Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1903-05-23
STORIES OF MANSFIELD.
Great Actor Presents Shakespeares
Dramas, for Love of Art, at Sac
riice to His Purse.

When he first decided to 90 in serious
ly for Shakespearean productions on an
elaborate scale his friends argued with
him that he could make a great deal
more money by holding to his famous
character studies. They We're right, and
he knew 1t. 1t is surely a proof OF sin
cefity in his work and the answering
character of his determination to keep on
his way toward the high ideals he is
seeking to reach that he gladly sacrificed
great pecuniary gains in order to further
his object.
1t is true that my bank account
would have been larger during the last
| rev years if had not taken up Shakes
pearean plays" This is what he says on
the subject. But the people have re-
sponded to the presentations neverthe-
| less, and II IS worth something besides
money to know that audiences of from
twelve, TO fifteen thousand a week are
DeIng brought into closer touch with the
beauties and poetry of Shakespeare"
one OF his principal reasons for going
pack to the worlds great playwright is
the scarcity of great modern plays. He
examines hundreds of manuscripts every
month. and says that not / per cent of
them have merit enough to warrant any
thllig more than superficial glance. No
ambitious playwright need do another
day work as long as he lives if he can
give Mr.. Mansfield great character
| WCrk. One of these, by the way, asked
Mr.. Glover Il few weeks ago what the
star would offer for a ''first-cIass vehicle
suited to his strongest stage ability"
lie got reply out of hand and without
consultation, One hundred thousand
dollars to start with and more to fol-
low"
Either the paywright's modesty was
shocked or his brain was turned. for he
! disappeared without another word into
| the wilderness Of city streets and has not
been heard from since.
But the offer stands in all good faith,
| just the same.
When Mr.. Mansfield travels he has a
private car. The one he now uses was
| bought only a little while ago from
President ingalls, of the Big -Four road
ana is one of the most costly and beauti-
full in AmeI1c2. The luxury of it pleases
| him and the furnishings are his constant
delight, but the one thing he revels in
more than all the others put together is
a little speed indicator set in the wood
work of the apartment he uses as a
study. BY looking at it he can tell ut
any moment how fast the train is travel
| ing. and the knowledge is the joy of his
heart and incidentally the bane of the
existence of all about him.
| lie refuses to travel at any SDeed
greater than thirty or forty miles an
hour, aud has feeling that amounts to
! superstition about going any faster. Be
! fore he got hold of the wretched indi-
Gator, which came with the car. he
| didn't know that such things existed
! Up TO that time his travelling companions
/ had been accustomed To telling him All
sorts of fairy tales about the rate of run
hihs-ln knots at that-as sort of recog-
| nltlon of his possession of Il fine Yacht
] however ra ho
gentle preyarcation, and when the indi-
| Gator WhlzzeS above forty miles-Or in
Mansfield car parlance 'thirty-seven
| spankin' knots an hour peremptorv
order Is sent forward to the engineer Of
! the special TO shorten sail And Mr.
| Mansfield stays with his glasses glued
to the Indicator till he has assured him
| self that the demand has been obeyed.
! travelling time is rest time with him.
| Often on all-night trips he will throw OF
all thought of study and worry. and with
/ select company gathered about him VIII
entertain for two hours at a stretch with
| songs-he has a fine barytone voice
dances, representations and stories Thar
run along without break.
| His musical director. Carl Krusada.
joined the Mansfield company little over
| two years ago in the artistic capaeitv of
| baggage handler Arriving i'm America
| pennlless from his home in Austria, he
| took the first job that came to hand. and
| found himself on the road with ''Beau-
| caire.' \ few weeks later wbiSpers
reached Mr.. Mansfield about one of his
! baggagemen who carried a violin every
| where with him and played it when he
was not working. The young man was
| sent for while the company was making
an all-ni ght rail trip and shown into the
| private car, where Mansfield told him
| that he wanted to hear some music. The
| lad protested that his fingers and hands
were too rough from hard work for him
| to DO his instrument justice However
| he finally yielded and played. The star
| knows something about the violin him
! self, but it did not take him more than
| few moments to find out that his bag
| gage SmaSher' knew great deal more.
DO you know" he said. you've got
an easy living and fame in those fingers
of yours. I'm going to send you to a
/ school to get some training"
Krusada grinned. I've had a little
| training already"
| 'Where?" asked Mansfield.
AT the Conservative of Vienna
This was an affair after ManSfeld's
! own heart. He prohed it, found that
! kruSada had been the best baggage
| handler the company ever secured and
! promptly laid him off and put him on d
| liberal salary It'll his hands got Knocked
| back into shape" Six weeks later he
! placed him in the cast of "Beaucaire"
and let him play a violin solo in the
| fourth act With the beginning of the
present season he doubled his salary and
/ made him his musical director. 4 position
| he fills with rare skill and Judgment
! Evening Wisconsin.
/ -e-