Part 11 (1/2)

These reat green-rooination, and decide upon the works to be produced--the great classics, the tragedies and coed Here, again, we should have at last e so badly need, an encourage by way of the beautiful seeht prove an incentive

TRAINING THE ACTOR

The training of the actor! To-day there is practically none Actors and actresses are not to be taught by patting the, ”Fine! Splendid!” It is a hard, hard school, on the contrary, of unmerciful criticisst his associates by glossing over and praising what he knows to be condeood result is to be obtained by this reat many actors to be beloved, and the public to be very much distressed

As for the practical side of an established theatre, I am absolutely convinced that the national theatre could be established in this country on a practical and paying basis; and not only on a paying basis, but upon a profitable basis It would, however, necessitate the investe ae, but if the public generally is interested, there is no reason why an able financier could not float a company for this purpose But under no circumstances must or can a national theatre, in the proper use of the term, be made an object of personal or commercial profit Nor can it be a scheme devised by a few individuals for the exploitation of a social or literary fad The national theatre overned by the people The members of the national theatre should be elected by the board of directors, and should be chosen froe alike, or froe of the people Every inducement should be offered to secure the services of the best actors; by actors, I mean actors of both sexes; and those who have served for a certain number of years should be entitled to a pension upon retirement

It is not necessary to bother with further details; I only mention this to impress the reader with the fact that the national theatre is a practical possibility From my personal experience I ae meets with a hearty endorse his American tour of 1882-1883, Salvini played in Boston One of his auditors, Henry Jauished novelist, in the _Atlantic Monthly_ for March, 1883, gave a detailed criticism of the performances Of Salvini's Othello he said:

”What an immense impression--simply as an impression--the actor makes on the spectator who sees him for the first tiives us his measure as a man: he acquaints us with that luxury of perfect confidence in the physical resources of the actor which is not the oer His powerful, active, manly frame, his noble, serious, vividly expressive face, his splendid smile, his Italian eye, his superb, volue, his ease, the assurance he instantly gives that he holds the whole part in his hands and can make of it exactly what he chooses,--all this descends upon the spectator's mind with a richness which immediately converts attention into faith, and expectation into synificent creature, and you are already on his ride His generous te at him, not soin this nature of Salvini's is that his intelligence is equal to his material powers, so that if the exhibition is, as it were, personal, it is not siination: there is a noble intention in all he does

The pages which now follow, taken froraphy, are presented with the permission of his publishers, the Century Company, New York--ED]

FIRST APPEARANCE

The Bon and Berlaffa Coed, alternated in its repertory between the coedies of Alfieri

One evening the ”Donne Curiose” by Goldoni was to be given, but the actor as to take the harlequin's part, represented in that piece by a stupid slave called Pasquino, fell sick a few hours before the curtain was to rise The coether for a few days only, and it was out of the question to substitute another play It had been decided to close the theatre for that night, when Berlaffa asked:

”Why couldn't your Tom take the part?” My father said that there was no reason why he shouldn't, but that Tom had never appeared in public, and he didn't knohether he had the courage

The proposition was made to me, and I accepted on the spot, influenced to no little extent by a desire to please the reat importance Within three hours, with my iron memory, I had easilyon the costume of the actor who had fallen ill, I found ed if a new performer I was to speak in the Venetian dialect; that was inconvenient for me rather than difficult, but at Forte, where ere, any slip of pronunciation would hardly be observed

It was the first tihts, the first time that I was to speak in an unaccustomed dialect, dressed up in ridiculous clothes which were not htened that I was te-roo more to do with the play But my father, are of my submissive disposition toward him, with a feords kept ht to be afraid” A man! I was scarce fourteen, yet I aspired to that title

The conscript who is for the first time under fire feels a sense of fear Nevertheless, if he has the pride of his sex, and the dignity of one who appreciates his duty, he stands firan my part When I perceived that so the audience, I took courage, and, like a little bird er to try again As it turned out, reorse, so that he was forced to leave the company, and I was chosen to take his place

I must have had considerable aptitude for such comic parts as those of stupid servants, for everywhere that ent I becah, and they asked for nothing better

All were surprised that, young and inexperienced as I was, I should have so much cleverness of manner and such sureness of delivery My father was more surprised than anybody, for he had expected far less of my immaturity and total lack of practice It is certain that froan to feel that I was soht I had, and, as a consequence, inure in the conversation of grown people, andreat ambition to be allowed to walk alone in the city streets; o soet a sa at these times which could have displeased him; I was particularly careful about it, since I saw hi to the an to accord ain

A FATHER'S ADVICE

Often he spoke to me of the principles of dramatic art, and of the ht to call one's self an artist one must add honest work to talent, and he put before me the example of certain actors who had risen to fame, but ere repulsed by society on account of the triviality of their conduct; of others ere brought by dissipation to die in a hospital, blamed by all; and of still others who had fallen so low as to hold out their hands for ale on their comrades and to cozen them out of their s ood reason that e The incorruptibility and firmness of principle which he cultivated in h to understand have been h nothose who have won the esteem of society; I attribute all the merit to my father He was con scientious and honest to a scruple; so much so that of his own free will he sacrificed the natural pride of the dramatic artist, and denounced the well-earned honour of first place in his own company to take second place with Gustavo Modena, whose artistic nised as superior to his own, in order that I ht profit by the instruction of that ad citizen My father preferred his son's advantage to his own personal profit

HOW SALVINI STUDIED HIS ART

The parts in which I won the most sympathy froedy of that naisto in ”Merope,”