Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-11-26

months to get myself Strengthened out again.
And once, after realistic portrayal OF the
villainous Noah Leroyd in the late Dion
Boucicaults drama, "The Long Strike, on
Western one-night stand, was denounced
from the audience (which was not so bad)
and caught on the cheek with well aimed
missile (which was). 1t was during the last
scene at the trial of the hero, when the jury
brings in verdict of guilty. AS the Judge
rose to pronounce sentence, man got up
from his seat in the middle of the orchestra,
walked rapidly down the aisle to the foot
lights, and, before the Judge had chance
/ to open his mouth, cried out, Hold on,
Judge! The prisoner is innocent. There is
the man who fired the shot from behind a
hedge (pointing at me-. Il saw him do 1t!
And, as if to take the law in his own hands,
the fellow threw small missile which
caused my cheek to turn red then black and
blue. That missile, however, was as favor
able piece of dramatic criticism as have
ever received. 1t was nothing if not sincere.
7 HAVE been credited with having been the
first of the so called realistic villains on
the American stage. If | did introduce
realistic villainy" into the theater, it has
been simply because, in every villains role l
have played, with the single possible excep
ton of that in "The Clansman, have borne
in mind one thing,-that even in a villain S
heart there IS gllmmer OF good.
As a result of keeping this constantly in
mind have probably managed to make my
villains seem human beings. To delineate
the character of villain and divest the char
acterization of every ray of decency, morali |
ty, and possible good, however submerged
and supremacy vague, is not to get all out OF
the villain that there is in him. Even the
worst villain in the world smiles sometimes,
and the man who smiles once has some good
in him. | try to suggest that the villain may
have this goodness concealed far, far down
in his heart, even if the goodness never comes
anywhere near the surface.
When preparing myself for enacting a
rascally role l always place myself in the
villains place, and in my minds eye can
| always see that, no matter how base the
man crime may be, back in his heart there
is one thing that might have saved him,
might save him even at the last moment II
he only could have, would have, recourse to
it. The one thing may be the memory of a
love, the dream and hope of early youth, the
mental picture of forgotten illusion of
| other days. But always there is this one
thing, be it what it may. Even murderer,
remember, was once, if only for an hour, a
good man. No human being is entirely bad
no stage character should be. The single
SXCcDIlOu IlldL IldVC lhCillOllCd III
deed, be explained away in the heart of the
| living prototype.
The villains of the stage are becoming less
| and less villainous as the theatrical years
roll by. The villain of dozen murders of
another day has been buried in the store
house of dramatic characters long since.
The villain of other years who robbed and
lied and stole and cheated right and left
seems also to have faded into obscurity.
The villains of the stage today are heroes,
and vice versa. Don't laugh for l speak
the truth!
Public taste has changed. Perhaps, in
deed, human nature, in the general average,
has changed. Your stage villain of the pres
ent time is righteous District Attorney bent
upon the prosecution of crime las in 1The
Gamblers, and your hero Ga bank wrecker
in the play in point is really villain. Your
stage villain of today is an honest detective
pursuing criminal Gas in 1Alias Jimmy Val
entine"), and your hero in the same play is
crook. The really villainous villains of
yesterday are rapidly going down I irne 5 un-
turning lane. The day of the decent villain
has arrived! The villain of yesterday who
shouted, ala, Ha! III have your life yet,
Harold Heatherbloom!' today would say in
suave, soft tones, "I'll meet you at your