, but only a sequence of themes incompletely orchestrated,
and with the missing passages to be supplied at his own discretion. And
as the richness of the harmony depends largely upon his ability to
amplify properly the hints of the author, the stage-manager is, in fact,
almost a collaborator of the playwright; he is forced into a more
intimate relation with the dramatist than that which the conductor bears
toward the composer. To a collaboration of this sort, ordinary playgoers
never give a thought, content to take the performance as they see it,
and ready often to credit the actor, not only with the inventions of the
stage-manager, but even with those of the author also. They accept the
play as it is presented to them, just as tho it had happened, with no
suspicion of the forethought by which the performance has been made
possible.

George Henry Lewes, in his stimulating essays, 'On Actors and the Art of
Acting,' has told us that audiences are inclined to overestimate the
genius of an actor and to underestimate his trained skill. We are prone
to accept the fallacy of the "inspiration of the moment," and to give
little credit to the careful preliminary rehearsing which is at once a
humble substitute for inspiration, should this fail to appear, and its
solid support, should it happen to present itself. For the thoroness of
this preliminary preparation the stage-manager is responsible; and it is
at rehearsal that he seeks to bring about the perfect "team-play" which
is absolutely necessary,--the subordination of individual display to the
larger advantage of the whole performance. The reason why the so-called
"all-star revivals" of old plays are often sadly disappointing, is to be
found in the absence of this team-play, in the exaggerated
self-assertion of the individual actors, whom the stage-manager has been
unable to control. Few members of an "all-star" company can be relied
upon for the "sacrifice-hits," which the best team-play may now and then
demand. And this is why a wise dramatist, if he were put to the choice,
would prefer to have his piece performed by a company of average merit
directed by a stage-manager of skill and authority, than by far better
actors under lax and inefficient stage-management. One of the varied
qualifications needed by stage-managers is the insight to estimate the
personality of the actors, so that the play may profit by what each of
them can do best, while the exuberance of an aggressive i