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    TRAINING tUTHE STAGEARTHURHORNBLOW

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    Q^atntll Itttttetaitjj SItbrarg3tlfata, Jfew ^nrk

    BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THESAGE ENDOWMENT FUND

    THE GIFT OFHENRY W. SAGE1891

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    Training for the stag

    o.in,an? ^^24 031 227 980

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    The original of tliis book is intlie Cornell University Library.

    There are no known copyright restrictions inthe United States on the use of the text.

    http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924031227980

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    LIPPINCOTT'STRAINING SERIES"FOR THOSE WHO WANTTO FIND THEMSELVES"

    TRAINING FOR THE STAGE

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    LIPPINCOTT'STRAINING SERIES"FOR THOSE WHO WANTTO FIND THEMSELVES"

    TRAINING FOR THENEWSPAPER TRADEBy DON C. SEITZ

    Businesa Manager of "New York World''

    TRAINING FOR THESTAGEBy ARTHUR HORNBLOWEditor of " The Theatre Magazine"

    TRAINING FOR THESTREET RAILWAYBUSINESSBy C. B. FAIRCHILD. Jb.Ezeoutiye Assistant of the FliiUdelphiaBapid Transit Co.TRAINING OF AFORESTERBy GIFFORD PINCHOTIN PREPARATIONTRAINING ANDREWARDS OF A DOCTOR

    By RICHARD C. CABOT, M. D.TRAINING ANDREWARDS OFA LAWYERBy HARLAN F. STONEDean of Columbia Law Sohool

    12mo. Cloth. FvUy Illustrated. Each SI.S6 net

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    Photo Arnold Genthe

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    LIPPINCOTT'S TRAINING SERIESTRAINING FOR THESTAGESOME HINTS FOB THOSE ABOUT TOCHOOSE THE PLAYER'S CAREER

    BYARTHUR HORNBLOWAUIBOB OP "by right OF CONQUEST", " THE END OF THBgame", "the mask", etc.

    EIGHT ILLUSTRATIONS

    WITH A FOBEWOBD BTMR. DAVID BELASCO

    PHILADELPHIA & LONDONJ. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY

    i

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    COFTBIGHT, I9Z6, BT J. u. LZFFINCOTT COKFAIIT

    POBUSHID BEPTSMBSB, I916

    PBINTSD BT J. B. LIPPINOOTT COUPAKTAT THE WABHINQTON SQUABB PBSSS

    PHILADBLPHIA, U. B. A.

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    "I THINK I LOVE AND REVERENCE ALL ARTSEQUALLY, ONLY PUTTING MY OWN JUST ABOVETHE OTHERS ; BECAUSE IN IT I RECOGNISETHE UNION AND CULMINATION OF MY OWN.TO ME IT SEEMS AS IF, WHEN GOD CONCEIVEDTHE WORLD, THAT WAS POETRY ; HE FORMEDIT, AND THAT WAS SCULPTURE ; HE COLOREDIT, AND THAT WAS PAINTING ; HE PEOPLEDIT WITH LIVING BEINGS, AND THAT WASTHE GRAND. DIVINE, ETERNAL DRAMA."CHARLOTTE CVSHMAN.

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    PREFACEThe question most frequently put to me

    diiring the twenty-five odd years I have beenassociated with the theatre and its people hasbeen: "Do you advise me to go on thestage? " This naive query often comes fromperfect strangers, persons never seen orheard of before. I am asked to form anopinion of an imknown correspondent'schances of success in what is perhaps one ofthe most difficult and precarious of the pro-fessions, without having an opportunity tojudge of his or her personality, qualifica-tions, or talent.The late Joseph Jefferson, when called

    upon to answer this same question, repliedin his characteristic way: " To those whomay wish to foUow the theatrical professionand who have an earnest desire, beyond the

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    PREFACEexhibition of their own vanity, to study theart of acting for its sake rather than fortheir own, I should desire to give all theinformation in my power, but to those whohave nothing else to do and who desire togo upon the stage for amusement I wouldgive the same advice that Punch did topeople about to marry: ' Don't! ' "My own answer invariably has been: Ido not advise anyone to go on the stage.Almost any other vocation you could selectis likely to bring you far greater happinessand larger reward for honest effort made.But if the call to the stage persists, if thedesire to wear the sock and buskin will notbe downed, and you are sure you have theproper equipmenta good voice, pleasingstage presence, some intelligence and a faireducation, added to good health and theartistic temperament^then plunge in andGod be with you. In any case, be sure you

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    PREFACEbegin right, and avoid the mistakes that haveled many stage beginners to their imdoing.In these pages an attempt is made to give

    the yomig man or young woman attractedto the stage as a career the information re-garding its opportunities and requirementswhich all beginners naturally seek. Tomost of them the theatre is a strange land,a world of fascination and mystery. Theiracquaintance with it is only of the mostsuperficial kind. Perhaps they are studentsof the drama, or love theatre-going, or haveacted with success in some amateur the-atricals, which has fired them with ambitionto join the professional ranks. A very easyand congenial way of earning one's living,they argue, this wearing good clothes anddrawing fat salaries for a few hours' workreally playeach evening! They envy thepopular leading man whose portrait appearsin every newspaper and magazine and whose

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    PREFACEname, outlined in electric letters two feethigh, makes one blink along Broadway.They know nothing of the difficulties thisactor had to overcome before he attainedsuccess. They see only the public favorite,the matinee idol, and they ask, " If he cando it, why not I? " They know nothing ofthe reverse side of the medal. How shouldthey?

    I have tried to present an accurate pic-ture of conditions on the stage as they areto-day, pointing out the various ways inwhich the tyro may succeed in securing afoothold on the boards, suggesting what hemust do. to maintain himself there and gainthe favor of the pubhc, dwelling on thegenerous emoluments that fall to the popularactor, but at the same time concealing noth-ing of the difficulties and disappointmentsthat beset the path to success.To analyze or discourse at any length

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    PREFACEupon the art of acting is not the purpose ofthis book. It is with the practical, ratherthan with the purely academic and theoret-ical side, of the players' calling that thefollowing pages are intended to deal, and inpresenting these practical issues the writerhas been careful to trust less his own judg-ment than the opinions of those who, havingthemselves achieved success on the boards,cannot be charged with being ignorant ofwhat they are talking about. If actors whohave won world fame teU what self-prepara-tion they went through to make that famepossible, they are worth listening to. Whenexperienced stage directors explain whatqualities they look for in the stage aspirantand what the novice must measure up tobefore he or she can hope to gain a footingon the metropolitan stage, their opinions arelikely to carry weight.

    If this book only serves to discourage a11

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    PREFACEfew of the hundreds of well-intentioned butmisguided young people who, having notalent for the stage, are attracted to it merelyby the glamour of the footlights and are aboutto rush into a career for which they aremanifestly imfitted, it will perhaps be con-sidered to have rendered a real service notonly to them, but also to the cause of thetheatre. If, on the contrary, it helps tosift the dross from the gold, if it encour-ages real ability wherever it may be foundand helps to spur on to renewed effort thosein whom the caU to the boards is irresistible,and who may one day shed lustre on thestage, I shall feel it has not been written invain.

    A. H.New York, May, 1916.

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    FOREWORDBY MB. DAVID BELASCO

    In preparing oneself for the dramatic pro-fession the one essential and indispensablething is not to enter upon the career becauseyou want to do so, but because you are fittedto do so. Most, if not all, of those who failon the stage, on investigation will be foundto be persons who began the work withoutpossessing the slightest qualification oraptitude for acting.In my long experience as a writer and

    producer of plays, I have come in contactwith many young persons who were quiteconvinced that they had within them themakings of another Edwin Booth or MaryAnderson, yet when I came to talk withthem it did not take me long to realizethat they had neither the ability nor the tem-

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    FOREWORDperament one needs for success on the stage.My opinion as to the necessary qualifica-tions for an actor or actress will be foundelsewhere in this volume. There is a gen-eral belief that youth and beauty are 90 percent, factors for stage success. True, theyare valuable assets, but they are not every-thing. The all-important essential is abil-ity. That alone is the thing that covmts.Many of the great actors and actresseswhose names will live in theatrical annalswere not renowned for good looks. Someof them, like Charlotte Cushman, Kean,Mansfield, were even plain, but they pos-sessed what counts far more. They hadthe divine spark, the genius that disarmscriticism and sweeps everything before it.Youth has its value, certainly. It is only

    when we are young and full of enthusiasmthat we can face difficulties which wouldquickly discourage older actors. In youth

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    FOREWORDthe mind is fresh, one has all his strength,is pliable and easily moulded.There is one thing the stage beginner need

    never fear. The profession is not so over-crowded that there is not always room forreal talent. As a matter of fact, goodactors to-day are hard to find. Managersneed actors more than actors need man-agers. In preparing a play for the stage,the first requisite is to see that it is properlycast. And so important do I consider thispart of the work that I have often spent ayear in selecting a suitable company. Itis then that the manager must call intoservice aU his knowledge of human natiu-e.He must study the author's meaning of aparticular character as to appearance andtemperament; he must find an actor whonot only can look the part and think thepart, but who, in addition, has a special andparticular ability to give life to the author's

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    FOREWORDcreation. Among the thousands of actorsin New York there might be, perhaps, notmore than one who could suit a particularrole, and invariably he is a hard person tofind when once he is wanted. Perhaps noteven this one is to be found, in which casethe manager must select an actor of tem-perament and intelligence sufficiently pliableto allow the author or stage manager tolead him along the right path, and to mouldhis abilities into proper form. I have spentmonths in looking for the right actor for acertain part, and then, when I have beenabout ready to give up in despair, have runacross some unknown man playing a smallpart in an obscure company, and have feltinstinctively that he was the very one I wasafter. These " finds," as a rule, turn outwell, for such an actor feels that at last hisopportunity has come, and he will workdoubly hard to make the best of it.

