Energy and Earnestness Win an Actor Fame.
“WHO will play the part?” asked A. M. Palmer, anxiously, looking over
the members of his “Parisian Romance” company one night when the actor
who had been playing ‘Baron Cheval’ failed to appear.
“I will,” spoke up an obscure young player, a serious, earnest man who
had been “utility” for the company only a short time.
It was Richard Mansfield, and the part was given him. It had not been
a conspicuous part up to that hour, but that night Mr. Mansfield made
it a leading one. He saw in it opportunities for a deeper dramatic
portrayal, for an expression of intense earnestness, and for that
finished acting which ennobles any part in a play, however humble.
Before the performance was over, he had opened the eyes of the company
and the public to the fact that a new actor of great talent had come to
the front at a bound.
In his beautiful home in New York, the other day, I found him
surrounded by the evidences of wealth and artistic taste.
“So you represent SUCCESS,” he exclaimed. “Well, I am pleased to have
you call. Success pays few calls, you know. Ordinarily, we have to
pursue it and make great efforts to keep it from eluding us.”
Mr. Mansfield made this remark with a quizzical, yet half-tired smile,
as if he had himself found the chase exhausting.