The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-08-16

Have you ever nOtlced, began an
inVeterate theater-goer the other even
ing, according to the New York Trib-
une, as he sat at a table in a certain
grillroom on the Rialto, that every
actor sings love songs the same way?
1 mean that the 'business-gestures.
embraces and kisses-is the same old
business whether you find it on
first notch Broadway stage orWin a
cheap Bowery music hall. If they had
all been taught by the same master
the likeness could not be more ex-
act"
1T seems to be up to you for an
explanation" said another, turning to
William Gould. who sings of his love
to Mabel Carrier every night at the
Casino in THE Runaways." why
don't you give us some new business
in your love songs?"
"You show me anything new, and
I'll buy you most anything you like
except a steam yacht, said the actor.
He is living this summer on sailing
yacht, and has come to the conclu
sion that yachts are about the most
expensive luxury the world affords
There are no new ways of making
stage love, so we have to repeat the
old over and over again. The colonel
is right when he says the business
| is the same on the Bowery as on Broad
way. It's the same down at Coney,
and it's the same at the Tivoli, in San
| Francisco. There are certain gestures
that go naturally with certain lines.
You can't do without them, and you
can't find better ones. Yet the old
| story seems to go pretty well, and
nothing gets a hand sooner or louder
| than a love song"
One can take almost any love song
and figure out just when the singer
will make a gesture and just about
what it will be. The song usually
| finds the couple seated on a bench.
| There is Just a line of Introduction,
| and then comes the music cue" With
| the first notes of the orchestra the
| stage lover squares half around, puts
out his left leg as brace, leans heaV-
| lily on his right arm which is more
or less behind the girl, and spreads
his left hand over his heart. The girl
! moves slightly toward him, folds her
hands, and puts on her mildly fond"
! expression She would not be girl
If she did not know what was COM
ing.
Yet. what is there In that frantic
gesture of his-that grabbing at the
heart-which tells the girl that she is
going to be loved? He may be surfer
! ing from heartburn due to oVereating
at dinner. Perhaps he has a tobacco
heart. and the last cigarette in his
dressing room is getting in its tripham-
mer effect When one gets to consid-
ering the proposition seriously, what
has the heart to do with love, any
way? There is a we'll founded super
stition that the heart is the seat OF
love, but there is very little to back
! 49, ie Of a II
of the head; but If the singer attempt
ed to hold his head he would throw
himself open to a still graver suspicion,
for stage head holding belongs to the
emotion of remorse.
Before it is time to break into song
the pair usually think better of 1t, and
both arise and take the center of the
stage. Then come some such lines as
these:
Since first I looked into your eyes.
Be NINE sweetheart, be mine.
There is not much connection between
these two lines. to be sure. but what
does that matter in love song? If
the piece were properly written, its
title would be BE Mine, Sweetheart.
Be Mine" The title must come in at
the beginning, or the piece is not con-
ventional The singer never fails to
accent it.
The usual gesture accompanying it
is the left arm outstretched. palm ex-
tended. A country girl unusued to
stage gestures might reasonably sus-
pect that she was about to be slapped
If she refused to be his. The stage girl
knows, of course, for she has seen the
same pose used on other stars when
she was getting her preliminary train
ing in the chorus.
He gains a little confidence after get
ting the title off his mind. He APP
proa ches the girl. He takes her hand
in his left. and slips the other around
her waist She smiles enough to show
her teeth and a beginning of bliss. The
line here may be:
The fact that he looks every one OF
his thirty-two years and she, in this
instance, cannot possibly be over