The San Francisco call., 1910-03-27

III
tedly freakish always expect to
see q big man II he's from
- Texas. He must be hearty and
fun Of JUNCTION He may be fat.
bur at least he must be portly, and. he
must have deep bass voice. Blue eyes
are reasonably to be expected, and a
complexion inclined to the fiorid- He
must be genial. large hearted and sin
cere. he viii speak with a soft
southern drawl and at all times exhibit
. uniformity Of agreeableness and affs-
biIity except when deeply stirred; then
he must be something of a devil with
his temper and storm and be fearfuily
in earnest and courageous. Above all
he will be courteous and hospitable and
gallant in his usual mood of unrufied
self-reIiance-
That's A1aclyn Arbuckle.
After meeting him several times and
interviewing" him once I am con-
strained 10 be of the opinion that he
does not act much as the sheriff in
-The Round Up" at the Columbia thea
ter. He turns his big personality
loose and boyishly becomes himself
exaggerated. For the frontier terror
of evil doors parallels in the play all
my preconceived notions OF what
Texan should be, and Arbuckle off the
stage exhibits the same qualities.
though I have not yet confirmed the
characteristics Of an aroused temper
a nd stress in the individual Arbuckle
v hich the actor .Arbuekle discloses in
the theater. I Dare say, though, that
the temper is there. otherwise, how
ever, there is a mutuaIity of characters
istics between the sheriff and the man
quite startling and thoroughly confirm
atory Of the prescribed qualities first
above enumerated.
HAVE admitted that it is freskish
to assume that man. just because he
halls from Texas, should be large.
a rigid application of the theory would
assume the Rhode Island native to
be = pigmy. and we know, of course,
that he is not However that may be,
MacIyn ArbuckIe convinced me at once
that there was some esoteric reason
which I leave to philosophers to dis
cover-why Texan is all I have said
he should be.
Yet ii is not good for an actor to be
born in Texas. Arbuckle is a lone star
out OF the Lone Star state. He tells me
he had a hard enough time to get
recognition as an actor.
He went from Office to Office in New
york seeking employment Every
where, says he, there was the same
response: we would take you on. but
the role we could use you in requires
that the player wear a dress suit and
be a gentleman of polish and refine
ment."
For two weeks Arbuckle endured
this. He was getting hungry and he
\ Wouldn't write home to father because
father was a regular actors father and
objected to Maclyn's going on the
stage.
7 needed food" Arbuckle went on
between battles at the Columbia, .and
kept on trying. I made my way into
another managerial Office. where 1 told
the boss what I wanted.
-Frohman was assembling a com
pany to play Men and Women
What can you do2 was asked
Anything from wearing toga to
low comedy. said L
we were getting on spIendily to-
gether and l saw myself once more be-
fore an imaginary dining table when
he said:
You are from the SOUTH
Tn from Texas. sir said l.
Then the same answer came. IT
was too bad because he had just the
role for me; it would fit my girth and
voice and personality, but the man to
assume it would have to act like a
gentleman. wear dress suit and top
at and know how TO kiss lady's
hand with grace and elegance.
"That was the final blow. I turned
loose ali my wrath upon his head.
abused him with all the skill born of
my desperation backed by early train