| Show Oldest est Actor 84 Never Got Mash Note JT v y w 3 Tj f f 7 JT IT W TT 7 Has Had but One Wife and Has Her Yet Says Public 1 aste las Has Wrecked Drama 1 Frank Findley Mackay I Find Man tiMan Who Goes to Theatre Today Hopes to See Something the Police Po Po- Po lic lice i. i Will Close Up Tom To To- m now morrow w tt Managers Do Not Seek but bat Types and yOn n T Tape ape Measure Basis 4 Booth Couldn't Get a Part Parton on n Broadway By py ELEANOR ROBI ROBINSON SON 1 NV V YORK Dec 2 At At the New Amsterdam theatre John Drew introduced intro Intro- I Prank Frank Findley Mackay 1 to the Dublin of ot New York thereby turning i. i tIle the ta tables taIa r on Mr II Mackay who many manyI I introduced John Drew to the Payi club lub of or which he is now pres- pres t The occasion was as a testimonial to Mr l who vho is the oldest actor ain jn America and still at work as a teacher ot of elocution He leaves his bis hometh n Coytesville N. N J. J every morn- morn I 1 tug ling a at 7 o'clock for his office at West Forty fifth street where he teaches dramatic aromatic art to young youn men and w women men much in need of ot it Mr Mackay made one of his early appearances in the character of Sir Peter Pete at Mrs John Drews Drew's the- the jatre Philadelphia on the 3rd of ot September Sept ePt 1865 John Drew then a Mittle boy sat in his mothers mother's box and andI I watched the performance Mr Mackay l played Laertes to Edwin Booths Booth's Hamlet Hamlet Ham- Ham let 1 aId jand d was a a. lifelong friend of ot our create t actor When Booth founded the Players' Players dub club lie he asked his friend Mackay to to join it and that is how Mr Mackay Maclay came loune many years Viter ter to introduce John Johi Drew there V- V y 1 Mackay's first appearance was in In 1851 lIe He played Stanley Stanley 1 HI In I Thero Ther were no thea a 1 1 in New Newark rk then hen and d the play wi w ver pp- pp yen ven ov over r a a. stable and ran three th kh Yh It ti tl I On One of his most fa far was that or of Pierre in the thes s s s- s r. r Of qt The Two Orpha I aw the old t UnIon Square V Two other members members' of that cele- cele ted stock company are still living tj ey y are Maud Granger and Ida Ver- Ver I i. i o Is now appearing with WilI Wil- Wil I Hodge Since Since 1851 Has Had One I I Wife Got Her Hep Yet ln In a addition to his special laurels as astle tIre thre oldest actor Mr Ir Mackay enjoys tha usual distinction of possessing the one and only wife with he entered Into partnership in tg Pa OJ on August 18 1863 4 jt t 18 last Mrs Mackay and I Ie te b x tl third nI golden wedding break- break t. t ither the oldest actor told f l and vigorous voice We happily married for fifty- fifty i e arS I i because we realized d the theat theof of at the vows we took and have hae remembering always our oure e 10 to each other I have never a IDlY dy iy money but I have alwa always s 's nagS id to keep a home for my wife au S t II pay m my bills And she knows her lK me duties thoroughly has alvay alwan al- al wan vay provided me with good meals and fog been happy happ with her flowers and and has made a splendid oth r I have ha three sons Edward Edwardd rid d Charles are actors My lv son Willam Wilm Wil- Wil lam m s an artist who has his made a study of the science of color Mr Mackay showed me with pardonable pardonable par par- donable donable- pride an article in Every Week telling of a lecture his son had give given givet at the ai-the the Brooklyn navy yard outlining out out- lining lin l plan to make the periscopes Of s submarines marines invisible by painting them violet and amI green so that the eye would a blue impression from i. i them tiem em Then after he lie had told me that Q only y a sense of duty makes happy marriage ge possible we proceeded to a discussion of the plays and audiences End and nd actors of the present da day Weakness of the Drama of Today The pl plays Y Mr 1 Mackay l said are superficial They skim the surface of life That Is Js all the audiences want because they have ha been demoralized by golf and baseball Action is all thy thov un understand And the demand is I always for something different The ordinary every day human wont won't do do The man who buys a theatre theatre the the the- a atre ticket today hopes to see something something some some- thing that the police will close up belore belore be- be beI I lore the he next performance That is I Ithe the opy way to thrill him IThe I IThe The managers knowing this do donot donot not ot seek for dramatic artIsts artists They rhey loo look bole