Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1907-08-18
STAGE DIRECTOR HAS
A DIFFICULT TASK

give IL TO another III Oruer W pIOuuSS
rounded and symmetrical whole
To borrow an expression from the
athletic field, what the director strives
for is team work, rather than brilliant |
individual effort. He must see that there
is no dissonance; that the several roles
in the piece he Is producing are Played
in the same key, that no minor role Is
made unduly prominent
All this is not conducive to popularity
Consequently when l discovered that Ho-
bart Van Zandt Bosworth, director OF
the Belasco company, has no share IN
the general dislike leveled against stage
managers, but that, on the other hand,
he has succeeded in winning both the
respect and regard of members OF the
Belasco company, I set myself to discover
the cause of so curious and unusual
condition.
Works with Players
First asked one of the women of the
company. "That Is easy" she replied. |
"Mr. Bosworth works with us, not upon
us"
Probably that is only half truth, but
that she believes 1t speaks much for the
Bosworth method.
Next l went to the stage director him
self and, without putting the popularity
problem to him directly, learned that MT.
Bosworths success as a stage manager
had been bulded upon the mistakes OF
others.
For twenty years Hobart Bosworth
was leading man, under Augustin DAILY,
with Mrs Fisk and with other producers
and stars of the first magnitude. Then
his health failed and he turned to the
duties of stage manager to avoid night
work, which, his physicians told hlm'
would lead to serious trouble II con-
tinued. ;,
.When 1 became a stage manager,
said Mr.. Bosworth, IL tried to remember
al the faults of the stage managers un-
der whom l had worked and to AVOID
them / tried to make things easy for the
actors Here at the Belasco the tlrst
thing l did was to abolish the THURSDAY
rehearsal. Then l announced that we
would have no acting at the reaulhs re-
hearsal but would merely read the sew
eral parts as rapidly as possible. L called
r.hearsals for 0S0 instead of 10, and
dismissed them never later than 2 except
the Monday scenic rehearsal when is
usually over by 2:30 or and never lasts
later than o'clock Since 1 have oeen
in charge of the Belasco stage we nave
held only three Sunday rehearsals' we
aim never to hold them l oelleVe we
r.bearse less than any stock company
in America; less hours and fewer days.
a hemdTkdplC nCSS'N
That is truly remarkable record 1or
= company that gives the finished Mon-
day night performances OF the beiasco
organization and with weekly cnange
of bill.
tinued Mr. Bosworth, "begins with the
selection of the play Once the SCRIPT
reaches me 1 read 1t three times, onoe
for the plot. second with view to the
cast and third to familiarize myselr
thoroughly with its story and spirit
when I first came here I played CARDS
so to speak with the cast, In oroer "
discover the peculiarities OF the actors.
found, for instance, that Lewis STONE 10
a remarkably good character actor Ior
a leading man and nave utlll|eu nc 90
knowledge more than once. In one VI
our recent productions l even cast stone
for what YOU would call the 'heaVH
and Glazier for the LEAD.
"A+ first when 1t came to casting
niece 7 had to experiment. NOW my
that on nv second reading nave pre-
~ clear idea of the different peopie III
the different roles VI course ~ ,,s,,.
many such as this the leading roles usu5
Eli, ore allotted to the leading man anu
saad;nq woman, but that doesn't always
follow, For instance, couldnt see Wise
Aihertson in The Undertow,' and SO she
tool a weeks vacation and MISS Smythg
played the part. OUTSIDE Oh LIZ eaoh
try to distribute the parts SO tnat eaoi
in turn may have an important i0o'
Changes the Text
"This matter of casting a play, h TOW
ever. is not the first vexatlous Propie,i
to he solved Frequently l nave "
change the script of play. When az.
r,'. ho,,rs 70 road It. That meant 1t had
10 he cut. and 1 cut it. Entire scenes
U,ere changed Even the ending was
changed. The authors ending was log
ical enough, but the people Wouluil
stand for it-and the people, you Know
are the final arbiters. u4 o+
"Then tIere was Lefty The last act
90 that NAV had always been it's weak
spot. 1t was merely recapltuiatioii VI
What had gone before l cut IT out alto-
either and no one knew the difference.
When we put on Sue L changeu one
act from an interior scene to out OF uools'
That was natural, for here III Calllor ma
ranch life is out of doors. hau one iillo
ser built for the production. TINS was
,'sed in the third act, which I made a
gambling scene, with miners coming III
and weighing out their gold dust 1or
chips and so forth. None or that was
in the play until I put 1t there
But have you the right to make THESE
changes?' asked.
II claim the right, replleu NIL
worth. II am responsible for results
and whenever see place where thlnK
a play can be improved for our use
claim the right to make that improve
ment
Sometimes it is question of expense.
You know we are not niggardly here at
the Belasco, but royalties are going up
constantly and we have to economize
where we. can. Therefore, in my scene
plots try to be guided by what we have
on hand. Sometimes the various sets re-
quired are explained in the manuscript of
the play, but more frequently they are
not Then build the scene, not always
to scale, and hand it over to the mechan-
ical department.
Costuming Is Difficult
Next comes the costuming All the
costumes are submitted to me for my
approval; and here in Los Angeles we
sometimes have much trouble in getting
what we want When we put on Lady
Ursula we had much difficulty over our
wigs, and that is only one case in point
zone of the chief duties of the stage
manager is to reconcile all the opposing
elements about the theater; to stand be-