Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1943-03-07
Pr IIyc phote

strip-tease act Whenever the performers
eyes begin TO roam to those legs the teacher
stops him.
A few such reminders before an audience
will improve the performers mind to such a
degree that he can go out and play to front
rows filled with Hollywood starlets and Broad
way chorus girls in G-strings.
Some performers cannot stand spotlights
or any lights shining at them Paderewsh,
the famous Polish pianist, always insisted that
he play in semi-darkness
For pupils who have this fear of light the
simple cure is to let them play while strong
light shines on them or by directing beam
from flashlight straight into their eyes.
The mike filters, the modern version of
stage fright, is more common than most
people realize even among professionals like
Bing Crosby The most frequent reason for
mike filters is the fact that performers like
to see and feel the reaction of the audience.
This is especially true Of comedians. The re-
action stimulates them.
Talking or playing to mike is like per-
forming before a blank wall This situation
was little remedied when radio stations be-
gan to invite audiences TO their programs.
Still, there are millions more listening and
how they take it can only be guessed
It's this guess and the millions Of invisible
people, that brighten many performer. He
imagines the listeners fiercely glaring at the
radio shutting it off in disgust talking while
the program is on and all sorts of the worst
possible things radio listener is liable to do.
In addition to that, there is the engineer
behind the glass partition making motions
with his hands which the performer is sup
posed to understand and follow. If he is ter
rified by the mike these silent gestculations
JDt,ff ha1rN hfr,,u TO n, hfu V.Nfga
And watching the seconds creep around
the studio clock wrecks his nerves completely.
Most performers on the stage radio or
screen are taut when they begin their perfor.
nance This nervous tension often influences
their digestive system. Some of them will
have Indigestion much as a week before and
after the performance.
There is another, subtler form Of the stage
filters the getting into the mood"
1t took Paderewsti sometimes as long as
ID minutes before he got into the mood 10
play One day finding himself in the right
mood. he walked from his dressing room TO
the stage. The passage was darkened and or
the way his manager warned him of a step.
This warning threw Paderewsh out Of his
mood and he had to return to his dressing
room in order to get it back Meanwhile the
audience had to wait
Some performers will be thrown off their
mood or, as we might say, be distracted by the
slightest annoyance. There may be a fly
walking around the piano that an ordinary
mortal would hardly see. Yet at that moment
TO the performer that fly may look as big as
sea gull and his performance will be ruined.
Gabriel, pianist studied all these fears
and annoyances. He discovered. as ne believed,
their reasons and began TO treat them by form
ing the "Anti-Jitters Society" about year
ago. He began with only couple Of pupils.
but he has been SO successful with them that
his class sometimes holds many as sixty.