The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1904-02-14
GOSSIP OF THE DRAMA FROM MANY POINTS OF VIEW
Richard Mansfield.
An Estimate of a Foremost
Actor-A Realist and a
Chemist of the Mind.


ed his descriptive talents between base
ball and the theater once said that
there were just three kinds of actors
bad actors and good actors and Rich
ard Mansfield This epigram of the
street like many another OF equally up-
dignified origin. is more apt than many
cautious Determinations OF serious criti-
cism. Mr.. Mansfield unquestionablv
holds a unique place In the American
theater. and he is one Of the few play
ers OF our younger generation whose
work has evinced a high order OF in
telligence
Acting is one Of the most hereditary
OF arts. Undoubtedly the majority of
Tiayers TO-DAY follow It simply because
they were born TO IL. and for no better
reason. They BEGIN their professional
duties early and spend practically their
whole lives in theaters. hotels. and the
benumbing monotony of Pullman car
Whatever education. ideals inspiration
or culture they get they must get from
the theater alone, and the American
theater for the past fifteen years has
been the worst possible place to look
TO for any of these things.
On a Fine Basis.
The case is different with Richard
Mansfield. He had. at the outset. the
advantages OF superior education and
culture and a wide experience of men
and things. In his youth he attended
the best schools of Germany and Eng
land. When he was eighteen he had
travelled pretty much all over the globe
with his mother. Nine. Ruders6orf. and
ne had lived in nearly all the capitals
OF Europe. He is a musician OF con-
ST der III
e musical critic on the Boston Globe"
BE was painter before he became an
actor After an April youth. spent in
coquetting with nearly every form of
art. the mans many sided genius found
at last its proper channel.
James says somewhere that every
man begins life with many selves and
ends II with one; that he himself had
been compelled to suppress the gallant.
the explorer. the bon vivant In behalf
of the psychologist; he is still by turns
the musician. the soldier. the aoven-
( turer. the beau. the prince. even: all
the men he ever was or dreamed OF
being, or may have wished to be. II
il his wide experience. coupled with
that quickening and impassioned imagi-
nation which is the brightest gift the
artist can possess, which enables him
TO divide the experiences of the human
heart under all conditions. to know inti-
mately all the perpiexing variations
and distortions and involved combina-
tons of the several master passions
which play so large a part in the hu-
man comedy.
An Actor of Imagination.
Certainly n any critic were asked
what it is that Mr.. Mansfield possesses
that most of his contemporaries have
not, he would answer. imagination-that
part of divinaticn by which an artist
becomes acquainted with types diamet-
really divergent from each other and
knows instinctively how a monarch as
cends the steps OF his throne and how a
peasant scrapes the mud from his
wooden shoe
Once an actor, Mr. Mansfield was for
tunate enough to strike the keynote of
his power at the start and awake ike
Byron TO find himself famous Baron
rChevrial. his first conspicuous role, re-
mains the best In his repertoire. The
part when he took IT up was merely an
Incidental one. tributary to the woes of
the lachrymose MARCEL, but from the
FIRST night he played II the other
players and the play itself faded into ut
Ter insignificance before this convinc-
ing. this astounding piece of realism.
The next important impersonation was
Prince Karl. and those two roles fairly
illustrate the stroke and versatility OF
his power.
First and Last a Realist.
Mr.. Mansfield is first and last realist
lie has passion for psychological prob
lens quite aside from those considera-
lions Of dramatic effect which so often
Trw-444 IL.
lied and demonstrated that the tradf-
tons Of stage business" ford elocu-
ton. etc. have nothing to do with lie or
the Interpretation OF life. and that a
dramatic effect Is worthless save in so
far as It mirrors character. He PLAYS a
part from within, not from without. He
builds his characters up with the alpha
bet blocks of life.
THIS actor at least knows something
OF the chemistry Of the blood, OF those
wasting fevers not named in the utera
tire OF medicine. Of those warning ele-
ments that continually rend men under
q seeming unity OF character. He must
have stood like Omar more than once
at the potter's house at eventIde and
msrveled at the structure and strange
uses OF the shapes Of clay.
II r. in this deeper knowledge OF mem
tal chemistry. of the disproportionate
ard perplexing relations OF cause and
effect. that Mr.. Mansfield usually out
strips his playwrights and reads into
their creations infinitely more than they
ever put there. He makes of his char
-acters not types. but personalities, each
with his own mannerisms OF speech.
modes OF thought. tinges OF prejudice,
and habits OF body, each as complete,
as convincing and actual as n figure
from the pages OF Balzac
Onef comes 60 know these people as
one knows Pere Grandet. or Luclen d.
Rubempre; they are more real 10 one
than ones own acquaintance II IL
difficult TO believe that tho same blood
flows In the brain OF Brunnel and Ro-
dion or that the same flesh can ciothe
The shrunken 3owi Of Chevrial, and the
youthful cheek OF Eugene CourvoisIer.
These things have different nerve fibre
and cellular tissue They are fed by
different hearts and think with differ
ent brains; they look out on life
through very dissimilar windows.
Courage and Art.
Mr.. Manshcld's courage is not the
least OF his artistic qualities. though IL
win DrOhahIk- fruror-orf~1, H., - - =,