Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1909-05-20
.DaUid NJ arfeld
] a1ks TO N omen

west as California, and now at the
/ extreme east, he is ending in Boston
On the way, Mr.. Warfeld found a
new tribulation and a new opportun-
| ity. He is distinguished enough now
! as an actor for clubs and semipublic
| bodies to invite him TO address them.
! Such speaking is now new aVoca-
ton for Mr.. Warfield; his shyness
would steal upon him; and from the
beginning he has been minded to de-
cline such invitations. One club, how
ever, prevailed-the Women's club OF
Los Angeles. Mr.. Mansfield, it
seemed, had spoken before it, and
last winter it was eager that Mr.. War
field should Go likewise. It's spokes-
women pursued him, and here in his
own words is the larger part OF what
he said:
After all, there is little for US act
Ors to say about drama. 1t is for you
who patronize the theater, to tell
what you would have US do, and we
must obey. AS DR.. Johnson once said:
irons give,
For We that live to please must
please to live.
| The actor must go TO the patron to
! get advice, for it is he who says:
Here are life's problems and critt-
cisms; here is a human portrait we
| love; here is character to shun;
here is a poem revealing beauty, and
| love and life. Here they are. Re
| create them, vivify them; make them
live before our eyes that we may pro-
| fit by their example and fate We
want to laugh at the foibles, weep
with the sorrows, and criticise the ac-
tions of the men and women OF this
mimic world which you, kind player,
must reveal to us
Now what kind of life-what kind
of characters for the stage, what
drama, per Sc, will you have? 1t is a
well known axiom of the stage, that
the so-termed actors dramatic
drama the player himself prefers-ts
not the play of the public. What,
then, do you, who represent the intel
ligent patron of the theater desire? |
think l know. What does the repre-
sentative, normal mind crave, for the
atrical entertainment? My answer is
based on experience with the public
and observation of its taste.
FIRST of all, you seem to want a
drama of humanity. By that, l mean
a play containing characters one
meets in this life of today-charac-
ters that have the same kind of heart
throbs, the same kind Of tears, the
same kind of love, and the same
laughter that you have observed, the
human beings that live next door, or
around the corner: or those you nave
seen working in the fields or in the
shops or in factories. Some might live
in palaces, some in cottages or nuts.
Some might work with hands and
hearts, some with mind only, and
some might not work at all The
last kind is too uninteresting to dis
cuss, and he is not wanted in drama
any more than he is wanted in So
ciety. Some are worthy, whether
rich or poor, some are unworthy. But
each plays his part in the drama of
life, each is endowed with flesh and
blood, love and hate, goodness and
badness. And this is the kind of per
son, alive and breathing, with every
day speech, that much provide the
psychology, the life and poetry of the
fYI1 1T.n1N hn fv,l
drama must have, fundamentally,
psychology, life and poetry, and l be-
lieve these elements can be more
fOrcefully used for drama, when taken
from the life and the age that we all
know.
we need not go back to past ages
for stage figures. We need not try to
life them from the sacred pages of the
great poets. If We do, we leave the
poem soiled and the poets name
SCARED. AS a rule. the poets ideal
cannot be realized on the stage.
There is no ethereal actor. No one
can soar with Pegasus as gracefully
as the poet, and the poet is not seen.
Dissect your poem, as you do rose,
and the elemental parts are not love-
ly. We actors are of flesh and blood
like you. We can suggest poetry by
life on the farm, in the little cottage,
even among the sordid factories, if
We look for it. And this poetry the
playwright and the author can express,
if he be an observer of life and poet.
The persons of today have tempera-
ment, character and habits so deViat-
ing. that the drama they are placed
in need of, necessarily, suffer from
paucity of psychology, physical mo-
notony, or lack of variety, in social
conduct.
Sometimes there is less poetry in
! blank verse and rhyme than there is
in prose, and the day of the drama
of stilted speech and artificial life and
acting, l think, has passed. And it
has been proved that smart epigram
and brilliant wit, cannot make a sue
cessful drama if wholesome, human
element belacking You have seen
play after play, of the vulgar or sal
acious kind. perish after mere
ephemeral fash of momentary sue
cess. What drama ever endured that
depended upon sensation or morbidity
to attract? The healthy mind. my
friends. is dominant N the theatre as
much as goodness is dominant in the
world
''The first and most essential ele
ment for successful drama is human