Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-12-02
What Amateurs
anAccomplish
in the Theatre
Vinton Freedley, Who Has
Joined Stage Society,
Discusses the PRO"

TUsToMARILY actors aren't supposed e
Oknow much about anything but their own
particular profession. II a man can play
a part. no isn't held to account for the
technique OF the dramatist II woHan
is able to look attractive and embody suf-
flclently well the ideas and emotions Of the
role that the stage manager hands her.
she Is engaged and let alone. But once
In a while that weird and unaccountabie
thing, the player with brains--brains that
hear as we'll as speak--comes to light Then
there Is cause for rejoicing among the little
band OF what HerTnione calls serious thinks
ers"
on rainy night this week went stray
ing in the paths Of highbrow endeavor and
found such q brain. II belongs 70 Mr.. Vim.
ton Freedley. He is one of the leading men
with the stage Society Players. whose sea-
son at the Little Theatre will take on itH
second complexion OF mental effort with
the production OF George Bernard Shaw's
next Monday night Mr. Freedley will noe
be in the cast because he is going over 70
New York city pretty soon to lead the orr
chestra at the performance OF his own
musical comedy Here's To The Girls' IL
s one OF the curious and hidden steps In
his footlight career. He told me. in his
miniature dressing room at the Little The
atre, that he had dabbled lot more than
people thought In dramntics from the days
OF his collegehood TO the present He ls 2
Harvard mana trained athlete, with tbs
athletes precision OF viewpoint, and clean.
carved attitude toward the subjects that
interest him and those that bore him About
the modern stage he has very definite and
lucid opinions Here are some OF them;
what the work OF amateur actors In
America needs today In grounding In
Fundamentals. The offerings OF such peo-
Pile as l AMI mean the nonprofessional---
ought, at all cost to make It's bid for an-
proval 20 the crowd. Isn't 1t true that, IN
most cases, this great, Greek. communal
appeal has been mlssng7 As l see II, the
requisite In tricks, just tricks Take your
regular actor. How does he strike home
with his audtors2 How does he force
points that must be forced II they are to
be made at all? Is that not plain trick.
though n superior sort OF trickf I've
studied the curious differences between the
pro and the amateur. and I'm almost cer-
tain that is tho crux OF the problem"
Where does the author get off'7" 1.
meekly suggested Mr.. Freedley took the
conversational bait with n zest unknown
in the Legitimate" theatre Good authors
always, my slogan" was his reply. There
are plenty of them. too. ] can only whls-
per this, but tho idol OF the people Just
now In not man can warm toward In
the theatre, Henry Arthur Jones, yes.
There Is man OF the eighties and ninaties
whose people somehow are genuine. even
lovably common. Sutro. also Ia a bully
playwright. and specially suited to such
stun as we are trying to do here. Wilde, OF
course. is my inmost, my purely personal
favorite,"
It was suggestcd that the seidom-seen
Duchess of Paduh" might prove tasty
bit for the jaded appetites of Little Theatre
frequenters.
ut depends on the player" rejoined Mr..
Freedloy. ''tf you are going TO do ambi-
tious, poetic. forcsful dramas, you must
have team work. That, / think. has been
largely absent from past endeayora Of such
organizations as ours, And that Is where
we can step In and do something TO lift ths
tone OF the whole movement"
Had you ever though OF abandoning
your business ambitions lin this case the
law) and becoming a convert 10 your cur
rent ayocation? YES" he said, "but I'm
kept from seriously considering such
proposition by the fact that don't consider
the stage n mans calling For women. per-
hapa not men" Then with a peryersa
jauntiness. he went on TO say that the first
part he had played was that OF heroine
passionate, pulsng creature"--during
his college days
ALSO. l was with the Toy Theatre, In
Boston. II was stimulating work until they
moved down to place near the railroad.
Then every re-echoing speech OF tho hero
was accompanied by an engine obligato
that nearly sent me TO the madhouae. I
was with the Footlights and several other
thea trlcn groups until last season. Then
came 10 tho Little Theatre." Presumably
at that theatre he win remain. At least
hope so. b. ID.