The sun., 1909-05-09

conceal his wabbly legs, and leaning
nonchalantly on it with one elbow, which
allowed his chin to rest in his hand while
his other hand caressed his sword. he
presented the appearance Of being per-
fectly at ease.
When George Rignold played Henry v.
and asked Kate to marry him with his
bluf. hearty. natural Kate. will you
marry me?' his audiences found the pro-
posal perfectly delicious. but explained
it's naturalness by the fact that royalty
could take liberties with even such time
honored procedure as love making. To-
day we have travelled far enough to know
that king and oommoner are alike when
1t comes to the great. emotional crises
OF life and we don't expect to see any dif-
ference. but we have to stand for lot that
is just as false to art and to nature. l
have no hesitation in saying that the
average acting Of to-day is pretty awfui
pretty awful rot There. you've got it.
Rotl
Il believe that two good reasons for
this lie in the fact that the average actor
does not study and does not observe.
The average acting fails to hit the mark
because it Is too theatrical, and the aver
age actor fails because he lacks versa
tility.
In The Only Way where l had one
Of the most satisfactory parts have ever
played. that Of Sidney Carton. there was a
young actor who came on the f rst evening
Of the plays production with the tri-
color sash tied about him like the green
band on st. Patrick's day marshal.
or course all that young fellow had to
do to learn the proper way TO wear it was
to drop into the Lenox or Astor Library
and ask to see some prints Of the French
Revolution, but he probably had more
important matters on hand-a luncheon
engagement or a call on girl
Il wrote a little Western skit once in
which Mexican vaquero, low order OF
cowboy. figured largely. When saw it
for the first time give you my word
hung onto the curtains Of the box to keep
myself from leaping right on the stage
and choking the principal character.
Il was quite calm when | visited him
in his dressing room and told him that il
he ever went on again with his gun on
his left hand side I'd have him put out
OF the piece IL had to have recourse to
the law wouldn't have my work stulti-
fed that way. A cowboy with his gun
on the left hand side. what do you think
OF that? All that man had to do to avoid
such mistake was to study few good
pictures by Remington or fifty other
Western artists, but did he think Of that?
Oh. OF course not.
Did you ever see a cowboy walk pigeon
toed on the stage? i never did, and !
give you my word that never saw one
OF the stage that didn't. They wear very
high heels to give them purchase when
they are roping and the pony throws
itself back on its launches as it is taught
TO do: without that high heel the cowboy
would he thrown and killed, but when il
comes to walking on them, Lord! it's
funny. II cowboy comes to town and
wants to get from one place to another
about three hundred yards away he
jumps on his pony and rides there; he
doesn't walk for its too difficult. and when
he does it's the funniest ever.
please don't think l am knocker-
not at all | am speaking Of the low aver
age, not Of the exceptions. OF which there
are many both in the play writing and
the play folk. We have. however. not
enough, and mores the pity.
Il don't get an opportunity to go TO
the theatre very often. When L do | go