how_to_act

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a

HOW TO

Robert Graham Paris


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1. ARE YOU THE TYPE?

2. STARDUST IS MADE OF MANY THINGS

3. A FOOT IN THE DOOR

4. FIRST BEACHHEAD

5. FAITH, AWARENESS AND UNDERSTANDING

6. YOUR BUSINESS IS MY BUSINESS

7. MIRR OR UP TO NA TUR E8. SMOOTH, SVELTE AND FASCINATING9. AIR POW ER IN CON TRO L

10. THE CO NS CI OUS, THE SUBCONSCIOUSAN D AME NT AL IM AG E

11. "WHAT" PLUS "WH Y" EQUALS "HOW"12. TIM IN GDO IN'WHAT COMES NATUR 'LY13. TIMINGFIRST LAW.- STOP FOR THE RED LIGHT/14. TIMINGSECOND LAW.- MOVE WITH THE TRAFFIC15. CO-ORDINATION16. ALC HE MY17. CLOSE-UP

is. THE TRUTH SHALL MAKE YOU FREE

19. A BODY WIT H A VOICE20. HOW TO TALK ENGLISH21. WHO, WHAT, WHEN AND WHERE? 22. DOUBLE-TRACK YOUR DOUBLE TALK

23. ATOMIC DRIVE TO IMPACT24. TORCHBEARERS OF A GREAT TRADITION


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Have you always wanted to act?

Do you daydream?

Do you have a vivid imagination?

When you were a child, did you like to make believe?

When you are happy, are you very happy?

When you are angry, do you getvery angry?

When a theatrical performance is funny, do you laugh easily?

When it is sad, do you choke up?

Do you have strong desires?

At times, do you getvery blue when you are alone?

Do you sometimes get very happy when you are alone?

Do you ever getlonely in a large crowd?

Do you ever feel unusually friendly in a large crowd?

Do you have FAITH in yourself?

If your answer to most of these questions is YES, there's a fairly

good chance that your emotional scale is flexibleand potentially

broad; that you have some of the basic material to put into an

acting career.

You want to know what to do about it and how to go about

doing it. You want to know how to develop for yourself a de-

pendable set of actor's toolsand how to use them. How to

develop your natural advantages and how to put them to work

for you. How to become a good craftsman, and how to develop that

craftsmanship to a point of artistryand make a living while

doing it

Although directed to actors, anyone who is ever called upon to

"stand up and say a few words" can profitably adapt this book

to his uses.

Much of the material vitally concerns the needs of every singer,

entertainer, lecturer, teacher, business or professional manevery-

one, in fact, who ever has to face the public.

"All the world's a stage. . . ." Let's find out something about

how to act on itor any other stage.

This is a book about acting, not actors. The incidental use of

names well known on the stage, in motion pictures or television

is simply to underscore a point about acting.


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Some surprises, a few shocks and many important self-

discoveries are in store for you.

By the time you've mastered the material in this book

you'll know your old self better, and you'll meet a new self

that will develop as you go along.

You will be more effective.

You will project new power.

You will have a stronger personality.

You will gain poise.

You will acquire authority.

You will broaden your horizons.

You will be more interesting.

You will speak better.

You will know how to concentrate.

You will be able to think on your feet.

You will add to your natural charm.

You will be more attractive.

You will be more feminine if you're a woman, more masculine

if you're a man. In other words, you will reach a new peak of sex

appeal.

You will develop your character, dependability and persever-

ance.

You will establish and justify new self-confidence.

You will bothfeel and reveal added vitality.

You will find out that everything about youyour strength and

your weaknesscan be used to your advantage.

Stardust is made of many things.

Tony Curtis started out as a tousled kid from the Bronx who

turned into a glamour boy. From the superficialities of this second

phase, he grew into a forceful actor.

Rita Hayworth was a black-haired, chunky little girl who made

a mediocre living as a dancer, until she gradually developed a new

self that won her international homage as the embodiment of

desirable femininity.


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STARDUST IS MADE OF MANY THINGS

In 1947, there was no Rock Hudson. But there was a Roy

Fitegerald, who worked in his father's electrical-appliance store

and at other odd jobs after getting out of the Navy. In a period

of transition he worked co-operatively with the perceptive agent

who saw exciting possibilities in him, and he worked with the lategreat coach Sophie Rosenstein, of Universal-International Studios.

In short, he worked, worked, WORKED twenty-four hours a day to

become the Rock Hudson of today.

Stardom has no physical limitations.

Spencer Tracy is short on stature but long on stellar power. So

are Alan Ladd and James Cagney.

John Wayne, Gary Cooper and Gregory Peck tower over the

six-foot markand hit the six-figure mark in salary.

Stocky Edward G. Robinson's everyday appearance is reduced

to a negligible fact when he becomes a lovable hero or a hateful

villain, wondrously sensitive or appallingly brutal, intelligent or

bestial, according to the requirements of the role he's portraying.Rotund Charles Laughton can transform himself into contrasting

characters covering a tremendous range.

Jimmy Durante's big nose never lost him a fan. Nor did Joe E.

Brown's big mouth. Nor Martha Raye's, either.

The late Humphrey Bogart's lisp might have been a liability to

a lesser man. He, however, used it as a subtle instrument of char-

acterization.

Ernest Borgnine is no Mr. America, but that didn't keep him

from winning an Academy award. Tab Hunter is what the girls

call a dreamboat, but Frank Sinatra is by no conventional standards

a handsome man. Their Stardust is made of entirely different things.

Katharine Hepburn never could have won a beauty contest


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HOW TO ACT

Elizabeth Taylor could. Debbie Reynolds is a doll-faced cutie.

Academy award winner Joanne Woodward is nothing of the kind.

Sometimes it's the off-beat qualities that sprinkle you with star-

dust

Richard Widmark is way off-beat Yet his fan mail stacks upfavorably with that of Sir Laurence Olivier, a star renowned as a

classic hero.

Stardust sprinkles Leslie Caron with an enchanting, elfin charm.

It gives an irresistible sparkle to June Allyson's eyes.

Remember this: In show business there is a place for every

type.

After acquiring self-knowledge and training under expert guid-

ance, real stars learn to stylize their liabilities into assets and to

develop their natural assets into symbols of an ideal.

So can you.


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First impressions are lasting impressions.

