Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1909-05-26

listen TO Don /
AID ROBERTSON
Hiqh School Students Hear Flo,
quent Address by Famous
Actor and Producer.
Last Friday afternoon the High
school students and q number OF
other Willmar people had the pleas.
ure of listening to one of the most
remarkable addresses ever delivered
in the city. Donald Robertson, the
eminent American actor and pro.
ducer. who in the evening present.
ed "A Curious Mishap" at the
opera house, had volunteered tc
give a short address to the pupils
of the high school, and when he
arrived the auditorium was filled
with an eager and expectant audi.
ence. Mr.. Robertson did not zen.
tertain;" nor did he glory in the
achievements of the nation. He
delved at once into problem, the
problem of how to reclaim the stage
and make it again, as in days of
old, a factor for good, a place for
the beautiful. And he discussed
this problem with the broadness
and earnestness that characterizes
the man with a message. He did
not mince words in speaking of the
drama as it appears today, nor did
he offer any apology for the drama
as it was, and as he hopes it will
again become. ''The theater of
today" he said, 'like the temple
of old, is in the possession of the
money changers. The question is
not asked, does the production
come up to the highest standard of
the true, the good, the beautiful"
but Twill it pay?' And if it pays
it goes on, however low. vile and
despicable it is. This thing has
got to stop, and the people can do
it, by demanding the good and re-
fusing to patronize the bad.'
''The mission of art,' he con-
tinued, ''is to make you feel, not
to make you think. Science makes
you do that. Art is synthetic,
science is analytical. For that rea-
son it is not sufficient for an actor
to know his part by head He
must know it by heart Then,
and then only. can he succeed in
presenting the thought of another.
AS q man thinketh IN his heart,
so is he. For that reason Shake
speare's Hamlet first admonishes
his players to emotionalize thought.
Speak the speech, l pray you, as
pronounced it to you. trippin2]y on
the tongue And you cannot pro-
nounce it 'trippingly' before it has
passed from your head into your
very heart and blood. The second
injunction is Temperance, the high
road upon which the soul travels to
find itself, the quality by which the
intellect becomes the ruler of pas
sion. Let your own discretion be
your tutor, says Hamlet. And in
the final analysis, discretion is syn
onymous with knowledge, which
again implies discrimination.
knowledge is the high priest that
weds intellect to emotion, and the
actor can only lay claim to being an
artist when he succeeds in uniting
the two"
Mr.. Robertson closed with ar
impassioned plea for a clean life
and high ideals. ''When you grow
up, enjoy yourself, but do it sanely
If you are tired, do not go to the
theater. The theater is not hos
pital. Neither is it a peanut
stand. And do not go to the thea
ter to have it cater to your lowe1
self. If you do, you will have t.
gradually increase the dose. That
will mean that you will dull youl
conscience, and eventually kill it
1t will also mean that you will de
stroy your sense of the beautiful
and that is terrible thing. for il
pertains to the infinite. It is i'm
portant that you see truth, but re-
member it is only the master VIII,
can tell you the unvarnished truth
And remember also that to old az,
nothing is left but memory. MAX,
therefore your memories store
houses Of beauty, as fragrant will
high ideals as is the field of whit
lilies over which the breath of Co
blows. Then your lives shall no
have been lived in vain, and you
children's children shall rise an
call you blessed. -
"A Curious AdishaD.''
The few people who were presen
at the Robertson comnanv's nre