for types A girl goes Int Into inton sin n office to ask for a certain part Youre You re not the type says the managEr man man- ager I 1 want wanta a blond A man follows fol tol- fol- fol lows her Yo Youre ro not tall enough says bays the Uie producer and that finishes 1 him 1 lt is measuring an actor b by o a Ipe Zape e measure instead of by art On thit t lx hai-lx Booth could not get et I I I fT I t tI I i I e l c cc i c 9 L jj H F I I a part on Broadway today He w would ld not be tall enough Edwin Booth was 5 feet 7 7 inches tall His Ills father was 5 feet teet 4 inches high Kean was about that height David Garrick 5 feet 6 or 7 Could any of these men survive the theatrical tape measure of today i- i t Mr Mackay of course spoke quite impersonally He has not acted for twenty years ears but has given all his time to his school of elocution to the Actors' Actors Church alliance which he organized organized or organized or- or and to the actors' actors fund of which he was a founder and a dent Why Booth Was Hamlet and nd Other Actors Are Not Art Alt not feeling makes make the actor Mr 11 Mackay l continued Acting requires requires re requires re- re quires great imagination imagination imagination-imagination imagination to reconstruct the action from the words of the dramatist All AU great drama begins with action The playwright playwright play play- wright sees art action and then finds words to fit it it Shakespeare n never never- vet des described a character never told us whether lj be 16 heroines were Vero blondes or brunettes He was interested in the individuality the psychology of his characters and that is all aU he described The actor should not feel his part Feeling is a blind motor To act from feeling leeling is like starting on a trip to Liverpool without rudder or compass An actors actor's feeling is a reflex from the the- audience when he sees that he ha has hal moved it When an enthusiastic friend of Keans Kean's behind the the scenes to tell teU him of a great success saying Count So and So is In raptures raptures raptures rap rap- tures Kean replied Damn Count So and So the pit rose rose to me The ac actor actor actor ac- ac tor feels when the audience feels He does not feel teel his part Why an actor who felt Hamlet his Hamlet his awe of the ghost his scorn of his mother his contempt for and Gildenstern his great love for tor Ophelia would have to te experience all the pangs of death In Inthe Inthe inthe the last act ct and it would be a good thing for the audiences if modern Hamlets did And And for the managers managers managers' and the actors' actors agencies too The part of Hamlet Is the supreme work of the human imagination and requires supreme imagination to in in- in That is why Richard Mansfield Mansfield Mansfield Mans Mans- field could never play it He was a great mimic Ho He could l act anything he had seen That was all That is true too of all living Hamlets I saw Forbes I thought of ot writing writing writing writ writ- ing an article about hi his hig Hamlet And then I decided I would not I like him and In his leisure moments he paints pictures just as I do The Spry Old Actor Tells H His is Lifes Life's Secret At this point I could not help saying saying saying say say- ing to Mr Mackay l that if I did not know him to be 84 years years' old I could not believe it ISis His step was so o firm his voice so resonant his mind so stored with knowledge and rich with thought I 1 can hardly believe it myself sometimes my dear answered the oldest actor Work b has bs s kept me Tao young oung Ive I've always worked and Ive I've led a simple quiet lifo life and arid a happy happ I life Perhaps you h have the the common Idea that an actors actor's life is gay gay- and without restraint Ive I've always said that the morality of the actor Is always al al- al always always ways equal to that of 0 T ie- ie e- e community in which he be lives ives And nd that's true You hear about a certain well certain well known actor having four wives But he left them all rich women Henry VIII I who founded the Protestant church in England had eight wives and be beheaded beheaded beheaded be- be headed some of them Would you rather be Henry VIII or Nat Goodwin Goodwin Goodwin Good Good- win Suddenly the oldest actor in America leaned forward I 1 am going t to tell you som something he said in a stage whisper something something some something thing I have never told to any one one before something you wont won't believe perhaps I have been I acting since 1851 and I never a mash note not in my life I |