In show business, the first impression can sometimes be the

last impression. Producers, directors and casting directors are busy

people. The deciding factor in giving an unknown (or even an

experienced actor whose opportunities have been limited) a

chance to read for a part is often based on first impressions.

It's up to you to know how to handle yourself during an inter-

view: how to be at ease, and how to be well poised. How to sell

yourself; how not to oversell yourself.

Diane Brewster, who rose from television commercials to Glenn

Ford's leading lady in Torpedo Run, a picture with an otherwise all-male cast, worked for weeks to make the right impression when

she got her first important interview.

At the appointed time, she stepped buoyantly into the office

tripped and fell flat on her beautiful face.

Diane's world went black, but months of training came to the

rescue. She showed such poise and quick judgment in making

neither too much nor too little of the incident that the director

had her read immediately for the part When she left his office,

the role was hers. The accidental fall itself turned out to be un-

important What counted was the director's first impression of her

professional poise.

To be as unshakably poised as this young actress is much more

a matter of sound technique than of serene temperament

Don't be fooled by the casual manner of a casting director.

You may be sure he's studying you: looking you over, like a piece

of merchandise. He's no window-shopper, either. When he looks,

it's because he wants to buy.

Always have professional pictures of yourself, and be ready to

show them without apologies or explanations. Your graduation

picture won't do, nor will glamour-gimmicked photos of the type

displayed in night-club lobbies. The pictures should show you:

some, headshots showing a fair range of moods; others, in various

types of wardrobe.

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A F OO T IN THE DOO R

Have extra prints of each picture. Your interviewer may want

to keep one. Make certain that your name, address, phone number

and vital statistics are written legibly on the back of each photo-

graph. Don't be misled into thinking that the pictures he rejects are

"no good." Almost every interviewer is likely to make a different se-

lection. Each has his own professional purpose and his own taste as

valid reasons for his choice. For the sake of efficiency and economy,

it's a good idea to have a few eight-by-ten composites made up with

four poses on each one.

Have a neatly typed, short outline of your background, qualifi-

cations and (if you've ever appeared anywhere, in anything) your

credits.

Be honest. Don't invent non-existent credits. You'll only iden-

tify yourself as an impostor, a charlatan, or to use show-business

terminology, "a phony." "Any casting director can spot a phony

every time" is a show-business axiom. If your only credit is a

single appearance in the chorus line of a high-school operetta, sayso. Everybody has to start somewhere.

Deborah Kerr began her career in the curtain raiser for a local

show at Bristol, England. No one outside Bristoland probably

very few Bristolitesparticularly noticed this modest debut of an

actress who studied long and faithfully to prepare herself for inter-

continental stardom. Nevertheless it was a beginninga good one.

It will look a lot better, and be far more plausible, if you state

in your outline that you've put in your time and effort studying with

a recognized teacher, rather than if you make up phony credits

that won't bear checking out.

Perhaps your teacher will give you a card stating your creden-

tials. Some teachers and coaches periodically give the not-so-fully-


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established actor a card stating how long he has studied and what,

in their opinion, he is capable of doing at that time. These cards

help the actor in getting interviews and protect the teacher, or

coach, from false claims by overeager job seekers, who claim to be

a client of theirs after one lesson.Some of the first questions you'll be asked are:

"Tell me about yourself."

"What have you done?"

"Is there any film on you?"

You are in a spot However, every beginning actor has been

in that same spot. But just rememberevery actor had to be a

"beginning actor" at one time.

Tell the truth. If you have no film, say so. If you have no profes-

sional stage credits, say so.

However, there is a way out Almost every casting director will

help you. Ask for a chance to read for him, or to audition a scene

you have already prepared. He's looking for talent, and he'll usu-ally give you a scene, if you don't have one. You can take it home,

study it, then come back and do it for him. If he likes the way you

do it, he'll indicate the next move for you.

After you've begun to establish yourself as a working actor,

you may get jobs on a "cold reading"that means reading a part

at sight, with no preparation. When you do a cold reading,

remember not to read too fast, and to listen to the other person

reading with you.

Rehearsed or cold, your reading will give you something ex-

tremely important: exposurewhere itcounts.

He may not need you today, but he will remember you tomor-

row. He'll remember how you read, how you handled yourself,

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A FOOT IN THE DOOR

and whether you were able to live up to your claims. He casts

something every day and he knows better than anyone that there

is a definite place for the well-trained beginner.

The need for talent is in an ascending spiral. Television, motion

pictures, the legitimate stage, musical shows and night clubs areburning up talent as fast as it comes along. So almost everyone

connected with casting is more than willing to give promising

new people a hearing.

The emphasis today is on speed, especially in television. Many

parts are cast from a cold reading. More than ever in the history

of show business, it is important to be a "quick study."

How fast is a quick study? Well, a better-than-average quick

study can memorize two pages of dialogue in thirty minutes.

If you should get a two- or three-line part, congratulate yourself,

its shortness is no disgrace but a good indication that your inter-

viewer thinks you can "deliver." He believes you will look good

to the director, the producer andif only for one fleeting momentto the audience.

If you try to fake phony credits, the truth will come out the

minute you are set for a job. At that time you will have to show

proof of your professional union affiliation or affiliations.

At the present time, all professionals must belong to at least

one of the organizations in the "four A's." The four A's are the

Associated Actors and Artists of America. There are more than four

now, but they are still called the four A's.

Among them are AFTRA (American Federation of Television

and Radio Artists), SAG (Screen Actors Guild), Equity (Act-

ors' Equity Association), AGMA (American Guild of Musical

Artists), AGVA (American Guild of Variety Artists) and SEG

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HOW TO ACT

(Screen Extras Guild), which is devoted primarily to the interests

of people appearing as general atmosphere in motion pictures and

in filmed television.

Under the Taft-Hartley law, a newcomer is allowed thirty days

after his first professional performance before he is obliged to joinone of the professional guilds or unions. The one he joins first

becomes his parent union. There is a reciprocal arrangement among

the four A's that acts in favor of the performer who works in the

various mediums under their jurisdiction.

When an interview is over, leave. Don't drag it out, wasting

the interviewer's timeand yours. If you've left pictures, or a list

of credits, with the interviewer, tell his secretary on your way out

of the office. Give her an extra word of thanks when you say

goodbye.

Secretaries fill a highly specialized position in show business.

Often they are the trusted aides and "antennae" of their bosses.

