The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1912-07-19
BY ESTHER GRIFFIN WHITE.

Isn't he grand"
Perfectly lovely"
"She's the sweetest thing!"
They're dead in love with each 9TH
er-'
Il should say-look at the way he
kisses herr"
81 wish / was on the stage"
"Uh-huh. Not thing to do but go on
once a day"
Have your mornings and afternoons
and parts of the evening"
Perfectly dandy"
Thus they prattle about the matinee
idol or the leading lady.
When it may be that the two detest
each other for professional and per-
sonal reasons, and the leading lady
may be married to manufacturer of
chewing-gum or pistols whom she
adores
The matinee idol, on the other hand,
has wife and three children, and off
/ the stage, is as dull as ditch-water.
The truth is that there are no harder
worked people than those of the theat-
| rical profession.
And, not unfrequently, none more
commonplace.
For one of the seeming anomalies of
the stage is the ability of its expositors
to assume something they do not pos
sess, and of which seemingly, they
have little comprehension.
| Actors, as a class, do not belong to
the intellectuals.
And the art of acting is more or
less mechanical process.
| 1t is governed by certain set conven-
tons and rules of procedure that must
be met and given consideration.
| These might be termed the techni-
que of the stage but not of dramatic
| art.
The latter is something finer and
more subtle. And is strained through
the alembic of individuality.
A certain amount of mental acumen,
however, is called for in every phase of
the art of acting.
Take, in instance, the stock company
playing a summer engagement in this
city and which gives two plays each
week.
| If you think it's light matter to
learn one part, say, week, try 1t. But
two, you will find, is a strain on the
physical and mental makeup.
| Every morning is spent in rehears-
| ing
Three afternoons and every evening
in playing.
And the times between frequently in
study.
! A repertoire actress once told the
writer that when she first started in
with two bills a week program she
only slept from four until seven each
day-playing every night, going to her
I lodgings to study until four in the
morning and getting up at seven in
time for additions and toilet before re-
hearsal.
When she "got onto the ropes" of
course, it was not so hard, since she
arranged her day into less exhaust
| ing regime but the process of SO doing
was grueling
All illusions vanish after you have
witnessed a rehearsal.
The rose-colored glamour in which
the matinee idol and the leading lady
are enveloped has floated into the
rigging and their ardours are turned
O and off like water from a spigot.
A dismantled stage, lighted by stray
CLEANS of sunlight that enter surrepti-
tiously from the alley or struggle over
the line which divides the stage from
the house, greets your vision, with dim
figures sitting about the edges of ia
bles, barrelheads or other nondescript
| furnishings.
Disconsolate figures, ghostly and pal
| bored.
Two are standing up stage.
| One, somewhat disheveled, with his
hat over one eye peering at roll OF
dog-eared manuscript in his hand.
The other, a trig, tailor-made lady.
The man begins to read rapidly and
monotonously in sort of cross be-
tween priest-like chant and school
boy in the fourth reader.
Now embrace her." yells the stage
manager from the northwest corner
where he had so far remained undis-
covered.
| The mans arm flaps Imply across
the leading lady's shoulders the while
his eye vaguely wanders down the
page.
| kiss her-kiss her-hurry man
we're only on the second act and it's
after eleven"