The Washington times., 1915-04-04
Difference Between q Word
u And q Woman
By GARDNER MACK.

ACTRESS, IA woman OF girl who acts or
performs. especially on the stage.
This artful lodging of an important
question is given by authority of no
less a person than Brander Matthews.
d. c. L.. Lift. D.. LII D., professor OF
dramatic literature Of Columbia Uni
gersity. At least we suppose it is by his
authority, as his Is the only name car
fying the authority OF the drama which
Is to be found in the alib department of
the dictionary-eyen though the editors
are frank enough to list him as mem
Der Of the advisory committee on dis
puted pronunciations! :"
a friend who has considerably more
confidence In me that | have in myself
asked me the other day to define the
word actress for him. 1t was one of
the easiest questions I have ever had
came to answering it there was a great
difficulty. II the eminent makers of
the dictionary could do no better than
they have done-what could anyone
else be expected to do?
In going over the various definitions
that might fit there came the reflection
that an actress-"one who acts especi-
ally on the stage"'-is q woman who
has studied deeply the human emotions,
studied them with the idea of not just
initiating, but of interpreting them.
She must have q mind that Is capable
OF not only receiving an impression,
but of giving one. She must be per-
son who is SO favored by nature as to
individual character she has assumed
as we'll as fill out the picture with a
pre- resentation of the feeling. the innate
sensibilities of that character
She must be able to draw two pic
lures at once in other words. a physi-
cal realization which satisfies the eye
and a purely mental creation that
completely fills the mind of her audi
~ hn hn
bility OF feature and OF mind that can
project themselves into all varieties
of character drawing from a person
like the beer guzzling Widow Murphy
human. most wholesomely. youthtully
feminine of all Shakespearean charac-
ters-Rosalind. She must not only be
| happy, or sad or Vivacious, or gentle
her audiences both see and feel that
| she Is each of these whenever she
elects to be them.
Answer in Two Words.
| At this point i'll the preparation oi
| ton in two words came to mind-twC
words that absolutely define the tern
| actress by practical example
| Maud Gilbert!
The first thing that caused Maud Gil,
bert to come to mind was that she is
!
| has played tho two parts that have
| been mentioned-and most OF the othel
| kinds that come between them in the
Ga NUT OF dramatic expression. AnC
| the second thing is that Maud Gilbert
! is one OF the types of actresses WhC
| both act and perform especially, Just
! like the dictionary says, on the stage
| Therefore we propose brief sketch ol
| Miss Gilbert as a supplement TO the
| dictionary which any person having 4
dictionary is at liberty to paste in the
back thereof for future reference.
Miss Gilbert is native of Philadel,
phja. Tho fact shouldn't he held toe
| strongly against her. however. for the
reason that she spent much OF her girl.
! hood on the eastern shore of Maryland
| at a little town called Oxford, where
! many WashingtonianS have enjoyed
quiet rural pleasures along with salt
water bathing, grabbing, boating and
| all the other things that make up the
! summer resort advertisements.
II was while she was IN school IN
| Philadelphia that Miss Gilbert sudden.
| ly became infected with the dramatic
! germ. The girls In her school were tC
produce a play and she was given 4
part in IT. She doesn't remember Just
! what the play was. but she admits that
| she didn't greet hNr selection as ono
! Of tho performers with any enthusiasm
4 She was given her part and after read
! inG Il over carefully and y-eading the
entire play, she set herself g study ouI