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392 A FEW WOEDS ABOUT ACTRESSES,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
The Life Of An Actress Is To The World A...
eagerly lished sought actor after has . very As for little the chance highest of maintaining positions , himself the most in
special one accomp excep class ting of by difficulties becoming with a manager which to . contend But the . It actress would has be a a
Let very it ungracious onlbe remembered task to enter what into a number the details of wealth of what y and these dissipated are . y
patrons men belong of the ing theatre to the , who upper supp classes ort depraved of societ women y are amongst in positions the
women for the gratification may be but too of their happy own to selfish the act , or sake passions rather of , whether ; how many they of can these how act
or not , to go upon make the stage the interests for of their personal treasury disp paramount lay ; to many all the managers interests of moralityand what a natural and deadly
antagonism exists between virtue , and vice ; and it will be easy to understand how often a woman of pure lifewhose conscientious
, aim is artwill find herself in silent conflict with evil , set aside for those whom , she cannot respect , and deprived of the fair chance of
exercising her abilities and receiving their due reward , through the most It is corrup precisel t and at desp the icable point influences where . something like proficiency is
y mences attained , that This the seems difficulty a curious of procuring anomaly suitable but it admits engagements of explana com - -
tion . . So long as an actress remains in , a well-governed London theatrethe organization of the place permits her vocation to
be a most , contenting one . But besides the difficulties at which we have just hinted , the number There of London onlthe theatres requiring theatres then such
amount to actresses fall back of is reputation very upon few . . To is necessary visit are them otherwise as y a " country the star engagements " a considerable will
not prove sufficiently remunerative , either for manager or actress , and to enter them again in the ranks is a thing that can scarcely the
be done . "With artistic progress come both the dislike and mental unfitness for inferior and superficial work . To an actress
who has devoted herself to the study of a certain number of great characterswith a view to their complete delineation , and whose
ideas about , art are enlarged and matured by her experience , it is almost intolerable to work under conditions which render - the
realization of these ideas impossible . And such conditions she will find if she again accept an engagement as " leading" lady in the
experiment country . The have sufferings been known of to more us . than Those one characters who had to made which this an
artiste has devoted herself become really a part of her own existenceFrom time to time all the results of her experience have
been . thrown into them ; they have had the benefit of all she has felt and known and suffered . And how much has to be given before
is even scarcel a satisfactory y suspected , not . to Occasionall say a great y , in impersonation an ordinary can engagement be witnessed she ,
will have these especial characters to play , but meanwhile fresh
392 A Few Woeds About Actresses,
392 A FEW WOEDS ABOUT ACTRESSES ,
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Feb. 1, 1859, page 392, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01021859/page/32/
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