ies of playwright and actor with the principal burden on the
actor. In other words, the play is not altogether 'the thing.' The right
player in the right play is the thing."

The shaping of William Gillette's career is a good example of Frohman's
definition of a successful theatrical manager, whose best skill and
talents are employed largely in the matter of manipulating a hard-minded
person to mutual advantage.

The relationship between stars and audiences is of necessity a very
close one. The Frohman philosophy, however, was not the generally
accepted theory that audiences make stars.

On one of those very rare occasions in his life when he wrote for
publication, he made the following illuminating statement:

_No star or manager should feel grateful to any audience for the
success of a play in which he has figured. A play succeeds because
it is a living, vital thing--and that is why it has got upon the
stage at all. There is life in it and it does not, and will not,
die. It keeps itself alive until the opportunity comes along. Often
a kind of instinct makes the opportunity._

_It is instinct also that prompts an audience to applaud when it is
pleased, laugh when it is amused, weep when it is moved, hiss when
it is dissatisfied. No actor should feel indebted to an audience
for the recognition of good work, because that same audience that
appears to be so friendly, at another time, when one character or
play does not please it, will resent both actor and play. This is
as it should be. The loyalty of English audiences to their old
favorites is fine, but it is bad for the old favorites. It is
stagnating._

_The various expressions of approval and disapproval that come from
the spectators at a play are involuntary on the part of the
spectators. They are hypnotized by the play and the acting. Who
ever, on coming out of the theater after seeing a play that has
pleased him, has felt a sense of happiness that his pleasure had
also pleased the actor, or the author of the play, or the
management of the production? Loyalty, generosity, and
encouragement, as applied to audiences, are so many empty words.
Play-goers who apply them to themselves cheat themselves. Miss
Maude Adams is the only stage personage within my experience who
has a distinct public following, loyal and encouraging to her in