The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1916-10-14
Tragedienne Tells Readers OF
The Times Of Troubles She
Encounters.
ACTION is NOT SUSTAINED
Beginning to Act In Middle Of
Play She Finds Is Discon-
certing.
By BERTHA KALICH. /.


II Is undoubtedly much more diff
cult Tor q tragedienne to cat In the
motion pictures than on the ieeiti-
mate stage. That IL one reason INV
work In motion pictures is 40 fasci-
mating to me.
Remember first the or,nJpresent
handicap In the lack of the audience,
The actress has not the sympathetic
spectator to help inspirit her. She
mas not the theater with the iilu-
sions II fosters. so that she can for
get. absolutely, that her .emotions
are real, not forced. She has not
tne applause at the end OF the scene
10 prove that her Interpretation Of
the role has ben O succesH.
what does she have? One or two
cameras grinding away constantly TO
remind her that she In acting-not
living. Bare rocks or an omen fieid
or dozen trees to distract her when
she succeeds In forgetting the click.
click: click OF the machine. Lensef
which see every false move. however
Then. one rises to the very height
OF emotion. and drops YEARLY in a
chair for q moments rest, only to
near the director say: NOW. we'll
have that scene over again" Some
one has not done quite right-per-
maps an extra" has taken a step too
Tar, or has not come far enough.
ana the emotional actress has to re-
peat the scene and act as naturally
as ever. Once one falls into acting
the automation, art has fed.
CONSIDER too that there In no such
sustained acting in the moving pic
ture as there In on the legitimate
stage. Things. OF necessity, must be
done after piece-meal fashion.
There e no continuity IN screening a
photoplay which resembles the prep
arauon for the climax OF q drama.
How Stage Differs.
On the stage. act two follows act
one. and act three follows act two.
In the film work. one rarely begins
a new picture by acting the FIRST
scenes first. One may start in the
middle-and I remember one place,
where we began almost at the end.
In another instance I remember
having started work with the very
play and then acting the scenes that
lead up to II and those that finished
II Off, afterward. On the stage one
has the sequence of action that helps
one develope a character. You are
able to build up the character from
the beginning and In a logical way.
People outside OF the theater can
not understand what a shock II is to
be hurled into q scene and forced to
give an effect before You have had
time to show the cause. or course.
We are only acting. But an actor
must have some feeling Of the part
he II acting and when you are sup
posed to protest against an outrage
before there has ben even the sug-
gestion Of anything outrageous, one
Is compelled to give an imperson-
alton that would be very apparently
false II not unusually well done.
That Is why 1 insist Il II more diff
cult to do tragic part for a motion
picture than II In on the stage. And
that iB what believe there In a SUI
preme test OF the acting art in pro-
ducing a character In a convincing
manner for the photoplay.
Comedy, Ia. OF course. equally as
hard. Comedy to be real must be
delicately approached. It's subtleties
are often finer than tragedy. And to
be subtle there must be some real
foundation. that the hop-skip-and-
jump method of producing photo
plays does not tend to build.