Los Angeles herald., 1906-07-01
DETERMINED TO WIN IN
CHOSEN WORK
Man Who Makes Thousands Laugh
Win Remarkable lmpersonatlons
Tells Of Early Struggles for
Present Success

the voice of Bobby North as he ut
tered that line at the Mason opera
house last week during the production
of "Whlrl-i-gig," just a tlnge of re-
morse at the thought that man or
woman would be so ignorant as to ex-
pect a man to take his wife with him
on q pleasure trip to Paris. The young
comedian raised one delicately formed
eyebrow a trihe higher than the other,
squared his lips and showed two geam-
ing rows of teeth and for a moment he
looked at the star, whom he was adj
dressing, and the audience had hys-
terics with laughter.
The incident was simply an example
of the wonderful art of the makeup
which young North had mastered to a
degree rarely ever attained by even
the most experienced actors.
on the street North hurrles along
and aside from the fact that he is
trifie better looking than most young
men of the city, nobody would ever
think of taking him for an actor They
see that same young man hurry down
the chute at the stage entrance and
that is the last they ever know of him,
for even his best friends would fail to
recognize him when he walks out be-
fore the footlights. And it is the trans
formation that means so much to North
and by which he hopes to fight his way
to the top of the ladder.
How Others Arrange It
A Herald reporter visited North last
week while he was making up for the
part of Cohenski in 'Whirl-i-gig," and
the experience was a revelation.
North appeared at the theater at
about o'clock and went Immediately
to his dressing room. Over the dingy
pieces of stage furniture the young man
stumbled and felt his way carefully.
None of the actors had appeared but
they are not like Bobby North. Edward
IGallagher, the tenor. simply has to put
on a good suit of clothes and twist his
face into smile and he is ready for
work. Two attendants seize Rose
mary Glosz as she enters the
show house, and carry her away to her
dressing room, where by means of
some strange alchemy they manage to
.encaSe the beautiful young woman in
her gorgeous abbreviated outfit; the
chorus girls dress one another and if
anything should break the audience
wouldn't care anyhow: but as for
North, it is another matter.
Every night, every performance, he
undergoes change rarely experienced
by man, and it takes him one hour to
get ready.
Requires Much Time
On the night in question the young
actor arrived at his dressing room two
hours before any of the other members
of the company had appeared
Into the dingy little room he stalked
and began to take off his street clothes.
The scene was a strange one About
the room hung all kinds of costumes.
A wig nodded its headless cavity from
an adjoining wall. On the door an
elegant full dress costume had been
neatly skewered in readiness for
North's appearance in the second act.
Next to it hung a pair of pink tights
and gaudy and unsightly red and
green sweater
but North did not pay any particular
attention to the room. The plasterins
above mis- head bowed and sagged as
though about to cast itself headlone
upon him, but the actor paid no atten-
tion. He SAT down on big iron bound
trunk marked costumes and things
and turned on the two mirror lights.
cad in pink undershirt, for Bobby
is fastidious in his tastes, and wear
ing bath towel about his neck, North
began that makeup.
Arranges His Own Whiskers
First he washed his face, which was
good sign, and then he picked up a
piece of rope, At least that was what
Il looked like, 1t was about three feet
long and made of hair. finely braided.
but in its twisting depths rested the
whole secret of the art.
North unraveled a piece of the stuff
ana It fuzzed out like the wadding of
a mattress.
Then he took a comb and proceeded
TO comb that hair. ANY other man
might have gOuged hunks out of that
rope for a week without ever having
any success in securing fuzz long
enough to make a beard, but with
North 1t was different.
lie held the rope with one hand and
crew the comb through IT with the
other. Time after time he did it. until
the fuzz began TO snap and crinkle and
respond to that gentle touch. The Young
actor watched it with half-closed eyes.
with that same look one sees in the
eyes of a master of the violin as he
draws the bow tenderly over the
strihgs OF the Instrument and sways
in intoxication of his own art
Finally North had secured a piece of
fuzz about five inches long and of
triangular shape. Under his careful
fingers the rope had begun to do its
duty. The lights from the mirror
globes sparked through the hair and
the artist watched it carefully one
stroke of the comb too much and the
beard would be too thin in spots.
Has Mastered the Art
II Is that particular form of makeup
which has put young North in a class
with the three leading Yiddish imi-
tators Of the world, and many a good
impersonator has fallen before the de-
mands of that pale red beard.
Al last the piece of hair was ready
and North lifted it tenderly from the
comb With fine pair of scissors he
shipped away until he had the hair to
his liking and then he looked ii over.
And certainly II was an object to cause
the tips Of a tonsoral artists mus
taches to culver with envy Had that
scrap of fuzz been nodded by the hand
OF nature on the soft cheek of true
Hebrew the work could not have been
better accomplished.
But that was not all; the scrap of
hair in question covered only portion
Of the right side of North's face and he
dobbed It with spirit gum and placed il
gently on his face. There il stuck and
the work Of transformation had been
begun
And so went Il beard. In small
pieces and in big pieces while the long
delicate fingers of the artist twisted
and pinehed at the fuzz and the tips
Of his finger nails flashed In the light