The Detroit times., 1916-11-18
Applause
BY Or. FRANK CRANE
Copyright. 1915. by Frank Crane)

some morse that the human being finds
on this earth is the praise of other hu-
nan beings.
II comes in all shapes and sizes some
ines in driblets, sometimes we have to
ore for il. and sometimes it is an arte-
siam gusher but in any way it tastes
good-the human creature likes it as a
at likes fish.
We live ON approbation, and we live
for it,
The little child is rendered ecstatic by
an approving word: the schoolboy when
he gets IL leaps with energy rs if he had
taken a stimulant; lovers pant for it, get
trunk on it wives and husbands are con
tent when they find il old age is happy
with it,
Hut the strongest and most liberal dose
If appreciation is what is known as APP
pause.
III any one. said a veteran actor who
had been working in the moving picture
business for several months, and whom
had asked how work In the movies COM
pared with his work as an actor in the
spoken drama, "if any one tells you he
likes-hkes mark you, that is, prefers
taking part i'm producing fllmplays more
han regular acting before an audience.
be lies. He may like the money, or the
rutdoor life. or other conditions or ap-
uurtenances Of photo-pay making, but
he business itself no
For the best part of an actors reward
lis the applause Nothing in this world
So satisfying as the roar of hand clap
ming that comes back to you when YOU
have made a hit. That is the intoxicat-
ng element in acting.
Preachers don't get It, II you ap-
alaud the minister they put you out Of
ho church Authors don't receive II. ex-
ept in the silent way Of seeing their
BOOKS sell. Painters and sculptors never
have il tin they're dead and don't care
only the actor on the stage. or the
oncert singer or lecturer on the plat
orm. is given it,
This perhaIs accounts for the lure OF
The stage.
Applause may lee compared TO alcohol.
When one first takes wh.skey he is
,hocked his whole being rouses to expel
the invader. II he keeps on. what re-
PEELED begins 70 appeal and by and by
he longs for it. cannot live without it.
So when one stands first before an
audience he is grippcd with terror His
nwards CONCEAL IIe has stage fright.
His faculties are nar.yzed.
For an audience is humanity whole
ale. When heir attention centers on
you 1t is as T you had plunged into cold
water or swallowed a drink Of strong
liquor
When you persist and pct accustomed
to it, the resist.es5 craving enters your
blood
The psychological. even physiological,
effect Of an audience upon you IS Curl
Gus.
Any public speaker viii often tell you
/ that he has often been half sick, ati if
left TO himself would have gone to bed
and called a doctor, and yet has gone
upon the platform and made his speech,
and at its close has found himself fully
recovered, his indisposition vanished.
His audience has administered some sort
/ If medicine 20 him that has chased away
Ms ills and left him fine and fit.
An actor does not work for money. He
may say he does We all have the habit
Of procaiming monetary motives only.
/ But he really works for applause.
When he gets it, mark him. His eye
flashes his spirits mount, he is exalted,
the divine liquor Of applause runs in his
veins, he is drunk on humanity's most adj
mirable wine.
And when he does not get it. when the
stony audience remains unmoved and
thousand eyes freeze him, he Is utterly,
wholly, ptiably wretchcd.
Wherefore. clap your hands and give
The player his encore The two dollars
YOU paid at the box Office may please the
manager, but the actors pay is your APP
plause.
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