Besides, as guardians of "the portals through which you seek topass," they can sometimes open the door to courteous and appreci-

ative actors.

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Many people work a long time, perhaps an average of six

years is typical, in order to secure the first beachhead on the

island of success.

Some actors, and it happens all too often, mistake that

first beachhead for the island. They think they've clinched the

career itself when all they've really got is a foothold on it: a

foothold on the first rung of a very tall ladder.

There are many beachheads to be taken, many rungs to the

ladder. Each new role that can be made to serve as a springboard

to the next, and better, role is a beachhead.Each new level of your career is a beachhead. As you work

your way up the ladder from being a "day player" to that first

enviable niche, an actor with an "established" weekly salary, and

from there to the point where you are paid a certain sum for play-

ing a part, and on to a guarantee of X number of pictures a year

at a fixed sumall these are beachheads.

But you, as an actor, haven't got the island of success secured

until you have taken the last beachhead; the one that assures you of

continuity in your career and a genuinely solid place in the enter-

tainment world.

In the early phases of his career an actor is as great as his last

show. Only the seasoned star rises above his vehicle and has thestaying power to survive a bad show, lift a fair one above medi-

ocrity, and always enhance a good one by his very presence.

If you want to "live your own life," don't become an actor. As

an actor you will have to live the life that will be best for your

career. And you will have to accept one final source of authority

to determine what that best is.

You will have to put your money into the right kind of clothing

and accessories for the furtherance of your career, not into a

helter-skelter assortment of clothes that you happen personally to

prefer. You'll have to get the haircut that will get you a job, not

the one that follows a fad.

The world of the actor is made up of highly competent spe-

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FIRST BEACHHEAD

cialists who are vastly important to the entertainment industry

and to your career.

No single person ever "makes" an actor. Many people have a

hand in creating himpossibly from some of the very substances

inherent in you.The head electrician, you will eventually discover, is just as

much a specialist in his particular field as the writer or director is

in his. The man in the cutting room is, in his way, just as impor-

tant to a film as its producer.

The people in wardrobe, hairdressing and make-up departments

know how the actor should appear in relation to a production as a

whole. With their specialists' eyes, they "see" the actor as he can

rarely see himself.

The sound engineers, who have learned to hear as the sound

system hears, know how the actor should sound. The publicists

know how to spotlight public interest in him. The agents know

how he should be presented for available roles that are right forhim, just as the teachers and coaches know what he is professionally

capable of doing.

All these people, along with other specialists, know best what is

right for the actor. They are not prejudiced by personal whim.

They arrive at their decisions by workmanlike co-operation, func-

tioning in a chain of command that goes, link by link, to the top.

At the top is a single source of authority that must be the

lodestar of the actor's faith. If you are going to fulfill your pur-

pose here, you must take this book as your single source of author-

ity, until you have absorbed its entire contents. Then, and only then,

can you evaluate it and intelligently accept or reject it, in whole or

in part. You will have earned the right to your own decision.


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Thousands of careers have been wrecked by actors who "changed

horses in the middle of the stream." Those actors go from teacher

to teacher without ever finding out what any of them have to

offer. They switch from agent to agent before a long-range plan

for their career can be developed. They go from one publicist toanother, destroying the valuable groundwork of every publicity

campaign. Finally, they fight their way out of legitimate contracts

and into oblivion.

The entertainment field is the only business on earth in which

a girl who might never make more than forty dollars a week run-

ning an elevator can be molded by specialists into a commodity

worth thousands of dollars weekly to one of the major industries

of our time.

Actors today have unprecedented prestige and social standing.

Most of them use their advantages to good purpose, as does

Bob Hope, globe-circling, good-will ambassador extraordinary to

the court of humanity. Royalty welcomes Danny Kaye, and so, inmany lands, do the underprivileged children to whom he has

brought the vitalizing nourishment of laughter.

While the successful actor acquires prestige and social standing

in plying his well-paid profession, he attains other gratifying goals.

Almost without exception, every notable performer refers nos-

talgically to some artistically worth-while venture about which he

says happily, "I didn't make much money with it, but it was a

great satisfaction to do."

Where does this satisfaction come from? It comes from giving

an audience something he believes in: something that to him repre-

sents, either inspirationally, dramatically or amusingly, the truth as

he sees it.

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FIRST BEACHHEAD

In a discussion of acting, John Mason Brown, distinguished

critic and lecturer, paid a tribute to the men and women of the

profession when he said, "An actor turns pretense into truth."

Actors work considerably harder than most people think they

do. I have heard more than one parent say of his own hard-work-ing, well-established son in show business, "Yes, he's doing all right,

but I wish he'd geta real job."

He has one. Acting is a very real job. As the standards of the

profession grow continually higher, and the taste of the public

keeps pace, the demands on the actor are more exacting. Those

who fulfill these demands will win the ultimate beachhead and

earn the right to live securely on the island of success.

Lucille Ball cried her eyes out the night she was fired from

RKO as a stock player. But she never stopped working to improve

herself. When she was at her lowest ebb, half frightened and

altogether frustrated, she put more drive than ever into her career.

She went on the road with a stage production of Elmer Rice'sDream Girl and steamed full speed ahead on the upgrade again.

Today, with husband Desi Arnaz, she is co-owner of the studio

lot where the name DESILU STUDIOS looms high on a sign re-

placing the letters that used to be thereRKO.

This book can guide you toward the threshold of a successful

career, but you will have to cross that threshold and take the final

steps yourself. On your own.

The professional actor has here a refresher course. The recruit is

being indoctrinated in his basic training: self-knowledge and his

immediate goalbuilding the tools and laying the foundations of

a career.

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Underlying every art is a science. The science underlying an

actor's art is the mechanical system of a soundly organized

technique for transmitting emotions, words, actions and ideas to

an audience.

Technique is simply another word for KNOW-HOW or

CRAFTSMANSHIP. There is a know-how, or technique, for

every thing from flying a jet airplane to taking out an

appendix, from upholstering a chair to enacting a scene in a

play.

Your knowledge and application of acting technique will makeit possible for you to give consistently effective performances and

to find freedom of expression at any time, under any circumstances.

Without technique, there is no control.

In the making of a motion picture film today, the actor must

know how to actplus ........

