The Newark star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1909, 1909-11-19

Not a bit of it. A sunny smile made
me welcome, and inside of five n
we We're having beautiful CONVERSE
lions about various things" to quote
a very earnest very little girl that l
know.
@..eDo5you find that being so ~ih-natured
always in this play has any effect upon
your leisure hours?" asked l, when l
had told Of my very agreeable disap-
sentiment.
May I spray my throat frst?" Mr..
Dodson has cold, and is afraid he'll
lose his voice. There, that's better.
Now, to. answer your question, indeed
no. My stage character is dropped
when I snter the wings. There Is a
one OF its pupils-that taught that no
personal feeling should be permitted to
enter into a role; that the actor must
be absolutely cold inside, and just act,
act his roles, not feel.them.
"Coquelin was so ischooled that he
could portray the highest ecstacy or the
greatest grief without being disturbed
a particle by either. But | never
agreed with that theory completely.
though / think it is ridiculous for an
actor to let. stage emotion run away
with him. There is q very happy
medium that only the few strike. The
great irving was one. / do not belieye
that Coquelin ever stirred hearts like
Irving did.
THE trouble is" MI. Dodson con-
tinued tnoughtfully. that actors, some
of them, have little or no self-control.
That is why emotional roles are dan
eerous for them. One time I had a
girl in my cast who had a rather
pathetic part. She was completely car
ried away by it. All through her scene
she sobbed real sobs and rained real
tears until she was a sight, eyes and
nose swollen. But, Mr.. Dodson, / fee
It so in here she told me clutching the
place where her heart was supposed to
be, Il, cannot help weeping
'sMy DEAR said !, the pathos is not
for you to feel. You must make your
audience feel it, There is something
ludicrous about a swollen nose and red
eyelids. Tears are for those who watch
you, not for you. Now. next time act
your grief until your audience weeps
Do not become SO absorbed in it thai
you forget your audience
.All Of, which goes TO show,r con-
Guided Mr.. Dodson, that in order tc
give, a semblance of reality on the stage
one must be unreal. People will see q
drawing-room play, and say to each
other, how natural Yet if we should
give a real drawing-room scene ex-
actly as it Is in life, they'd say, how
have to- play every minute, and the
-.1,o ... x,1 r%nn,t tho u-a 10 ro
playing"
Meaning that realism on the stage
is strictly stage realism?" l asked.
Exactly" said Mr.. Dodson. and It
always Will be, of necessity. Do YOU
mind II I smoker He lighted a cigar
and blew a cloud ceiling-ward.
"You like your role Of Sir John?". +
Very much" said he, but it is one
OF the parts in which n has to work
every minute. Some character roles
just play themselves after one has
learned the business. But with Sir
John one has to work every minute to
make the audience like him, ever while
he's making himself as dislikable as
possible. And that" he shook his head
solemnly, els not easy" 81
But the hard work has its compen-
Stations, when you n tnat you've won
your audience, hasn't It'll"
Indeed, yes
"Some think Sir John has a change
of heart when he forgives Sir Isaac
said I. "I don't. 1t seems to me that
he gives in because he is cornered He
is in Sir Isaac's debt, and his chill
dren's happiness depends upon his re-
lenting. SO he does the inevitable as
gracefully as possible. simply because
there Is nothing else to do. A man who
spent lifetime hating another could
not experience a complete change OF
heart in a couple of hours"
You have put your finger on the
weak spot said Mr.. Dodson, beann-
ings when / read the play Z refused
to consider it, believing that the pub
lie would laugh at the ending. IT
didn't seem plausible to me-, either, but
I.took the part and played it. n have
Won the public's appreciation Of that
very ending. and that" he assured
me delightfully."-. sis one Of the greatest
s~atisfactions of my profession--1o make
the unreal seem real, the illogical seem
like logic. These things we cali
triumphs."