“I began as a dry goods clerk in Boston, and was a very mediocre clerk.
Afterward I became a painter in London, and was starving at that.
Finally, like water, I found my level in dramatic art.”
The thing about Mr. Mansfield which most inspires those who come
in contact with him is his wonderful store of nervous energy. It
communicates itself to others and makes them keen for work.
“I cannot talk with him five minutes,” said his business
representative, “before I want to grab my hat and ‘hustle’ out and do
about three days’ work without stopping. For persons who have not, or
cannot absorb, some of his own electric spirit, he has little use. He
is a living embodiment of contagious energy.”
His performances before audiences constitute a comparatively small
portion of his work. It is in his elaborate and painstaking preparation
that the labor is involved, and it is to this—to the minute preliminary
care that he gives to every detail of a production,—that his fine
effects and achievements before the footlights are, in considerable
measure, due.