The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, November 24, 1905, Page 4

RIDAY NOVEMBER 24, 1905. MANSFIELD LECTURES AT UNIUERSITY GREAT ACTOR ADVOCATES A NATIONAL THEATER TO ELEVATE THE STAGE Says Proper Development of the Drama Is Beyond Means of Indroiduals and - Commercial Companies. Would Encourage Production of Plays by| Modern Authors Under Stimulus of Very High Ideals. N according to his own confes- | simplest background artistically sketched 4 e L0 O o e iy S o om0 Mr. Garrick \ custom for managers of theatrical com- panjes to rely upan one play each sea- son, or for as long a period as any play 1 d overworkec will hold the public favor. This meaus say a few weeks of rehearsal and 1dlenessi the rest of the time. that time | A society play, for instance, is pur- . ters in London. | chased in London, a cast is engaged eir number ‘ in N York in which each individ- P then was ual player peculiarly suits the char: s A how easy ' acter hé or she has to interpret. Repe- r a ns take place under the eye of £ head | th astute manager, the play is a launched and there is nothing more to Jove his fellows, and vet - rounded by a be done by the actors. The business . 5 among whic nager, and especially the press = f 1 and Goldsmith and do the rest. Most of these E r jan_and a dozen ! plays that come to from London are gre a ter; | others known to The Prince Re- | disquisitions on social tépics, -sociai t t was there every t with a ga | prob expositions of the author's wit he was | peculiar views on matrimony or pugi- k . t lism or the relations of the sexes, or w Ve to w searchlight into a dark and reeKing gn stag s enhan closet which nobody wants to examine. Modern Plays Are Bad. In these plays and plays of this class it only necessary for the in- terpreter to speak the words: but there Is no call for great acting, and thé simply floating for a while y tide of the autnor's temporary n The actor should, sternly put away the temptation which may come to him under the guise of finan- clul success to produce plays which to debased tastes, for though a brief spell he may hold the at- on of the public, he will vect nor lasting reward, and will have openly degraded an art ich should be devoted only to the beautiful. Recently it has become a habit_with women of the stage to rely for effect upon exhibition§ of hysteria. There is nothing easier for a woman { to do all the world over,once slie has made up her mind to do it, than to be- have heard is otoriety. rander for his art in the sanctity of their All you have to do is to make e g I mind to tear every shred of to pieces, pull " up the : let go the -hawser, and . : you are! Bumping -the , tearing your with your heels of your voice. a ex lery may r, playing a rag- nd shrieking at But great griets essed in this way. The gal- vplaud, but the judicious will Browning—upon Racine or X patience on a monument K grief. C Shakespeare suggests hysteria in (comedy only as in Taming of the Shr for inst but upucita an De 1 Matbeth or Per- | dit 10 such ebullition.. And to moment to the use of 0 ur ant subjects upen the stage, we i stas . We cannot but be aware, "ot nes “or f the existence in tnis world of nau- ; c i bis seous and distressing evils. This world4 that effo s beautiful until man made it ugly, | . and it still remains beautiful to those | who will seek its beauties. We ray ati L Llele wie sewers 4{ ot That is the truth: = s the truth, there is no 3 : Ot IEE ARt them upon the stage, | s ne and it is not °r means of eradicating 8 ) X g Bl e stage is neither a po- - . : or. 10 SOV DN Toic{ tuh spital. Both are un- vy : o |b > Bvike an ary to ‘mankind, but a i e ot Cetfects of | tHeY &re not necessary upon the stage. DI e nte of a mob of o ; ments ot & mob ot | Pulprt and Stage. . A to meet the dread The loftiest aim of the pulpit and 2 And do you|the Stage is ito teach us to b bettor equently happier, congregation ner a theater | is to be improved or should d to endure the distressing de- but neither eward? 