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    FOREWORDJust such an opportunity may one daycome to you and when you least expect it.

    Whether you will " make good " or not de-pends on how much and how well you haveprepared yoiu-self for the actor's calling.In this hook you will learn what some ofthese qualifications are, but, above all, don'tforget that there is one important asset nopreparation and no school can giveper-sonal magnetism. If you have not that,you are not fitted for the stage. With it,you may accomphsh anything.Some years ago I was asked by that very

    excellent chronicle of the stage and its peo-ple, the Theatre Magazine, to explain themethod I followed in selecting my actors.What I said on that occasion I can wellrepeat here:When I have a part in view and go about

    to the theatres to seek for some one to playit, I do not say, " He will do, because he

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    FOREWORDwalks thus or talks thus." The art of act-ing is not mathematical. It is not an exactscience. We may not say in acting, " Twoand two make four." When I have foundthe person I want to play the part, there isa passing of something from me to him, fromhim to me, and I know that I have foundhim, although I cannot say why, I send forhim to come to see me. I talk with himas to a new friend. I draw him out. Ipersuade him to talk of himself, of his life,and while he does so I am studying himstudying his face to see what it discloses, and

    H what it hides; studying his hands, his feet,his hody, to gauge their possibilities of ex-pression. There are no rules of physi-ognomy I follow. I can tell; that is all.As I talk with him I know whether his lifehas brutalized or refined him. I knowwhether he is sensitive or callous. I knowwhether he is keenly attuned to emotion, or18

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    w

    FOREWORDphlegmatic. I may listen to what he is say-ing or I may not. I am reading his life andcharacter, not by the light of what he says,but by the disclosures of his features. So Igauge my actor while I am engaging him.

    So in dealing with actors and actresses atrehearsal, I adapt myself to their tempera-ments. There are some persons who requirea kind of bullying. You must storm, youmust scold, or you will get nothing fromthem. If I know at the beginning of arehearsal that I shall have to use suchtactics to waken someone I say: "Now Iam going to play that I am angry to-day,but don't mind. Only do what I say. Theanger is play." We understand each other.When in the course of a rehearsal it becomesnecessary for me to say, as I have said:" You walk across the stage like an elephantgoing to a snail's funeral," the actor knowsthat he must change that walk, yet he feels

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    FOREWORDnone of the rancor that would interfere withthe development of his part. On the con-trary, if there is some sensitive, half-hyster-ical girl at fault, I should have to persuadeher, to gently make her see that her walk isatrocious, without wounding her feelings.She has to be talked to as a lover talks to awoman he is wooing. I act all throughrehearsals, but I always say: " Do this, butdo not imitate me. Do it in your own way."If the way is a bad one, he must be led, notdriven, into improving it.The first word, and the last, in acting is

    temperament. There must be heart, heart,heart. Soul is only a glow. The definitething is the heart, the capacity to feel. In-teUigence is desirable, but it is secondary.The merely brainy actor is never a greatactor on the stage. The heart is greaterthan the brain.

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    CONTENTSPAGE

    FOHEWOED BY Mb. DaVID BeLASCO 13The Plater To-Dat 26The Akt or the Actok 46The Stage as a Career fob Women 68What an Actob Earns 87QUALIPICATIONS OF A PlATEK 102Can AcTiNa Be Taught ? 122The Dramatic School 131The Actor's Voice 146Peeiib and Pitfalis 164Some Don'ts fob Actors 174Compensations 181

    APPENDICESA. Model Contract Proposed bt the Actors'

    Equity Association 185B. General Rules for the Guidance of Actors

    During Performance 191C. Authob's Note 193

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    ILLUSTRATIONSFAOII

    David Belasco FrontispieceReception Room of the Players' Club, Gramercy Park,

    New York 42William Seymour, Stage Director, Consulting with Julia

    Marlowe 62An Author (Clyde Fitch) Reading His Play to the Com-

    panyViola Allen and Others 84A First Rehearsal and Actors Reading Manuscript Parts. . 110A Class in "Make-Up" at the American Academy of

    Dramatic Arts 132Maude Adams Directing a Rehearsal of Supernumeraries

    in Her Production of "Joan of Arc" ISODavid Belasco and his Company at Luncheon During a

    Rehearsal 170

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    TRAINING FOR THESTAGETHE PLAYER TO-DAY" See the players well bestowed," said

    Shakespeare, and after an interval of threehundred years the injunction has been liter-ally obeyed. The conditions of the Eliza-bethan stage did not permit of any pamper-ing of its mvmimers, but in our time it isdifferent. To-day the player is well be-stowed. There can be no question aboutthat. The theatre has reached the mostprosperous era in its history and the actorhas prospered with it. No longer is he asocial outcast. The stage is a recognizedprofession. Society no longer despises theactor, but greets him with open arms. Ina time when money is an Open Sesame to

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEevery circle, the fashionable leading man,with an annual income equal to that of thePresident, no doubt considers himself en-titled to as much consideration as a be-spectacled scientist or bewhiskered collegeprofessor with only a beggarly $10,000 ayear. Every now and then the actor grirai-bles at his hereditary enemy, the manager,but taken aU in all, to-day he is better paid,has more opportimities, and receives moreattention from the public than ever beforein the history of the drama. The news-papers and magazines are filled with his por-traits and chronicle his slightest doings.From a " rogue and vagabond," which evento-day is his legal status under old Englishlaw, still imrepealed, the player has be^comeone of fortune's favorites. He not onlybasks in beauty's smiles, but his princelyrevenue enables him to own a country seatand half a dozen automobiles. If reason-

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEably economical, he can retire at the ageof fifty, his future secure.

    If his histrionic skill and artistic idealsdo not always measure up to those of theold-time actor, at least he can point to thehealthy condition of his bank account.Where his prototype of a few decades agowas content to trudge home to a humblelodging after thrilling an audience with thepower and beauty of his acting in such rolesas Richard III, lago, Othello, Virginius, allimpersonated during the same week, thefashionable matinee idol of to-day, after ap-pearing in the one role he has acted for twoconsecutive seasons, finds a luxm-ious lim-ousine awaiting him at the stage door anddrives leisurely to supper at his club.The actor of the old stock company days,

    rugged, intellectual, picttu-esque, quaint,U filled with a fine sense of the dignity of his

    calling, careless in his attire, helpless as a27

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    TKAINING FOR THE STAGEchild in business matters, happy go lucky,improvident, lovable, schooled in the besttraditions of the stage, experienced in a widerange of parts, trained to assume equallywell half a dozen different roles almost in asmany days, is fast disappearing. In hisplace has appeared a smart, dapper youngman, well set up, well groomed, very prac-tical. Among these are many possessingtalent, brains and ambition, players of whomthe contemporary stage has every reason tobe proud. They have vigor, vitaUty, fineintelligence, added to great charm of per-sonahty. It is not their fault if present-dayconditions are unfavorable to the full growthof their dramatic gifts. Playing drawing-room comedy season after season does notafford the right training to develop aBernhardt or a Booth. There are others,however, among this new generation ofplayers of whom as much cannot be said,

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEactors who have no artistic ideals and fewaspirations beyond self-exploitation and thesecuring of a large salary.The average young actor of this type is

    frankly commercial. He knows little ornothing of the history or traditions of thetheatre. He is not well read. He is moreinterested in the crease in his trousers andthe color of his socks than in the social orintellectual questions of the hour. He hasonly the slightest acquaintance with Shake-speare and other stage classics. He is in-clined to disdain and scoff at aU suchreading as " high-brow stuff," having littlepractical application to modern acting.With him the stage is a business. He re-gards it as one does real estate, plumbing,undertaking, or any other trade. He is init to make money. Shirking study, havingno real love for his profession, seeking in itonly the opportunity it affords for easy,

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEluxurious livinghe is the product of thecommercialized stage with scarcely a thoughtbeyond securing a fat part in some produc-tion likely to run an entire season and sosave him the onerous necessity of studyingand rehearsing another role. When onecontrasts with this the prodigious amountof study done by actors of another and lesscommercial eraHenry Irving imperson-ated no fewer than four hundred and

    \{ twenty-eight characters during his first threeyears on the stageone has food forreflection.

