Show ACTORS ACTOR'S POWER IS W IIi AT OF A AM I 1 W err SP K a Y t c cr 1 I M M M I I I r i Lt ti MR MR- WILLIAM HODGE Yes Ye I wish to go on refold record rd said Mr Ir or William Ho Hodge ge as jeng an art arter or tho actor as you pl please a l' l who A hates ates to 10 be interviewed I have no new theories to exploit about art the theater the the- theater ater the public JI thu mana managers or r ac ae- ac- ac tors Sit down wont ont you Ho lie waved wa his hand toward a n chair and tl then en he sank lazily and antI comfortably lily bly info the tho depths of a spacious I cocker closed his firm Grin lips affectionately about the tho mouthpiece of a pet pipe and half I shut his lies I e eyes cs TIlE THE TELEGRAMS TELEGRAM'S New York correspondent correspondent cor cor- respondent dropped into a chair and then ho proceeded to prove that the HIe speaker had hatI not told the truth about out The t speaker was Mr 1 William WitHam Hodge the tho star in The Man From 1 Home Iome a play pIa b by In- Iness ess Broth Booth Tark Tark- ington and md Harry Leon Wilson now row ho holding bolding in the stare stale of the Astor theat theater r. r In this thi TIn pia play Mr 11 Hodge e impersonates impersonate the role roll u of Daniel Voorhees Pike a 1 d t lawyer from Kokomo L l' l S. S 51 J A. A who goes gees a abroad roa to tu prevent two of ot his hit wards from marr marrying as many adventurers parading as nobility Now Danial Voorhees Pike od oddly enough has hast hasa a t habit whit of squinting his eyes lust dust as Mr Ir Hodge did when talking to tho the reporter reporter re re- porter orter and md whether the ha habit it is is Mr rr Ho Hodges Hodge's ge's or Mr Pikes Pike's t that ha t you'll oU Il ha have havo 0 to guess tuc s for yourselves el Cs But he ha has halIs also lIs a t- t dryness that seems of the tho soil of Kok Kokomo mo and ana hj his keenness i enough to aHo allow him to look through b a a. bogus page of a bogus de e Goth Gotha as though ho were equipped ipP ll with an Indiana ray X-ray ra apparatus Jn Iu answering time the questions that proved him to bo ho about himself him him- self as set forth at it the tho beginning of this article artic Mr Bodge J employed tho thu panic complacent speaking tOUl tout tone that is theatric part and parcel of Daniel Voorhees hees hee Pike and his deliberate manner of f dipo disposing ing of matters matteIS was also quite Mr 1 Pike Pikes 8 In a word n Mr Ir at ot othomo homo home is fI very much I The Man from lom Home Homo with tb the sl slight discrepancy that Now New York iH is not Kokomo But enough h of preamble nn and EO so o to the spoken words of the ian eau The fhe reporter aimed a I question at atthe the tho subject that usually rings the bullseye bulls bulls- eye c gong of eOn conventionality Do you vou dread a J. J New York first night Ji ht Mr r Pike Pike beg beg par pardon on Mr r. r Hodge l 1 Not Sot at all Wh Idly dread it any Iny more than tho thu audience in any allY other city 1 rea read some time ago in a aView View York Herald Ueral interview ew that Miss l ss Barrymore for instance loathed coming to New dew York and that she feared the ordeal of a first night hero here Well 1 I guess the tho trouble is that Miss Mies Barrymore Darn Barry moro more knows too man marry many of her first n night cht and that is fatal h Bo- Bo cause toe the theater is a place of Illusion or or it should be and Lc-and and if it you l know now the audience intimately and they the know YOU vou why then the you YO arc ire you and andare andare are re not Dot the character you arc are trying to interpret u n r Compared to Hypnotist II See See hero An actors actor's 9 power is that of a lIe He h hypnotizes his audience audience audience audi audi- ence into believing iu that make believe things s arc are for the thc moment r realities I Well cU the instant the actor allows a single sin in gle Flo person in the audience to catch his eye wiry why then that hypnotic lie jigs jig's 8 all nil up You Yon must be able to catch their eyes but hut almost never r allow them to catch your glances 1 I nen never r look at m my audience but lock o out ont into pace apace nn and anil 1 then I trust my uty intuitive c sense nse of feeling feeling feel feel- in- in ing into to know kno how the audience is taking taking tak tak- jn ing m my work You get cl that s no re quick quick- h ly h enough h. h If rr you vou tf cro me it creeps beeps across clos the footlights like a cold damn darn n i I fog fOJ and then you yon might just juet as us well give up tip your artistic ghost an and say sayan an amen for far yourself yourself Mr r lIol Hodge Hung flung 11 e a leg over oYer the arm of his lug chair blow forth rem curls and and squinting his hig eyes rc even en clo closer er solemnized thus The Tb trouble with t-o t many lie of C tho the actors actors and and actresses s too loo too bless el em etu who nr arc constantly finding fault and ana I talk so