The Art Of Acting And Public Reading

PREFACE This book has been written in response to a demand for some test that will outline a course of instruction leading to professional work. It takes up the work of Actizg and Pztblic Rraditzg, and presupposes thorough training on the part of the student in common reading and speech mechanics. It is for the advanced student in the normal school, the college, the professional school of oratory, or the private studio. The purpose of the book is to set forth a comprehensive classification of the different ways of presenting various types of literature, taking into consideration the authors purpose and the class of audience to be etltertaiiled. It is my belief that such a classification can be made and that it will become a useful guide in maintaining a standard of consistency among readers, entertainers and actors so that there be less harsh criticism which the average elocution teacher feels eloved to make upon the propriety of this or that feature of ail entertainment. In taking up this classification, let ille say that I do not hope to have it accepted as infallible or as the only classification possible, but I do hope that it will give the J-oung platform artist a clearer conception of his field so that he will not encroach upon the actors art in the name of public reading. It is my purpose to show among other things that a study of the actors art is fundamentally essential to a complete understanding of the readers art and that no public reader can be truly suggestive unless he has first been given the opportunity to express completely and conscientiously all action that he hopes ultimately to suggest. One of my best friends in the profession maintains that good taste is the only standard we may safely follow in carrying out our individual styles of entertaining. This might be true were it not for the fact that there are many talented entertainers who lack natural discernment and good taste, and who believe that any method of presentation which brings a laugh or hearty applause is acceptable. It is for such that a standard classification is necessary. It may even prove helpful to those champions of good taste who differ with their fellow entertainers as to what is really good taste. While it is true that good taste might govern the majority, it is just as true that there are other determining factors which enter into the presentation of literature and make it more effective. I am indebted to Miss klae Belle Adams of Emerson College of Oratory and to Professor H. hl. Tilroe and Mrs. Florence Butler of Syracuse University for my early instruction in fundamental principles of interpretation to Professor Fredrick D. Losey of New Yorlc City, whose technical instruction and whose professional work in Shakespearian readings have always, been a source of inspiration to me to Professor I. L. Winter of Harvard University and to Professor Arthur E. Phillips of Chicago, whose training in voice culture and the principles of practical public speaking has been invaluable to Ernest Elton of Ncw York and to Donald Robertsoii of Clicago, whose illastration to acting gave me the actors point of view and first led me to see the true relationship that acting bears to public speaking and public reading, and perhaps most of all I am indebted to Professor S. H. Clark of Chicago University for many valuable suggestions relating to the classifications set forth in this book. I also take occasional here to express my appreciation for the careful reviewing of my manuscript which Professor Ephraim Eisenberg of New York Univer- sity has given. R. A. T. Eutler University, Indianapolis, Indiana. General Remarks...