    But, alas, we are no longer living in thetimes when great actors trod the boards,when Forrest, Macready, Kean, Booth il-lumined the stage with the fire of theirgenius. That type of actor has practicallydisappeared. The conditions that producedan actor like Irving have also changed. Thetheatre has deteriorated and the player has

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEdeteriorated with it. " What," asks WiUiamWinter in his delightful reminiscences,*" are the causes that have produced this de-plorable effect? The major causes are theprevalence of Materialism, infecting allbranches of thought, and of Commercialism,infecting all branches of action. The publicis not blameless, because public opinion andsentiment,^meaning the general conditionand attitude of the pubhc mind,reactsupon those who address the pubhc. Thetheatrical audience of this period' is largelycomposed of vulgarians, who know nothingabout art or hteratm-e and who care fornothing but the solace of their commontastes and animal appetites; on that pointobservation of the faces and manners of themultitude would satisfy any thoughtful ob-server; and, because the audience is largelyof this character, the Theatre has become

    * " Other Days," by William Winter.31

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEprecisely what it might have been expectedto become when dependent on such patron-age. It has passed from the hands thatought to control it,the hands either ofActors who love and honor their art or ofmen endowed with the temperament of theactor and acquainted with his art and itsneeds,and, almost entirely, it has falleninto the clutches of sordid, money-grubbingtradesmen, who have degraded it into abazaar. Throughout the length and breadthof the United States speculators have cap-tured the industry that they call 'theAmusement Business ' and have made ' acomer in Theatricals.' A ' departmentstore ' administration of the Theatre, dis-pensing dramatic performances precisely asvenders dispense vegetables, must, neces-sarily, vulgarize the vocation of the Actor,dispelling its glamour of romance and mak-ing it mechanical and common. In the old

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEtheatrical days the Actor, no doubt, some-times had reason to feel that, more or less,he was ' tolerated ' by ' the gentry ' ; butthat posture of folly he could despise. Inthe new theatrical day he knows that his artis peddled and, in the knowledge that he istreated as a commodity, there is a sense ofhumiliation that breeds indifference. Someof the acting now visible is, for that reason,about as interesting as the sawing ofwood.While the present day player is pros-

    perous, with better pay, more luxurioustheatres, more comfortable dressing roomsthan were ever enjoyed by his predecessors,the conditions surroimding his life in mostother respects are not improved. The oldstigma cast upon the actor, " rogue and vag-abond," was probably not without somejustification. The strolling mumimers ofShakespeare's day, irresponsible, impe-

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    TRAmmG FOR THE STAGEcunious, rude, boisterous, were often, nodoubt, a terror to peaceable citizens. In ourday the actor behaves himself. Outwardlyhe comports himself as other men. But, toall intents and purposes, he is still a " stroll-ing player." The exigencies of his peculiarcalling do not permit of his having a fixedplace of residence. He does not know themeaning of the word home. This, of course,does not include actors of established repu-tation, many of whom own beautiful homesin town or country. Such must be regardedas the lucky exceptions in considering theprofession as a whole. The average actor,of necessity a wanderer, identified with noparticular community, seldom, if ever, castsa vote and naturally takes little interest inpolitics or -aflFairs of the counti;y.* Alwayson the go, belonging nowhere, he lives in anarrow little world of his own, quite sincerein his fatuous belief that " all the world's a

    * See Appendix C.34

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEstage " and he the most popular player in it.Most of his life he spends in hotels andon railroad trains. If, by happy chance, heis engaged for a successful Broadway pro-duction, the extent of the run is so uncertainthat he cannot think of establishing himselfpermanently in a house or apartment. First,he has no furniture ; second, he has no wife.Marriage, for most players, lies outside therange of practicability. Many actors aremarrieda few most happilybut whatkind of connubial arrangement can it bewhere husband and wife are in differentcompanies travelling on the road half thetime? " The actress has a right to as muchdomestic happiness as women in other walksof hfe," said a well-known leading womanrecently, " does she always get it? Nothe peculiar conditions of her calling makeit almost impossible. When one stops toconsider that two players, who are also hus-

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEband and wife, are appearing in two differ-ent companies, perhaps a thousand milesapart, is it a wonder that they never have areal opportunity to know each other thor-oughly? To all intents and purposes theyare strangers and remain so. They cannotpossibly leam to imderstand each other as amarried couple should. If they could be-come better acquainted we should hear offewer stage divorces. The biggest reason ofdivorce among them is the forced separationfrom each other of four, five or six monthsat a time." Denial is often made that thereare any more divorces among stage folk thanamong people in other walks of life. Nostatistics are at hand to prove this conten-tion. The newspapers seem to be alwayschronicling the domestic troubles of actors,but it is fair to remember that there is notthe white light focussed on women elsewherethat there is on the stage.

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEAt best the player's life is an unwhole-

    some, abnormal existence. He sleeps tillmid-day, idles away his afternoons (whennot rehearsing) and spends his nights in theoverheated, feverish, artificial atmosphere ofthe theatre. Here he literally lives on hisnerves. Harried by the exacting stagemanager, criticised, if not made love to, bythe temperamental star, flattered by jealousbut tactful colleagues, his ear tickled nightlyby the rich, rolling tones of his own voiceand the applause that follows his exitis itsurprising that he sometimes loses his head?The constant mental strain, the rush andexcitement, the apprehension of forgettinghis linesa tragedy that all actors, even themost experienced, constantly fearcannotfail to be a terrific strain. And then thelights! A physician recently expressed theopinion that the effect of so much electricvoltage concentrated on an actor while on

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEthe stage cannot fail to have a shatteringeffect on his nervous system. Most of theevening, while off stage, he spends in asmall, ill-ventilated dressing room whichhe has to share with two or three others.That is the only place where he can be vm-less he prefers to stand in the draughtywings. In times gone by actors had aGreen Room, or place for general assemblywhile awaiting their cues. Conunercialismlong ago abolished this interesting andagreeable feature. The late Richard Mans-field tried to bring it into vogue again at theGarrick, but without success.In view of these abnormal and disturbing

    conditions it is hardly to be wondered atif the average actor has not the same out-look on life as most other men. His per-spective, generally, is all out of focus. Heholds the mirror up to nature and sees in itonly the reflection of himself. His environ-ss

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEments tend to make him egotistical, vain, andextravagant. A foolish public makes muchof him, exaggerating his importance out ofall proportion to his actual merit, praisinghis personal appearance, extolling his talents,untU he is encouraged to think himself a very-wonderful fellow. Ask the average actorwhen you happen to meet him casually whatthe news is, and nine times out of ten he willreply: " I played Newark last week. Nextweek we jump to Baltimore." He wiU notgo on to explain that he is appearing in suchand such a play. It is inconceivable to hisvanity that you should not know. He im-agines himself a person of such consequencethat the whole world eagerly watches hismovements. In France they call an actor aM'as-tu-vUj which, anglicised, means aHave-you-seen-me. This may be taken assome indication of the depths of egotism towhich some players sink.

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    TRAINING FOB THE STAGEYet if the player, in conunon with all

    mortals, has his shortcomings, his httlefoibles and vanities, he has also good quali-ties that have endeared him to the public,which, not without reason, regards himmuch as an overgrown child, not altogetherresponsible for his actions. His faults, suchas they are, being chiefly the result of hisartistic temperament and his artificial en-vironment, he is to be pitied rather thanblamed. Ever an optimist, viewing lifethrough roseate spectacles, he is quite im-prepared to meet difficulties when theycome. Blaming the managers and never hisown limitations for such troubles as befallhim he is likely to collapse completely at thefirst serious check to his ambition. Swayedentirely by impulse and emotion, his nervesalways keyed up to the highest pitch, onemoment he is raised to the skies, the nextinstant plunged to the depths. Generous

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    TRAINmG FOR THE STAGEhe is conceded to be and ever ready to lendhis services when call is made upon him inthe cause of charity or distress. Instancesof almost superhuman unselfishness and self-sacrifice by players are written in the GoldenBook, where good deeds are recorded.Actresses, particularly, are big hearted andsympathetic. The supreme ambition ofevery player is to make a hit on Broadway,yet one actress I could name actually re-signed her part in an important metropoli-tan production so that another actress,whose mother was slowly dying in NewYork, might have it. She incurred the dis-pleasure of her manager in so doing, and fora long time afterward was exiled to the" road " in consequence. Possibly thepublicity given a big Broadway benefitmight have something to do with the player'sbeing willing to volvmteer his services, butthe spirit that prompts a star, weary after

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEa season's arduous work, to appear in theslums at a benefit for some obscure CrippledChildren's Home is surely above suspicion.

