Chapter - 24

Torchbearers Of A Great Tradition

Hamlet said: ". .. we end the heartache, and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to . . ."

It has always been the function of the actor to be the emotional physician, who gives solace, encouragement and freedom of feeling to people who need it—when they need it.

This has been the challenge of the actor since the beginning of time. He is the torchbearer of a great tradition; a fearless trail blazer into an expanding frontier.

The actor must not be afraid to be the catalyst between progress and people. He must approach his calling with authority, humility and fearlessness.

As the human race progressed, instinct gave way to inspiration. Inspiration became a creative tool of civilization. To be aware of creation, born of inspiration—and to be able to direct that creation, is a result of intelligence.

In this book, you have been made aware of consciously constructing a physical structure to securely support and accurately control the creation of your subconscious.

You have learned how to build a dynamo of energy from your subconscious storehouse, and how to direct that energy toward your particular needs.

You have learned how to change your liabilities into assets and develop an exciting, arresting personality.

You have learned common denominators to interweave your own personality with that of a character; how to transmit this new personality, through empathy, to an audience—with impact.

You have organized the machinery of the conscious mind so that it works with dependable precision—leaving a clear channel to your subconscious for new thoughts and ideas. These new thoughts and ideas are inspirations.

Controlled inspiration is creation.

Develop the habit of depending upon your subconscious as a source of supply for your inspirations. Eventually, you will have the confidence that your supply is greater than any demands you can make upon it. Your own experience will give you this confidence.

Have faith in your ability to supply more than is demanded. You will experience the fulfillment of free choice in selecting the inspiration that: best suits your needs.

When you have learned to select that which is best, you will have acquired good taste. When you have developed good taste, you will experience a sense of exhilaration—when you are exhilarated, you will have no time for boredom.

Polarize the word boredom—and you'll find enthusiasm.

Develop the habit of enthusiasm by becoming spontaneously curious. Find out all you can about everything you can. Start with the book you have in your hands.

What is the color of its binding? What kind of type is used in its printing? How many pages does it have? Is the texture of its paper pleasant to touch? How much does it weigh? What kind of a man is its author? Who is the publisher of the book? What books have they published? How much did you pay for the book? Is it worth it to you? If so, why? If not, why not?

Apply this formula to commonplace objects and situations around you. You will develop new enthusiasm for your everyday surroundings. They will take on an added significance with interesting, dramatic qualities. You'll respond to them emotionally as well as intellectually.

Suddenly you will recognize in these commonplace objects and situations characteristics and aspects which you were completely unaware of before.

The uncreative man is one-sided. He develops his potentialities along one line.

One of the most forceful examples of an outstanding, well-balanced man was revealed to me some time ago when I was visiting a small town in Wyoming. I had occasion to call on the most prominent doctor in the community. He had known me since childhood.

For many years I have lived in a world completely apart from his and worked in a profession entirely foreign to his section of the country. I was amazed to find that Dr. Walter O. Gray knew exactly what I was doing in Hollywood, was acutely aware of the activities of many of my professional associates, and had a substantial understanding of my problems in the career I have followed.

Dr. Gray had been more than the leading doctor in his community for many years. He had been mayor of his town and president of one of its biggest banks. He had been outstanding in civic and religious activities. He was well balanced. His balance gave him poise in the fullest sense of the word.

He knew every child by name. There was no problem too small for him to consider or help straighten out. A high-school boy could go to Dr. Gray with the problem of how to earn enough money to carry on his education. No matter how busy Dr. Gray was, he made the boy's problem his own. A job was found somehow, so the boy had the fulfillment of his American heritage—the right to an education.

If you've been wondering what an anecdote about a doctor in an obscure little Wyoming town has to do with acting, let me assure you that it has everything to do with it.

Dr. Gray was an individualist. Had he been an actor instead of a doctor, he would have been equally successful.

An actor should be a fine individual. He should be many-sided. He should be full of enthusiasm for every phase of living. Each phase that comes into his scope of awareness increases his stature as an individualist.

Dr. Gray and others like him are among the characters that audiences want to see portrayed on stage, screen, television and radio. Audiences are composed, chiefly, of people who have not fully developed their subconscious desires. They depend on actors to vicariously fill this void.

In your desire to be a serious actor, you are applying for membership in the oldest brotherhood of emotional physicianship to mankind.

The duty of the serious actor is great. Thousands of years before the birth of Christianity, acting served the same purpose that it is serving today. Its fundamental purpose has not changed from the time cave men lined up in a circle and performed their ritualistic chants and pantomimic dances to stir the emotions of their audience. Through these rituals, which were basically acts, the primitive emotions were excited to a point of emotional stimulation that propelled our civilization onward.
In times of grief and trouble, it diverted their attention and gave them solace and relief from emotional tensions, while their subconscious minds revitalized them with new inspiration and prepared them to carry on—restimulated.

There has been no fundamental change in the relationship between the actor and his audience in giving them physical and spiritual service.

All through the ages the actor has given emotional ease, rest or stimulus to someone in the audience who needed it desperately, at that particular moment. When a performance is sincerely communicated by the actor, it will serve its purpose.

War renews and intensifies proof of this. Entertainers go to front lines and hospitals, where they perform and arrest time for a short while.

Don't be afraid to take a chance—do the best you can with every performance you are called upon to do. If you, sincerely, do the best you are capable of, then you will live up to the hereditary tradition of acting. Carry your banner high and with pride.

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