2 - 3 S T TR P T G of brutal. vulgar and disgustin 2 & OOt Ry eertnly ation, and the | The stage Is for the young ea i AT < . Toe dly. and we may indulge thém. in K G A Juitins ey tales and history wndTpoetry; in o e Aione? | tales of love and romance and achicve. AR ot 3 oo enas | ment and heroism, and an occasional 7 v E a? | g story with a moral—like “Dr. | b Jekytl ana Mr, tiyde”—-put we may not | distort their fancy or endanger their | | moral lives by an exhibition of a rare | and exceptional phase of social de- t t an agtor or no actor, ca asement. Ruskin's advice to e with £0od taste make w | artists may well' be kept in mind—it 15 iy termed a production. There it @as|&s I remember it, to thiS effoct: W hin an absolute matter of fact, no particular > be attached to the making of a ou are to paint a tree find a beautiful | tree and a tree that every one kndws to y iction. The real work of the stage | De @ tree. It may .be the truth that e mctor—does not lle there. 1t is | there is a hideous and deformed and ex- o e 1O ;rm‘»]rd{nl:_cr_\’ t;ro]aklof a tree,& be found S8 oy . on) ovely | in the forest, but that tree Y8 not the '\‘1, ar tim 8 |’1vflm-,‘.1:5 }\ln’l‘ | tree for you to eop: an - : . - Y” Tt ,,f‘ 2 And the student may well ask, “What : und, of mimic gran-|are we to copy and whom are we. to »f landscave or « Don't’ copy ‘any . onme; don't f war, or any Individual actor or his meth- ods. The methods of one actor—the | means by which he arrives—cannot al- amusement. head of talking versus ways be successfully employed by an- real work of the stage lies in | Other. The methods and gur!nnalfty of creation of a character. A great|ONe Actor are no more becoming or - cter Wil dive - foreN When paint | Siitable or adapted to another than cer- tain gowns worn simply fashion. art of | copy 1 by women of fashion, because these gowns are the In the art of acting; like the })aint!ng, we must study life— e. You will have before you as and silks and satins and gold shall have gone the way in our hands, the toil, the patient study, | the work of great master: - . the rough carving of the outlines, the | learn very much from tf\e‘;"’j‘_‘{“x’l‘{e"fl 1 s dainty, delicate finishing touches, the | much what to avoid as what to follow, growing into the soul of the being we|No painting is perfect and no acting 1§ 3 delineate, the picture of his outward | perfect. No actor eve: T Dll:’red a part semblance, his voice, his galt, his speech, | to absalute perfection. It is just as im- ¢ | amount to a labor of such stress and | Dossible for an actor to completely strain, of such loving anxiety and care | Simulate nature upon the stage as it is that they can be compared only,in my | impossible for the painter to portray mind to a mother's pains. And when | On _canvas absolutely the waves'of the - the child is born it must grow in a few | pcean. the raging storm clouds or the s to completion and be exhibited and | NOTTOTS of conflagration. hour coldly criticized. How often, how often long months of infinite toil Nature Is the Model., ain! How often has the actor he child of his imagtnation to the | (ha arentor he i %Ls‘mi‘:}.u;;fl:nfi"' ghts, only to realize that he NAS|pens and Rembrandt-and Van Dyke and into the world a weakling or a | ch may not live! And how at through the long night ver the corpse of this dear of his fancy! It has become sustomary with many actor-man- to avoid these pangs of child-birth. have determinedly declined the re. Galnsborough and Turner, but who will dare to say that any one of their pic- tures is faultless? We shall learn much from them all, but quite as much what to avold as what to emulate. But when you find their faults, do not iforget | their virtues. TLook and realize what it | means to be able to do so much. And win L | probability i Grear Power of Stage. OF CALIFORNIA A S BN f i e - 2 v -" DISTI./\GZ'ISHED AC10R WHO ADDRES~ED UNIVERSITY STUDENTS YESTERDAY L s a matter of fact, is not the interpreta- tion of tragedy and comedy by the American stage superior to the German and French, for the whole endeavor in this country has been toward a ecloser adherence to nature? In France and in G any the ancient method of decls mation still (prevails and the great speeches of Goethe and Schiller and Ra- cine and Cornellle are to all intents and | | Purposes intoned. | Declamation Useless. | No doubt this sounds very fine in German and #rench, but how would you like it now in English? The old- time actor had pecullar and primitiv views as to elocution and its uses. remember o certain old friend of mine who, when he recited the opening speech in Rtchard III and eame to the p bosom of the ocean bosap of down fine d line, “In the