Omaha daily bee., 1903-04-05

men who are constantly before the public
acquire a certain knack, or rather improve
their powers Of intuition. with regard 70
sensing" the feeling Of those who listen
10 them. But Il is doubtful II any OF them
has brought this gift TO as highly culti-
waited a point as Mr.. Mansfield. Sometimes,
after a performance, he will say:
There was something wrong tonight.
There was no more heart in my work than
there is in a dry sponge
That's all nonsense" says his manager.
How do you come to that conclusion?"
How do / come to ~ Did you see that
audience? / couldn't move 'em an inch.
I'm a monumental failure. It might have
been a vaudeville show; they kept as still
as %mummies."
81 guess" says his manager. you
haven't seen many vaudeville shows. OF all
the things on this earth those are the ones
an audience does not keep still over
But nothing can solace Mr.. Mansfield.
He knows better than anybody else Just
what his limitations are, and he knows in
a moment when he falls to reach the deep,
est emotions Of the public.
Some people have such a passionate adj
miration for a man who displays true genius
that their regard for him can only be ex,
pressed in hyperbole. Then there are others
to whom triumphs, particularly IL they are
public triumphs Of a Woodworking artist,
act like so many successive red rags to so
many Individual bulls.
On the whole, / prefer the people with
the hyperbole. They are at least honest in
their opinions, and, more than that, have a
real affection not only for their favorits
himself, but for all the forces that tend
to b~eautify and ennoble life.
U~ndisturbed by Criticism.
Neither gnats nor honey spreaders, how
ever, seem to have any appreciable effect at
this stage Of his career on Richard Mans
field. He has reached that enviable mile
post on his Journey when he can pass over
unconcerned both attacks and fulsome fiat
terry. For he has blazed out a path for
himself and steadily followed an ideal. The
axe he has used to mark his way has been
a bit dull at times, and more than once
the ground beneath his feet has been, to
put 1t mildly, rocky. But the bad stretch
Of road" is over and done with.
When the people throng to see an actor
for the love OF his own personal ability to
charm them, irrespective OF the vehicle he
employs, and when he has the courage to
make that vehicle something that the
croakers have for years been deciding
hANahG hOuAN bANhh 1h0 ~ ~ NAN ~
attempting it, he does not need to worry
very much about criticism, good, bad or
indifferent.
Then, again. he has a life apart from the
theater, its trials and its victories. That
is to say. at the end OF the season there
awaits his coming a home, with the word
written in big letters in the bend of every
rocking chair and the I'd of every car
pet, a wife who loves nm and a vandal
baby son who tries to p.ll out what little
hair he has left.
II Mr.. Mansfield had kept on worrying
about the gnats with a combination of this
kind at his back he wouldn't deserve to be
pitied.
Now is the time to form a Society for
the Prevention of Apologies for Mansfield"
He does not need them any more-if indeed
he ever needed them.
The stories OF his abrupt manner with his
subordlnates. his stormy outbreaks and
passionate insistence on things being done
his way have circulated everywhere, more
or less embellished. The best way to dis
pose Of this topic here is to say that the
stories, so far as they relate to his fighty
mannerisms and separated from the wild
eyed additions Of unfriendly critics, are
true. Mr.. Mansfield Is too manly to deny
them, and too manly not to be genuinely
sorry a moment afterward for the things
his high-strung susceptibilities have caused
him to say.
Any little ~hitcR-bad ventilation in a
theater, faulty stage setting, the memory
OF an unpleasant happening during the day
and his portrayal of his character for
that night is far below his standard. One
afternoon in New York-tbe afternoon Of
the night on which his king Of Peru" was
IN he nrodtNad FOR the Arot tfu,a Me-.
Mansfield lost a pet dog in Central park.
He went out and spent two hours hunting
1t, working himself up to such a pitch Of
excitement that he was utterly unfit. when
night came, for his task. The result was
utter failure OF the performance, and Incl
d~entally the loss OF many thousands Of dol
lars to the star.
A Bundle of Nerves.
The man is a bundle of nerves. But It
should not be forgotten that IL his tempera-
ment has led him at times to outbreaks Of
anger. it is responsible also for his faithful
devotion to his work, his unswerving fidelity
to the ideals he has set for himself and in
q large measure for his genius itself. Great
artists before Mansfield have been possessed
Of temperaments like his own, and have
paid the debt Of temporary discomfort by
reason of hasty words.
But defects OF temper are momentary;
the attachments OF genius are everlasting.
And in Mansaeld's case 1t is the verdict of
his fellow actors. both men and women,
who have associated with him in his pro-
auctions, that he loses no time In m%.ing
noble amends for hasty words. If'you read
a little further you will see, too, that II
we count his ~impetuosity as a fault. we
must put In the scales on the other side
many a word Of sympathy and many a deed
OF genuine kindness.
Mansheld's stage crowds are not e mass
Of supernumeraries huddled together like
sheep and watching a leader. They really
act their part, and the result is seen in
some Of the most notable portions Of his
Shakesperean performances. This end IS
reached only after weeks of steady training,
in which he himself studies out every move
and suggests every picture.
A very apt example Of this desire Of his
to throw to an audienceNan effect as close
to the truth as he can conceive 1t appears
In his present play of Julius Caesar" In
all former versions It has been the custom
In the forum scene at the close of An
tony's speech for the staid bearers who
have brought the body Of Caesar to the
spot to pick up the bier and carry 1t out
again. Mr.. Mansfield, however, would not
have this ending to the act, though the
thought of change only came to him at the
last moment. One afternoon the rehearsal