The autobiography of Joseph Jefferson . tout the road to dramatic success, I cannot resistthe desire I have to give some of my young friendson the stage a few hints in relation to the conductof their professional lives that may be useful evenif they are dry and uninteresting. The rules that would seem to promote successupon the stage are so shifting and at times soinscrutable that the most diligent and experiencedactors often stand amazed at the disappointing re-sults which have attended honest and intelligentlabor. I have known members of the theatricalprofession who, though possessed of grea
The autobiography of Joseph Jefferson . tout the road to dramatic success, I cannot resistthe desire I have to give some of my young friendson the stage a few hints in relation to the conductof their professional lives that may be useful evenif they are dry and uninteresting. The rules that would seem to promote successupon the stage are so shifting and at times soinscrutable that the most diligent and experiencedactors often stand amazed at the disappointing re-sults which have attended honest and intelligentlabor. I have known members of the theatricalprofession who, though possessed of great abilityand an untiring industry, have never met with onecheering success, and I have seen novices comeupon the stage knowing nothing of dramatic artand possessed of no talent whatever, startle thepublic and command its attention at once, and allthis from the mere exhibition of youth, beauty,and confidence. This latter kind of popularity,however, is not lasting, nor does it ever reviveafter it has once lost its power, and here is just. JOSEPH JEFFERSON AS RIP VAN WINKLE. OF JOSEPH JEFFERSON 461 the point in question: an ephemeral success isworse than no success at all, for all the feverishflattery and hollow applause that may have at-tended it in the beginning cannot atone for thedisappointment that follows upon neglect. Theonce petted favorite sinks under the desolationwhich comes from public indifference. A legiti-mate and well-earned success is almost perennial,if pursued by the artist to the end with the samelove of his work that characterized its beginning. Rip Van Winkle was not a sudden did not burst upon the public like a flow was gradual, and its source sprang fromthe Harz Mountains, an old German legend,called Carl the Shepherd, being the name of theoriginal story. The genius of Washington Irvingtransplanted the tale to our own Catskills. Thegrace with which he paints the scene, and, stillmore, the quaintness of the story, placed it farabove th
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectjeffers, bookyear1890
