Arizona republican., 1917-06-24
bENJ..CHAP |S
 LIVING DOUBLE IF AbE LINCOLN


 There is a man in New York who ls followed by wondering glances wherever he goes. If he appears in the lobby of his hotel men and women stop short with a little gasp of sur prise. If he steps out into Broadway dozens of heads turn to look after him.
 Yet no one in hundred even knows his name. To tell them that he is Benjamin Chapin would mean noth- Ing. To them he is great figure out of the nations history, appearing as by miracle fifty years after his tragic death. He is Abraham Lincoln, again walking among men.
 After the first shock of surprise many remember having seen him on the stage in his Lincoln plays. And not few of them give a shrug of displeasure and dislike. They accuse him Of having made his resemblance to Lincoln a commercial asset on which he has traded to make money.
 They do not know of the years If struggle and of sacrifice he has gone through in his devotion to an ideal which has become a passion with him They do not know that when he be- gan his attempt to present the great president he did it without money rewards.
 When he wrote his first Lincoln monologue he gave it for nothing. If he got $10 a night he was lucky. He had been with lyceum bureau giv- ing interpretations of Shakesperean plays. When he talked of the Lin- coin monologue everybody discour- aged him. His best friends called if 'sacrilegious." He fought prejudice and misunderstanding at every turn.
 But his audiences, of the common people so dear to Lincoln himself responded in way that finally con- vinced the most bitter of his op- ponents.
 From having to give the first mon- ologue for nothing, he became one of the highest paid men in lyceum work Then he wrote an entire Lincoln play in which he appeared. And finally four years ago he set to work to make the moving pictures for the I.in- coin Cycle, which was shown in New York recently for the first time. It is estimated that these pictures cost more a foot than any other film play that has been made. Eight reels are shown. But many times that num- Der were made and discarded
 All the time I have been working on this cycle" he said the other day. T had tempting offers to lend my self to other Lincoln pictures I was promised as much as s1200 a week, with no financial risk, no need to concern myself about the work of the rest of the company, no responsibility about the play.
 But that was just the thing could not do. It may seem pose but so long as I try to represent Lin coin I must be responsible for the manner in which it is done It isn't a thing I undertook lightly. And my sense of the gravity and dignity of it has grown with the years
 Some persons say I trade on my resemblance to Lincoln. As a matter of fact, I do not resemble him any more than hundreds of other men do. l am tall, but I am two inhes below his height of feet 4.
 ''The real facts are these: I had been giving interpretations of char acter in the drama. But ever since l was boy Lincoln had been my ideal. 1 had studied his life and brooded over his character And finally the idea came to me to try to present him on the stage
 of course, if I had been a short fat man with round face. it wouldn't have been possible. But 1 wasn't, and with the aid of makeup I was able to achieve a very good likeness