    Socially, the player finds himself in asomewhat narrow field. Content to move inhis own little world, he is rarely tempted togo out of it. Society no longer frownsupon him, it is true, and if given the shght-est encouragement, invitations to dinner anddances would doubtless shower upon him;but the actor has httle time, even had he theinclination, to cultivate Society. He pre-fers for his hours of diversion the more con-genial atmosphere of the actors' club, wherehe can listen to endless shoptalk and meetmen of his own craft. The Players, in Gra-mercy Park, New York, is the most aristo-cratic of the actors' clubs. The gift of EdwinBooth, it was organized under the personalsupervision of that great actor and even to-day his gentle spirit seems to pervade the

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEartistic,luxurious interior. Here one meetsthe aristocrats of the profession and onChristmas night, when mirth and good fel-lowship reign in the usually sedate halls

    *and dining room, a hush comes over theactors as the president rises and proposes atoast to Edwin Booth, which is drunk inreverent silence. The Lambs, less exclu-sive and more popular, is second in impor-tance among the actors' clubs. Conceivedin a spirit of fun, the Lambs has grown yearby year until to-day it is one of the bestknown and most popular clubs in the coun-try. Each year its frolicsome membershold a public " gambol "a theatrical per-formance in which the most prominentactors take part and which earns a sub-stantial simi for the club's treasury. TheFriars, a more recent organization, starteda few years ago by a group of theatricalpress representatives and managers, is also

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEan important factor in theatrical club life.The actresses, too, have their clubs and

    social organizations. First among themmust be mentioned the ProfessionalWoman's League, started some twentyyears ago by Mrs. A. M. Palmer, wife ofthe late well-known manager. The League,located centrally at 1999 Broadway, looksafter its members' business interests, givesthem legal advice and holds monthly socials.It has also a professional wardrobe fromwhich members may rent or borrow onpromises of payment from the first week'ssalary. The Twelfth Night Club, organ-ized by a group of the younger set ofactresses, makes more of the social side ofactresses' life than the business end. Dur-ing the season the club holds monthlyreceptions with some prominent male staras guest of honorand its membership in-cludes practically all the leading women of

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEthe stage. Another and similar organiza-tion, known as the Charlotte Cushman Club,is situated in Philadelphia. Miss MaryShaw first conceived the idea of this clubas " the first link of a number of such clubsstretching across the entire continent, sothat young actresses 'on the road' mayavoid hotel life and gain atmosphere ofhome." Other and newer clubs for actressesin New York are the Rehearsal Club andthe Gamut Club.The world will always wish the playerwell. Willingly it overlooks his shortcom-ings and pardons his little vanities. Whenone recalls the pleasure the actor gives,making us forget our troubles, exciting ourlaughter, stirring our deeper and nobleremotions, are we not conscious of a debt ofgratitude that always remains impaid? For,after all, what is left when the player hasstrutted his little hour and the final curtain

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEhas rung down? The sculptor, the author,the composer, the architect have createdsomething tangible which they leave forfuture generations to admire. But the play-actor, the power and charm of whose actinghas held thousands spell-bound, has nothingto leave but memories that fade, alas, all toosoon. How many among the new genera-tion of theatregoers remember the exquisitehumor of Jefferson's Boh Acres, the nobil-ity and dignity of Edwin Booth's Hamlet,the majesty of Forrest's Lear? To-daythese past glories of the American stage arenames^nothing more.

    THE ART OF THE ACTOBA FOOL cannot be an actor, though anactor may act a fool's part, observedSophocles sagely two thousand years ago.What the Athenian dramatist said is stilltrue, but perhaps less true now than in the

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEclassic age when on the boards strode actorsof heroic stature, noble in mien, voice, andgesture, trained to declaim with lofty elo-quence the poet's mighty verse. To-day thetragedian's once splendid art is lightly dis-missed as old style, its gifted exponents aredisappearing one after the other, and in aprofession which practically raises nobarriers to inexperience and incompetence,where every greenhorn deems himselfworthy to wear the cothurnus, it is inevitablethat there must be some fools.The actor's art has no definite laws. " The

    end of all acting," said Henry Irving, " is'to hold the mirror up to Nature.' Dif-ferent actors have different methods, butthat is their common purpose which canbe accomplished only by the closest studyand observation. Acting, like every otherart, has a mechanism. No painter, how-ever great his imaginative power, can suc-

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEceed in pure ignorance of the technicalitiesof his art; and no actor can make muchprogress tUl he has mastered a certainmechanism which is within the scope of pa-tient intelhgence. Beyond that is the spherein which a magnetic personaHty exercises apower of sympathy which is irresistible andindefinable. That is great acting, butthough it is inborn and cannot be taught,it can be brought forth only when the actoris master of the methods of his craft."

    If, as Irving suggests, acting consists inholding " the mirror up to nature," the waysof doing it must necessarily be varied amillionfold to fit all the types and moodsone finds in nature. It would, perhaps, beimpossible, in this regard, to improve uponHamlet's instructions to the players:

    " Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pro-nounced it to you, trippingly on the tongue;but if you mouth it, as many of our players

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEdo, I had as lief the town-crier spoke myhnes. Nor do not saw the air too muchwith your hand, thus; but use all gently;for in the very torrent, tempest, and (as Imay say) whirlwind of your passion, youmust acquire and beget a,temperance, thatmay give it smoothness. O, it offends meto the soul, to hear a robustious, periwig-pated fellow tear a passion to tatters, tovery rags, to split the ears of the ground-lings; who, for the most part, are capableof nothing but inexplicable dumb shows, andnoise. I would have such a fellow whippedfor o'erdoing Termagant; it out-herodsHerod. Pray you, avoid it. Be not tootame neither ; but let your own discretion beyour tutor. Suit the action to the word, theword to the action: with this special observ-ance, that you o'erstep not the modesty ofnatiu-e; for any thing so overdone is fromthe purpose of playing, whose end, both at

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEthe first, and now, was, and is, to hold, as'twere, the mirror up to nature; to showvirtue her own feature, scorn her own image,and the very age and body of the time, hisform, and pressure. Now this, overdone, orcome tardy oflp, though it make the unskilfullaugh, cannot but make the judicious grieve;the censure of which one must, in your allow-ance, o'erweigh a whole theatre of others.O, there be players, that I have seen play,and heard others praise, and that highly,not to speak it profanely, that, neither hav-ing the accent of Christians, nor the gaitof Christian, pagan, nor man, have sostrutted and bellowed, that I have thoughtsome of nature's journeymen had made men,and not made them well, they imitated hu-manity so abominably. . . . And letthose that play your clowns speak no morethan is set down for them; for there be ofthem, that will thranselves laugh, to set on

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    TRAINmG FOR THE STAGEsome quantity of barren spectators to laughtoo ; though, in the mean time, some neces-sary question of the play be then to be con-sidered. That's villanous; and shows amost pitiful ambition in the fool that usesit."The present day actor probably laborsvmder no delusions concerning his " art." Itis even doubtful if he stiU ranks himself asan artist. In these days when success onthe stage, as elsewhere, is gauged solely bythe money standard, the best actor is he whocan command the most money. Yet he isfar from being a fool. Although the matineeidol, impeccably tailored, with his namelooming so large on the playbill as to quiteeclipse that of the modest author of thepiece, he is quite aware of his limitations.He knows that as an impersonator of char-acter, and portrayer of the hiraian passions,he does not come up to the standard set by

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEthe great players of the past, but he retorts,very logically, that times have changed, thatpublic taste has changed, and that, as anatural consequence, the actor has changedwith them. It is quite true that nowadaysthe public and the theatre managers do notseek actors so much as they seek " types "and personalities. " There is no question,"said Daniel Frohman, the well-known man-ager, recently, " about the public's apprecia-tion and enjoyment of Shakespeare's plays.The whole trouble lies in the inability of amanager to find actors who are capable ofpresenting Shakespearean plays as theyought to be presented. Actors to-day donot have the training they need for Shake-speare. A man or woman is successful ina certain type of role and becomes a boxoflBce asset in that sort of part. Take JohnDrew, for example. The public expects tosee him in a polite drawing room comedy and

