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WhvSomeRolerMake Actorr
"VI" Nt r ITS'- I A
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A Wi If
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Psychology Explains the Force
of Suggestion Which Made
Charles Warner Really IQill
Himself After Playing Suicide
for Years, Made Joe Jeff erson
as Shiftless in Business as
Rip Van Winkle, Etc.
By Professor David Edgar Rice, Ph. D.
AGAIN and again we And that a peee
liar, often depraved, type et char
acter, assumed by an actor on tbe
stage, passea iato that actor'a every-day
Ufa and becomea bis every-day personality.
When Uat happen! tha actor or aetrese
bacomea In real Ufa tha character ha or
aha baa baaa portraying, and act actiy
at that character 4oe in tht play.
Ida Rubensteln, tha rrancb actreaa who
played tha tltla role in D'Annuniio'a
Martyrdom of 8t Sebastian." bad
to gie p tha play because of tha
constant desire for self-immolation
that kept coming over her. Bha
wanted to throw herself nnder
horses or cast herself into the Seine.
Charlea Warner, tha English
actor, after playing a drunkard In
"Drink," tor forty years, developed
all the symptoms of delirium tre
mens and eventually committed sui
cide In New York because those
symptoms oppressed him so terribly,
although he waa not a hard drinker.
a
least the assumed emotions hay orer
wbelmed him.
How does psychology explain these Trry
remarkable and alarming facts? for ob
viously psychological science it concerned
with these facts. It explatna them by
telling ua that a bodily change occurs In us
before an emotion. We do not cry because
we feel sorry, we feel sorry because we cry.
We do not strike because we are angry,
but wa are angry because we strike. Wa
' tt f i IIIIIIHIHMj
. nv w
Ida Rube ostein,
tbt Famoaa
French Actreaa,
Who Had to
Give. Up
tha Part of
-St Sebaatkn"
Because of
tha Desire
lot Self- ,
Immolation
- It Arousal '
lHar. -
."J ,v .,..-s ,J ....
a 1
"It it this phantom self which, under tha power of suggestion, ha must imitate.
it raises the nnreal pistol, he raises tha Pistoland Shoots."
xaWiiateffaasTf ,wfg;
Mr
Dorothy DoaaeUy Teay, Meaths After Her
Uat Appearance aa "Madame X," Still
Shewing ea Her Face the "Moacolar
Eaaetioaa of the Part.
Julia Dean, who played the wife In
"Bought and PaiJ For" and fought with
her husband every evening, had to give up
the role becaure It was becoming part of
her ordinary life.
Stuart Robeon, tha noted actor, died
not aa Stuart Robson, but aa "Bertie, the
Lamb" in "The Henrietta," his moat suc
cessful role. During the last two days
tha real personality of Robson absolutely
did not exist
Helen Ware, after playing the part ef
Mallns, the gypay, in "The Road to Yes
terday aays that aha developed aa un
controllable tendency to become a wan
derer in the country.
Richard Mansfield, In his lsst moments.
Imagined himself a composite of Baron
Cncvrlal In "The Parisian Romance," Mr.
Hyde and Cyrano de Bergerac
joe Jefferson, who enacted for so many
years the shiftless character of Rip Van
Winkle, became so irresponsible pecuniar
ily, that despite bis great earnings, be
would have been ruined if his son bad not
taken charges of his affairs.
Charles Kean, whose greatest role waa
that of Othello, became so possessed with
tha Jealous temperament of the role that
he became insanely and causelessly aus
picious of hla own wife, and they were
parted for a time.
I aa informed that Tally Marshall, a
highly respectable citizen, after playing a
-dope Bend." in Clyde Fitch's play, "The
City." for a long time, found himself ae
oulr'ing the peculiar manners of a "dope
fiend." and was forced to give up this role
in self-protection. When one says "man
nera," one does not mean "habits "the ner
voua twitehinga and so on. .
Three men who took part In tha harl
karl scene In tha last act of "The Darling
of the Gods" committed suicide. Hundreds
of similar Instances might be given in
vhlch the assumed character haa become
the actor'a own every-day character, or at
faMve'sw-Svre-CHice.
The American Actress, Dorothy Don
nelly, aa "Madame X."
do not tremble because we are afraid, bat
we are afraid because wa tremble.
First, the actor having mimicked the
physical expression that causes the emo
tion, he really experiences the emotion.
Then, according to tha scientific law ef
habit, physical movements frequently re
peated, become Ingrained in the human or
ganism. Consequently, it tha actor gets in
the habit of repeating certain physical ex
presslana which are amotions, they tend to
become fixed.