The actor must have such control, such know-how, that he can

quickly and accurately give the director what he needs, the camera-

man what he needs, the cutter what he needsand the audience

what it wants.

Now let's give the subject of acting a question-and-answer

breakdown.

What is acting?

Webster's dictionary says that to act is "to produce an effect."

To produce an effect upon the emotions of his audience is the aim

of every actor.

What is the actor's starting point?

You start with every great actor's three fundamental laws:

THE LAW OF FAITH, THE LAW OF AWARENESS and THE LAW OF

UNDERSTANDING.

Apply these laws right now.

Have FAITH in me.

You will become AWARE of what you can do. Then you willUNDERSTAND how to build and us e the tools of acting.

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FAITH, AWARENESS AND UNDERSTANDING

How do you act?

You act by using the three primary elements upon which acting is

based: the VOICE,the BODY and the MIND.They're the materials that

go into your acting. They're the tools of your craft They're the

eloquent instruments of your art.THE VOICE AND THE BODY MUST BE MADE SO FLEXIBLE THAT

THEY WILL INSTANTLY OBEY THE COMMANDS OF THE MIND

WITHOUT CONSCIOUS EFFORT.

The more you know, the more those words will mean to you.

And you will know moremuch morelater.

Where do you begin an acting technique?

You begin with the physical apparatusarms, legs, torso,

tongue, eyes, facial muscles and so onfrom skeleton to skin.

Technique is mechanics. Technique is scientific.

Isn't a scientific technique very mechanical?

Indeed it is. But you must have at your command, ready toserve you immediatelyat your director's willa practical knowl-

edge of the mechanics of modern acting.

The seven tones of the musical scale are mechanical too, but

they can be used artistically to create a great piece of music. The

three primary colors and their divisions are mechanical, but they,

also, can be used to create a work of art.

To take another example, the frame of any house in skeleton

form, with its cement, two-by-fours, steel girders, and so on, is a

matter of good, sound mechanics. It has very little to inspire you

emotionally.

But when a Frank Lloyd Wright applies his creative talent to

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HOW TO ACT

it, the framework becomes the foundation for a piece of architec-

ture that is artistic and inspiring in its finished form. If the founda-

tion weren't mechanically sound, a Frank Lloyd Wright's inspiration

would go to waste. The structure would collapse.

Do I believe in mechanical acting? No. But I believe an actor must build a solid mechanical mold

before he can flood and color the performance of a role with his

own talent and personality. Without a substantial technical frame-

work and foundation his performance will be subject to both hid-

den and obvious weaknesses. Among other shortcomings, it will

lack continuity of line and, above all, authority.

A basic technical foundation can be the deciding factor in

whether you workor don't workin the acting profession today.

Is it possible to teach the technique of acting, as it is to teach

the techniques of music and salesmanship?

Yes, it is, to youor anyoneif you have the desire and drive

to learn what you're taught

Is it possible to give an inspired performance without technique?

Yesbut not night after night on the stage, and not going over

the same scene time and again in motion pictures, and not under

the tensions of fast production in television.

There are some inspired amateur performances in America every

year. Some of them are extraordinarily effective. But those who

give them can rarely duplicate their performancesand then only

by accidentbecause talented amateurs haven't developed either

voice, body or mindas dependable technical tools.

The important thing is to give an inspiring performance.

It's hardly possible that Judith Anderson could have been in-

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spired during the entire run ofMedea, in which she played a

heavy emotional role. But with her magnificent technique and

dramatic art she consistently created the effects of inspiration and

was therefore inspiring to her audiences.

What is dramatic art?Dramatic art is acting PLUS.It may be described, all too briefly,

as acting which inspires an emotional response over and beyond

the immediate and obvious word, action or situation in any given

performance.

Is there any difference between good acting for the stage and

screen, or for television and radio?

Basically, no. The fundamentals are the same. The differences

lie in the way an actor or personality adjusts the same tools and

materials to the various mediums.

What is the difference between actors and personalities?

An actor is a performer who can up to a point efface himself

and, motivated by a playwright's words and a director's guidance,

can, within the limits of human feasibility, create and interpret

any character.

A personality is a performer whose individuality is so distinctive

and strong that it dictates the color of every role he plays.

Do you have to have talent to be an actor?

No. Many actors have made a very good living by being such

capable craftsmen in their use of the tools of acting that they have

overcome the handicap of not having native talent. They've made

up for what they lack as inherent artists by becoming highly skilled,

superior artisansexperts in the mechanics of acting.

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HOW TO ACT

If you have talent, and know you have it, why must you study?

Even if you have talent, it may be blocked and jammed up by

inhibitions and tensions, dissipated by lack of discipline, or clut-

tered and confused by egotism. Intelligent training in the tech-

nicalities that support talent and compensate for its lack frees youfrom these drawbacks.

However great your talent, you have to build a mechanical

foundation in order to organize that talent and use it most effec-

tively.

What is a "good, actor"?

In the final analysis, a good actor must excite an audience, must

be interesting to look at, and pleasing to listen to. He must be able

to transmit these qualities with impact. He must have polarity and

balance.

What does polarity mean in this context?

For an actor, polarity is the quality of having opposite, or con-

trasted, poles of feeling.

The world in general has countless examples of physical and

emotional polarity. The North Pole at one end of the earth and

the South Pole at the opposite end illustrate physical polarity. Hap-

piness and sadness are an example of emotional polarity. Black

and white, heads and tails, courage and cowardice, night and day

all these opposites are examples of polarity.

Ed Wynn offered a sensational demonstration of polarity by his

swing from wild buffoonery to poignant drama. Comedian Red

Buttons did, too, with his dramatic Academy-award-winning per-

formance in Sayonara.

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Henry Fonda's polarity is exemplified by his equal effective-

ness in portrayals of laughable comedy and emotional depth.

Tallulah Bankhead's dramatic power and comedic punch proclaim

her polarity.

There are two reasons an actor must have polarity, or opposites,in his emotional scale, even when playing a role that does not call

for obvious contrasts of emotional expression.

1. Polarity is the basis of dramatic conflict.2. The skillful use of contrasting extremes in the emotional

scale enables an actor to project these extremes with authority

while not actually experiencing them himself.

It is not an actor's function to "feel" per se, but to make his

audiences feel that which he wants transmitted to them. He can

show anger without being angry. He can depict love without being

in love with his leading lady. He can portray pride without being in

love with himself.