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEwould accept him in nothing else. It wasconsidered almost revolutionary this yearwhen he made his entrance in The Chiefwith a wide gash in the knee of his trousers!There's a man doomed to a frock coat for-ever! And it's the same thing with almostall the players now on the American stage.If they start as a cockney servant or aFrench count, a detective, or an adventuressthey play that sort of part until the end oftheir stage career."Mr. Frohman blames the system, but he

    seems to forget that it is the theatre man-agers themselves who have brought it about.When engaging an actor, they do not askcan he act the part, but wiU he look thepart, and instead of insisting on an actorgetting under the skin of the person he issupposed to be impersonating and submerg-ing his identity completely in that of the as-sumed character, which, after all, is the very

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEessence of the art of acting, they encouragehim to play himself, and to that end exploitthe actor's or actress's own individuality,with the result that no matter what the play,no matter how different the character, thatactor is always seen prima facie as himself.He seldom employs make-up in the truesense^that of altering his personal appear-ance. Apparently every character he im-personates has the same face, the same wayof combing his hair, etc. Frequently hedoes not even take the trouble to change hisclothes. The illusion from the standpointof the audience is, in consequence, seriouslyimpaired, if not completely destroyed. Thespectator does not see the character createdby the dramatist. All he sees before himis the popular leading man, with whosephysiognomy and peculiar little mannerismshe is as familiar as with those of a memberof his own family. " Another aspect of our >54 "^

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEart which has of late been much debated,"says Sir Herbert Tree,* the distinguishedEnglish actor-manager, " is whether it is de-sirable that the actor should or should notsink his individuality in the part he is play-ing; whether, in fact, the actor should beabsorbed in his work, or the work be ab-sorbed in the actor. It seems to me, in spiteof all that certain writers are never tired ofdinning into our ears, that the higher aim ofthe artist is so to project his imagination intothe character be is playing that his ownindividuality becomes merged in his assump-tion. ... I remember that when I firstwent upon the stage I was told that to obtainany popular success an actor must be alwayshimself, that the public even likes to recog-nize the familiar voice before he appears onthe scene, that he should, if possible, confine

    * " Thoughts and After Thoughts," by HerbertBeerbohm Tree.

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEhimself to what was called ' one line ofbusiness,' and that he should seek to culti-vate a certain mannerism which should be thebadge of his individuality. Surely thisis an entirely erroneous and mischievousdoctrine !Of late years this exploitation of the per-

    sonahty of the actor has grown to hugedimensions, and the pernicious practice hasresulted in the equally pernicious and pre-posterous starring system, whereby an actoror actress, if their respective faces and per-sonalities happen to please the publicability being only a secondary consideration-^are suddenly promoted over night to posi-tions of consequence once only held byplayers of genius.An actor of marked individuality and

    originality is often mistaken for an actor ofuncommon ability. Perhaps he is imperson-ating a " drummer " in a comedy of Amer-

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEican business life. We are delighted withthe characterization which has all the" freshness," humor, forcefulness of thetypical travelling salesman of real life. Weimmediately jump to the conclusion that theactor impersonating the role is a wonderfulactor. The glad tidings spread like wild-fire, and the astonished thespian becomesfamous overnight. Managers fall over eachother to star him. The truth is he is not anactor at aU. He has simply been imperson-ating himself, and as " way back home " hewas just the same type of man conceived bythe author, living in the same surroundings,associating with the same commercial class,he had no difficulty at all in giving veri-similitude to his performance on the stage.If that same actor were asked to play a duke,or personage of consequence, with whose de-portment and manners he was not so fa-miliar, it is more than probable that he would

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEfail lamentably to convey the impression oftruth, and be laughed off the stage. In otherwords: as the drummer he was not acting,but only appearing as himself ; as the dukehe would be acting, and would prove hecould not act.

    It is not, perhaps, so much the fault ofthe present-day actor that he fails to measureup to the standard of such players as Booth,Forrest, or the elder Kean, as it is that ofmanagers, public, playwrights. It is diffi-cult to know where properly to place theblame. The managers pretend that the pub-lic has no taste for Shakespeare or blankverse drama of any kind and refuses topatronize it ; the public retorts that it isnever afforded an opportunity to show itsappreciation, while the playwright declaresthat anything other than smartly writtensociety comedy, or sensational melodrama,has no chance of being even considered by

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEthe manager, and there you have it. If itwere the fashion nowadays to play Shake-speare, The School for Scandal, Richelieu,Virginius, etc., there is little doubt that theactor would improve in his art. Of neces-sity he would have to equip himself for suchroles. Studies now utterly neglected wouldbecome indispensable parts of his training.Above all, he would have to pay more atten-tion to elocution, which now he neglectsabominablyinarticulation is the besettingsin of our present-day stageand once morehe would learn to submerge his identityunder " make-up " and costume. But thehighest form of drama is not written to-day.The playwright has lost the art of it. Pub-lic and managers seem not to want it. Canthe actor be blamed if inspiration is lacking?

    It is indeed a question if the present gen-eration of theatregoers knows what goodacting is. How should they? They have

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    TRAmmG FOR THE STAGEnothing by which to compare performances.Even in England as far back as half a cen-tury ago this growing lack of artistic acumenamong theatregoers was noted. In a letterto Anthony Trollope, George Henry Lewesdeplores the ignorance of the average audi-ence in these matters. " To eifect a revivalof the once splendid art of the actor," hewrites, " there must be not only accom-plished artists and an eager public; theremust be a more enlightened public. Thecritical pit, filled with playgoers who werefamiliar with fine acting and had trainedjudgment, has disappeared. In its placethere is a mass of amusement seekers, notwithout a nucleus of intelligent spectatorsbut of this nucleus only a small minority hasaccurate ideas of what constitutes good art."

    Formerly it was very different. In the" palmy days " of the drama every playgoerwas a self-constituted critic. Familiar from60

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEearly youth with the plays presented he wasquite competent to compare the acting ofone player with another in the same part.That is one reason why good acting was soappreciated, why the galleries went wUdover Macready, Cushman, and Booth. Theaudiences were familiar with the points tobe made in the play, understood the difficul-ties of the role, just as a pianist is able toenjoy a concert more than one who does notknow music. To-day, the theatregoer goesto see a play with which he is unfamiliar.He has no idea of the relative value of eachrole or how they should be played. Thisalone tends to the deterioration of present-day acting, for the actor, not compelled tolive up to tradition, feeling that his workwill not be measured by the achievements ofa favorite predecessor, has no real incentive,apart from a natural desire to do well, tomake any extraordinary effort.

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEPersonality counts for much on the stage,

    but hard work and careful training are thechief stepping stones to success. " Peoplegenerally overrate a fine actor's genius,"says George Henry Lewes,* " and under-rate his trained skill. They are apt to credithim with a power of intellectual conceptionand poetic creation to which he has reaUy avery slight claim, and fail to recognize all thedifficulties which his artistic training hasenabled him to master."

    Speaking of Edmund Kean, " incompar-ably the greatest actor I have ever seen,"the critic goes on to say : " He was anactor of such splendid endowments in thehighest departments of the art, that no onein our day can be named of equal rank,unless it be Rachel, who was as a womanwhat he was as a man. The irregular

    * " On Actors and the Art of Acting," by GeorgeHenry Lewes.

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEsplendor of his power was felicitously char-acterized in the saying of Coleridge that' seeing Kean act was reading Shakespeare ;by flashes of hghtning,' so brilliant and sostartling were the sudden illuminations, andso marking the duU intervals. Critics whohad formed their ideal on the Kembleschool were shocked at Kean's want of dig-nity and at his fitful elocution, sometimesthriUingly effective, at other times deplor-ably tame and careless. In their angryprotests they went so far as to declare him' a mere mountebank.' Not so thought thepit. He stirred the general heart withsuch a rush of mighty power, impressed him-self so vividly by accent, look, and gesturethat it was as vain to protest against hisdefects as it was for French critics to insistupon Shakespeare's want of hienseance andhon gout. . . . He was an artist, andin Art aU effects are regulated. The orig-

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEinal suggestion may be, and generally is,sudden and unprepared, ' inspired,' as wesay, but the alert intellect recognizes itstruth, seizes on it, regulates it. Withoutnice calculation no proportion could be pre-served ; we would have a work of fitful im-pulse, not a work of enduring Art. Keanvigilantly and patiently rehearsed everydetail, trying the tones imtil his ear wassatisfied, practising looks and gestures untilhis artistic sense was satisfied, and havingonce regulated these he never changed them.The consequence was that, when he was suffi-ciently sober to stand and speak, he could acthis part with the precision of a singer whohas thoroughly learned his air. One whooften acted with him informed me that whenKean was rehearsing on a new stage he accu-rately coimted the number of steps he had totake before reaching a certain spot or beforeuttering a certain word; these steps were

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEjustly regarded by him as part of themechanism which could no more be neglectedthan the accompaniment to an air could beneglected by a singer. Hence it was that hewas always the same ; not always in the samehealth, not always in the same vigor, butalways master of the part and expressing itthrough the same symbols."On the much discussed question as to

    whether an actor should himself feel the emo-tion he portrays, opinions differ. Diderot,*the French philosopher who laid down theprinciples of a new drama of real life inopposition to the stilted conventions of theclassic stage, holds that for good acting theremust be no real feeling on the part ofthe actor. " Extreme sensibility," he says," makes middling actors ; middling sensibil-ity makes the ruck of bad actors; in com-plete absence of sensibility is the possibilityof a sublime actor."

