The San Francisco call., 1904-03-19
INSTRUCTIVE JTUDIEug
BY lNOIE1DzfAiEE1lNN iE1lNNA AND
m%AS s)NfEN

FOR the artistic, overlook the pracUcaI
side Of life, the part that is necessary
for all men to keep strictly in view.
There is a debit and credit side lto
every mans career. 1t is necessary
for him TO keep a sort of spiritual
book. keep his balance, if possible, al
ways on the right side of profit. An
actors career is his stock in trade. 1t
is the merchandise with which he
loads his shelf. II is his very work.
1t is the thing from which he is to get
his credit. 1t represents his toll. 1t
is well to take an inventory of his
career very often to see where he has
succeeded-to note where he has fail
ed. When one has done this, one will
learn ut once the value of integrity.
without which success in no walk of
lie can be gained.
1 have known many who have all
the attributes.of great actors, but who
have not the position they should hold
because they have not managed their
careers we'll. In the search for the
artistic they forgot the almost busi-
ness side of the actors life. 1t has
many times brought to my mind a
story Sir Walter Scott tells of a pill
grim who entered a monastery for
the night and was surprised to see all
the holy inmates performing the most
manual of labor. Some utilized wheel
barrows, others the humble spade.
The pilgrim held UP his hands in
horror. d" We are holy men," he said.
1T is our duty to pray. Such mater
ial work is not for US" He prayed
zealously in a cell when he was shown
to It, and when he was not called to
supper he asked to see the abbot.
Your reverence, I am hungry" he
said. You said our duty here was
simply to pray" said the holy father.
Keep on praying, my son."
The management of a mans career
calls constantly for watch over the
ethics of his heart so that he does no
unwise thing. It keeps him keen for
what Marcus Aurelius centuries ago
so aptly called Keep the thoughts
upon the main chance
There has been much ado at certain
times over what has been termed the
artificiality Ct the actors art-a cry
that he leads an unnatural life, that
his whole life's work consists Of dis
sembling and assuming a thing which
is not. 1t is true, the first impression
a beginner gets is that romance ends
behind the asbestos curtain. The moon
to which he utters impassioned ad-
dresses is only a box light, with per-
haps a tobacco stained man operating
it; the sunshine is but a mass of blind
ing lights, the mountains but painted
daubs and the woman he makes love
to perhaps is the one he passes in the
dining-room with a chilly good-day.
Well, what of all that? The painter
does not place upon his canvas the
real effect of the sky; the sculptor
simply reproduces the pose of life in
senseless marble; the orator commands
thought through figments of speech;
the actors art calls for him in his
own person to become a thing which
exists first merely in his brain, but
that is his art-to make unrealities
real-and he must bend his energies
upon an ability to create perfect illu-
sion If he would endeavOr to succeed.
Scientists tell US the color of the sun
We look upon as golden is in reality
blue, and we know the tints we see
in the horizon denoting a sunset are
not the real pigments, but simply illu-
sions; so we afterward learn that ro-
nance is romance on the stage only
as it exists in oneself.
The watching of the simple things
Of life is paramount. When l began
my career 1 one day walked through
a public park at sundown with a promi-
nent actor. A man sitting upon a
bench suddenly lit his pipe. My friend
caught me by the hand and watched
the play of the light effect over the
mans face and surroundings. A short
time after that I saw him in a repro
duction that had marvellous array
Of light effect in it. I praised it to
/ him, and he called to mind the scene
we witnessed of the man lighting his
pipe. From that simple incident he
/ had caught the suggestion for novel
/ lighting effect of an entire scene.
Among some of the impassioned
thoughts Of Guy de Maupassant is
this: The public is composed of
numerous groups who say to us, Con
sole me, amuse me, make me sad,
make me sentimental. make me
/ dream, make me laugh, make me
/ tremble, make me weep, make me
think but there are some chosen
spirits who demand of the artist Make
/ for me something fine in the form
which suits you best, following your
own temperament
The actor who is sincere will make
his work like unto his innermost soul.
I Let him look to ii that that soul is
good and clean and wholesome, then
he will have a great and pleasing per-
sonality that others will love. They
will wish to see him and cherish him
during his life and perhaps for a few
days IN memory after his death; and
to be loved for our work while we
work, and to be spoken OF kindly for
a little while after we have made our
final exit, is the greatest need of sue
cess the actor can. hope for. If he
gains this he has reached the highest
round of success of the actors art.
I would like to tabulate the require
ments of an actors art as follows:
/. Character.
2. The management of his career.
9. To keep himself simple and
natural.
4. Alertness watching the actions
of life.
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