The Art of Acting and Public Reading

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.