, Bessie Abbott, Rosa Ponselle, Orville Harold and the
recent Indian sensation at the Metropolitan, Chief Caupolican, actually
had their beginnings in vaudeville. In other words, vaudeville was the
stepping-stone to grand opera.

SINGING FOR MILLIONS

Success in this new field depends upon personality as well as art. It
also develops personality. It is no place for a "stick." The singer must
at all times be in human touch with the audience. The lofty individuals
who are thinking far more about themselves than about the songs they are
singing have no place here. The task is infinitely more difficult than
grand opera. It is far more difficult than recital or oratorio singing.
There can be no sham, no pose. The songs must please or the audience
will let one know it in a second.

The wear and tear upon the voice is much less than in opera. During the
week I sing in all three and one-half hours (not counting rehearsals).
When I am singing Mephistopheles in _Faust_ I am in a theater at least
six hours--the make-up alone requires at least one and one-half hours.
Then time is demanded for rehearsals with the company and with various
coaches.

THE ART OF "PUTTING IT OVER"

Thus the vaudeville singer who is genuinely interested in the progress
of his art has ample time to study new songs and new roles. In the
jargon of vaudeville, everything is based upon whether the singer is
able "to put the number over." This is a far more serious matter than
one thinks. The audience is made up of the great public--the common
people, God bless them. There is not the select gathering of musically
cultured people that one finds in Carnegie Hall or the Auditorium.
Therefore, in singing music that is admittedly a musical masterpiece,
one must select only those works which may be interpreted with a broad
human appeal. One is far closer to his fellow-man in vaudeville than in
grand opera, because the emotions of the auditors are more responsive.
It is intensely gratifying to know that these people want real art. My
greatest success has been in Lieurance's Indian songs and in excerpts
from grand opera. Upon one occasion my number was followed by that of a
very popular comedienne whose performance was known to be of the
farcical, rip-roaring type which vaudeville audiences were supposed to
like above all things. It was my pleasure to be recalled, even after the
curtain had ascended upon her performance, and to be compelled to give
another so