To clinch the argument, an actor need not die to play a deathscene convincingly. By using his well-developed and thoroughly

trained poles of feeling, he can play on the emotions of his

audiences and make them feel they have seen someone die.

What does balance mean in this context?

By balance I mean the ability to equalize and to compensate.

By offsetting one factor against another, an actor establishes equal-

ity and achieves symmetry, or balanced form. Through symmetry

he gains poise.

Balance is a key word to poise for an actor.

Perfect balance between the desire to express and the ability to

express contributes to poise. This balance between the desire and the


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HOW TO AC T

ability to express any given idea or emotion can be achieved by cor-

rect knowledge and use of technical tools.

What else should you know to start with?

You should know that the late, internationally famed authority,

Constantin Stanislavsky, in his bookAn Actor Prepares, points outthe necessity for an unusually well-trained and responsive vocal

and physical apparatus.

The vocal and physical requirements are either suggested or

actually dictated, of course, by the mind.

So there you have a restatement of my declaration that acting

must be based on three primary elementsthe VOICE, the BODY,

and the MIND. This is an unchangeable fact for you to remember

always.

Thorough training of voice, body and mind requires work. Start

this training by meeting your first problems with enthusiasm and

vitality.

What are those first problems?

They're really quite simplethings like how to stand and sit

and walk, how to exercise your face and eyes.

What has all this to do with acting?

It has a great deal to do with acting.

If your physical apparatus is flexible, alert and well enough con-

trolled to obey the commands of your mind, your body will be

able to do its part in projecting thoughts and emotionswith or

without dialogue.

Basic parts that add up to the sum total of the science under-

lying the art of actingthe techniquecraftsmanshipmechanics

know-howare what this book is all about

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This book is for actors in all phases of the entertainment

industry.

Their problems are my business.

I must keep in step with scientific advancement in lighting,

acoustics, sound systems, cameras and film.

I must keep an eagle eye on changes of "style" in actingas

demanded by the public.

I must continually try to keep myself aware of where jobs for

actors are most plentiful. ThenI must help the actor to learn

the know-how to get, and hold, these jobs.

The relationship between the actor and the audience has reached

a very high level of intimacy. Each part of the entertainment in-

dustry has certain rigid requirements of its own to establish this.

In the legitimate theater, audiences can hear and see better than

ever before, creating a sense of closeness. On the forty million

television screens in America, they can choose their own distance

to create intimacy. And on motion-picture screens the close-up

brings the relationship between actor and audience to its highest

peak.

I have lived and worked for many years with people whose

livelihoods depend upon the result of their appearance on film.

Within recent years, film production has become such a major part

of the industry that there are more jobs available as film actors

than in any other branch of the entertainment world.

Therefore, many actors who are buildingor startinga career

are vitally concerned with the part of their business in which they

can work most frequentlyand get the most experience.

At this writing, there is an estimated income of one and two-

tenths billion dollars paid to see motion pictures, against one hun-

dred and twenty-five million dollars paid in admissions to other

segments of show businessincluding legitimate theater, opera,

symphony, night-club, circus and carnival performances. This is

about ten to one.This figure does not include the thousands of feet of film made

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YOUR BUSINESS IS MY BUSINESS

for television and television commercials, paid for by commer-

cial sponsors. Nor does it include the hundreds of pilot films made

yearly, which are never shown, but which mean jobs, experience

and money to many actors.

Two of the recent developments most important to the film

actor are enlarged screens and electronic advancement in sound

systems.

On a CinemaScope screen, a half-inch lift of an eyebrow can

mean an elevation of ten feet. Imagine a close-up of an actor,

with a pair of "wild" eyebrows whipping across the end of a

theater; or a chronic blinker; or an actor who has no control

over the muscles of his face.

In all phases of the entertainment industry, the demands of the

audience are great.

It has had a lot of practice in putting actors under a "micro-

scope," through the mediums of the spotlight and the close-up.

It can look intimately into the actor's eyes, watch each subtle move-ment of his face, and believe or disbelieve him.

The audience is well trained in listening.

It instinctively knows that there is something more to voice

than just what it "hears." Each member of the audience knows

that there is another quality in a voice that causes him to "feel"

lets him feel satisfied or makes him feel irritated; causes him to

"like" or "dislike" an actor.

These are only two of the areas in which an actor can develop

an added "plus" that gives impact and excitement to his person-

ality.

The actor who recognizes and accepts the concrete, scientific

principles and laws that govern his art can use them to observe

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HOW TO ACT

reality and translatethrough his VOICE, BODY, and MINDhis

observations. He can apply these translations to words written by

someone else, under direction conceived by someone else, and

under conditions supplied by someone else.

There is a Mexican proverb that says: "Though we are allmade of clay, a jug is not a vase." True; but the actor has to try.

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At this point you feel ready for something concrete to work

on. You're all set to stand up in your room and start practicing

something. Anything.

So I'll tell you how to practice standing.

You've been standing since you were thirteen months old? I

wonder. But even so, stand in front of a long mirror and look at

yourself in profile.

Is your head thrust forward? Are your shoulders pulled back in

"military fashion"? Is your posterior jutting out astern? Are your

feet pressed tight together? If that's the way you're standing

stop. Let's correct that stance right now.

Imagine you are suspended from a big hook fastened under

your breastbone, or sternum. As your body starts to respond to

the power of suggestion, your chest will go high. You'll grow

long through the middle. The buttocks will flow smoothly in a

plumb line with the rest of the body. The abdomen will flatten

out. Pretty soon you'll get tired of standing like this; your

shoulders will relax and come slightly forward and down.

For the time being, let it go at that. You look fine.

Here is a further explanation of how to stand.

Raise your chest high by lifting your upper ribs naturally and

easily. To do this, you're using the intercostal muscles. Now keep

the shoulders relaxed. No stiffening of the back and shoulder

muscles.

For the sake of experiment, look in the mirror and pull your

shoulders back in so-called military style. Then bring them for-

ward to a relaxed position, letting the arms hang comfortably.

You will notice that when you bring the shoulders forward

still keeping the chest highyou increase the shoulder width

almost an inch on each side. Within the limitations of your own

physique, this position gives you the V-shape that Robert Mitchum,

Burt Lancaster and some of the other famous film figures are noted

for.

