Face The Footlights - A New And Practical Approach To Acting

FACE THE FOOTLIGHTS JLew ana - L tactical Jipp oac i to BY E. B. Ze e COLVAN WHITTLESEY HOUSE London MCGRAW-HILL BOOK COMPANY, INC. To my wire DORIS COLVAN without whose help this book could not nave teen written mace WHEN a young actor is told by a theatrical manager that he is not suited to a part, nine times out of ten the reason given is inexperience. The producer is looking for someone who can handle the part with a reasonable degree of sureness. He has neither the time nor the inclination to gamble with hidden talent, which, although fresh and spontaneous in many cases, will seem to the audience in the theater nothing short of amateurish. The producer wants, and is usually able to get, an experienced actor to fill the part. Experience What is it, anyway Webster calls it knowledge derived from ones past actions, and if ever a meaning fitted a case, this one does, so far as the theater is concerned. For the man or woman who hasnt a practical knowledge of the stage, derived from past performances, hasnt a chance in this busy world. Before he can hope to get started in the theater, he must manage somehow to acquire this working knowl edge and make it a part of his personal equipment. The question, then, is How and where is the young pkyer to get experience In the old days, the answer was easy. Join a stock company and learn the things you need to know was the universal advice of the old performer to the stage-struck boy and girl. If its in you, the stock company work will bring it out. VU1 PREFACE In stock, the actors had the benefit of expert direction. The best directors of the day many of our well-trained Broadway directors sprang from that source were part of the stock companysetup. Weekly, season in and season out, they were on the job, producing one play by night and directing another by day. Parts were necessarily varied. In one season of stock, the new player did everything from The Count of Monte Cristo to Charleys Aunt, with chorus work on slim weeks and spear carrying when there wasnt anything else to do. He had a lot to learn, and he learned it. In one show, he picked up a trick of make-up in another, how to throw his voice over the footlights in a third, the right way to stand and walk. If he had any intelligence at all, by the end of the season he had gained this working knowledge. He had experience to offer a producer when he applied for a job. But now its a different story. The stock companies are gone, and the modern plays, such as they are, are few and far between. If an actor takes what he can get from time to time and what alternative has he, hell have to go on for years before he has this experience. An occasional engagement never gave any young actor enough practical experience to lift him out of the ran s of the amateur. Let us assume, for instance, that the actor gets a break. Because, he is slight and fair and has the appealing face of a young choirboy, he is cast in a juvenile part in a Broadway play of prep school life. The director takes the kd in hand he coaches him carefully until the actor is, in truth, the boy of the play. In one part, at least, he is a success. If the actor is alert, and a good student, he may get more from the seasons work than the ability to portray one character well. If he watches the other actors make their moves and crosses, if he studies their gestures and listens to their voice intonations in lighting andshading of speech, he may, by watching carefully, pick up objective information on acting. But this information will remain objective and nothing more until the actor ma es it his own PREFACE IX by practice. s ot until he has used this new information through actual performance will be have gained experience. Of course, theres a chance that the boy isnt what we call a student. He may be just an actor, who, when he gets a small part after a long wait, is satisfied to rest on his glory...