Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1902-03-08
THE ACTORS TRIALS.


Zone Of The things that & sen get me to
wondering when I'm in the theater and
watching EN- cavortiug and gyrating and
carrying on on the stage, said the man in
the rear car seat with the cotton wadding
in his ears, lis how they can 20 right on
doing it without feeling kind o ashamed
and sheepish and foolish with themselves.
1t looks good and sounds good enough to
me as | sit there, but how does il all
sound 10 them, after they've done il hun.
dreds Of times beforeg When the young
fellow finds himself III the villains tolls
and rolls his eyes aloft and works off
those highfalutin sayings about how he'll
be all to the good when the returns are
in and the cash's counted up l feel the
goose-fesh arising all over me in spits
O. myself, and | get kind o choked UP
along with the rest of EN-, and l find
myself roofing that the lad'll get gait
on himself and win out handsomely hands
down. But that same noble young chap
has heard himself make those lofty pre-
dictions SO often, has made the kissing
declarations SO many times, has folded the
girl in his close embrace with such FREE
quentness, so to speak, that it's a wonder
to me that when he does it all over again
he doesn't feel kind O. tired and mean and
boguslike.
81 lay in bed sometimes and think of
show that / saw, say three weeks before.
Well, at the very moment I'm thinking
about the show, and how chesty and
naughty the hero is at the climax of the
third act when he corrals the girl and
downs the villain with his herculean right
bieeps, why, they are doing the same little
old stunt, say to myself, in Pittsburg, or
Cleveland, or Chicago, or somewhere, and
the girl is just as shrinking and demure
and clinging as she was when | saw her
go through her little motions, and she's
got her eyelashes BACKED up just the
same way, and she is making just precise
~ the same kind of goo-goo eyes that |
saw her make. And, as | lay thinking
about it, this always strikes me as being
queer and sort O. imbecie-like. OF course
don't know how it goes, but | should
think that shrinking, clinging slip of
heroine would feel monstrous foolish in
the eyes OF the rest of the folks on the
stage that've watched her go through the
same performance SO many, many times
before.
Worse, however, think at these times,
must be the state of mind of the stage
folks who earn their salt and Holsters
funny man of comic opera, for instance,
that runs, as we occasionally hear of EN-,
running, in one theater for 400 or 500
nights. Well, when | see him he's funny
He causes me to roll around in my seat
to such an extent and to bawl out so
boisterously that I'm almost afraid one
of the ushers'l be tapping me on the
shoulder and telling me that III have TO
behave or get out. Now, il / went to see
that same funny fellow the second time
he wouldn't make anything like so big
hit with me, and | don't believe could
sit through his antics three times Well.
this being so q reflect as | lay there in
bed thinking it over), how can he stand
himself tonight, after he's gone through
precisely the same moves, exuded exactly
the same jokes, sung precisely the same
topical songs in the identical self-same
tone of voice--how can he reconcile him
self with himself, how can he help but
confess to himself that he must look
grsly and mournful and almost intolerable
even to the. chorus girls who make snch
brave effort to smirk in the parts of the
piece where the stage manager insists
upon smirks? | should think he'd be-
gin, after awhile, to hate himself with
deadly, intense, concentrated hatred.
and / should think this would prey on
him so that he'd be hunting around for
a chance to drive a truck or carry the
hod, any old thing in life rather than feel
that he has to appear about the size Of
French pea in the eyes OF his stage as
sociates.
and then, take variety show where
they do it all twice day. Shouldn't you
imagine they'd prefer drawing and quar-
tering to that? Did you ever sit right
close to the footlights when one of these
burlesque shows is on the stage and OBJ
serve the expressions of acute pain that
cross the features of each and all of the
lovely ladies of the semi-circle when the
knockabout comedians are going through
their parts? Their faces almost seem to
crack, you almost feel as if you could hear
their faces crack, when they grin, as
they've just got to grin or stand for
roast when they get into the wings for
1istlessness.' And they get through the
whole dreary thing at FIVE in the after
noon, say, and snatch a morsel or so of
something to eat and then at eight they've
got 10 go on again and hate themselves
and each other all over again for three
or four hours. Wouldn't you rather be
a canvasser for patent lamp chimney
cleaner?
Even the star chap, who plays an
heroic and exceedingly romantic part
the fellow who splits 'em all on the point
of his sword with .Zoundsp and Cad
zooks' and Have at thee, thou scurvy
cutpurse!-even this duck, should inn
agne, would feel more or less like a lead
nickel after he'd mock-slaughtered the
1900 or 5000 dubs that he necessarily
mock-saughters in the course of long
run of his piece. He knows of course
Gas ] imagine), that he's bluff and
four-husher, and that if in real life a man