The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1904-03-20
Hiding From Nature
One Reason WHY Actors
GToWATtifiCiaI Mansfield
as an Example-"ATt" and
Personal Vanity.

ali their photographs with such sentl-
ments as these:
Art is long and time is hseting
.'Hold the mirror ND to nature.
THE life so short-the art so long 10 (
learn"
Art is a medium between the natur-
al and the ideal"
Fart is the reproduction OF nature IN
the impression of the ideal
Nearly every actor on our stage has
those notices by heart, and they will
all tell rou-if you are goose enough
to usten-that their progress has ever
been built upon the fulhllment OF some
one Of these principles, Yet, the aver
age actor. however great his art, grows
dav by day to know less and less about
nature until the wonder IS not That
his rnanperisrns increase but that any
thing natural remains.
Seeing Through Glass, DaTkly.
fine or rather a most unhappy eX-
omple OF this tendency is 20 be found
in the life led by Richard Nansfeid
from the beginning of his season
through to the end
Mr. Mansfield is n great character &C
tor His talent, If il be not genius heS
particularly In q faculty for conceiving
ia7nv different personalities. and dis
closing these conceptions to his audi
ences. Ii follows. therefore, that his
art viii grow proftably in proportion
rs he learns the qualities Of so many
personalities as they unfold themselves
IN real life
If he does wisely ne VIII follow the
examine set by Albert Chevaler, and
spend his time studying al close range
the deckhands on river steamers, the
+l,a -Irar 10
men who play games at college or drive
delivery wagons. the middle-aged men
who compose the board OF trade, the
men of leisure who go TO the cities from
the country and there find joy in the
mere living of life.
Yet Mansfield does nothing Of the sort.
On the contrary, he rises late in the
morning. breakfasts in the seclusion OF
his room. spends the early afternoon
either in the garish light of the theater
at rehearsal. or driving in single gran
deur in "A hired carriage, touches elbows.
rnavbe toward evening with the most
artificial society the city affords. acts
IN the evening. has supper alone. anG
goes to bed. He says he does not even
read the reviews of his OWE perfOT-
unances. His only opportunity TO see life
as il is lived of the stage comes in the
summer, and then he either retires 10
the privacy OF his own cottage CT again
plunges into artiiciaIity by. 69ing 10 =
summer resort.
II is manifest such life rs this can
not broaden an artists view Of his fell
lows or widen his sympathies. He is 10
be coneratulated. indeed. il he retains
the view and the sympathy he took with
liim into his first rehea rsal, and tbs
value Of those possessions must stead
sly grow less as the grooves Of the az
tors own personality deepen and his art
becomes corresp0ndingly move and more
confined.
Two Illustrations Examples.
This reasoning is not suposititous
Ar Mansfield offers proof of its truth
Year after year his acting has beer
narrowing. until today his Brutus ant
his Prince Karl Heinrich are largely o
the same pattern. The old versatile,
which created MS Jekyll and Hyde hl'
been lost in a sputtering elccution an
a pOmpous stride which pro1Tude ont
personality into such widely dihern:
characters as Henry Of England
Cyrano de Bcrgerac. and Beau BruE
mel No one who has followed thi
actcr's career can have failed 10 NOT
this demerit and mourn its existence
All this does not deny the existenc
Of Mr. Mansheld's great ability. Tn
Times has expressed its admiration fn
that element Of Mr. Mansdelds actinl
more than once With all the fault
brought about by the intensifying Of III
own personality instead Of expandin
his knowledge OF other personalities h
is still one Of the greatest actors 10 ID
seen on any stage But the develop
nent which has been henry Irving
now apparently denied Mr. Mlnslicli
and the reason IS TO be found largcl
in the isolation which marks Mr M3ns
fields life.
Henry Irving is fine IL
stance Of the contrary. He does no
condne himself. He walks the street
or goes 10 the houses Of men who d
not move in society or talks with me
of other professions as he encounter
rhern in clubs, or addresses scAoi
children and gains as much from then
almost. as they gain from him. 50 IL
that he. whose personal characteristic
are more marked than Mr.. Mansde!d'i
has been able 20 bury them beneath
hundred stage characters and eXpan
his art until ne has become one Of III
mountain peaks of the stage for a
time. At the outset his talent wa
probably not so great as that Of II
Afansheld, and the CIsadvantage
acute personal characteristics va
greater, but he IS today an immoasu
ably broader and better actor than n
Mansfield Is OF is likely ever To be.
Slavery to "Art."
stars are not the only offenders aloI
this line The life of the uEderlings
Fl possible. still more artlhcially limi
od. They do not obtain the help eye
al good books or stilted society The
spend their days IN hotel Hobbies talkiI
Of themselves, their evenings In u
theaters acting themselves and the
NIGHTS iu restaurants. feosting thet
selves. SO thcy grow fat both in boz
and mind. and lives which bad tho
beginnings in ambition and carnestnc
rud in miserable dependence on Of
kind OF character hair acted
There are. Of course. many exception
but rot So many as one would think.
general the actor lives life beggar
Of natural experience. of genuine apr
citation Of nature. and Of true knOwlcd
Of his fellows. In general his art"
himself chcapIy emphasized and miss
fhiv discussed by costume and make-l