The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1922-07-26

boosted now by our stage fortunatus
The actors boarding house, with It's
l hall bedrooms-there used to be rows
OF them in the side streets between
I'wenty-third and Thirty-fourth-wa
his retreat for sleeping, ii 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 60 hungry, nor was the actors
fund sufficiently strong to assure him
of place to lay his head But there
were free lunches and beer
Dislked 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 abiIi-
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
distaste fed on many a 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
ir his calling never surpassed and not
so frequently equaled in our own day.
with all his magnificence of man |
ner, he was not above distributing |
show bills in small town saloons and |
barber shops. He cherished his char
acter wigs as mother cherishes her
was his God Blank ve1se
was meat and drink to him. How
many of our present generation of
actors know by heart one of Shake
speare's tragedies or comedies? Our
ham actor, with his $50 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 a glimpse of
Heaven. He spent the greater part
IF his time on trains, but he gave the
pest there was in him to the audience
IF the sticks and the one-night stands !
md his Jago or Cassius was just as {
'aitbful to his conception of the part l
IN a Mississippi river steamboat as
t was in Union Square.
His Good Qualities.
1T is the fashion of our wise youth !,
If today, in art, letters and the stage. +
Q decry the works Of their predeces- S
ors of other generations. Speaking for b
he stage and knowing both the older t
nd the younger generations of its C
layers, having done my bit with both a
them, ! say that the players of
ur day could copy to advantage II
ruch of that which they affect to :,
ecry in those whom, judged by their :
ress and mannerisms, they would dub +;
The mere ability to wear Fl
othes and dance well did not make n
n actor worthy of his buskins twenty O.
ears ago.
'sWhere are these 'hamfatters' now?
lu ask Where do they hide them
lives or what do they do for liveli
bod, if they are still alive? Well, it
i'll give you something of jolt when =
tell you that most of those still able
be active are playing types in the
OWES. Think of it, the man who
Shakespeare, who looked
It'll contempt on Pinero, Henry
rthur Jones, Clyde Fitch and Bron -
n Howard, earning his living in pie D]
NEEDY But that is all there is left
r them That was no fictional pic -
re that Harry Leon Wilson drew :.
Merton of the Movies of the old -
igedian who bemoaned the fate that cr,,
d driven him to service on the lot 20
saw many Of them on the coast in -
7 own brief experience with the
yer sheet, and they werey a pitiable :
,wd or
even there, while de-
sing themselves, their surroundings
the travesties and mockeries of -
e Illusion they were called on to
act before the camera, they proved -
,mselves better screen actors, bet Fl.
mimics than many of the stars I
o were drawing salaries in four =
Tres to their two