New-York tribune., 1919-04-06
BY Ralph Block

exit, Is that there Is an essential dlt-
ference between the actor and the i'm
personator. An impersonator startles
you by being more like the person he
initiates than the object of imitation
is himself. This is not a paradox; IT
is merely a declaration that impersona-
tion has elements of art in it, being
condensed selection of salient points
of personality. But in the end, despite
its selection, impersonation remains
imitation The impersonator does not
transcend life, he only rises to its level.
The great actor, on the other hand,
or even good actor-at least the actor
whose Imagination outruns his mimetic
fancy-startles you by being unlike
anything you have ever quite known
before. Acting as an art, if it is to be
accepted as such, does not differ from
any of the other arts in always having
something strange and astonishing
about it. The element of strangeness
reaches out to draw other imaginations
from the expressing placidities of ordi-
nary life This explains why so many
more than ordinary actors seem to be
disrespectful toward their parts. They
bully them and override them; they
never seem satisfied with using them
according to the book. At one moment
this is offensive, and the next, if the
actor is imaginative and vital enough,
the thing he seems to be doing is
astonishingly lifeike.
Az matter OF fact. the latter
method is the great method Of the
stage. No two people are alike in the
rcal world; IL is ono of the satisfying
things about life that this should be so.
Tho monotony otherwise would be un-
bearablc. Tho fact that on the stage
ono man should bo able TO initiate an
other man in life presents contradc-
tlon, process entirely opposed to the
natural order of things. Every individ-
uai in life being different, it is much
moro convincing of illusion to meet
singular and impressive personalities
on the stage.
TO play" has blinded audiences to the
fact that actually he is much more
than mere romancer, in the lesser
sense. He Is not great actor, some
times not q good actor, although sea
soned and experienced. He falls often
into old mannerisms Of delivery, old
tricks Of gesture, old habits of express
sion which are quite personal to him,
but which being habits become dis
tasteful and uneconomic. An actor has
a mathematical amount Of attention to
monopolise. 1t Is bad art to waste any
Of 1t by using at any part Of his per-
formance a style that has become stale
or trite through habitual usage.
But having said all this, it still re-
mains that Otis Skinner by tempera-
ment understands the aesthetic basis
Of acting in a way that sets him apart
from most Of the good looking male
and female impersonators who trip
lightly from obscurity to obscuritv.
with slight intervals in the open glare
OF the Broadway stage. Colonel Bri-
deau in 'The Honor of the Family" is
blusterer, but he busters the better
because MIR. Skinner busters we'll. Mr.
skinner will not let him rest with
oelng puppet made to kick up it's
heels and thrash it's arms; Mr.. Skin
her at every point outrages Colonel
brdeau, runs over him. and bv so doinp
makes man instead of an image out
OF him.
You may imagine Mr. Skinner talk
ing to Colonel Brideau thus:
I say, you know, you're not good
enough, not strong enough; there's no
Kick IN you. You're only a stage por
trait' Come ON out Of that dialogue"
'snaKing him and booting him out Of
inc book). wake up and be man.
Show some ginger"
These are rough tactics. but tbev
Succeed. That there should be actors
wise enough to use them is quite
ehougn. 1t may imply some lack in
Mr. Skinner that he should have to 90
10 romantic parts to do this. that he
snrlnks perhaps from the test oY re-
'nVlgoratlng what is modern person.
aii'y and therefore more open to scru-
nny and comparison. But the method
ne employs is in its way the method
say, of Mrs. Flake, who refuses 4be
limitation of her part at every moment
II Is the style of an actor such as John
barrymore shows himself to he in
redemption" where he is courapeons
enough TO avoid the temptation of max
ing redya man we have all met he
sore for the incomparably greater per-
iormanee of making him man such az
NOBODY ever met before. Would it be
'eSe majeste in the face Of Olympian
announcements from Mr.. Hamilton
ana Mr.. Towse to say that Walter
nan'pden might learn just this lesson
IRON the Hamlet of Forbes obc rtgon.
""ose Hamlet surrenders the easy tri
1nph oi being the common Hamlet that
- IN most OF US, including Shakespeare,
t'r tho difficult Job Of being the undue
hamlet that Is in Forbes Robertson?
Hamlet TO the portrait is too much