Remember, all you have to do is to keep the chest high, the

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MIRROR UP TO NATURE

shoulders relaxed and slightly forward, the buttocks pinched and

the lower abdomen flat This is good posture.

After lifting the chest high with the upper rib muscles, you

will find upon close examination that all the upper ribs are fastened

solidly to the sternum or breastbone. Below the upper ribs arefour more ribs that float around the lower part of the thorax. The

thorax is that part of the body enclosed by the rib cage. The semi-

detached ribs are called floating ribs. Don't worry about them for

the time being.

Suspended from an imaginary hook, with the chest high, shoul-

ders relaxed and slightly forward, you achieve the upper part of

the V-shaped torso. Complete the bottom part by pinching the

buttocks togetherkeeping them more under than behind you.

At the same time flatten the abdomen.

Having absorbed and applied these posture instructions, look at

yourself in the mirror again for a checkup. What an improvement!

To appear at your best when standingalways with the imag-inary concept of suspension in mindkeep

Chin level

Chest high

Shoulders relaxed and slightly forward

Spine straight

Waist long

Abdomen flat

Buttocks pinched in and tucked under

Weight resting lightly on the balls of the feet

That's good posture.

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HOW TO ACT

All posture instructions, unless otherwise noted, are the same

for both men and women. Feminine students will soon have

proof that the effect of the V-shaped posture on their figures

gives them something of that Elizabeth Taylor look, that Esther

Williams style.The Venus de Milo has it too.

EXERCISE

Assume the V-shape posture. Retain it as you tighten every

muscle in your body. Then, still in position, relax as much

as you possibly can without any collapse of the muscular struc-

ture. In other words, keep the same mold, or position, but use

an absolute minimum of tension to hold the mold.

Repeat this contrasting tension-and-relaxation eight or ten

times throughout the day, whenever you have a chance.

Every time you do this, you'll be working on a lesson in RELAXED

CONSTRICTION.

Relaxed constriction is disciplined freedom, or controlled ease.

To give yourself a simple example of relaxed constriction, stand

up and put your arm out (palm up) at a r ight angle with

your body. Make a fist and bend the arm at the elbow until your

fist is on an approximate level with the top of your head. Your

forearm is now at a right angle to your shoulder, like a carpenter's

square.

Tighten that arm. Tighten every muscle in it until the arm

trembles with tension. That tension is constriction.

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MIRROR UP TO NATURE

Now relax all the tension except that which is needed to con-

tinue holding the arm in its right-angle position.

When you can feel all the excess tension drain out, walk

around, sing a song, recite a poem. But keep right on holding that

arm in position. Without a great deal of weariness, your arm willbe able to stay there, at its right angle, as long as you tell it to.

You can almost forget its existence.

That's an example of RELAXED CONSTRICTION. Of POLARITY

(the opposites: tension-relaxation). Of BALANCE (the harmonious

equalizing of these opposites).

This is the first time I have used the words "polarity" and

"balance" since explaining them to you. Be sure that you under-

stand them thoroughly, because they will recur many times through-

out this book.

George Fenneman, Groucho Marx's "Able Aide" who has also

gained popularity elsewhere, is an expert in the effective use of

relaxed constriction, balance and polarity. His use of these prin-ciples enables him to put exactly the right degree of energy in the

right place at the right time. It helps him to make his points with

relaxed animation.

To experience something is quite different from merely read-

ing or talking about it By going through the motions and actually

experiencing relaxed constriction, you have begun to integrate its

principles and practice into your very being.

Further experience in other phases of the mechanics that go

into acting will help make the technique of the art genuinely a

part of you.

In your experiments with relaxed constriction you have dis-

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HO W TO AC T

covered how to free yourself from unnecessary physical tension;

to retain and project vitality.

There's another key wordVITALITY. It, too, will be used here

frequently. Its possessor radiates energy, controlled but not "switched

off" in repose, animated but not uncontrolled in action. No finerexample of this quality of infinite vitality exists than that which

emanates from Yul Brynner.

There are a few simple observations for posture in relation to

characterization.

In a straight modern role there's quite a lot of latitude regarding

a man's stance, but a certain standard does exist Ordinarily, the

base, or space between his feet, should approximate the width of

his shoulders.

In the classics the feet are usually close together. For a character

role, the less the intelligence of the character, the wider the base.

Drunks, too, sprawl with legs apart. But as sobriety and intel-

ligence return, the base gets smaller. Loretta Young, playing adual role in a television show, once gave a dramatic illustration

of character contrast between a narrow and broad base. As a

well-bred young matron, she used her own graceful narrow base,

while opposite herself on the same screen she sprawled as a

drunkard.

The more dignified, feminine and ladylike a female character

is, the smaller the base on which the actress stands. Except to

suggest tomboyishness, a rugged outdoor type, or vulgarity, an

actress always stands (and sits) with feet close together.

Now let's go back to where I left you, standing up in front of

the mirror with your V-shape. Tense your body in this good posi-

tion till every muscle trembles. Then relax all the tension you

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MIRROR UP TO NATURE

possibly can, still retaining the exact form and posture you've been

working for.

Remember to fit movements using the principles of relaxed

constriction into various spare moments of your day. The exercise will

serve you well in coping with bulging bay-window tendencies and broadhip problems.

Before you know it, you'll have a pleasing new posture. Always

keep in mind: an actor must look symmetricalmust look

EXCITING.

You should be able by this time to read over the following list

of words and have each one bring you immediately a clear mental

image of what you've learned so far.

High chest

Relaxed shoulders

Long waist

Flat abdomenPinched buttocks

Balance

Polarity

Vitality

Relaxed constriction

Experiencing

Energy

Base

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Were your midriff muscles sore during the first few days of sus-

pension on the posture hook? Did the muscles in the back of

your legs get a bit stiff? Good! That's because you've been giving

them a real workout It proves you've practiced. Your new

posture started as a mind picture, came into being

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HOW TO AC T

through your physical apparatus, and by now it should begin to

fit you like a glove. But don't expect to be absolutely comfortable

with it at first, especially if you've been careless about posture in

the past.

After all, a stoop-shouldered person may well be more com-fortable when he lets his shoulders sag than when he starts to

straighten them. Or if he has a bay window, he is much more

comfortable with his paunch protruding than when he occasionally

pulls it in.

