New-York tribune., 1920-04-25

You walk along the street. A gust Of
wind carries away the hat Of the man
in front Of you. He gives chase. You
watch him and laugh. On and on he
runs and finally the hat. caught under
the wheels of an automobile, is crushed
into shapelessness. Yet you keep on
laughing, although the fellow whose
hat can no longer be worn is wondering
where he is to get another or how he
will get along without one.
1t Is several degrees below zero. The
walks are covered with a thin, treach
erous glaze; You pick your way along,
setting each foot down carefully, test
ingly. You have all you can do to keep
from falling. Suddenly man, perhaps
q trifle less careful than you are, falls.
He may fracture his leg, he may break
his collarbone. Yet you laugh long and
heartily.
There is seriousness in comedy. A
sad note runs through nearly all
comedy parts written for the stage. 1t
Is the way in life. The tragedy of
comedy sounds paradoxical, but there
is tragedy in comedy. Also is there
comedy in tragedy. Here is the differ
ence. 1t is much easier to play seri-
Gus part on the stage than it is to face
an audience night after night knowing
that you are there for the express pur-
pose of making the people laugh and
that if they do not laugh you are not
giving them their moneys worth.
Harry Beresford in his years Of ex-
perience on the stage has played many
parts and has faced audiences under
many conditions, audiences who helped
his efforts along, audiences which were
cold and unresponsive and audiences
which, instead of laughing with him
in comedy roles, have laughed at him.
This is the lot of all who essay comedy
roles. Whether they are feeling we'll
or not, whether some one at home is
sick or not, no matter how the actor
feels or what sorrow may be cutting
into his private life, the audience must
not know it. He is q comedian. He is
go on making people laugh night after
night.
THAT explains why comedian is so
serious off the stage" said Mr.. Beres-
ford. who has scored success in Henry
W. Savage's production of 'eShavings"
at the Knickerbocker Theater. The
strain of knowing that you must make
them laugh. the pain a comedian feels
when an audience does not respond,
the effect this may have on his work
makes him serious man when he -
make others laugh"
1t is not possible to be funny to
order, contends the wistful, resigned,
good-hearted "Shavings," the delightful
character created by Joseph C. Lincoln
In the novel which has furnished the
material for the stage adaptation.
ut must come naturally" he says.
"The actor must have his heart in the
work and he must understand his art.
He must feel what he is doing. Think
time vaudeville had to contend with.
Say it was 1o:3O or II o'clock in the
morning. There were perhaps three
people in the house. Yet he had to do
his bit just the same. He had to go
on and make them laugh. That's what
they passed their change into the box
Office for They paid and the comedian
had to pay them in return. Often a
tragedian can be funny, but comedian
must always be funny and is always
conscious of this fact"
There is a note of sadness, Of resig-
nation in the character Mr.. Beresford
portrays in the Cape Cod play. Often,
he says, people in the audience laugh at
the saddest parts. 1t is not always be-
cause they are amused, but rather be-
cause they must do something, and
they choose to laugh.
Zone woman told me that she cried
all through my performance in SHAW
ings'," Mr.. Beresford told the Tribune
reporter. "She told me she felt sorry
for the lonesomeness Of the character
that play.
"An audience must never know,