buried,” suggested the deep the oceun by sending his voice inta his boots. Yet these were actors to whom certain young & men, wh never w them, con: refer. ‘The methods of the sta been completely changed, them the tastes of the people. {s that some of the actors of only a few years ago would excite much merriment in their deline- ation of tragedy. A very great trage- dian of a past generation was wont, in the tent scene of “Richard IIL" to hold | a piece of soap in his mouth so that after the appearance-of the ghosts the lather and froth might dribble down | his chin, and he employed, moreover, a | trick s which rattled hideously, vhat with his foam-flecked face, 18 eyes, his inarticulate groans s rattling blade, the small boy in | the zallery wad scared into a frenzy of vociferous delight. Yet¥ while we have discarded these somewhat crude methods, we have per- baps allowed ourselves to wander too far in the other direction, and the erit- fes are quite justified in demanding n wany cases greater virility and force. The simulation of suppressed power is very useful and very advisable, but when the fire bell rings the horses have | got to come out and rattle and race down the strect and rouse the town! Of immense value to the world Is the stage. In the words of Schiller. “Wohlthatig 1st des Feuer's Macht. Wenn sie der Mensch bezahmt be- wacht,” This may be said of the stage. Watched and guarded, its Influence is | only for good and for the happiness and benefit of the people. What could be done for the people of this land were we to have a great and recognized theater! Consider our speech and our manner of speech. Con- sider our voices and the production of our volces. Consider the pronunciation of words and the curious use of vowels. Let us-say we have an established the- ater, to which you come not only for your pleasure, but for your ‘educafion. Of what immense advantage this would be if back of its presiding officer there 8tood a board of literary directors, comprised of such men as Willlam Win- ter, Howells, and Bdward Everett Hale | and Aldrich ‘and others equally fine, | The representative actors in London are { much inglined in this direction. + be “reminaed | Recalls Old Author. The | 1 remember coming across an article were to | Written by Hans Christian Andersen in a hard fleld | the old Cornhill Magazine about a pro- Garrick were 1o | eponsibility they owe to the poet and 2 A : - : meiean b the public and instead dazzled the eve | i He omerution e g TN ig s e of thoseé Imst) With a succession of such splendid pic- | and spontaneous. . The word is del?ve nants_ of and provincial- | tures that the beholder forgot In a Sur- | ereq, the action is done apd the pioture w a torever. feit of the Mght the feast that should | i painted! Cam I p.“,:FM P el Do N P n Bave fed the ~soul. This is what I.am | dies and gentlemen, that fs not the way o INot well 072 Idj'l. | pleased to term talk versus Bcting. | [ wanted to do this.” or to say that “I¢ vou wili allow me to try again I think I can improve upon it.” The most severe critic can never tell mée more or scold me moré than I scold myself. T have never left the stage sat- isfled with myself. And I am convinced that every artist feels as T do about his work, Tt Is the undoubted duty of the of the the glightest benefit to drama us or to the in- be reminded . ~ duelOn O e Tembest” at Her May- | critic to critioise, and that m. 3 A Y eans toq{ vertisement or advertysement. and apy & Mr Brabazon Monte- | esty’s ’I‘hea:le;. ll wrassgs( in wonder and | plame as well as to praise, and It must | many other words; whether to ' call . e should see Mr. | A A ion o PaBe after page | he confessed that, taking' all things |the object of our admiration “real ele- Ga Brabazon Montemo- ‘ of glowing description of this marvelous | into consideration, the. critics this ' gant”; whether we should say “we ad- rency ¥ about himself in | and 'lahz-ukenh;nwsfiiture of Shake- | country are actuated by - hones v of { mire” to do this or that, and whether the orning papers something like | speare’s play. ut as I read there rose | pyrpose and kindliness of irit, and | we should say “I guess’ instead of ‘I this r. B M. last night gave | in my nostrils from the old-time journal | bery often their worlk 18, i addition ob| teink s And the soise:,the. edgcation Dimself all the alrs of a