In order to get to tha bottom of thla
mystery, we must ask ourselves: To what
extent doee the actor "reallte" tha char
acter he represents? and by what
uechanlsm doea he arouse within himself
tha feelings and emotions of his pert Te
what extent la hla real character perma
nently influenced by the fictitious feelinga
of the stage? Doea tha man who, for ex
ample, plays the part of a thief or a
"dope Bend" actually experience the feel
inga of degradation belonging to the char
acter, and does tha long continued per
formance of such a part tend to develop
permanent traits, or it la possible for him
to rid himself of the acquired habits ef
mind as easily aa he lays aside hla wig er
removes hla makeup at the close et the
performance?
Aa to "reaUxlng" the character, tha tra
ditional view, aa old as dramatic art Itself,
la that the actor will fall to achieve tha
highest , effects unless be actually allows
the part to peaaess him so completely that
hla body responds lor spontaneous move
ment. It la true, udeed, that a few great
players, like Coquelln, reject ibis view, and
Insist on- the predominance of tha -rr i.--lntellectual
elements. William Archer, the 0
well-known English critic, fat his "Jtaska
and Faces," has collected evidence on thla
point and finds that most successful actors
and actresses declare they most feel tha
emotion they express.
Salvinl, tor example, says:
"It yon do not weep in the agony ef
grief. If yon do not blush wKh shame, if
you do not glow with love, if you do not
tremble with terror, if yonr eyes do not
become bloodshot with rage, if, in abort,
yon yourself do not intimately experience
whatever befits the diverse ebaractera and
passions you represent, you can never
thoroughly tranafuas into the hearts of Xt.
your audience the sentiment of the sit.
nation, n
To the same effect Miss Emily Bstemsn.
one of the greatest emotional actresses,
says: "If real tears do not coma to my
eyes I do not truly feel what I am acting,
nor can t lmpresa my audience to the same
extent when I feign emotion aa wben I
really feel It I have acted the part of
Leah for twenty-four years, and tha tears
alwsy come to my eyes wben tha little
child says 'My name la Leah.' "
Tha foregoing Instances establish twe
facta with positive certainty: (1) To tha
successful actors themselves, the feelings,
however Induced, are for the time being
real; and (I), there la an exceedingly
close relation between the mental state and
tbe physical expression, no matter whether
tba physical expresslaa be regarded as the
cause or as the effect of tha mental.
According to the view of modern psy
chology. It is only halt the truth to aay
that there la an intimate relation between
tbe mental state and the expression of feel
cesses. Emotions are regsrded merely aa
the accompaniments of bodily sensations,
and can not exist without tbem. Neither
can an emotion which baa once been ex
perienced be recalled to consciousness ex
cept by recalling the sensations with which
It waa originally associated. "
Materialistic . aa the view expressed
above may seem, it haa the sanctlaa of no
less an authority than Professor James,
who, in fact goes one step further and as
serts that theee klnaestbetlc and visceral
sensations not only condition the emotions,
but actually conttUut the emotions them
selves. Hs saya:
"Our natural way of thinking about tbe
emotiona la that the mental perception of
some fact excites the mental affection
called the emotion, and that this latter
state of mind gives rise to tbe bodily ex
pression. My theory, on the contrary, la
that tbe bodily changes follow directly the
perception of the exciting fact, and that
our feeling of the same changes as they
occur t tks emotion.
"Common sense aaya that wa lose oar
fortune, are sorry and weep; we meat a
bear, are frightened and run; wa are in
sulted by a rival, are angry and strike.
Tba hypothesis here to be defended saya
that thla order of aequnoa ia incorrect
that the bodily manifestations must first
be interposed between (the perception and
the emotion), and that the more rational
statement la that we feel sorry because wa
cry, angry because we str ke, afraid be
cause we tremble.
Professor Jsmee holds that thla state
ment Is true not only of tbe coarser emo
tions whose expression Is obviously largely
physical, but of tha so-called higher emo
tiona aa well, as the moral, intellectual and
aesthstle feelings. "A glow, a pang la the
breast a shudder, a fulness of the breath
ing, a nutter of the heart a shiver down
tbe back, a moistening of tbe eyeai a stir
ring in tbe bypogastrlum, and a thouasnd
unnamabls symptoms besides, may be felt
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wane to
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"Til I I .
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'Hi "
. , PentginTg
f. - o-t, ,
r,i, ,,-' PaJnting
CX. r
. C ,'(4 Martyr
Jllij H St Scbestien.
