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Show Temperament is the first and last word in acting, according to Belasco. There must be heart, heart, heart, says the celebrated playwright and manager in a recent article in the Theater magazine. "Soul is only a glow," ho writes. "The definite defi-nite thing is heart, the capacity to feel. Intel-' ligence is desirable, but it is Hecondary. The merely brainy actor is never a great actor on the stage. The heart is greater than the brain. "When I have a part in view and go about to the theaters to seek for some one to play if, 1 do not say, 'Ho will do, because lie walks thus or talks thus.' The art of acting is not mathematical. It is not an exact science. We may not say in acting, act-ing, 'Two and two make four.' When I have found the person I want to play the part there is a passing pass-ing of something from me to him, from him to me" a quick gesture of nervous hands from his breast and back again "and I know that I have found him, although I cannot say why. I send for him to come and see me. I talk with him as to a new friend. I draw bim out. I persuade him to talk of himself, of his life, and while he does so I am studying him studying his face to see what it discloses, and what it hides; studying his hands, his feet, his body, to gauge their possibilities of expression. There are no rules of physiognomy ! follow. I can tell; that is all. As I talk with him I know whether his lifo has brutalized or refined him. I know whether he is sensitive Or callous. I know whether he is keenly attuned to emotion or phlegmatic. I may listen to what he is saying, or I may not. I am reading his life and character, not by the light of what he says, but by the dis closures" of his features. So I gauge my actor while I am engaging him. When the six weeks of rehearsal that I give to all my plays come I give my attention to two things in my cast. I suppress that which is undesirable and develop that which is desirable. I do it first by talking to each person per-son about his or her part. I tell the story as my mother used to tell me stories in my boyhood, - with the desire to interest and instruct. I gain the person's confidence. I appeal first to his intelligence, in-telligence, then to his sympathies. I talk until there is a sudden brightening of the eyes and an intake of the breath, a kind of start like that of a person whose head has been under a faucet and comes up gasping. I know then that he has the idea, and I pass on to the others. If a person has some qualities that should be subdued, I tell him so; if some qualities that is charming and should be fostered, I do not tell him, because, should I do so, he would overwork it. Tell a woman that she has a beautiful smile and she will always smile afterward. I would lead her unconsciously to smile. So in dealing with actors and actresses at rehearsal, I adopt myself to their temperaments. tempera-ments. There are some persons who require a kind of bullying. You must storm, you must scold, or you will get nothing from them. If I know at the beginning of a rehearsal that I shall have to use such tactics to waken some one, I say: 'Now, I am going to play that I am angry today. Buf don't mind. Only do what I say, The anger Is play!' We understand each other. When in the course of rehearsal it becomes necessary for me to say, as I have said: 'You walk across the stage like a hog going (o a snail's funeral,' the actor knows that he must change his walk, yet he feels none of the rancor that would interefer with tile development of his part. Onthe contrary, if there is some sensitive, half-hysterical girl at fault, I should have to persuade her, to gently make her see that her walk is atrocious, without wounding her feelings. She has to be talked to as a lover talks to the woman he is wooing. I act all through rehearsals, but I always say: 'Do this, but do not imitate mo. Do it in your own way.' If the way is a bad one, he must be led, not driven, into improving im-proving it. The first word, and the last, in acting is temperament." "The projected production of 'Peer Gynt,' " B Henrik Ibsen's dramatic poem, which Mansfield will produce in Chicago in October, "is not a new ' jB impulse" says Mansfield, "though I do not believe B in the practicability or advisability of all Ibsen's 'B plays for the contemporary stage, the genius of jB the Norwegian dramatist has called to me from .B earliest acquaintance with his work. I made 'B the first production of an Ibsen play in America '" j when, in Philadelphia in 1891, my company, with ' ! B Mrs. Mansfield as Nora, acted 'A Doll's olluse." rB "I have long wanted to present 'Peer Gynt,' B because it is one of the greatest of all the world's . dramatic poems. Like Goethe's 'Faust,' the char- rB acter and story of its hero transcend mere nation- J8I ality. Peer Gynt Is every man. As with all su- jB preme works of genius, .every man can read into . B it and out of it the story of his own ambitions and IB the secrets of his own heart. JH " !Peer Gynt' pictorially will be more extensive jB than anything wo have before atempted, In our B arrangement of the drama there will be eleven B scenes, and they will incorporate, among others, 'B Peer Gynt's fantastical first scene with his mo- jflj ther; the wedding festival, 'where he meets Sol- ,'B veig and steals the bride and carries her into the i;Bj mountains; his meeting with the green woman; :B his visit to the troll king; his combat with the iB troll imps; the declaration of his love for Solvelg 'B and her renunciation of the world for Peer; his fl mother's death; his adventures in foreign lands; jB his shipwreck; his cross-road search; his home- B coming; his final meeting with Solvelg, and hiB ,'Bj discovery that the empire that ho sought lay in B her heart." -IB Joseph Coyne, comedian, tells an amusing story ;B at the expense of a young Philadelphia newspaper T; B man who exploited a "summer show" in Now ''iB York. Tho newspaper man has long been known ,jB for his tendency to claim intimacies with iJB' noted men and women. Mr. Coyne says that one ffB day about two years ago he and tho press agent 'IB in question were standing on Chestnut street in fB tho Quaker city, while Mr. Coyno listened to tho :.B reminiscenses of his companion's recent trip to -jB Gotham. JBi "I had not intended seeing Frohman In New iBj York," said the journalist, "but I had hardly ar- .IB rived in town when Charlie sent mo a note asking ' B me to drop in at his office for a chat. , IjB "When I got to tho Empire Theatre building, JB I was confronted by an impudent office boy. 'You , jjB can't see Mr. Frohman now,' said he. JB '"All right,' I answered. 'I will wait.' After IB I had been standing a few minutes Charlie ap- jB peared and beckoned for mo to come in. 'You are B ten minutes late,' he commented. 'Yes, old fel IB 16V,' I replied, 'but your ofllce boy wouldn't let vBl mo in to you.' 'Wo will seo about that,' remarked 'IB Charlie. Immediately ho sprang up and rushed IBI out of tho room " IBi At this moment an energetic looking man B passed up Chestnut street, and Mr. Coyno bowed iB to him gravely. Tho journalist paused long JK enough to ask: "Who is that?" jH "Oh," said Mr. Coyno, "that's Mr. Charlie Froh- W man. Go on?" "! Tho Philadelphia press agent went on, but not IB'; verbally. 4Bj & Bj Thursday evening at tho Calt Lake theatre, Bj Jano Corcoran will present tho comedy "The Free- B dom of Susanne." Bj |