    * " Paradoxe sur le Comedien," by Denis Diderot.5 65

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGETalma,* Napoleon's favorite tragedian,

    held the opposite view. " To form a greatactor," he says, " the union of sensibility andintelligence is required."Henry Irving t also believed that good

    acting necessitated a player's feeling emo-tion to some extent. " I do not recommendactors," he says, " to allow their feelings tocarry them away . . . but it is neces-sary to warn you against the theory, ex-pounded with brilliant ingenuity by Diderot,that the actor never feels. . . . Has notthe actor who can make his feelings a partof his art an advantage over the actor whonever feels, but makes his observations solelyfrom the feelings of others? It is necessary,to this art that the mind should have, as itwere, a double consciousness, in which all the

    *"Eeflexions sur I'Art Theatral," by FrangoisJoseph Talma.

    |- " Personal Reminiscences of Henry Irving," byBram Stoker. 66

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGE, emotions proper to the occasion may havefull stmng, while the actor is all the time onthe alert for every detail of his method.. . . The actor who combines the electricforce of a strong personality with a masteryof the resources of his art, must have agreater power over his audiences than thepassionless actor who gives a most artis-tic simulation of the emotions he neverexperiences."The elder Coquelin,* on the other hand,

    agrees with Diderot. " I am convinced,"he says, " that one can only be a great actoron conditions of complete self-mastery andability to express feelings which are not ex-perienced, which may never be experienced,which from the very nature of things nevercan be experienced. And this is the reasonthat our trade is an art and this is the causeof our ability to create! The same faculty

    * " Art and the Actor," by Constant Coquelin.67

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEwhich permits the dramatic poet to brmgforth from his brain aTartuffeoraMacbeth,armed and equipped, although he, the poet,be a thoroughly upright and honest man,permits the actor to assimilate this character,to dissect and analyze it at will, withoutceasing to be for an instant distinctly him-self, as separate a thing as the painter andhis canvas."

    THE STAGE AS A CAREER FOR "WOMENAlmost every young girl has been stage-

    struck at some time or other and fired withthe ambition to enter upon the theatricalcareer. Caught by the glamour of the foot-lights, she thinks she would like to be anactress because it looks easy. The mys-terious, fascinating puppet world, peopledwith the interesting characters of the play-vmright's brain, appeals irresistibly to her im-agination. She already sees herself playing

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEJuliet, Desdemona, Rosalind, wearing royalrobes, attended by pages and maids of honorand made fervent love to by impassionedRomeos. She gives free rein to her fancy,when suddenly her enthusiasm receives achiU. Some kind friend exclaims: "Goingon the stage? You're mad. No girl can goon the stage and retain her self-respect."Mother and father instantly take alarm andforthwith all dramatic aspirations aresquashed.

    Is it true that conditions behind the foot-lights are any worse than in other careers forwomen? It is difficult, if not impossible, toexpress an opinion on this frequently dis-cussed and very delicate subject. Onlythose who have trodden the boards and beenbred, so to speak, in the atmosphere of thestage, only those who have encountered suchperils and overcome them, are competent tospeak with authority. Even the players

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEthemselves are divided on the question. Onewell-known actress said that if she had ayounger sister the stage was the last place inthe world she would allow her to be. Otherplayers contend that conditions back of thecurtain are no worse than in other careersfor womenperhaps not so bad.The assertion that the companionship ofactors is dangerous to the actress is not basedupon fact. If a girl behaves in a ladylikemanner, is serious and attends only to thework in hand, no actor is likely to annoy her.On the contrary, the chivalry inherent inevery man wUl usually prompt him to pro-tect and assist her. There is a delightfulcamaraderie among players of both sexesthat is perfectly wholesome.Some think that the handsome leading

    man, who charms the audience with his fas-cinating personality, exerts the same influ-ence over the actress with whom he is play-

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEing, and many see in this alone a grave dan-ger to the susceptible young girl. The truthis that the actress views the actor in a lightquite different from the audience. She seeshim with his grease paint on, she knows he isonly acting, she is too close not to see all thetricks of his trade. It is a well-known factthat the actress, instead of admiring her'fellow-player, is almost always quite indif-ferent to him. The spectator is also apt tobelieve that the love scenes so realisticallyacted in the full glare of the footlights arelikely to be continued after the curtain hasfallen. Nothing could be further from thetruth. While the love scene is in progressit is possible that the players may actuallyfeel the emotion they are portraying, butdirectly it is over, and the curtain has fallen,the spell is completely broken.

    Others disapprove of the propinquity ofthe stage. They are scandalized at the close71

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEquarters of players behind the scenes. It istrue that there are serious objections to thepresent dressing-room system. The quartersprovided by the average theatre are totallyinadequate. " There is scarcely a theatre inthe United States," says Wilham Winter,*" that contains a sufficient number of dress-ing rooms to accommodate a reasonablynumerous theatrical company. Each per-former should have a separate dressingroom: that is a matter of imperative neces-sity as well as of decency: yet, in many ofthe theatres, two, three, or fotu" persons,usually nervous and sometimes uncongenial,must occupy one small room, and in thatroom must prepare themselves for a per-formance,^under circumstances that makethe essential composure impossible."That the conditions surrounding the

    aotress do not expose her to temptations and* " Other Days," by William Winter.

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEinfluences that go to the undermining ofmoral character could not, I think, be suc-cessfully maintained. It is also possiblethat these temptations are more numerousand harder to resist than those encounteredby women in other walks of life. The busi-ness and professional woman is, or should be,safe at home once the working day is ended.With the actress the day is never ended.She is up all hours and her work does notbegin until other women are almost readyfor bed. Logically, these late hours shouldbe bad for health, yet statistics do not showthat the actress is any less healthy than otherwomen. On the contrary, her busy life andmental activity seem to make her immunefrom the ills, imaginary or otherwise, fromwhich most women suffer. It is a well-known fact that actresses, often exposed inlow-necked dresses to violent and unavoid-able draughts on the stage, seldom catch

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEcold. A physician accounted for this by ex-plaining that the effect of the chill on thebody was neutralized by the excitement andmental stimulus of acting.The real danger or safety of the actress

    lies within herself and in her own attitudetowards hfe. If she is without strength ofcharacter, she is likely to lose her balancevery quickly. Because of her public char-acter she is flattered and paid more attentionthan any other woman, and her vanity soonruns away with her. She loses all sense ofproportion. She is too silly to realize thather acting does not merit the praise hermanager bestows upon her, and she is quiteready to believe that it is her remarkableability that leads to her name being featuredin big electric letters on Broadway. Later,when her good looks have faded, there maybe another story. There is the real danger.Only weak, foolish girls are likely to suc-

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEcumb to it, those who love clothes, automo-biles, and luxury, and shrink from hardwork and the long years of waiting that adifferent and more respectable course ofliving entails.The woman of intelligence soon learns

    that the only success worth while is honestlywon and that real happiness is attained onlyby the straight and narrow path. For thebeginner it is a very hard road, strewn withseemingly unsurmountable obstacles, and theoutlook is often discouraging if not dis-heartening. Only the few can hope to reachthe top of the professional ladder. The vastmajority of players must be content to re-main the hewers of wood and drawers ofwater, and as the salaries paid the rank andfile are small, and employment precarious,the outlook for any but the most brilliantlyendowed is doubtful and imcertain indeed.

    Travelling " on the road," particularly, is75

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEtrying to the young actress. In New Yorkwhere, perhaps, she has relatives and friends,her situation is not so bad. She is able tosave a little money from her salary and herexpenses are not formidable. On the roadit is different. Her means not permittingher to patronize the best hotels, she is forcedto take a room in cheap boarding houses,and only those who have survived these in-stitutions know what they are! Playingone or two night stands, always on the jump,practically living on trains, exposed to allkinds of weather, eating poor food, gettingno sleep, the life is far from roseate. Onlythe courage and vmquenchable enthusiasmof youth and a superabimdance of devotionto ambition renders it endurable, and thedelicately nurtured girl may weU pause andthink twice before she goes into it. In thisrespect, theatrical conditions are very muchthe same in England as they are here.

