Los Angeles herald., 1906-10-18
WOES Of A HEAVY
AS He SEES THEM
HARRY Won METER AND HIS
VIEWS OF HIS ART
The Tank Of Brine and the Realistic
A Little Girl In san francisco.
Personality and Art, with The
stage Director Thrown In
nY MILLIANI mAMLToN oLINE


HrT-o REACH Harry Won Meter in his
dressing room at the Grand opera
= house one threads a labyrinth OF
scenery and props. and ascends q "lim-
tied edition" of the Angels flight. En-
tering hesitatingly found the man
OF many murders holding a bottle Of
Listerine in one hand while he pleas
antiy extended the other in welcome.
"Ah. a Listerine fiend," 1 said. "Is
the habit one of the actors curses
Or"
mot at all,' he replied, though
drink about a pint a week of It. 1t
seems to be the surest preventive of
the sore throat bugbear." NV(
"Are bugbears very prevalent In the
profession, then?"
mot at all. They are the least OF
my troubles"
/ scented his tack at once and fol-
lowed 1t with the comment:
"All is not pleasure in the life of
the actor who plays 'heavtes'?"
Indeed, 1t is mott There is scarcely
a performance that is not given almost
at the risk of the players life. 1t is a
trying position at the best, and at
the worst its"
He broke off with laugh that was
not at all like the villainous chuckle
which has nightly floated across the
footlights at the Grand opera house
during the past few months.
II have to laugh when L rfiecall the
tank In How Baxter Butted in For
two weeks was thrown into the tank
nightly and at matinees, and the peo-
pie who saw me said: That must be
pretty cold, judging from the way he
shivers.' To tell the truth, | wore an
extra suit of underwear, and the warm
water scarcely touched my skin. But
on the night of the last performance
1 found that some one had stolen all
my underwear, and l had to take my
ducking without any. There was a
strange guilt in the air that night and
wondered why every one on the stage
was gathered about the entrances.
When l strdck the water found the
reason fast enough. 1 was almost
paralyzed with cold, for, as / after
ward learned, the water had been
chilled with 300 pounds of ice and salt.
But, strangely enough, 1 am told by
friends that / did not act cold at all
that night
''Will you always look forward with
horror to being thrown into tanks,
hanged or shot?"
mo, for one gets accustomed to it
But there are times when / am weary
of heavy roles, and yearn for LEADING G
business. In my experience the lead
ing man has a much easier and pleas
anter time than the heavy The viii
lain works up the plot with the ad-
ventures, gets the heroine into his
clutches, :drags her around the stage
or threatens violence, and after he has
worked hard for fifteen minutes or
more and matters have reached cli-
max the heroine screams 'Help!' and
the hero enters with gun and a shout
and gets all the glory
Likewise the salary?" / suggested.
Likewise the salary replied Mr.
Won Meter. "Yes, as I say, when i
get tired, physically, 1 mean, then ]
long for leading roles But, after all,
this has it's compensations Behind ali
the fuss and fury"
Won Meter stopped short, and 1 had
not the least idea what he was intend
ing to say. So | waited.
Il was about to say that even the
villain is rewarded with an occasional
friend. Ones personality"
But" 1 said, you surely do not
descend toNplay over the footlights. ]
have never seen you act out of youl
part for an instant"
"Oh, never" he replied, seriously
That would be objectionable from a
professional point of view. The villain
If he is to be at all convincing, must
act the part with the utmost intensity
But in spite of all there will be an
occasional CLEAN of the real mar
through the red paint and the recog-
milton of that momentary flash is al