The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-11-15


peated TIE Sun reporters
question, one feels Of course happy
ana gratifed. But one feels the high
eat satisfaction in knowing that some
thing which one has long realized one
self Is at last acknowledged by others.
What ] mean, to make the illustration
concrete. IL that / have always felt that
! had II in me to be just as fine an
actress in 'Outcasr as the critics and
the public acknowledge | am just now.
But ! could never have persuaded any
one Of that fact unless I proved il t.
the world. Now the confidence | have
always felt both in disappointment and
! In success has been justified. really
did have it in me TO be an actress.
Miss Fcrguson's modest estimate OF
The part she plays in the great success
Of "Outcast" at the Lyceum Theatre Is
characteristic. Her ascent to her pres
ent place on the stage has been gradual.
but it has been steady. She might have
been content to remain simply beauti-
| iul had she 50 desired. But she always
pursued the study of her profession,
which equipped her better and better
| FOR the place she had determined to
take.
The days of her activity as a youth,
/ ful singing Venus OF musical comedy
passed 50 long ago that she is remem-
hered by theatregoers now as the her
oine Of Caste of Arizona" of "The
First Lady OF the Land and Of Such
Little Queen" 1t was I'm The Strange
woman lust winter that her fully ma
tnred powers combined with her youth
ful beauty made the New York public
realize that she was an actress who
Z faf
success.
When first determined TO bring out
the powers that I felt wero i'm me-"
she told THE Sun reporter, 81 realized
the great force NJ the mechanics OF
the part. II seemed to me that tech
nical perfection combined with enough
spOutanety and the right emphasis OF
the personal note made II inevitable
for an actress TO make an impression
on her audience.
When. however, / started to study
my art by observing the methods OF
others it was rather In neg ative way
! said to myself that to copy what they
did would be 10 eliminate all the per
sonM quality from my work What
J could learn with the greatest ad-
vantage 20 myself was what to omit.
By following that plan could build
up my own artistic method, yet not be-
"a copy of somebody else ] had seen.
so that was the way set out to
learn how t. velop myself. And |
want 10 say here that OF all the ac-
trosscs | have ever seen ON the stage
none ever seemed to mo model so
well worth studying a. Julia Marlowe
- have always taken the greatest
delight in her performances Simply
to listen TO the music of her voice was
FOR me always enough. OFTEN | have
deliberately closed my mind to the !
sense of what she was speaking that
! might drink in the beauty in her
VOICE. She has been my ideal Of an ac- I
r"ss as no other woman on the stage !
oyer was
Sarah Bernhard | never saw until !
the last time she acted I'm this country. |
What remained then was the wonderful !
technical control Of herself, which was !
% lesson i'm itself To any young actress. |
Then ia the work ~ the great women |
of tine theatre there is always one quail |
jay which the less famous are likely TO !
consider of ll.tlc Importance That Is |
variety. Whether = be from self-sat-
lsfaction from the feeling THAI youth !
and beauty viii always he attraction |
enough, or from any other motive. many |
actresses ignore the value Of variety |
IN their work
Yet We demand variety I'm everything |
about MS. Whether 1t be in food even.
certainly .n dress and surroundings.
there mus. always lee change So there !
should above all other things De this
change in our diversion
II have always thought that It, would
hr my fixed plan 70 take something new
To my public every time | came before
IT, Whenever ! come TO New York to
act, for instance, /, will he with the de-
termination To- de something for my
audience which / have never done be-
fore The talk about the fckleness Of
the public, the short time that actresses
Irc able To retain their popularity and
similar complaints are usually he re-
suit of an actress unwllingness 10
give her admirers anything different
from what they have always had from
her
look AT such man, for instance, as
Fred Stone. Did II not seem az II he
had done everything funny in the world