New-York tribune., 1910-11-27
EALS1kFF IN I HURRY.
Theodore Roberts Tells How He
prepared for the Part.


ere actor 10 prepare to take the part OF
vne OF shakespeares characters Theodore
Roberts was called upon TO play Fals1aff
sn The Merry Wives Of Windsor" al The
New Theatre recently on few hours no
-5oe And he was not g member Of the
%ev Theatre company either, and was
@be-efo-e. handicapped by not knowing its
officials. and their methods OF manage
,nanr- Furthermore. he had not only never
seen 3. performance of the play hut he had
never read fl
NJ. Roberts is one Of William A Brady's
Hctors lie Was rehearsing the part Of the
editor in Edward SheIdou's The Niger
ard was 10 have gone West in that piece
IN few 6avs. Through Mr. Brady's afTilia-
tion with the Shuber1s and Dir, Lee Shu-
1,er--s association with The New Theatre, #
came about that ATr. Roberts was decided
1lnon 10 succeed Mr.. Louis calvert w-ao
retired from the part of Fa!staf in The
Aerry Wives of Windsor a. The New The
a-re. owing n illness. when Mr. Roberts
vas confronted with the situation on
"Wednesday morning he asked;
ION Friday night he was told
-.Rarler short notice ne replied. but 1
vii undertake it"
NJ Roberts immediately planned his
CampaiEu. concerning which ne said. J
went to The New Theatre on "Wednesday
afternoon and rehearsed the business Of
the scenes WIKI Mss Rose CoChian and
Mss Edith Wynne Matthison. planning 70
devote ali day Thursday and part Of
Friday 70 learning the lines saw
"Wednesday nights performance of the
play. and with pair of opera glasses in
ny hands I watched Louis Calvert prob
ably as closely as ever an actor was
watched made a mental note of every
hit Of business every posture and gesture.
every infection and spoken line. And /
studied 1ir Caivert=s makeup as care
<ullv as ore actor can study another.
noted every time he drew q laugh and just
how he did it, and ! reflected upon the
possibilities of Improvement whenever Il
was possible
IT went home THAI night, studied my
lines fer few hours and then went 20
bed / cid rot arise until nearly noon.
Suddenly the telephone bell rang Hello
voice SAID. Is this Air. Roberts, Yes.
replied.
This IS The New Theatre. NJ. calvert
Is So badly OF that he Will ee unable 20
take ms part and MI Ames wants you 10
60 On tonight VIII you do it,
.I reflected for a bit- I knew scarcely
any OF my lines. However, ] saw the
rif7ouI-y in which The New Theatre T-as
placed So 7 said. Yes. but I vii have
10 use tAe book And I desire that the
audience he informed Of tie cITcuna-
stances.
-Ee are entirely agreeable TO that, was
me rariv All that wish is that you
come to the rescue under whatever eendi-
z1Cns you l3l- ese-
Then / began TO study my lines For
six solid hours I worked as I had never
worked before scarcely taking time for
food 7 found * a most difficult part 70
learn Many of the speeches are long and
there are lots Of them. Ana some are as
hard 10 learn as miscellaneous group Of
words collected At random from rhe die
s-ionary. Then 100. ones memory At fifty
IS not as active Is s. was al twenty. How
<e-er managed to make myself letter per
1ecr u the first ac-
-.EarlE IN the evening I went 10 the
sfearre and il took Two hours 10 make up
N iHnd array myself IN the costume worn by
VI IL. Calvert VIC Ii much smaller man
-han am. Much - the padding that Afr.
sCalver- had worn had 20 be discarded. but
ever then I was as FalscafT saws In the
.ano buckled that had I fallen down II
would have been quite impossible for NE 10
have s0t Up without assistance When the
curtain rose perspired like q stoker. As
7 made nv entrance II was with some mis-
glyIugs. rUt ] knew thai the audience would
b patient with me after hearing. as they
haE. ar the short time which ] had had 10
prepare for the part.
Il went through the first act without
-eny reference 10 the hook. In a hole in the
front Of the stage could see the prompter.
'buJ ne was not Of much assistance TO me.
sor he Is supposed 70 help a man VINO
knows his lines. And I didn't. I had
book WIKI me and soon began to refer
TO il Doubtless no one IN the audience
had ever seen FaIsra1 PLAYED with glasses
On Bur 7 PLAYED him that way-I couldn
have done without them You know my
eyes are not as strong as they were once
How did you feel as the play went on?''
8Ir Roberts was asked
u fell like d green CaTsmau sitting IT
Ct eiEHt-oared shell with a crack crew. I
Est tla- I was not getting all my power
tnto gne stroke and could feel the boat
-znGInc our from under me Bu1 il was
better -he second night and there was
much greater Improvement on Saturday
afternoon. And the fourth time ] played it
on Eons4av night did not use my book
TaE HAD found rnyself-oT FalstaT-
was aa integral part OF the crew ana
se-finc mE power into the sweep.
Have sou ever been called upon 70
-ak. rar- a- such short notice before?"
was smother question
'-OrIr once" saId Nj Roberts -SeV-
eaI years ago 1he actor Who was pay-
1ug the leading part IN -Spiritisn' a. q
IocaI theatre vas taken Ill Aud ] was
asked 70 take his place a. a few hours
ro5icz spent the afternoon going
Through the business with the stage man
7ger and a. uiEh5 I played the part. But
! hzd ny lines posted Oh the table. the
1Taurelp5ece, 5Ee piano. On chairs and OF
1he walls a. every point where the piece
required Ils1 7 should be II the moment
-Aud the s5agehands were particularly eau
TONED J car tell you, not 10 disturb those
lines
You coulort do that IN The Merry
Wives
No. Jack Fals1sf says TOO much and he
says il too fast. And he is. il TOO many
places while he talks
You have played Shakespeare before"
was remarked
oh. yes" said Mr.. Roberts, '-but not
comedy ] always played tragedy