Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1914-10-10
PSYCHIC POISONING
TO EXTERMTNATE
BAD ACTORS
Harry Fisher, Comedian of
Passing Show" Offers
Novel Suggestion to Prob
lem Older Than Shakes
pedre.

bad eggs! Brickbatsl Cabbages; The
hook! oh. all these things have been
suggested as a means to rid the stage OF
bad actors. The trouble Is bad actors
invariably stick. But at last solution
has been found--novel, effective. It
should make the bad actor as rare as
the mastodon."
Harry Fisher, who shares the comedian
honors with George Monroe in THE
Passing Show OF 1914" smiled broadly.
It was in the dressing room at the Lyric
yesterday.
This is an cid problem, I know" he
continued. land all efforts so far to
obliterate the bad actor have proved
ine:ectual. Now a French physician, NJ.
Oscar st. ormond has offered a solution.
This Is to inoculate a bad actor with the
idea that he must actually fancy himself
the person he represents, after the theory
of Diderot; so In case the character he
enacts be one blighted by consumption,
he must suffer the pangs of tuberculosis;
II mad person, then he must really and
truly consider himself demented The
result of such careful treatment would be
that all bad actors would presently find
hospitals or asylums.
1--WE find justification for these acts of
humanity in a discussion once held be-
tween John Philip Kemble and DR.. Sam
uel Johnson. Kemble had told the doctor
that he was not one of those enthusiasts
who believed himself transformed into
the very character he represents. To be
sure not replied the Doctor The thing
Is impossible, and II Garrick really be-
lieves himself, as he has said, to be the
monster Richard the Third, he deserves
to be hanged the next time he performs
him. Garrick, not being a bad actor,
escaped the halter.
This plan of eliminating the bad
actors by what might practically be called
self-destruction has its merits. and is
surely worthy of trial. A feasible, work.
able, scheme would be to induce some
humanitarian manager to flor his play
house for series of matlnees and then
invite all the bad actors, who think them
selves great ones, to present those plays
which were strongest in their fancy. All
the really immoderately bad ones. who
possess a tragic bent of mind. imagine
they can play Richard III far better than
Sir Henry Irving, Edwin Booth or even
Garrick ever dared to. All that would be
necessary, then, would be to inoculate
these public tormentors with the st.
Ormond idea and we would presently
have them all fast behind prison bars"
when it comes TO the leafing ladies,
Camille would offer an excellent oppor-
tunity to rid the stage of many a one
who rightly belongs behind a ribbon
counter AS they refuse TO occupy their
time In such like occupations, a few
matinees devoted to the Partisan heroine
would send the whole pesky lot to Ari-
zona for their health.
Think, too, OF the possibilities OF that
great old play Jane Eyre and the
number of actresses that could be shunted
to Bloomingdale by a performance or
two of Mrs. Fairfax, the mad wife OF
the drama. If. likewise, some OF the
really worse ones, in the way of roman
tic actors and comedians, could be in
duced to give a performance of Nathan
Hale. the halter would be used with
admirable effect
once yielded himself up to the force
and impetuosity OF his imagination so
completely when acting the role OF Lu-
sgnan in the tragedy OF 'Zara' that on
the discovery of his daughters mis-
fortune he tainted away and soon close
his eyes in death. PIiny, the philoso-
pher, related the story of an actor who
imagined the gout so naturally that at
length he brought on that disorder; while
Nine. Clairon, a celebrated French
actress, accounted for her prematurely
aged appearance by the influence of the
GrIefS and diStresses with which she had
been constantly overwhelmed year alter
year upon the stage.