments of an art in which they