Gar- | the dust and dry rot of a dead endeavor | marked literary value. Occasionally|of the American speaking volce is, I] rick, but where, oh where was the | and the book fell from my hand as I|we will still meet the man o 1s|am sure you will ee, of immense ; apiri the arted | Gurrick?” | came upon this final line: “But T wouid | anxious to impress his fellow cltizens | Importance: 1t is difficult to love a v e his first appear- | vatndr ses Shakespeare intelligibly inter-| With the fact that he has been abroad | woman or to continue to . endure a|f . gentieman who had never acted | preted in an empty barn.”” In these days|ana tinctures all his views of plays anid { woman who shrieks at you, A high- b any stage, he was ‘advertised| there are loads and 'londs of money, but | actors with references to Herr Dinkel- | pitched, nasal, stringy voice 18 not cal- . and death of King Rich- | there are few actors! And these loads of | spigel or Frau Mitterwoorser, or who, | culated to chari this establighed tween' the first and second | money will make productions, but they | having spent a few hours in Parls, is | theater of which we dream should parts 0f a concert in the vicinity of Lon- | won't make actors! I recommend to the | forced to drag in by the hafr i eur | teach men and women how to talk. And Gon, and such was his instantaneous suc- students of the stage of the future the | Popin or emoiselle Fifine, t as be 1:% future d the presidents of the gréater uni- versities, and of such men as Roose- ‘velt and Hay—alas, that he 1s not still with us! These men might well decide how the American language should be spoken in the great American theater. and. we should then have an authority in this country at last for the pro- nunciation of certain 'words. It would finally be decided whether to say fancy or fahncy; dance or dahnce; ad- how splendidly it would . glossing i use of the term, be made an_object of | be a scheme devised by a few individuals o | thought: ;The : fin generations if it became characteristic| my little address “Talking Versus Act- | Tuesday evening. December 5, at 6:30 of American men and women to speak | ing.” I have talked and no one is like- | p. m. The subject of the evening will in soft and beautitully modulated !ly to act. One parting worf: In noth-|pe “The Future Street fic of San tones. YWhat would be more in h&r-|ing that I have said is there one parti-| sco,” and will embrace the spe- mony with entranciug California, our |cle of venom or rancor, and I must ROt | ..} raport upon this subject prepared modern Greeec? | be construed into_eriticizing or belit- [ £ FRPOTC 0N Wil 'hese men of whom I Fmvs; spoken | u!r&z in any w.x_\‘d!hP work n:‘ton";:_m:\[x}.]; clny Tavaaiie ol Mo Foul ¢ T ne y in the great | eminent men and women wh 1 urgane of Nes - Gom.of this theater of mY In | boards to-day and who so often delight | Parsons’ report may be illustrated by . and decide upon the wWo | you. Please remember that we have | stereopticon views. Among other mat- be produced—the great classic here no King or Queen or Kaiser to|ters covered will be the improvement tragedies and comedies, and the living authors should be invited and encour- aged. Here again we would have at last what we so badly need-—an encour agement for men and women to write poctry for the stage. As I have al- ¥ told you, nothing by way of the utiful scems to be written for us, but perhaps the acknowleds- and the hallmark of a great the: might preve an incentive. There Is No Tramning. The trailning of the actor! To-day there is practically none. Actors and actresses are not to be taught by patting | them on the shouldersandsaying: “Fine! Splendid!” It is a hard, hard school on . the contrary, of . unmerciful criticism. | And he is a poor master who seeks cheap | popularity among his associates by | over and praising what he| knows to be condemnable. No good re- | sult is to be obtained by this metnod, but | it is this method which has causéd & | great many actors to be beloved, and ! the public to be. very much distressed. As fo:r the practical side of an esiab lished theater, T am absolutely convinced | that the national theater could be estab- lished in this country on a practical and | paying basis; and not only.on a paying | basis, but uponm a profitable basis. It would, howeves, necessitate the invest- ment of a large