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGECharles Brookfield, the English comedian,in his amusing " Reminiscences," dwellsparticularly on this pathetic feature of the-atrical touring, and speaks of the number ofwistful girls one finds wandering here andthere about the country:

    " There must be hundreds of them wan-dering about the coimtry from one smalltown to another, nearly all of them prettyand amiable and well-mannered, who haveto keep up a certain amount of appearanceon tiny, irregular salaries, and save enoughto keep them during the months they are outof engagement. As far as I could ever see,they live mostly on bread-and-butter andtea. They never complain^^at least, neverabout anything serious, only now and thenabout some little professional slight. Theytravel long night join-neys with no furthertoilet luxury than a cherished old powder-puffalmost bald from faithful service77

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEjealously guarded in a comer of a shabbylittle purse. They are always ready, andeven eager, to study long parts at a fewhours' notice. The only glimmer of lightin each poor girl's life is, I fear, a spark ofhope twinkling ahead of her, as she liesstaring into the night, that one day a man-ager will chance to be passing throughBarmby-on-the-Marsh, will see her playPauline, and carry her off to fame and for-tune. But she never catches her will-o'-the-wisp."Many a girl, discouraged in her first at-

    tempts to get on the legitimate stage byrepeated rebuffs from the dramatic agents,whose laconic and stereotyped " nothing to-day" ends by getting on her nerves, istempted to try the chorus in some musicalcomedy production. At first the ideashocks her. From time immemorial everypossible wickedness and sin has been laid at

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEthe door of the chorus ! Yet she recalls thatseveral actresses, to-day famous, began inthe chorus. No special qualifications arenecessary. Even the voice is not importantin the chorus nowadays. Good looks and ashapely figure alone are required. Thesalary averages $25 a week and there isalways employment to be had. The idea atonce appeals to her. It means an immedi-ate income and just what she is seekingstage experience. She gets the experience,no doubt about that, but it is not always ofthe kind she sought. In the chorus, as else-where, if a girl is serious and of strong char-acter she can get along without harm. Noone will interfere with her, and if she attendsto her work and possesses any talent at all,it is hardly likely that the alert-eyed stagemanager will let such good material go towaste long. Her opportunity will come andquick promotion will follow. This is the

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEbright side of the chorus question. The re-verse side is less attractive. One serious ob-jection to the chorus is that the girls are ofnecessity thrown closely together. Thereare black sheep in every flock and unfor-tunately one frivolous girl is apt to corruptall her associates. Anxious to make friendswith her new companions the newcomer doesnot like to refuse the proffered cocktail, andshe often finds herself forcing a laugh atsome suggestive joke she does not evenunderstand. One can hardly look for ex-emplary manners or strict moral code in thedressing rooms of the chorus, and in such anatmosphere it is inevitable that only thestrongest characters can emerge unscathed.The weak, frivolous girl at once succumbs.She starts to drink and dissipate, there areafter-theatre suppers and gay joy rides" after the show," and the result is moraldisaster, complete and irrevocable. On the

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEauthority of Mr. Flo Ziegfeld,* one of thebiggest employers of chorus girls in theworld, three short years is about the hmit ofthe life of such a girl. At the end of thattime, ruined in health, her beauty gone, shedisappears, swallowed up in the vortex ofthe great city. That is why in the profes-sion the chorus is known as the graveyardof the stage.Joseph Jefferson, the famous creator of

    Rip Van Winkle^ was once asked his opinionof the stage as a career for women. " Thisis an oft repeated question not easily an-swered," he said. " I cannot but be preju-diced in my reply, for I am already fourgenerations deep in the dramatic profession.My great-gTandfather, my grandfather andgrandmother, my father and mother wereall actors and actresses, and in the face of this

    * Interview in the Theatre Magazine, November,1915.

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEit is not likely I should say anything againstmy calling. I dislike to defend my ownprofession. I would much rather some min-ister should do it while I defend his. Mydaughters never showed any talent for thestage, but if they had they would have actedside by side with their father. Whether awoman should go on the stage depends en-tirely upon her motive. If she wishes to goon for amusement or to gratify her vanityI emphatically answer ' No,' but if shewishes to earn a living or adopt the stagebecause she has love and real talents for itI say ' Yes.' And the public should not bedeprived of such. I do not claim entirevirtue and purity for the stageno profes-sion can claim that, for they are all made upof humanity, good and bad^but I am proudto nimaber among my friends a host of menand women in the profession who are, Iknow, among the finest people in the land.

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEIt depends upon the woman herself in anycalling whether her life is respectable ornot."Annie Russell, an actress whose private

    life has always been beyond reproach, cham-pions warmly the woman of the stage. Shesays : " The old-time impression that awoman who adopts a stage career imperilsher moral welfare is probably pretty welloutgrown. The woman who goes on thestage is concerned with her ideals of art.Also, she has a great deal of hard work to do.The same pitfalls and snares that surroundwomen are found everywhere. They arenot confined to the theatre. I have foundthat there is more immorality in businesshouses with which I deal than in all the play-houses of this coimtry. Of- course, a girlwho goes on the stage is not protected byhome influences. Her career depends en-tirely upon the kind of head she has on her

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEshoulders. I have been on the stage all mylifeever since I was seven years old. Ihave never left it except for illness, and Ihave always found there the best protectorsand advisers. All through my life the bestmen and women I have known I have met onthe stage. They have had the most sympathyand understanding and knowledge of humannature. There are a.great number of womenloud in their manner and in their dress whoare connected in some way with the stage.They, however, are not the thousands ofhonest, hardworking women who are reallyactresses, who really have the right to becalled actresses. In all my companies,whenever there has been a person who didn'tbehave well, that person was simply snubbedby the rest of the company. And thechances are that such a person will be sentaway. If it is some silly girl who is actingfoolishly she is usually protected and advised84

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEby some of the women in the company."" The stage," says Maxine Elliott,* "offersbigger prizes to a woman than any otherprofession, and for those lucky enough togain the prizes, life presents a broader hori-zon and many of the agreeable perquisites ofsuccess. But, oh, you stage-struck girls!If you saw a dozen people struggling in thewater, and realized that only one or twocould possibly escape drowning, your in-stinct would be just as ours isto warnothers against jimiping in. That is why weshout, * Don't! Don't! ' in the hope that itmay save somebody from drowning. Ofcourse, the warning will never deter the girlwho is destined for success. That is not thestuff she must be made of. But one feelsthe consciousness of duty performed inshouting out the danger. Why go on the

    * Signed article in the Theatre Magazine, August,1908.

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEstage if you have pleasant surroundings anda happy home life? You must give it all upfor an extremely imcertain victory that isyears and years ahead. Your life wiU befull of small humiliations and hardships anddisappointments, the recurring imcertaintyeach year of what the next season will bringforth in the way of an engagement, theisolation of life on the road, the inescapablediscomfort of travel, of being away fromhome and friends, and all that makes foryour happiness. You will have years ofpoverty and loneliness and obscurity. If,however, you are not of the lucky ones withthe happy home, if poverty pinches and youmust work to live, then, of course, the situ-ation changes. Try the stage, but be sure itis your vocation. You must have seriousambition and reasonable qualifications^theconstitution of a horse, the skin of a rhi-noceros, and that which is perhaps the best

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEdefinition of geniusan infinite capacity fortaking pains. If at the end you see thelight, perhaps it is worth it all."

