The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-07-29

cry of heart-agony. should say thai 1t was the quality of slncerityl
 Talma studied that moment of hii life and strove for years. in the prI vacy of his library, to give voice ts had succeeded He saved that cry fol a great scene in one of the classic tragedies. What Couuelin doesn't tel us is that Talma tried the treasured. up agony-cry and 1t fell dead flat Therein is exesnpliffed the difficuit par of the actor's art. in tnat he must pro. duce the same mental impression up- on. say, one thousand people. at ths same instant. If he fail to do this the wings.
 The Actor and the Man.
 If the Talma story have any value IL utterly disprovss the Diderot-C Go Quelin theory regarding dramatic art TalTna was great. to himself. ct the terrible moment of shockT Indeed. he was surprised Into natural and ''un- emotional bit of emotion. He felt and no douDt Hooked" the part of a human creature whose heart was suddenly torn with a great grief. At the moment ahat his manhood shone most resplendently, he was the least acLori
 Another great Frencnman, Ribot. has written book entitled, The Psycholo- gy of the Emotions;" but. learned as is the volume. its chief purpose appears to be the aninhiliation of the already exploded science of phrenology. After wading through several hundred pages of philosophizing. one comes to the conclusion that meditation is the only fertilizer for the brain. Perhaps this Is true, Eastern travellers tell us ot wonderful but utterly worthless acts performed by the fakfrs of Hindoostan. We are assured that if one sits calm ly down in e dark celiar and meditates for fifty years, something will come to him" should say so--rheuma- tism at least. Perhaps starvation unless wife or mother IS working to feed him.
 What possible excuse has a rational man who must earn a irving for study ing the ethics of life that is largely wasted, under the best conditions?
 The Mystery of ssage Fright.
 Almost not any of us practice what we preach. Probably M. Coquelin is like other mortals If he felt himself carried away with part doubtless he'd allow his emotions full play, as would the transformer of Oskosh.
 While he was discussing the ao- tors trade it is to be regretted the great Frenchman didn't tell us what place he assigned to stage fright. Daniel Dougherty who was by nature and accomplishments, one of the best me that he owed what fame and sue cess he had attained as an orator to stage fright Looking back over a long series of years he could not re- call a single instance of pronounced success that had not been preceded by fear of his auditors! Think of that. from the lips of the Silver Tongue Orator"
 May 1t not be that the American aborigine understood what this thought typified when he invented as the name for a great chief Old Man Afraid of His Horses? The horse is the Indians companion; he is also his audience, oftener than any other living creature. Indian ponies could write books about the conridencess poured into their ears by nakeds painted mas ters! And many of us would be glad to read them. However, that's merely a thought in passing.
 Whence COmez, the sympathetic VOices 2
 Daniel Doughertys Idea was much more suitable than Coquelin's. He be- lieved that fear of failure imparted to the human voice sympathetic quail ty that attaches hearers to him. All of us know how closely akin to sympathy is love. The orator begins with an appeal to the sympathy of his listener and captures him later by the magic of his words and voice. Any success full public speaker will tell you that the words actually spoken are of sec- ondary importance compared with the tone quality of the performance. Bourke CoekFan knows this secret bet ter than any man since Daniel Dough- erty's day.
 What Is popuiarly described as "catchlng your audience" is always ef- fected by an appeal either to curiosity or sympathy. Paul of Tarsus under stood the trick. and worked it upon his pagan audience at Mars Hill. That was an appeal to curiosity The play wright makes use of this in writing his lines, but the actor rarely has an opportunity to appeai 70 the curiosi- ty of his audience. As rule the man or woman in the stalls is better in- formed as to the thread of the plot than the actor Is supposed to be.
 Art OK OraIOry.
 When Paul walked into the open place on Mars Hill he was in much the same position regarding an audience as that occupied by a street exhorter of the Salvation Army. Most of the peo- pie before him were scoeffrs. First of all, he had to gain their attention He might have done 1t by throwing a double somersault, or palming an obulus. He appealed to their curi- osity instead. Quoting from memory he tackled the proposition like this;
 You are a very religious people.
 "As was coming this way, viewing and admiring your splendid temples and altars, observed that one oi