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Introductory.-Why the Book is Written.-The Results of an Actress's Study and Reflection.-The Mimic World a Land of Mystery.-False Conceptions of the Stage Life. What the Theine Embraces. - The "Show Business" in all its Branches.-The Extremes of Extravagant Denunciation and Servile Flattery.-The Golden Mean of Truth and Justice.-The Truth to be Told at all Hazards.

When I retired from the stage, five years ago, I, being then a woman with clearer judgment, of course, than I had had as a child, began to make a somewhat searching examination of the stage life, its influence on morality, the scope it afforded, especially to women, as a means of gaining a livelihood, its evils and its virtues, its beauties and its perils; in short, to look at it in a cool, rational manner, unheated by the fire of prejudice, either pro or con.

I had read, besides the works of all the great dramatists, numberless treatises, sermons, and literary effusions of various kinds which dealt with the subject, to enlighten my mind as fully as possible before I should put pen to paper myself.

The same faults which I found in those who denounced the stage, I also found in those who defended it. On both sides unreliable statements were made, the one painting that locality known as "Behind the Scenes" in all the sombre hues of Hades, with devils and pitchforks freely

18

THE GOLDEN MEAN.

intermixed; the other tinging it with rose-color, tipping it with gold, perfuming it with a fragrance to which violets and new-mown hay are nothing in comparison, and berating violently such persons as would not or could not look upon it as an earthly paradise.

I saw that, as usual, between extremes, there was a middle ground, where truth and justice lay; that the theatre-either Before the Footlights, or Behind the Scenes was not all black, nor all white; that actors and actresses, who have long felt the social obloquy which frequently greets them, as outrageously undeserved, cruel and libelous, were not so perfect as they deem themselves, although far from being as imperfect as many of their critics deem them.

In this spirit of justice, fair play, and candid judgment, I have written occasional articles for some of the leading magazines in the country, in which I have treated the state of affairs as they really existed, both for good and for evil.

I cannot say that the result was in all respects pleasant to me, though in the knowledge that I had done what was right-that I had told the truth, and nothing but the truth, without extenuating or setting down aught in malice,-I had my reward for the vials of wrath which were poured upon my head by both parties.

Religionists assailed me with the cry, "You have told so much that is wrong, why do you not be brave enough to admit that all is?" I replied, "Because that would not be true."

Theatrical people clamored with ten-fold the violence of the religionists, "Why expose our frailties, which are no whit worse than those of other people, who get off without any abuse? Why not give unequivocal praise to the life behind the scenes ?" I reply, "Because that would not be true."

WHAT THE BOOK PROMISES.

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Taking this stand, it will easily be seen that I brought about my ears a swarm of enemies from the violent ones of both parties. Letters by the score, denouncing me in unmeasured terms, poured in upon me. Anonymous communications, accusing me of the wildest and vilest motives, appeared in some of the newspapers.

But I did not allow myself to be affected by this unreasonable tornado. I pursued the course I had marked out for myself, and continued my writing.

In this book I shall continue as I have begun. I shall try to honestly lay bare the mysteries of life behind the scenes; shall tell the truth without fear or favor, overestimating nothing that is good, and glossing over nothing that is bad.

I shall try to bear in mind the great truth that in order to set public opinion to coursing in healthy channels, you have but to inform it. Show the people the truth-let them examine details for themselves-give them the opportunity to see the picture on all sides, its comic aspects, its pathetic aspects, its amusing as well as grave aspects, and trust to the spirit of American fair play, backed by American intelligence, to form its own opinions, and form them on the side of Right.

I have read numberless newspaper and magazine articles bearing on theatrical subjects, listened to many sermons which had for their object the denunciation of the stage, heard many learned people discourse on dramatic topics, but to read a line or hear a word which vibrated with the real truth concerning what passes behind the scenes, was the exception, and a rare one.

The reason is very simple; the authors of these articles, the speakers of these words, were usually outsiders, some of whom had never even been inside of a theatre, Before the Footlights, much less Behind the Scenes. Often it so happened that fierce denunciators of the theatre

20

THE SHOW BUSINESS.

boasted of this fact, blind to the irresistible inference which at once suggested itself to their hearers or readers, that if they had never been to a theatre at all, they were very unfit persons to pass judgment on the merits or demerits of an institution which has enlisted the efforts of some of the finest and noblest intellects the world has ever known,-whose partisans both in the past, and in the present, include among their number some of the purest and best men the world knows, or has known,—its most polished scholars, its truest gentlemen, its most liberal minds, and its most Christianly Christians.

This, however, is not the place to discuss the question of the merits or demerits of the stage. These will come under consideration, to some extent, in the course of the chapters, as they progress.

A word of explanation regarding the technical term "The Show Business." In a former work I have explained, in brief, the meaning of this curious term, which is in common use among professionals, and embraces in its comprehensiveness all sorts of performances.

In this term is included every possible thing which is of the nature of an entertainment, with these three requirements: 1. A place of gathering. 2. An admission fee. 3. An audience.

This remarkably comprehensive term covers with the same mantle the tragic Forrest, when he plays; the comic Jefferson, when he plays; the eloquent Beecher, when he lectures, and the sweet-voiced Parepa, when she sings. It also covers with the same mantle the wandering juggler, who balances feathers on his nose; the gymnast, who whirls on a trapeze; the danseuse, who interprets the poetry of motion; the clown, who cracks stale jokes in the ring; the performer on the tight rope, the negro minstrel, the giant and the dwarf, the learned pig and the educated monkey.

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