The San Francisco call., 1910-03-06

the habits or their roles They
become. ifSesa1t OF as. presumers
~ on their assumptions. They.
take themselves seriously and
are Liable to behave of stage as
taey a. on. T6is is particulsrly
true when they appear for season
in the same role. If they plaE2 the
same part longer than a season-iet us
say for five or six years-they atsAas
apt to take on the characteristies:. of
their play selves as a child is like to
resemble his mother or his father. goe
Jefferson. it is said. exhibited many ot
the generous traits of Rip Van Wrinkle
before he assumed the part. Later,
and his own son told me so. he was
IS like 10 Rip as man could be bar
ring the bar habit. James O'Nefn, I
imagine. must certainly have become
IS like to Monte Cristo as a man could
be without the hidden treasure. If
The younger salvini had played OAR
tsgnan ror as many years as O'Neill
PLAYED Monte Cristo. the Italian actor
would have been as fine a daredevil
instinotively at Ieast-ss O'Neiu was
IN aveuging spirit in embryo. I may
be wrong about this. but L have found
IL generally true that the stage pre-
tenders who come TO san Francisco
after a season or two in New York
and another season or two over the
eastern routes acquire the manners and
S-sces-if there be any-of the roles
that they put on each night with their
stage clothes. a subconscious inhu-
ence exerts itself They begin, no
doubt. first TO believe in the truth of
their lines. then they accept the real
ity Of their impersonations: then they
sympathize with the individuals which
they theatricaIly present; then they
Iove them. and finally they believe in
them ] knew a player once who had
30 often assumed the role of a CRATER
in political play that he would de-
fend him of the stage with vigor and
esrnestness. He had played the part
80 long that he believed in it.
50 when / went TO visit Evelyn
Vaughan, leading lady, and for once
the term lady means woman as well
IS gentlewoman-I wondered what
manner Of person she might be. I had
never had the advantage of an intro
duction to her. though I had seen her
IS variety of persons from a chair
- the Alcazsr.
Would she be an individual of in
Snite moods. an indefinsbIe somebody
who was nobody? I wondered if her
real personality had been completely
lost in the thicket of her art and
whether she would recognize herself
outside OF her dressing room. When
one is Tess one week, Henrietta an
other, Juliet this week and Julia the
following-when, 10 be brief. one IS q
different person publicly for each of
20 odd weeks in q season, what be-
comes Of ones self? Would there be
anything left OF an individual entity?
found out soon enough
Miss Vaughan didn't want TO be in
terviewed- She really didn't And I
know, believe me, when embarrass-
lnent is assumed and when it is real
The reason, she was frank enough to
tell me at the Alcazar theater after
rehea rsaI of Classmates" was because
well, becausei
"A most excellent reason I would
have said had ] thought of it in time
Instead I didn't say anything, but
crowded into her dressing room with
Mr.. Crawford of the Alcazar and the
artist who, armed with paper and pen
ell. proposed to supply the third men,
Der Of the third degree" company.
The fact is that stock playing
leaves one untouched by stage
mannerisms. Stock players IN
Ioss they are supers or beginners with
their first lines in their mouths. are
-ntirely human. Life with them is
ask. and not an easy one Their hours
re as exactly regulated as though
lley punched time clocks and left their
hats in the basement under department
3. The clerk who goes to his store
entrance AT O'CLOCK in the morning
and trOlleys home at has nothing on
the stock actor or actress so far rs
regime and system are concerned, and
the smile that the ribbon clerk wears
when the boss is by affects his or her
disposition no more than smiles or
tears disturb the real qualities of the
stock player. There can be nothing
STACEY or unreal about the person who
has so many characters to assume in
q month that there is no surcease from
work except in being natural
I found Miss Vaughan to be so hu-
man that she was willing to let me
talk We visited. while the artist drew
her picture and the heroine OF the
sketch listened to my chatter as though
she liked it Once. she said, perhaps
srchly, rs this an interview and
forgot myself so far as to say that it
was just visit