New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-11-09
It's No Easy Task To Be
Only Woman in the Cast,
Says Helen MacKellar

Being the only woman In the cast
OF play has advantages which would
appeal to many actresses intent upon
occupying as near the maximum Of the
calcium as an author and a generous
producer will permit, but 1t also has
its disadvantages.
At present Broadway has one play
"The Storm" which has only one
woman in its cast of fve-two Of whom
by the way, arc merely incidental
features in the performance, which is
strictly "three-part" play. For three
hours every night at the Forty-eighth
Street Theatre Helen MacKeilar, Il
young actress hitherto unknown to
Broadway in prominent role, Is TAX.
Of attention Of the audience. and. to
Of attention Of the audience, and, tc
her way of thinking. the experience is
anything but a sinccure.
Being the only woman In the cast
is unusually hard on an actress"
she says, respectfully because she is
forced to undergo the closest scrutiny
of the audience-the feminine part
particularly-al during the evening.
No one is rs close an analyst of the
faults or shortcomings-be they phys!-
cal or histrionic-of an actress as Il
woman. And when a woman has an
entire evening in which to study and
to pick flaws in one lone member of
her sex-well, it's a lucky girl who
since The Storm has been in New
York ! have had this illustrated to
me frequently.
The Storm | am French Canadian
girl and use the patois of the north
woods throughout. OF course, | learned
French at school in Spokane and Chi
cago, but when | knew I was to have
this part l realized my French was
what the critical ear would demand
So I spent summer among the
French Canadians, and although it is
i'm possible to perfect ones self in that
short time, ! think | made sufficient
progress to make my accent and use
of the French Canadian idioms pass
able. Yet the other day | was told my
patois was not sufficiently 'Frcnchy,
and the next day that it was too
Frenchy'
Had there been another woman in
the cast the attention of the audience
would have left Mc for short lime,
anyway and there would have been some
chance for contrast. But rs it is, in
The Storm l have to accept the en-
tire burden"
One redeeming feature, according to
Miss MacKel1ar, in being "the only
woman" is that the criticism it ELECTS
gives her larger number Of sugges-
tons to draw from. Her part Of Ma
nette Packard in "The Storm" is what
is generally termed an emotional role,
! yet the young actress seems to have
studiously avoided "emoting" In the
accepted sense. Her work in the most
trying scenes is marked by quietness
and cerity-quetncss, she declare.
is marked Characteristic of the
French Canadians.
| II try not to strive for an effect for
effects sake" she added. Frances Be-
grave has coined a word which will
make my point clcar-'eff n
meaning working to gain an effect. If
| strive for an effect merely for the
sake of the effect. l find the result
mechanical and unsatislying. To me,
to use the old time tried and stock
gestures and intonations ia without
real appeal. Simplicity. l think, is the
real keynote OF emotion. That is why
try to play all scenes, no matter how
emotional, simply"
Being the only woman in the cast of
play has its advantages, but it also
has many disadvantages.