Palatka daily news. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1919-1994, 1922-09-07

boosted now by our stage fortunatus.
The actors boarding house, with Its
hall bedrooms-there used to be rows
OF them in the side streets between
Twenty-third and Thirty-fOurth-was
his retreat for sleeping, If he had cash
or credit, and how he could stretch
that credit! If he had neither, only he
himself knew when and where he
slept. There was no Equity then to
make sure that no legitimate actor
should go hungry, nor was the actors
fund sufficiently strong to assure him
of place to lay his head. But there
were free lunches and beerl
Dlsliked the Box Office.
Between his saunterings and chats
along Broadway and his visits to the
cafes he followed the trails leading to
the offices of the managers and book
ing agents, always hopeful, impervious
to rebuffs, Indifference and waits
They gave him ample opportunity for
the recounting of his histriOnic abili-
ties-words which sounded sweet in
his own ears, even though they bored
the producer, and afforded him later
when he met his cronies full chance
to pour the walls of his wrath on the
business end of the theater. For the
box office he had naught but contempt,
q distaste fed on many tour by its
disappearance, with all it contained.
including the manager.
"The hams were divided into sew
eral classes, those who aspired to and
actually played in legitimate drama
the real troupers-musical show
hams burlesque hams and vaude-
vile "hams.' But he whom we asso-
ciate with silk hat, frock coat, long
hair and CATERS was of the first
named type and the one whose por,
trait first comes to mind when we
think of the ham actor. And despite
those ludicrous attitudes and posings,
his cOnceit and efforts to attract at
tention to himself on any and all oc-
caSiOns, this kind of actor had a pride
in his calling never surpassed and not
so frequently equaled in our own day,
with all his magniticence of man.
ner, he was not above distributing
show bills in small town saloons and
barber shops. He cherished his char
acter wigs as a mother cherishes her
children. And he knew Shakespeare
Shakespeare was his God. Blank V-~;e
lt;VN 70
many of our present generation of
actors know by heart one of Shake
speare's tragedies or comedies? Our
ham actor, with his $50 a week
salary, knew them all. He rarely eX'
perienced the comforts of long engage.
ments in the big cities and few
weeks on Broadway was glimpse of
Heaven. He spent the greater part
of his time on trains, but he gave the
best there was in him to the audience
of the sticks and the One-nght stands
and his Iago or Cassius was just as
faithful to his conception of the part
on Mississippi river steamboat as
it was in Union Square.
His Good Qualities.
1T is the fashion of our wise youth
of today, in art letters and the stage
to decry the works of their predeces-
sors of other generations. Speaking for
the stage, and knowing both the older
and the younger generations OF its
players, having done my bit with both
of them, | say that the players of
our day could copy to advantage
much of that which they affect to
decry in those whom. judged by their
dress and mannerisms, they would dub
hamfatters.' The mere ability to wear
clothes and dance well did not make
an actor worthy of his buskinS twenty
years ago.
where are these hamfatters' now?
you ask. Where do they hide them
selves or what do they do for a liveli-
hood if-they are still alive? We'll, it
will give you something of jolt when
| tell you that most of those still able
to be active are playing types in the
movies. Think of it, the man who
WOrshiped Shakespeare, who looked
with contempt on Pinero, Henry
Arthur Jones. Clyde Fitch and Bron-
son Howard. earning his living in pie
comedy. But that is all there is left
for them. That was no fictional pic
ture that Harry Leon Wilson drew
in Merton of the Movies of the old
tragedian who bemoaned the fate that
had driven him to service on the lot.
l saw many of them on the coast in
my own brief experience with the
silver sheet, and they were pitiable
crowd.
Nevertheless. even there, while de-
spisiIrg themselves, their surroundings
and the trayesties and moCkeries of
true illusion they We're called on to
enact before the camera, they proved
themselves better screen actors, bet
ter mimics than many of the stars
who were, drawing salaries in four
figures 70 theif two.'
OPERATES ON BABY