The Washington times., 1912-05-23
BY RUPERT HUGHES.

Among the bromides to which the
public is addicted, the remark that ac-
tors are Jealous of one another Is one OF
the most frequently administered l do
not rise to deny that jealousy Is to be
found among the people Of the stage.
OF course II Is. Jealousy Is trait of
all races and conditions of men, OF
animals. and apparently Of plants. and
certainly of minerals and chemicals.
Actors, like the rest OF us, are combi-
nation of human, animal, vegetable,
mineral, and chemicals.
What l rise to aver Is, that actors
as a clas are no more afflicted with
jealousy than any other class. I have
had an opportunity Of comparison, for
or the personal note Is permissible) while
my work for the stage and my member
ship of the Lambs Club have given me
close acquaintance for many years with
the theatrical profession. have also
had occasion to know a good deal about
scientists, clergymen, painters, musi-
clans, editors. authors, historians. SOL
diers, physicians, carpenters, farmers,
and whom-not
Jealousy Among Scholars.
I was engaged for some years on the
staff of big historical publication and
an encyclopedia. Here, II anywhere,
there should have been a passion for
justice and a placid superiority to per-
sonalties. Yet the petty animosities
of scholars were astonishing
Two learned theologians when invited
to write upon a Scriptural subject,
spoke of each other with the most sec
ular contempt. Each declared that the
other was ignorant, vicious, and absurd.
And then there is ethnology-as pretty
work as Mesopotamia. Some people
may not know that an imaginary race
has been invented to explain certain
primeval Semitic problems, as the other
has been imagined to bolster up certain
scientific theories.
The editor-in-chief asked the most
eminent German scholar and the most
eminent French scholar In this ancient
Held to contribute treatises. Each re-
fused to degrade himself by appearing
in the same cast with the other: both
were evidently seduced by that dear
American dollar, and each included in
his solmen pages a spiteful reference
to the hopeless illiteracy of anyone who
could accept his rivals views.
In editing the Musical Guide, 1 asked
| score of the most important musical
critics in England and America to con-
tribute. The critic nf one Of the most
important London dailies refused to ap-
pear in our pages, II the critic Of one
Of the most important London weeklies
appeared there.
Doctors Jealous, Too. /
In our own New York. the jealousies
of doctors are well known; not only
Of school against school, but of individ-
ual against individual. The patient may
die. but the personal spleen must Sc
crete its acrid ferment.
What is Wall Street but a theater
where money-tugglers try to ruin each
others scenes, crab each others busi-
ness, and get in on the big curtain
calls?
The attitude of the newspapers to
one another is not to be escaped. When
one Of them discovers a pole. or starts
a war, or passes a bill, the others either
steal the glory or belittle 1t.
When I first came to New York. I
| had the usual reverence for Bohemia
that is cherished by people from out
of town, or uptown. 1t became evident
at the first spaghetti org yordinaire.
that Bohemians as class were per-
or laziness, by ridiculing the work or
the methods Of the successful authors.
And the successful authors cannot
bear to read each others works.
that greatest Of all expressionists, who
was an actor, "All the worlds a stage,
and all the men and women profession
ally Jealous"
Not All Jealousy.
And yet, have we a right to say
"all?" In every walk of life. decency
and charity and cooperation are in
cessantly at work. Otherwise, the
Jackals would be yelping in our capt.
| tails and there would be no theaters or
art galleries, or Libraries or hospitals
or factories.
Acute and hampering jealousy is so
rare that 1t attracts attention. Actors
living in the fierce white hmelight that
beats upon a makeup are peculiarly
under observation. AS they make their
livings by renting their personalities
on platform, so their flaws are more
| generally known But they also do
good by stealth-in the wings. as II
| were.
Jealousy is no more characteristic OF
them than Of shoe merchants. sections,
or Salvation Army saints. Cities and
nations are Jealous of one another.
Railroads are jealous of one another;
banks, schools, charitable societies.
philanthropists. plumbers, undertakers.
|