Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 July 1884 — To Succeed on the Stage. [ARTICLE]

To Succeed on the Stage.

John McCullough insists on familiarity with routine, and an habitual unconsciousness that leaves the intelligence perfectly free. But the two qualities which he regards as imperatively essential to success are comprised in the terms—heart and untiring industry. Joe Jefferson says that the successful actor must be gifted with “sensibility, imagination, and personal magnetism.” The student should begin at the foundation to learn. He thinks it a mistake to regard the lower positions degrading. Some actors he says, are inspirational and inventive, while others must have everything clearly mapped out, and a thorough plan of action arranged before they begin. Lawrence Barrett does not think that physical size has anything to do with success. He says there have been large generals and small generals. Salvini and Booth illustrate the fact in relation to tragedians. In his opinion, it would be best if a young man could start in a school of actors, so that he might have none but models to guide him. Every actor is an imitator of some time in his youth. An actor can be great in only a few parts. William Warren says the chances for getting on are greater than when he was a boy. He says of the comedian that he should have a real, genuine appreciation of the humorous and grotesque in life, and the magnetic power to make others feel as he feels. He need not, by any means, be what is known as a “funny man.” He does not hold to the theory that any particulai size of body is essential to success as a comedian. John Reeve and Burton were fat men decidedly; Charles Matthews, on the other hand, was thin. Modjeska believes in “vocation.” She thinks the best school for acting is the stage itself, when one begins by playing small parts. She believes more in inspiration, at the last, than technique or art, important elements as the latter are. Maggie Mitchell says the stage is the only school, and 18 is the minimum age for going before the footlights; and she hails the change in favor of simple and judicious female costuming on the stage.

Henry Ward Beecher is reported as having said: “Pie, sir, goes with civilization; where there is no civilization there is no pie.” Accepting that theory as correct, some printing offices where “pi” is constantly accumulating must be in an eminent state of civilization. It is a well-known fact that when a new batch of “pi” is made in a printing office the foreman uses some very Christian-like expressions. —Carl Pretzel's Weekly. Love never tires; and the more we love, the more we have of solid satisfaction. Every new soul we come in contact with and learn to esteem fills ns with new life. Those who love others are themselves full of sunshine, and the day marches triumphantly on with them from rosy morn to dewy eve and silent night. One of the latest cheats is tobacco paper. The stuff is such an exact imitation of the natural tobacco leaf, and is so well flavored that it takes a magnifying glass to detect the deception. Cigars made of this tobacco paper have a good flavor, burn well, and hold their white ash firmly. Repentance without amendment is like continually pumping witliQut mending the leak. — Dilmyn. ! At the latest accounts the debts of H. R. H. Albert Edward footed np $1,000,000.