amount of capital. In short, the prime cost would be large, but if the public generally la interested, there is no reason.why an able financier could not float a company for this pur- pose. Buteunder no circumstances, must or can a national theater, in the proper personal or industrial profit. Nor can it for the exploitation of a social or lit- erary fad. e national theater must be glven by the people to the people and be governed by the people. The members of the tional theater should be elected by the-board of directors and should be chosen from the American and British stage allke, or from any country where English is the language of its people. Every dnducement should be offered to gecure the services of the best actors; by actors, L mean actors of both sexes, and those wha have served for a ceftain number: of years, should be entitled to a pension upon: retirement. For National Theater. It is not necessary to bother you with further detafls, and I only mention this todmpress yott with the fact that the na- mmar theater is a practical possibility. From my, personal experience, 1 am con- vinced that serious effort upon the Amer- fcan stage .meets with a hearty indorse- ment. We are supposed to be a laughtar- loving, and, as far as our amusement is goncerned, a frivolous people, and many business men point out to me that when they have finished their day's work they are too tired to consider anything be |-but a burlesque or a comic opera or.a light farce, but I don't think they ha -cygg'ed to consider the fact that a shallow entertainment does not help to take them out of their business into the depths of our ideas. B swimmer .strikes out beyond the. breakers and revels in the deep, calm lt “P‘.g'“'}‘*,,f,“,‘,fi“:‘;mp""f“ of a » O ‘agedy or o ol} surpassing interest must ::.{ the , for it changes the trend of a man's thoughts and carries him away from h‘lmuu and his troubles. The Frénch the reputation, too, of be- ing a frivolous and laughter-lowing na- FRapts nt the Comedle. Feahcaiss al e e rancal that gu ?{ot drowded, and on ('ven.- occasion the r:ronunutlen has been ot some long, serjous poetiecal or histori. L‘:Llucw.lg, for instance, “Henri Trois et sa ur., And, :&_"ym know why I have called confer honors upon the deserving ar- | tists or the great author. | Remember that to the writer and the artist your praise and his appreciation is his sunlight and that the only place in this land in which he may hope to dwell after he is dead is in your hearts. ———————— of the'street car facilities on Market street. Frank J. Sullivan, president of the Sutter Street Improvement Club, and Patrick Cathoun of New York have been invited to diseuss the report. Mayor Schmitz and the newly clected Board of Supervisors have been invited to be present as guests of the asse- eiation, and the Mayor has been re- quested to supplement the discussion with his views. Johm W. Taylor, a former city official, returning after The eighth annual dinner of the Mer- ;:‘;";}‘,‘1::::1 a:b;i“:;;";‘e':.":’“ - chants’ Assoclation of San Francisco | The dinner will be held in the ladies’ will be held at the Palace Hotel on | grill room of the Palace Hotel. MERCHANTS ASSOCIATION WILL HOLD ANNUAL DINNER Subject Selected for Discussion Is “Fu- ture Street Trafiic of the City of San Franeiseo.” New Styles While They Are New Every manufacturer of good shoes goes to the same source for his new styles. The closest watch is kept for new models designed by a certain few ex- clusive custom bootmakers. ‘The ordinary manufacturer is not content to copy exactly, but tries to save a little leather here, or to “improve” the shape a little there—and then he is compelled to put his “improved” shoes on the market through'the old roundabout way which adds four profits to the price and at least six months to the 6 Regals are frue, unaltered copies of the same originals, and Regal direct methods bring you the new styles before the first pair has been six weeks off the custom bootmaker’s lasts. Six-dollar shoes (and beng)lt'thewhobnh ‘the whale list, 15 LI ne o) and - =y e Sppeinen. Mait Orders Promptly Filled direct from to consumer. The largest in the world. 103 stores in principal cities from London to San Francisco. THE SHOE THAT PROVES FOR MEN AND WOMEN 'S e STORKS SAN FRANCISCO wmng O'Farvell 17 O’Farrell Street Oakland Store. 22 San. Pablo Ave.