The Washington herald., 1916-11-21
Seen and Heard By c.ors. Miner.


Seen and Heard BY George Miner.
New York, Nov. 2o.-It is the GUS
tom OF a great many people and
certain newspapers to belittle and de-
ride the American way of doing a
large number of things. They. seem
to take the attitude that just because
thing is done by an American it is
not done as well as it is done in some
other country; that American ways
are somewhat second class.
We must be very patient and
long-suffering race to stand the
amount of abuse that is constantly
being heaped on us in this respect.
AS we rarely resent it, we thus tacitly
admit that our defamers are right.
1t makes my gorge rise, however,
to stand by and see foreigners kick
ing us without let or hindrance. The
latest person to get my goat is that
distinguished French actress, Mime.
Yvette Guilbert. She has been giving
interviews that have been widely
copied and commented upon to the
effect that the voice of the average
American actor is the most vulner-
able and characteristic defect of the
American stage.
As a matter of fact, this is not
true. The nasal twang of New Eng
land, the burr of the Middle West
and the languorous drawl of the
South are rarely heard on our stage
unless they are used deliberately and
for the purpose of delineating a char
acter. There is no country in the
world where the voices of the actors
are more flexible, more effective and
more enjoyable than our own.
Any one who is familiar with the
shrill land squealSy tones invariably
used by French actresses will bear
me out in this. Nine. Guilbert her
self is no exception. She is about
the last person in the world from
whom criticisms of this nature should
come. The cultural mouthings of the
Germans are quite as bad.
When it comes to the English, let
US remember that the late Sir Henry
Irving YVES the most distinguished ac-
tor they gave had for a century. De-
spite his great talents, can anybody
deny that his voice was rasping,
rough and so badly modulated that
it was almost impossible to under
stand him? The majority of English
actors swallow their words and talk
as if their mouths were full of mush.
OF course, that's better than having
their heads full Of it, but it does not
make for vocal excellence.
Nine. Bernhardt, the "Divine
Sarah," herself, has nothing to boast
of in the way of voice. Her charm
and magnetism hide it's defects.
There are more voice-culture
schools in this country than there
are in all Europe put together. I
don't mean singing schools, but
schools for instruction of the speak
ing voice. Foreign actors seldom
have their voices trained Nearly all
American actors do. Mr.. Edward
Sothern is considered to have one
of the best-speaking voices on the
American stage. To be sure he is an
Englishman by birth, but he spent
years under an American instructor
learning how to speak.
notice that the New York Herald
has taken up Nine. Guilbert's rather
rude faultfinding and backs her up
in it editorially. The writer of that
editorial calls it "a just bit of criti-
cism," and then goes on to express
his ignorance about the American
stage. He says that the voices of our
actors have been rendered harsh and
toneless by the noises of New York!
Probably he does not know that less
than I per cent of the actors on the
American stage are New Workers.
By the same reasoning, l suppose
he would argue that actors to have
deep, resonant voices should live close
to the roar of Niagara and that sweet
and dulcet-toned ingenues are brought
I'D alongside purling brooks.
This writer also states that when
Sir Forbes Robertson had cold and
lost his voice it did not occur to any
of our actors to go and look for it.
What under the sun would any
American actor want with Forbes
Robertson's voice, unless possibly to
drive nails with?
Mr.. Nat Goodwin tells me that he
is going into the moving picture busi-
ness as a producer. He believes that
moving pictures can be made much
more effective when produced by
some one who really knows about
the stage and has had experience.
don't know Of any movie producer to-
day who does except in the most
superficial way, barring, of course,
Mr.. William A. Brady. Mr.. Good
win is a strong believer in melodrama.
He saws it is. the one form of dra-
matte art that has always been pop
ular.