PTp av
Sfanksll. aa rfee Ds
Fllek-B .Play. "T CTtr." Sn II. AkkwU VT
aw nlK j rinaaat Bl la -T Talker," m u eni
the moment the beanty txoUei as. In all
eaaea of Intellectual er moral rapture we
find that nnless there be coupled a bodily
reverberation ef some kind with tha mere
thought ef the .object and cognition of Its
quality; nnless we actually laugh at the
neatness of demonstration or witticism;
aaleae we thrill at the case of justice or
tingle at the act of magnanimity; our state
ef mind can hardly be called emotional
at alL"
Feeling and emotion being than reduced
to a purely physiological basis, it la alto
gether poaslbla for them to become in
grained by repetition, nnder tbe law of
fcablt Inst aa certainly aa skill la playing
tbe piano may be acquired by practise, or
the are borae may be trained to respond
te aa a Inn. The stealthy movements of
the thief ia the play, the muscular twitch-
lngs ef tha alcoholic or the cocaine fiend,
the tears of the woman In despair, are not
er'f 'he expression of er resultants from
tbe given staU f? mind; they actually help
to constitute the sU'e of mind. If by
nrsetjas and freouent ri Hlon the action
becomes ingrained anfnr&ted with A
givea mental state, tr, f e phy-
appropriate meot-
in tne ugnt
stall s scqalsf
"Jooe fiend '.
cirfs nDdentood.
IW CbsSI ta Sfcak 0 tk Maav , numbs
BvrlMBS ef His Meet laapartaa r.- ouw , "s
tna a
AT K I
tore. Tbe interest of the actor In the part,
the adaptability and stability of bla ner
vous system, bis power of concentration,
tha length of time devoted continuous to
tha portrayal of one particular character,
the counteracting tendencies of bla occupa
tion when off tba stage all these factors
will have their influence in rendering the
after-effecta more or less permanent
The psychological processes involved are
precisely tbe same aa are Involved In every
process of learning or training. The most
efficient training, whether physical, Intel,
lectual or moral, la that which tends to
estabilsh a direct connection between the
given situation and the reaction or re
sponse. That la to say, training la al
ways most efficient when It la put la terms
of sctlon. "Tha skilled mechanic la trained,
not by reading: In a book how t8 do a thing,
but by having tba tool put Into hla hand
and being required to use it Moral senti
ments are best cultivated, not by preach
ing, but by Inducing tile individual to en
gage la some acta which will result in
good to hla fellow men. The more frequent
the repetition, the stronger grows the habit
Tbe same law must hold good ta the emo
tional life
Hum mm In faM MaaAfia mrhv
f f embers of the theatrical profession are
' jflally susceptible to tbe effect of this
i tbe first place, the genius of the
actor is nothing more nor leas
verior ability to establish the
-ctic between the mental
state and the physical expression. Ai Taj
ma, the great French tragedian, puts it
he must have "received from nature a
peculiar organisation tor sensibility, that
common property of our being; and as all .
our emotiona are Intimately connected with
our nerves, tbe nervous system la toe
actor must be so mobile and plaatle aa to
be moved by tha inspirations of tha poet
aa easily as the Aeolian harp sounds with
the least breath of air that touches It"
Tbe existence of this heightened suscepti
bility la indicated In the ease of many
actors and actresses who assert that the
mere study of the parte results la even
stronger emotiona than they give expres
sion to when oa the stage.
Further, players In moat esaea are likely
to attempt only those parte which are
more or less congenial to their natures.
Tbe interest may be in tbe nature of a
fascination rather than of actual sympathy
with the character. The maa who plays
the thief need not have tha anoontrolled
tnstincta of the latter, yet he eauld hardly
' hope to carry the part with much auccesa
if those instincts were wholly lacking la
his mental makeup.
There is also the additional fact that tbe
study of the part ia carried oa at high
pressure and under the stimulus ef inter
est An emotional experience which, for
the average individual, would represent
the sum total of a lifetime may, for the
actor, be concentrated within a period of a
tew moo tha It la real experience none
tbe leea, from the phrenological point of
view, and aa such la bound to have It
permanent Influence upon the character.
It maybe said, therefore, that tha salva
tion of the actor ilea either In his medtoo
rity or his versatility. Tbe lesshls genius
for acting, the less be will feet, and con
sequently the lees will be tbe influence of
the part opoa his character If be plays
the part with feeling, the habit ef mind
will grow with each repetition. If Nat
Goodwin, for example, were not such a
consummate love maker oa tbe stage. It
la hardly probable that ke would have bad
enough vie to make a book, - v
i 5
V
X.