The broad ax., 1915-08-21

MES MKUDE EDAlR
You have seen her-seen her from
'The 'front.'" Is they say IN stageland-
perhaps as a little lad In green
breeches, with q charming, wistful
face, in his right hand Pandean pipes
and whom the members Of his band
called Peter Pan, or, perchance, as a
gypsy girl with mischief IN her eyes
and rowan berries IN her hair, ycIept
Lady Babbie, or, again, 1t may have
been as one called Phoebe-Phoebe Of
the ringlets-whose home was in Quail
fly street Or was It as the patient
Maggie Wylie trying-oh, 50 hard-to
implant just one little spark or hu-
NOR In the hopelessly humorless John
Shand? Besides all these names and
more which were thought out BIZ a
little man Of Thrums and sent across
the Atlantic 10 be made into very real
people, she who created those charac-
tiers so dear to playgOers has sim an
other name.
It's Maude Adams.
Maude Adams and James Matthew
Barrie-they are q unique and Joy
Gus combination It scarcely seems
that either could get along without the
other. To interpret Barrie's subtle and
delicious humor, with its ever present
strain Of tenderness, needs Just such a
wtnsome personality as the little
lady" as those who sit FIN front" love
to call her. And, without the Scotch
playwright to build for her the most
fascinating roles in the world, what,
indeed, would Maude Adams dor
But, though It is Barrie who builds
the roles and writes the whimsical dia-
logue Of those who people his plays,
it is Maude Adams who sees TO IT that
these characters speak those lines and
do those things which make them fully
as real and quite as human as they
were in the minds eye OF the man
who conceived them. And this Is not
an easy task.
1T is my contemplate weakness"
writes Barrie Of himself, that II /
say a character smiled vacuously /
must smile vacuously; If he frowns or
leers, l frown or leer; II he is a cow
ard or given TO contortions, cringe
or twist my legs until have to stop
writing to undo the knot I bow with
him, eat with him and gnaw my mus
tache with him If the character be a
lady with an exquisite laugh sudden
" terrify you by laughing exquisitely.
One reads OF the astounding versatility
Of an actor who is stout and lean on
the same evening, but what is he to
the author who Is a dozen persons
within the hour7 Morally, / fear, we
deteriOrate. But this Is subject I
may wisely edge away from"
And 50 after Mr.. Barrie has played
his part as dramatist Miss Adams
work has but begun. How she sets
about her task is best told by the d.
rector Of her stage:
When Miss Adams first receives q
new play from Mr.. Barrie she reads II
over many times. She commits It to
memory In its entirety. When this Is
accomplished she begins TO visualize
its characters from the most important
to the most insignificant Mentally she
pictures hrst the segregated situations
and then the entire action Of the play.
Her conception Is always subject to
subsequent changes, but, as a rule, she
adheres to her original ideas. When
she has mastered the play In the man
ner described the Talearsals are got
under way. But these are conducted |
along lines quite different from the
usual method pursued in stage work
Instead Of dealing with the cast a.
whole Miss Adams rehearses the prin-
cipal characters individually. While
this work is going on the minor char
acters are being taken care OF by stage
directors, who. for the sake Of co
herency, imperaonate the more I'm
portant, Jet absent Characters Then
comes the day when a complete re
hearsal b called and the. remarkable
part Of this performance h that every
detail OF action and every part Of the
action nts together as splendidly as
though the complete cast had been
working side by side for month
And the satisfying result Is that en-
husiasm has not been duiIed nor flln-
sion dispeIied By long and tiresome
sessions where Z more apt individual
would often be made TO wait upon one
not so quick TO perceive q given oirec-
ton"