Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-03-07

Thanks for a dull evening. my friend
II you had not taken me to very ouli
show, might have forgotten my oio
Joy in the audience.
The people, It's the people, who are
the real show!
Faces are flowers, to be examined
not only for themselves, but especially
by contrast with one another.
Then the old lady'S face is seen 10
have marks of distinction, in compare
son with the fresh firm cheeks OF the
young girl 1t
The heavy, gray-haired man, with
pink suffused skin a schoolgirl might
envy, stands out very well in the lowered
Ii hts of the auditorium.
He need shrink from no comparison
with the very young fellow two alsles
away, whose mouth and eyes, and even
his nose, speak loudly Of life tnexperl-
ence.
This inexhaustible interest in faces Is
not common with every one. 1t is as
tinct portion of the artistic sense.
There are, of course scores OF artists
, in the world who do not paint, or WRITE
or compose music, or do miniatures,
model in wax, or indulge In any OF the
other artistic forms.
without this large audience OF non
practicing artists. the real ones would
be hard put to it to exist in this very
material world of business.
The practitioners and the non-prac-
titioners. however, meet upon q very
common ground in their love for human
faces.
Here the average man is on par with
the greatest painter that ever lived, Ior
the latter probably had no deeper ap-
probation than the former, and 1t is IN
the matter of appreciation that artist
! and audience are one. The skill req
uisite for execution in any art form Is
a thing distinct.
4 X x X
A theater auditorium offers an un-
excelled medium for the leisurely ex-
animation of faces. Perhaps the con-
centration on faces needs a little expla-
nation. Here one finds the whole man
or woman summed up, so that 1t is to-
tally unnecessary to look further.
This preoccupation with faces is never
believed in by those persons who are
unable to understand it. With this
class of sneerers the facial expert need
have nothing to do, just as for them
and their opinions he has no regard.
The face is the thing, AMI the audi
ence might come to the play clad IN
bearskins, for all he cares, just so long
as they permitted their heads to poke
out.
From a strictly technical standpoint
box is the best vantage point, since 1t
permits the gazer to command larger
number of cases, with such light as is
available shining squarely on them,
but the ordinary auditorium seat has
one peculiar advantage, in that 1t
demands concentration on the part OF
beholder.
This, after all, is something; it is i'm
possible for any one. no matter how
much interested in faces, to carefully
look over a thousand of them in the
brief time of one poor play.
The play, no matter how tiresome
demands some attention. The specta-
tor is harassed by the play, just as the
movie addict who, determined to shut
his eyes for time, finds himself peep
ing now and then to see where he Is
now"
There are plenty of faces to be ex-
amined in the brief confines of half
dozen seats to right or left, several rows
forward, and perhaps few to the rear
Inspection of the latter demands a
flexible neck, determined spirit and
an indifference to glares. Glaring eyes
even though they be beautiful ones, are
not to be borne with complete indider-
ence, of course, but the determined man