Los Angeles herald., 1907-11-24
TO LISTEN WELL
IS TO ACT WELL

nF the actors and actresses who
have won a Secure place on the
" stage" there is mot one among them
ALI who has come to his goal without
mastering the art of listening" So says
James L. Ford, at the same time descrlb-
ing this feature of the actors art as
.'the one absolute essential in the art of
legitimate acting" Broadly speaking.
.Iistening to the use of the voice" the
writer goes on to say in Scribner's Mag
azine, constitute the entire technic of
the art of acting; and OF the two,
listening is the more important, because
1t survives in pantomime, most difficult
form of acting which does away with the
use of the voice" Very few laymen, the
writer asserts, and, strange as 1t may
seem, mot very many actors, have ever
considered the supreme Importance that
listening plays on the stage II an
actor is not deeply interested in what is
going on in the mimic world IN whlcn
he has been cast, he cannot look for
anv real interest on the part of his audi
ence; and the only way in which he can
denote that interest is by the intensity
with which he listens to everything that
has any bearing whatever on his life
land actions and the skill with which he
expresses the feelings bred of what he
hears" A notable example is quoted
from the life of Edwin Booth That actor
once said that he considered Salvtnfs
OthelIo. in the great scene in which Iago
imulants In his mind his suspicious of
Desdemona, the finest individual piece of
acting that he had ever seen in his life
We read:
"This scene has always been consid-
cred lagos great opportunity, and more
than one famous actor has either made
reputation or added materially to 1T by
his playing in it. It is Iago who does
all the talking, all the suggestion, all
the acting Every word that falls from
his lips is freighted deep with significance
70 OetheIlo and-what is of infinitely
greater importance-to the audience.
There is no one in the whole house who
is not hanging on lagos utterances and
wondering to what length he Will dare TO
20 The sort of actor who judges a part
by the number of words that it contains
would choose Iago for the opportunities
q afeords in this scene and would regard
it as inconceivable that an actor should
he willing to take his chances in Othello
who must remain dumb and has no OPP
portunity at all
SaIvini as a Listener
All OInellO mas lO OO III NLlo oSOAAS -
70 listen to the words as they fall from
the crafty lagos lips. That was all Sal
yini did when he made greater impress
sion on the enlightened and critical mind
of Edwin Booth than had any other play
or of his time. All he did was to listen!
But what listening! Iago might have
been a photograph for all the audience
cared. No one looked at him, no one
thought of his facial expression or his
,fes " of,,x.o 1i5V1
and It mattered but little whether he
read his lines intelligently or no.
The audience knew well enough what
every sentence meant, and in watching
the effect of each one on Othello soon
lost afl interest in the actor who delivered
them.
"And as Salvini listened he walked in
a circle, wide as the stage, around the
rascal who was poisoning his life and
lighting in his heart the murderous
flames of jealousy--walked as a panther
walks round the edge of its cage-and as
he walked he listened, pausing now and
then in his stride to stand with arms
tensely folded across his chest, the blood
lust cleaning in his eyes and every
lineament of his face rejecting the sus-
picions. the passions. the jealousies kin
died in his heart by lagos every word.
IT was this wonderful listening that paved
the way for the supreme moment when,
in a sudden and uncomfortable frenzy,
he sprang upon his informant, hurled him
to the ground and, towering above him
like an avenging fury, poured forth a
torrent of italian invective that was like
an overwhelming flood Of lava from the
mountains height.
ut was, perhaps. the most effective
moment in the play-this awful outburst
OF passion long suppressed-but the great
acting part of the scene was that In which
he listened. and by listening not only