THE ILLUSTRATIONS
In making all the pictures in the book studies of my own head I was
actuated by a number of reasons. The first and most important of which
was the possibility of showing what a wide variety of distinctive types
could be realised with the help of make-up by one man.
If the book had been illustrated by a number of pictures of various
actors, the student would have had to make in each instance certain
allowances for the individuality of each performer.
My desire was to present only one face under different disguises.
I was also influenced by the fact that my own face was the one that was
ever nearest to my hand--the one I was most familiar with, and also the
one that I could take the greatest number of liberties with.
Another reason was, that as the photographer who was to produce the
prints, I could always depend upon the attendance of the model. I was
sure that I could always induce myself to patiently pose before my own
camera.
The taking of the photographs has been fraught with considerable
difficulty. The playing of the dual _rôle_ of actor and photographer
seems to have cultivated two distinct personalities--personalities
who I am sure felt the liveliest interest one for the other; in fact
nothing ever came between us but the camera.
I am moved less by pride than by a desire for sympathy when I say
that single-handed I did every detail of the work. Sometimes it was
necessary to photograph one character nine times over before a suitable
negative was obtained.
Can you imagine the feelings of Othello or King Lear who, after having
worked up to the most intense moment of the play, paused rigidly before
the camera, that it might do the worst, then on retiring to the dim
ruby light of the dark room, still made up remember, to wrestle with
the difficulties of development, found that when the negative was
finished it was a failure and would have to be done again.
I feel a great debt of gratitude to Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree, Mr.
Charles Warner, Mr. R. G. Knowles, Mr. Carton, More-Park, and many
other actors and painters who have unfailingly encouraged me with the
bounty of their interest and their expressions of willingness to assist
me with the work.
I can best express the admiration I feel for the work of my friend M.
Gustav by calling attention to the perfection of the wigs that appear
in the following prints. I believe that he has brought wig-making
to a pitch never realised before. Much of the effectiveness of my
impersonations is in no small measure due to his sympathy and skill.
I selected for my illustrations, in most cases extreme types; sometimes
presented in a more or less exaggerated manner. I felt that thus I
might cover a wide area and make the book the more suggestive.
The student will find but little difficulty in modifying a character,
or if he requires only certain features, in selecting them. Or he may
combine certain peculiarities of one make-up with the peculiarities of
another, and thus produce an additional type.
Many of the characters slightly modified will prove valuable as studies
for modern personalities.
With the exception of those prints where the make-up is shown in
progressive stages I have striven to exhibit the character under the
stress of one of the most emotional moments of the play, illuminated in
a manner that would be desirable to its stage presentation.
I have done this because I felt that a character was essentially a
medium of emotional expression, and that by presenting them in this
way the sensitiveness and flexibility of the characterisation might be
better realised.
Or in other words, that the disguise in no way impaired the ability to
show a great variety of facial expressions.
When I originally contemplated the work I feared that it would be
difficult to get a sufficient number of contrasted types to make the
book interesting, but I found, once under way, there was literally no
end to the quaint creatures that clamoured to be noticed. It became a
hard matter to select, and I have only introduced to the public a few
of the odd personalities I have grown so intimately acquainted with.
Each has been to me a living creature, who was able to let me see the
world from his peculiar standpoint.
I had such an impulse in the work, that at one time I felt that I
should not be able to rest until I had exhausted all human creation.
Aye, perhaps not even then, but would have to wend my way through all
the animal kingdom, till I ended up by trying to make myself look like
inanimate things such as icebergs or lumps of coal.
The undertaking has not been altogether free from pathetic
associations. It was done during the period of my father's last
illness, and the pleasure that he derived from the visit of each new
character cheered, I am sure, his last hours on earth.