Consequently, his shoulders slump worse and worse, or his bay

window grows more flabbily entrenched. His muscles get lazily

comfortable as time goes by. Finally comes a day when he can

do very little to help his appearance.

I hope you understand that my use of the word "he" through-

out most of this book is a matter of convenience, and that "she"

is also implied.

Young Academy award nominee Diane Varsi is among thefeminine players who always call themselves "actors."

"I getpaid for being an actor," she says, "and I like being one."

She uses the word deliberately, somewhat in the spirit that a phy-

sician who happens to be a woman would refer to herself as a

"doctor," not a "doctoress."

So never let it be thought that I mean to slight the ladies. Their

dowager's hump and spreading beam must also be very comfort-

able, or we wouldn't see them so frequently on what should be

the lovelier sex. But can you imagine Marlene Dietrich with a

dowager's hump? Or Burt Lancaster with a bay window? Never!

Keep yourself consciously suspended on your hook until you've

mastered good posture with relaxed constriction. You're going to

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SMOOTH, SVELTE AND FASCINATING

put your hook on an overhead "traveler" and start walking.

Your physical mold for walking is the same as for standing.

The chin is level, the chest is high, the shoulders relaxed and

slightly forward, the waist long, the spine straight, the buttocks

pinched in and the abdomen flat The base is narrow. In walking,as in standing, let your weight rest lightly on the balls of your

feet It will give you a feeling of leaning slightly forward. That's

all right It's balance in operation.

Disturb the air around you as little as possible when you walk.

Move through the surrounding air the way a good swimmer

moves through the waterdirectly, smoothly, without splashing.

You can do it if you keep in mind that you're on a hook, your

hook is on a traveler, and you move yourself along barely touch-

ing the ground. Try to give your walk that lithe, highly charged

quality of Yul Brynner's walk.

A normal, intelligent, virile man walks with his arms swing-

ing naturally and easilyfairly close to his bodyhis shouldersand hips almost immobile. Lower levels of intelligence seem to

walk with the arms swinging out from the body in an apelike

movement

A woman is most pleasingly feminine when she walks with

her arms almost immobile, her shoulders and hips entirely so.

Next time you're out among people, look around and see how

much a sloppy walk detracts from good appearance.

Does the shuffling of that man's feet remind you of Clark

Gable's virile stride? Does that woman, trotting on her high-

heeled shoes and signaling port-to-starboard with her hips, bring to

mind Loretta Young's gracefully feminine yet vital walk? No,

certainly not

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HOW TO ACT

Walking is very important to an actor. An actor's walk is often

an "action bridge," spanning a gap between shots cutting from one

scene to another; a gap that might otherwise have to be filled with

extra dialogue or narration to hold the audience.

Walking should never be merely a slipshod way of propel-ling the body from one place to another.

Remember how Gary Cooper walked down that deserted street

in the Western classicHigh Noon. His walk alone suggested strong

drama, danger being met with courage. All through a way of

walking.

Once you know how to walk right, you'll be able to work out

any tricks of stylization that defy the usual rules. You'll walk at

will like a cowpoke or sailor, a "B" girl in a cheap dive or a high-

fashion model on Fifth Avenue.

Make it your general rule to keep in mind the theory of walk-

ing in partial suspension and disturbing the air around you as

little as possible.I tell my students in Hollywood that when they're walking

around a studio lot they should feel they are holding themselves

so that their bodies don't quite touch their shorts. With the girls

it's girdles, of course. But the principle is the same. The very

thought of holding the body away from its clothing helps to keep

the body in line and build up muscle tone, or habitual muscular

alertness.

When you look at television or go to the theater you can,

merely by observation, learn a great deal about walking.

Hitch your "walkin' wagon" to the stars. Most of them are models

of relaxed constriction as they move around a set.

By following the few simple suggestions in this chapter you will

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become body-conscious in the best possible sense. You will dis-

cover that you can move your arms without awkward distortion

of the rest of your body. You will learn that you can walk very

fast or very slowly without throwing yourself off balance. You will

even begin to sense the centralized controlthe co-ordinationthat fine dancers and great bullfighters have.

If you've heard that you ought to practice walking with a

book on your head, go ahead and do it It's basically a good

exercise.

David Belasco used to tell us to walk as though we were hang-

ing by a forelock of our hair.

Everyone has his own special descriptive imagery to bring about

the universally desired goal of good posture and well co-ord-

inated movement

So get on your feet again and start walking. If you have a

partner, drill each other till that sergeant you used to have (or

that hard-driving gym teacher) seems like a sissy in retrospectThen reverse roles. Check up on whether you disturb as little air

as possible when you walk, and every time you turn make your

pivots smooth and well balanced.

When you can't walk any moretry sitting. That's an ex-

ercise too. Keep your tail-piece in line with the rest of your body.

Don't thrust it out, but tuck it under as you seat yourself, and

again as you rise.

While you're sitting, stay on your hook to keep your chest

high and your physical apparatus free for speech and movement

You'll find that you can even slouch and fall into all kinds of

"natural" positions while you're on your hook.

Sit down and stand up a few times, still imagining that the

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HOW TO ACT

hook is under your breastbone, both to take the weight off your

feet and to pull you straight up. As you rise you should feel a

sense of pushing down lightly with the feet. When you rehearse

sitting and rising over and over again, disturb the air as little

as possible.Sit down. Stand up. Walk around the room. Walk around the

furniture. Break the monotony by lifting articles from a table or

desk and then putting them down again. Go through some of the

actions you ordinarily make during the course of a day.

When you light a cigarette or take a bite of food, let your arms

and hands bring the cigarette or food up to your mouth. Don't

meet them halfwayor even a fraction of an inch of the way

by ducking your head, stretching your neck forward, or con-

torting your shoulders.

Always be sure to:

DISTURB AS LITTLE AIR AS POSSIBLE.MAKE YOURSELF LONG THROUGH THE MIDDLE.

KEEP YOUR SHOULDERS RELAXED.

SUSPEND YOURSELF FROM THE HOOK ALWAYS.

LET YOUR ARMS, NOT YOUR SHOULDERS, DO THE WORK.

ALERT YOUR MUSCLES FOR MUSCLE TONE.

And once again:

DISTURB AS LITTLE AIR AS POSSIBLE WHEN YOU MOVE.

I'll continue hammering away at you in your training, and,

while I do, keep this in mind: There isn't a star in New York or

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Hollywood who hasn't been through what you're going through.