glibly about educating tho time pub pub- lie the lie the trouble with thorn these is is that they thoy are arc ju just auto t w their good time and Ju 1 the tho publics public's too loo If they took as much trouble to improve an and educate themselves them selves s as thc they do in telling the public what ails it H why t then en there would bo IJ many better actors in this thi world There is no need of bothering about out the public pub lic lic-it lic it will educate itself itself and lf-aurl lf and dout forget that its it's paving a its good money moncy all the the time timo its getting its education too Eul the gag Jg that makes me most I weary is that old one about the fickle I public c which gets ets handed out just unto unco in ni so Su often oilen That That's s a n rake Tako a aI I case ease of an actress s who comes to Now ew York in in n a good purl part and a good pay play I The public publio likes her aud and it pays pas its per and raves about her Iter Oh very ry I well her reputation is made Sho She re remains re- re re-I re i mains a whole season cn end and e cr everything thiD is lovely o Then something n happens to the size of or her own estimation and she sho ho gets this education notion into I her bonnet remains a away from front New NewYork NewYork NewYork York for fol a a. whilo while and aDd t then cn returns with witha a new pIa play heavy heay as lead ea or dull as flitch ditch wat water r and without all tho the spontaneous spon- spon I charms that m made lIlo her popular a few years ears earlier carlier To be very or liberal lets let's admit that she's about 00 GO per cent as good as she bho was when she built her reputation yet reputation yet ct the theater char charges es the i II same mme 2 per capita to see seo lO her Iler and anti she I complains that the public is fief fickle le if i ii I i i it docs dues not have Imn the same brand of audI laudat laud laud- i I at atory hysterics h over her Wh Why l isn't sho I honest st about bont it and aUll realizing that she I J is only half as good oo as she was as charge e j i half the former fArmer price to s see cc ec her play If she he were to go o into a shop hop and aDd be bei i a asked to pay pa twice the value alue of something tomei tome some i thing silo sho is buying n who O would woul comi com corn i plain louder than she I What About Sentiment 1 Sentiment did dill you rOU say sat Mr r. r budge Hodge parted company with his pipe for a J. J moment tapped out time the ashes and grinned prosaically I What's What s 's sentiment got ot to do o with it The public is more snore liberal in its its its' attitude toward the tho theater than thau it is is in an any other line lint of lets of-let's lets let's be Le quito frank frank frauk merchandise It waltzes up to I the box hox office ledge lea c and it plunks down I its without a n murmur trust trusting trusting ing int tho the theater manager aud and the tho actors implicitly How docs does it know that the I management it is not going oin to l' l ring imp n in iu an understudy or a punk pun substitute in place pIneo of the star stir I 11 go to th the theaters as much as 35 pos possible ible on matinees an nail and I assure you that when I sit ou on the other side of the footlights Im I'm an onion au and aud 1 I want to tobe tobe be he shown sho I r cant can't help belp it that t Miss iss So So-au-so or Mr 1 X Y Z Z are arc delightful people after or before the tho performance i I that's got nothing to do with it 1 I want to see beu them act want nui them to tomake make me believe e in 1 s hm I J know uro arc I Inot not so eo That's what I cause came to the theater theater theater the- the I ater for and aDd that that's 5 what the audience I j in general comes omes for And nl when they hand out Iut one of tho those e tb things things' n s' s across I the footlights Im I'm just lust a as unsympathetic as os is the man IUan next to me mime You know every ery t theatergoer is a self appointed o critic and if tho the actors cou could hear some of the I compliments compliments' that are passed p by hy the audience they would woul decide that the dramatic reviewers review review review- ers rs use cl velvet t pointed stub pens ens and write on on soft toft gentle paper I took a eOl companion panion tl to a pIa play here her recently jUt just to hear bear her criticism She goes to to the tho theater r rather often and wants to be Le amused re refusing ll ing to be c educated by hy tho the stage At the cud cul of th tin second secund act I of the th lu I got ot this Well We tho the parts part that hat are arc not too tiresome ome are arc lr not bo so awfully bad arc they Now can you jou OU beat that With a fl fresh pipe and iUd l lighted Mr r. r hedge Hodge c drawled wisdom a again again again- ain ain- I Manager Reads Beads a Play I And I Ancl in going about theaters as I 1 have havo Ive I've 1 I P wondered bow somo of I j the plays pas now before the public