New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-05-10

farcical situation. manufacturer Colh-
edy will never score. Its chances are
even worse IN vaudeville than In the
legitimate theatres. 1t has been said that
good comedy playlets are scarcer than
good three-act comedies. And any one
who has written plays for both stages
will tell you there is no audience more
difficult TO move to laughter or tears than
a vaudeville audience. 1.-THE Twelve
Pound Look" was much more Of sue
cess at the Empire Theatre than 1t was
at Proctor's Fifth Avenue Theatre-and
this was not because vaudeville audiences
did not understand its delicate humor 1t
was because what is intended for comedy
dialogue in vaudeville must be so con-
densed that the merely human lines or
gently humorous ones are eliminated.
leaving the lines that are hearty laughs
so closely together that the dialogue
seems like a succession of what are vul-
carly known as screams Had Mr.. Bar
RE. probably the greatest dramatist Of
his day seen his playlet in vaudeville, he
would have been the first TO notice the
difference in its greeting there from the
way il was received when played as a
curtain-raiser in the legitimate theatres.
4 vaudeville audience that is not laugh
ing outright al a comedy becomes list
less This is "A deplorable fact. but il is
nevertheless true If playlet is intended
to be a comedy, even the story or plot
must be told in dialogue that is humor-
ous-and by humorous l mean It must get
, laughs Vaudeville managers never
back playlet that makes an audience
smile-for while the humor that brings a
smile may be more brilliant than the
comedy that gets a laugh. 1t must always
be remembered that vaudeville audiences
come to laugh and not TO smile. The
work Of the author of a one-act comedy
is not over until, after several weeks of
playing. his playlet has been so reshaped
and altered by him that not one duh spot
remains I'm it. Individual lines must he
condensed so that they are as short as
they can be possibly made. The elimina-
ton of every unnecessary phrase or word
is essential. Where a line that develops
the plot can he altered so that II will
still serve its purpose and also score a
laugh on its own account, II must be so
changed. Where lines cannot be changed,
bits Of comedy business may perhaps be
inserted 10 keep the audience from laps
ing into lstessness. Some of the biggest
laughs in my little comedy Youth,
which Mrs Gene Hughes has been play
ing for three years, were put in by me
while we were breaking in the piece in
Perth Amboy and New Rochelle. l per-
sonally watched every one of the twenty
two playlets ! wrote for vaudeville last
season for at least two weeks during their
try-outs in the moving picture houses
and | attribute whatever success they
have had later in the best vaudeville
theatres to tho Improvements l made
during their breaking in" periods OF
course, all the elminations or additions
or changes in dialogue that are made in
A playlet must be so effected that the
result is not a patchwork. The "Ars
Celare Artem" precept Of Aristotle must
be learned by the one-act playwright be-
fore anything else, for once the machin-
cry of his art is in evidence he has de-
feated his own ends
SO much for the vehicle Now for the
playing. That the actor who would score
in vaudeville requires different tech
nique from the legitimate player there
can be no doubt But a technique that is
Just as artistic, and. II anything, more
difficult 10 master, for the actor who Is
altering his methods TO accomplish the
best results in the variety theatres must
so conceal the fact that his audiences dc
not recognize they are having concession;
made TO them. For instance, the playel
i'm vaudeville is often told Ito throw his
lines directly out 'front.'" but nothing or
an actor cruelty perSisting in this habit
Here is where the artist by deft tech
nique must effect it so that the line Is
handed over without the audience no
ticing it. The same wisdom must o'
shown IN concealing the broadening oil
each ehect.
Vaudeville has absolutely no use FOL
the actor who speaks words and not
thoughts While this fact should also b'
in evidence in legitimate theatres, l have
known many actors TO achieve reputa'
lions as clever players in the drama who
gave the sort of mechanical, unintellisent
careless performance which would prove
fatal 10 a sketch. A variety audience de-
nsnds that the actor show the though
that he is uttering in every feature
every muscle Let him fail to do this, and
YOU will see the audience start to lookAi
the programme TO see when the acrouat'