New-York tribune., 1922-11-12
Interesting Chat and Information for the Playgoer
So 1t Is 'T rue
That All the
w e,r.ld's a Stage
They Come From Far and
Near When MIR. Golden
Calls for Amateur Actors

Miss Helen Jenkins ought really to
understudy Miss Helen Menken, not
only because Of the similarity In the
names, but because abe 10 go much
like her. And surely 1t Isn't safe to
20 single performance without an
nnderstudy for Miss Aenken, for at
every performance of "The Seventh
Heaven there is not soul in the the
ater who is not entirely convinced that
in one second Diane. is going TO hurl
herself from the attic window to fol-
low Chico to war under the tricolor.
Some night she viii do so, and then
an understudy will be necessary.
when we explained this to Madge
Kennedy she replied: aBut want her
TO understudy me in Spite Corner /
had her all picked out.''
NO." we insisted, "she must under
study Miss Menken, and you may have
her friend, Frances Judson." So Miss
Kennedy agreed, and 1t Would all have
been settled then and there If 1t hadn't
been for John Golden. It was his
party, although he admitted that he
had expected about twenty. and when
we left the theater st o'clock there
were five hundred and more coming
across the horizon. So many people
want to change what they are doing
and become actors or actressesl And
Mr.. Golden should have realized this
when he let it be known that he was
the friend of the inexperienced and
would supply his companies with
understudies from the ranks OF the
amateurs. All you had to do was give
a trial reading, be assigned to q COM
psny, take the script, learn your part
and become fuli-aedged understudy.
But Mr.. Golden had not realized that
such news spreads az fast as though
it were sent in a chain letter until two
or four hundred people hurled them
selves at him Thursday afternoon at l
" ClONk VIZ SiiG Stea RA tAO A@ah'AS
Theater with the eager question, "Mr.
Golden, do you think ! have chance?"
The two misses whom we mentioned
IN the first part Of the story were the
prettiest girls there. They took our
eye Immediately, and when Miss Ken
nedy spoke TO them she was SO inn
pressed that she immediately arranged
to hear them herself. Both girls have
beauty, beautifully modulated voices
and such experience as they gained in
being connected with "zero.p
aren't they sweet and pretty and
young?" said Miss Kennedy, tenderly,
az she gazed over the hundreds Of
assembled women, ranging all the way
from Aanpers to the Dangerous
age" "i'm bound that every one
here shall have chance, If it is only
to say Tea is served or, Milford, the
carriage awaits"
There were not nearly so many men
as girls, though there were plenty of
them to make the scene interesting.
1t had been Mr.. Golden's idea that
he and Miss Kennedy and few other
hand-picked judges should hear the
contestants read something from
Shakespeare, or Frank Craven, or
Austin Strong, and that the most
likely Of these should be chosen for
the parts; but when half thousand
people knocked at his stage door there
was nothing to do hut ask them to
stand in line and deliver their names
aud addresses. 1t was our idea that
all the girls with large ankles and
all the men with marcel waves be
eliminated, and that would greatly
have amnlifed matters: but no one
else could see it that way. Miss
Kennedy insisted right up to the hour
of our departure that each and every
one should have his Or her chance,
though that will take at least week
Of eight-hour days.
Austin Strong, who wrote .sThe Sew
enth Heaven" was on hand, but he
wasn't of any use to any one, because 0
al ne could do was TO pace up and
down the stage with "part" in his
hand He said he was frightened to
death, and he looked it.
"Are you one of the contestants r.
we asked with what we intended to
be biting sarcasm. But he replied. "In
a way, yes. The old cabman fell i'll
In 'The Seventh Heaven and I have to
take his place. ] haven't seen these
lines since ! wrote them and / shall
probably be hissed off the stage to-
night" which only goes to prove that
Mr.. Golden has indeed crying need
Of understudies. H.U.