    WHAT AN ACTOR EARNSMany young people, trying to determineupon a career, are attracted to the stage by

    reports of enormous salaries paid. Theyhear of huge sums earned by Maude Adams,who, for years, has enjoyed an income con-siderably over $60,000; they read aboutDavid Warfield receiving $200,000 from asingle season of The Music Master andabout John Drew, whose earnings average$50,000 per anntmi. In most statements ofplayers' earnings generous allowance mustbe made for the exaggeration of enthusiasticpress agents, but in the above instances thesums mentioned are believed to be correct.Of course, these are three of the most im-portant stars on the American stage, and as

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEthe amounts they receive represent an in-terest in the box office receipts in additionto a regular salary or guarantee, one mustnot take their particular earnings as ex-amples when discussing present day stagesalaries, although it is said that Grace Georgewas paid a salary of $1200 a week during theNew York run of The Truth. As a matterof fact, theatrical salaries are not paid onany fixed basis. There is no uniform scale.When an actor is in great vogue, the com-petition is keen among managers to securehis services. Such an actor or actress de-mands and receives more than another playerin the same line of work. We cannot, there-fore, deal here with stars' incomes, or thesalaries of the most popular players, butwith the average.The average leading man in a Broadway

    production to-day commands a salary of$250 a week. This may reach a consider-

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEably higher figure according to the localdemand for a particular player's services.A manager will often pay an actor morethan he is actually worth to prevent somerival manager securing his services. Forinstance, one well-known young actor re-ceives $600 a week for a thin, inconsequentialpart that, under other circumstances, wouldbe well paid at $200. His leading womangets $500 for the same reason. But theseare exceptions. The leading woman gets$300 because she is expected to pay for ex-pensive gowns. The usual practice in re-gard to this is that the manager pays forthe gowns if the play runs less than six weeksand the actress pays for them if the playruns over that period. The gown questionis a very serious one for the actress to con-sider, and, as each leading woman tries tooutshine the other in the beauty and costli-ness of her attire, there is no telling where

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEthe present extravagance will stop. Somefigures in regard to the cost of some of thegowns seen in recent metropolitan produc-tions are instructiveThe gowns worn in The Great Lover^

    by Virginia Fox Brooks, who plays the partof Edith Warren, were made by famousFifth Avenue concerns. The three dresses,together with the hats and shoes, cost $1500,all of which the actress pays out of hersalary. The gown worn by Jane Cowl inthe last act of Common Clay alone cost $500.In Fair and Warmer, Madge Kennedy, whoplays Blanche, wears a gown that is com-paratively inexpensivea mere bagatelle of$250 for a simple little white dress. Thegown worn by Julia Arthur in The EternalMagdalene cost $335. These few examplesafford some idea what a " Broadway pro-duction " means in the matter of expense tothe actress.

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEThe services of the heavy man {i.e.j the

    villain) are compensated at $200 a weekand the adventuress gets the same. Theleading juvenile is paid $150 and the in-genue receives $125. The eccentric char-acter man or woman gets ahout $125. Theutihty people, that is the maids and butlerswho bring in the afternoon tea or annoimce," My Lord, the carriage waits," receive any-where from $40 each. It must not be for-gotten, however, that these fees are forBroadway productions, for which the actorreceives the largest salaries paid on thestage. When a Broadway production takesto " the road," these salaries are supposedto be slightly increased, owing to the actors'being under heavier expenses when travel-ling, but as a matter of fact, they are oftendecreased, because only the best so-calledBroadway attractions when on tour retainthe original New York cast. For reasons

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEof economy, the expensive original cast, withthe exception of the principals whose namesserve to boom the show, are replaced by-cheaper people. In the prominent stockcompanieseven in those of the better classthe salaries are considerably lower, rang-ing from $150 a weeka high averagefor" leads," to as low as $35 to $40 a week forutility roles. In the second and third rate" road " companies, playing melodrama inone-night stands, the rate is about $75 a weekfor leading man, $50 a week for leadingwoman and so down.Only very few players, comparatively,

    ever reach the coveted goal of their ambitionan appearance on Broadway. Actors ofminor ability, or without influence or luckor whatever else it may be termed, have tobe content all their lives with " stock " workin obscure provincial theatres, or travellingwith crude melodrama " on the road." Of

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGElate, the moving picture has afforded theactor a lucrative field for his talents. What-ever may be said against the screen dramaas a menace to the legitimate stage and de-stroyer of public taste, none can deny thatit has come as manna from Heaven to theneedy player.At first glance the Broadway salaries seem

    large when contrasted with those paid inother vocations, but it must be rememberedthat they are paid only during the life ofthe play. For instance, a play may closein two weeks. The leading man thereforewould receive only $500 for about five weeks'work (including rehearsals) and the othersless in proportion. When, also, one con-siders that under the best conditions, a playseldom runs longer than thirty-five weeksout of the fifty-two, it will be seen that theplayer's income, estimated yearly, is not soenormous after all. There are, of course,93

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEexceptions, productions like The Lion andthe Mouse, Within the Law, On Trialj etc.,which ran practically the whole yearthrough, but such runs as these do not occuroften. The short run is the rule ; the longrun the exception. For example, a leadingjuvenile engaged at $150 a week would haveearned in thirty-five weeks $5250, a modestenough income! If he is able to total onlytwenty-five weeks, which is a still faireraverage, his income is only $3750. Withhis personality and ability he could probablycommand more in almost any other profes-sion. When, too, one considers that only asmall percentage of players reaches Broad-way, that the leading man or woman " onthe road " receives, if lucky, an average of$60 a week for thirty weeks, or $1800 for theentire year, out of which they must pay forhotels, food, and clothes, making saving asheer impossibility, is it surprising that one

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEhears of distress among the rank and file ofthe profession?One must also take into consideration that

    the actor's personal expenses are consider-ably higher than those of men of equalcapabilities engaged in other pursuits, andthis applies also to the actress. By neces-sity he must dress well. Two or three suitsare not enough. He must have a dozen. Hemust patronize expensive tailors, the moststylish bottierSj shirtmakers, hatters. Hiscigars and cigarettes must be of irreproach-able brand. In a word, he must keep upappearances of a man with many times hisincome. Thus he gradually acquires ex-pensive, extravagant habits which in timebecome second nature and are hard to shakeoff when less prosperous days come, makingretrenchments necessary. The actor seldomsaves money. His environments make italmost impossible. Only very few ever ac-

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEcumulate enough to ensure independence intheir old age. Those prosperous players wesee owning yachts and fine country estatesare, as we have seen, stars who have had asubstantial interest in the box office receipts.They must be considered the exceptionallyfavored of the stage. To the actor withoutprivate means, who is never lucky enough toattain stardom and who has not been wiseenough to save money during the heyday ofhis popularity, there is nothing to look for-ward to in his old age, but the benevolenceof that admirable charity, the Actors' Fimd.At the census taken in 1910 there were in

    the United States 29,000 persons engagedin the " show business." This included legiti-mate actors, vaudeville artists, circus people,etc. As the number had then doubled sincethe previous census, it is a fair estimate tocalculate that there are to-day in this coun-try 40,000 persons engaged in theatricals,

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGE50 per cent, at least of whom are legitimateactors.During the year 1915 the applications to

    the Actors' Fund for relief reached the as-tonishing average of over two hundred aweek. That is to say out of a grand totalof 40,000 actors, or persons closely enoughidentified with the stage to have a claim uponthe Fund, no fewer than 10,000 applied tothat charity on the plea that the wolf was atthe door and that they needed immediatepecimiary assistance10,000 out of a totalof 40,00025 per cent. ! The percentage isenormous and conveys its own lesson.Seymour Hicks, a successful English

    actor, speaks of this large percentage of fail-ures among players. " Is the stage," heasks,* " the only profession which is ap-palling for its failures? Are not all pro-

    * " Twenty-four Years of an Actor's Life," bySeymour Hicks.

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEfessions equally so for the failures that arenecessarily in them? No, for the morass towhich that will-o'-the-wisp, the footlights,leads on its victims is one, perhaps, whichhas no equal. Men may throw aside thesword for the barrister's wig, a literiarycareer for that of the mining expert, the

    mposition of a younger son at home for theChurch militant abroad ; but once let a manhear a roimd of applause for an individualeifort, let him have stood for one short hourin the full glare of the limelight, and nothingon earth will ever make him give up the call-ing which he thinks has been his since thehour of his birth, nothing will make him fitfor another profession."

    Until quite recently actors have nevertaken any serious steps toward business or-ganization. The Actors' Fund takes careof them when destitute or ill, but they hadnever attempted to unionize their calling in

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    TRAINING FOR THE STAGEany way. Chafing, however, under certainalleged grievances, it was recently proposedthat an Actors' Union, affiliated with theAmerican Federation of Labor, should beformed to better protect the players' inter-ests. Some actors opposed the scheme,taking the stand that as practitioners of an" art " they should refrain from identifyingthemselves with " labor." Others argueddifferently, pointing to the musicians, alsoartists, whose union is one of the most power-ful in the coimtry. Finally, a meeting ofactors was held in New York City to discusscertain unjust conditions of the actor's pro-fession. The abuses complained of aremany. Actors have often, recently, re-hearsed for five weeks or even longer andreceived only three days' pay; indeed, in oneor two cases nothing at all for their services.Companies playing in one-night stands havehad to lose a Saturday night and its pay in

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    TRAINING FOE THE STAGEorder to jump to a Sunday night perform-ance, for which they received no remunera-tion. Certain forms of contract now em-ployed by some managers exact six weeks'work at half salary during the season, to wittwo weeks before election, two weeks beforeChristmas, and two weeks before Easter.Certain forms of contract contain a clausethat obliges the manager to provide trans-portation only from the point of opening tothe point of closing, instead of from NewYork to New York. Actresses have beenrequired of late to pay out large sums forgowns, etc., which, in case of a play's fail-u


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