The actor, who systematically makes sport on the stage for the benefit
of his fellow-players instead of attending to his own business of
amusing those who have paid their money for entertainment, commits a
breach of artistic etiquette that is wholly inexcusable. The stage is a
dangerous place for one to give free rein to personal adoration. I have
known actors who were free from conceit and complete self-satisfaction,
but they are comparatively few. Fortunately, however, this generous
estimate of one's own attainments does not often, as in Miss Glaser's
case, intrude itself into the actor's art. Still, is her condition of
mind to be wondered at? She was only a girl when she began to be the
subject of kindly notoriety. She was praised, praised, praised, and,
worst of all, she was without the restraining influence of a strict
disciplinarian.
From desiring above all else to please her audience, and with that end
in view, giving lavishly on every occasion the very best that was in
her, she developed a frame of mind that conceived her position to be
directly opposite to what it really was. She began to feel that the
favor was on her side,--that her audience should be grateful to her for
taking part in the show. She acquired an atmosphere of condescension and
patronage which would have been ridiculous if it had not been so
provoking. This curious attitude was noticeable to a considerable extent
in "The Little Corporal;" but it could be endured there, for "The Little
Corporal" was, in comparison with the average, an opera not altogether
without merit. In "Cyrano de Bergerac," however, that wretched
misconception, Miss Glaser's egotism bloomed forth in an astonishing
fashion. She was almost below the sphere of serious attention.
It is painful to speak so harshly of a woman naturally so charming as
Miss Glaser, whom I would be only too glad to eulogize in rainbow-hued
words. I confess that I like her, but that is my weakness. Indeed, if I
did not like her, and if I were not convinced of her genuine ability, I
should not distress myself to the extent of being honest with her.
Sometimes I have even thought that she had a sense of humor until her
persistent "guying" knocked the notion out of my head. "Guying" does
not signify a sense of humor. A sense of humor includes, besides the
ability to comprehend a joke in a minstrel show, a saving appreciation
of the ridiculous in one's self as well as in humanity at large. This
quality of looking at one's self from the viewpoint of some one else is
rare in man, but it is still rarer in woman. Woman, however, is more
expert than man at "faking" a sense of humor.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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