escaped Cf captivity Some Sarno of them are being interpreted in in- interpreted by Ly clever actors aud and others other I arc are the product of successful and shrewd managers but you rou can search me nee for a reason for their existence inthe inthe in iu the theaters unless unless and and nd hero tho the I actor paused pause and aud puffed 3 again ain 1 unless I s sittI its like this this A manager cr rea reads a play las has it read to him has the author sit bit J by and find explain in its vamious nl ous line points I IJ and 11 clear up its involved OH meanings Gradually the authors author's enthusiasm for 1 every author i is the mo most t enthusiastic being heing in the tho world and 1 I know for I Iwas i iwas t I was an author once too inoculates thu manager Gradually he lie believes belicH's in in it i isome some l actor tor gets ets interested in the pIs play too teo th thinking DJ t there are personal pos possibilities I for success anti and t the e next t thin thing you know the tho audience is n asked to bit sit through through another one one of those things TIm l nit Do you rou remember tho the taste I of the first olive olivo 3 y-ou ever e ate ale I do distinctly i and then I remember how bow I they the they began brgan tasting tn better bettor all the time 1 Well ti that that's s about the way with a ma manager man man- ager agel and aDd a n new DIW play lIe He reads it and aDd I I I hears about it over so o munch much until ho he c eventually be begins to think its it's good I That is the olive But nul the fife manager er for forgets that when v l the public tastes I this theatric olive for the first timo time it is apt to taste tato just jUIt as bad to thorn thom as asit ast I t it did to the tho manager cr before ho Lo got gotI ot I 1 used to it me the way tu to I I ju judge CC a new play is by br tho first sion sian There 4 was Tm a moments moment's pause pUlse and aDd I more pipe spills Mr 1 Hodge e were wera you rou e ever er r iu iu in Kokomo Ko Ko- I komo I Ind JJ You bet I T was as m Twice Tho The mi first f I time I lived through four days and aDd four I nights or nights or four ni nights hl nn and four femur da days s 's I dont don't exactly remember which o of an nn excited existence It was last l spring nC after the Chicago Chicago engagement of Time The TheMan Man Ian from Homo Home and I was down in Indiana visiting Mr r George A Ade e Met by tho Mayor R II By B some ome slip I told him I J had some seine curiosity to see Kokomo Kolomo and that sot set tIed tied it it lIe He told mo me how to got get et there and saw me oft off ofton on tho train to Lo Logansport Logans- Logans ans ans- I port telling mo me tho the easiest Rt and least east I exciting way to get to Kokomo was wan wanto to take the trolley from Logansport I Idid Idid I did it it but Mr fr Ado had hardly gut got ot mo me I out of his hla sight flight ht when ho telegraphed I and aDd long OD distance telephoned to Ko- Ko o ol l komo omo to the mayor tho the tho the head bead I of th the police and fire firo departments and andI I I don dont don't It know what hilt allI all 01 I was met outside tho the city limits bv by bythe the mayor who sneaked aboard tho trolley and sat beside o mo me so o ns as not to let mo me escape As soon as wo we got ot to the public or something h hao he gave o a the tho signal and Ind tho I Kokomo Cornet 1 band broke e loose Tho The blooming ng n 1 T r aa on nn hand and md b bunting was 88 out They dra dragged ed me oft off the tho car snowed showed mothe mo tho the town town irom one side lide and from theother tho the oth other r and then theu all around The They Thoy broko broke state laws for me proved pro that to see i the sun eun rise rillO in Kokomo was all worth going going go go- o ing ing- without fIC sleep p pressed the thC s Ic of tho the city into my mr hand and made mo a joyous OUS brother I stayed what the calendar cal cal- calendar o called four days class during which time timo t thou et made mo me make believe o th that t I Iwas Iwas was really reath Daniel Danie Piko Pike and to me try a ease case in court I for forgot ol what the sentence was was but but thin sonic long on und mind deep I believe o An And when I went away they offered me the job fob of mayor of Kokomo I hated to ask th thorn them m what salary alar was attached but hut I Im I'm in sure it pays pas better to be Le from Kokomo and andin andin andin in New York than to be from Kokomo and aud in Kokomo But I Im I'm m going to got Jot even e wit with vuth Mr 11 Ado for that one of thc these e fine tiDe days FI And Anu Mr 11 Hoel Hodge c squinted his eyes whilo while a fino fine smile played about his lips II That ended the interview Dont Don't you rou agree with the reporter that Mr Ir lodge Hodge had not told the truth when ho he asserted I at tho beginning that he had no DewI new Dew new about tho the theater theories to explode I tho ho public publio and the tho actors |