The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1908-12-31
From the Kansas City Star.

From the Kansas City Star.
IN READING of the life of Richard
NO Mansfield, as narrated in the BIZ
ography of Mr.. Paul Wilstach,
Just published, will inevitably put into
the readers heart more charity, more ad-
miration, for those of the stage who are
engaged in honest, ambitious undertake
ings To some extent Richard Mans
field was misunderstood; to some ex-
tent he was deliberately misrepresented;
to some extent he had faults that in
vited criticism and misconstruction. But
he was a great man, great actor, de-
voted artist and the most generous star
that has ever contributed to the enter
tainment of American theatre-goers.
1t was 80 years from the time Mans
field first played part professionally
before he began to put aside a fortune.
Even after he began to provide for the
future he was not less generous with his
public; but the time had come when, in
spite of his lavish outlay in new produc-
tons, he still had considerable surplus
Before that time about all he had out
of his career was distinction and good
living, and there were times in his earlier
professional years when he did not even
have a good living He chose to excel,
and to excel he was willing to give back
to the public practically all he received
from it. And often when he did not have
enough to make his new productions, he
went into debt, sometimes heavily, more
than once rsking as much as 100000 on
single production. 1t is a surprising fact,
brought out in the narrative of his life,
that several of his presumed successes
did not bring any profits to the actor at
the end of the season because of the alb
normal cost of large companies, elaborate
mountings and transportation bills.
The dispassionate light-hearted public,
with its sense of humor and its too shall
low conception of the temperament and
the sensibilities that must inevitably ac-
company genuinely artistic nature, with
but frail grasp of the arduous labor
and overwhelming responsibility that
must be assumed by a producing star
this public is too prone to view the life
and the achievements Of the player from
a false point of view. Perhaps this is
due, in a large measure, to the false
world in which the artist himself lives
and has his whole professional being The
painter and the sculptor and the COM
poser do not put their personal selves
into their work. The actor himself makes
the picture, the statue, or, If you will,
the melody, and while he has his advan-
Ia ges in creating the Huston of reality,
he also has the disadvantage or being
ly-physicaly-set forth in the
product This brings into view and sub
pects to consideration and comment all
his individual characteristics If these
characteristics are ingratiating he is for
tunate; IL they are calculated to detract
he is handicapped. Sometimes the line
between the sublime and the ridiculous
is SO thin that it is easily broken. For
this reason it sometimes happens that
one person will regard as merely anus
ing effort a performances that another of
| equal intelligence may find work Of ad-
mirable quality.
1t may be safely said that the best
play, the best performance or the best
characterization now before the Amer
! lean public may be torn to pieces" for
| the delectation of a considerable number
| NV a satirical critic in an iconoclastic
| mood. If one insists on seeing the funny
| side of acting-and just because it Is
| acting not reality-there is absolutely
| nothing on the stage that he needs to
take seriously. And he will find 1t easiest
and sometimes most entertaining to
| others-to rail at the most dstin-
guished.
One SO inclined can have real sport with
| Maud dams Nine J<alioh Nine Nazi.
nova Mrs. Fiske, Otis Skinner, e. II
Sothern or any other player whose char
acteristics are familiar to the public
Just as the cartoonist can make you laugh
by celebrating certain physical traits
of the most symmetrical face the public
knows There have been few actors who