Actors are diligent, hard-working men and women. Even after

years of rigorous schooling, they spend additional months of train-

ing to prepare themeslves for every new role.

Weeks became months as Marlon Brando worked on Guys and

Dolls, perfecting his tough stance and other mannerisms until they

appeared natural and spontaneous. Robert Alda worked equally

hard on the same role for the New York stage production. Each

of these actors interpreted the character differently, but with

individual artistry and success.

Rita Hayworth spent a full six months making ready for the

hit performance she gave in Cover Girl. Her beauty and her

stellar name were only two elements, however important, which

she brought to Cover Girl. To them she added interpretation of

character, arrived at by understanding. She researched her role as

painstakingly as a scientist researching a formula. She took full

advantage of every bit of expert guidance the resources of Col-umbia Studios made available to her. The result of this concen-

tration of collective talent and technical know-how was a glamour

picture that remains to this day a classic of its kind.

These people, and others whose names you see in lights, weren't

born stars. They became stars.

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In a manner of speaking you have, naturally, been breathing

all your life. But the chances are you haven't been breathing

naturally for a long time.

With your good posture, stand in front of a mirror. Put one

hand on your chest, and the other hand on the upper part of your

abdomen.

Take a big, deep breath.

Did your chest swell up with that breath? Did you get small

around the waist? If so, you need some reminders about correct,

natural breathing.

We have in the lower part of the thorax, or chest cavity, afloor of muscle that is also the roof of the abdominal cavity,

separating one from the other. This is the diaphragm.

Try an experiment by lying down on the floor. Just relax.

Don't even think about your breathing. Place your hands flat

against your floating ribs at the sides and notice how the entire

region, all the way around to the back, contracts and expands as

you breathe, while your chest remains immobile. Notice, too, how

the floating ribs now seem to have a very direct contact with the

diaphragm.

Get a piece of string and make a lasso. Slip the lasso around

the diaphragm region and, keeping the end of the string taut,

notice how it lengthens and shortens as you breathe, while yourchest remains immobile.

Stand up again and attach your chest, fixed and high, to your

imaginary hook. Breathe just as you did while you were lying on

the floor, again checking the expansion and contraction of your

diaphragm with your lasso.

It may seem strange for you to breathe this way if you've been

told most of your life to "take deep breaths with your chest." But

don't be disturbed about it You are now following nature's way of

breathing, and she'll help you acquire the habit of breathing in her

own sensible manner. Nature is on your side.

All animals breathe in this fashion. You breathed in the same

correct, natural way when you were an infant

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AIR POWER IN CONTROL

Here is a co-ordinating exercise in breathing and performing a

specific action at the same time.

EXERCISE

Start from a sitting position with hands on knees. As you

inhale, move one hand up to your top shirt button. Start the

movement and a breath at the same instant. End the movement

(at the top shirt button) at the exact peak of your intake of

breath.

As you exhale, return the hand to its original position (on

the knee). Arrive at this original position at the same instant the

final expiration of your breath takes place.

By coordinating a movement exactly with your breathing, you

have experienced the use of a potential power tool of acting. So

keep practicing until you have mastered itFocus your mind on diaphragmatic breathing and let your mind

tell your body what to do. You'll soon get back to breathing as

well as you did when you were born!

Nature intended that you should breathe with the diaphragm.

It's healthful for your general well-being in daily living. And it's

necessary to you as an actor. With diaphragmatic breathing, you

control the breath and get compressed air, necessary for keeping

balanced energy under all the vibrations of the speech instrument.

As you may know, compressed air is one of the strongest sources

of power known to science. It's used to stop trains, to drive

pneumatic drills, and in many other mechanical processes re-

quiring enormous power.

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HOW T O A CT

To acquire vocal vitality and control, make use of the same

kind of power that science has found so useful . . . Nature has

already given you the necessary equipment.

Later, we'll go more extensively into the use of this source of

power in speech. Meanwhile, breathe easily, rhythmically anddiaphragmatically.

The following poem can be used as a muscular exercise to

strengthen the muscles that control the diaphragm. Whisper the

poem in a bass-baritone whisperusing no soundwith a high

fixed chest (this means no movement of the chest).

This whispering exercise will help develop the habit of breath-

ing from the diaphragm. It also develops control of the air as it

leaves the lungs. Control of the breathing-out process is more im-

portant than control of the breathing-in process.

You may become dizzy when you first try the exercise, and

you will feel that your diaphragm is pulling up inside the lung

cage. That's good, just make sure that you don't stop the richoutflow of air by tightening your throat.

EXERCISE

No Mo ve me nt of Up pe r Ch es t

THE CONGO *

Fat black bucks in a wine-barrel room, Barrel-

house kings, with feet unstable, Sagged and

reeled and pounded on the table,

* From Collected Poems by Vachel Lindsay, copyright 1933 by The Mac-

millan Company and used with their permission.

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AIR PO WE R IN CON TRO L

Pounded on the table,

Beat an empty barrel with the handle of a broom,

Hard as they were able,

Boom, boom, BOOM,

With a silk umbrella and the handle of a broom,Boomlay, boomlay, boomlay, BOOM.

Then I had religion, THEN I had a vision.

I could not turn from their revel in derision.

THEN I SAW THE CONGO, CREEPING THROUGH THE BLACK,

CUTTING THROUGH THE JUNGLE WITH A GOLDEN TRACK.

Starting now, and in your daily practice of the exercise poem,

whisper each line twice. Hold one hand on your chest, the other

against your floating ribs. Keep your chest absolutely immobile

no matter how difficult itmay be at first.

Whispering strengthens the muscles in the region of the dia-

phragm and places the power of these muscles squarely under thecolumn of breath. It also allows the small, delicate muscles of the

throat to relax and builds up general muscle tone throughout the

entire body system.

Florence Reed, noted for her magnetic voice and whose Shanghai

Gesture became a landmark in theater history, once told me

that before starting rehearsals in a new play she used to go up

to her cabin in Maine and rehearse her entire role for one week

IN A LOUD WHISPER.

Whispering will work wonders for youand that's no secret!


43/140

There was a time when actors were taught to pose in a parti-

cular way to depict grief, arch an eyebrow to portray doubt, and

shift the weight from here to there to express haughtiness. That

sort of thing has no place in the technique of today's enlightened

actor.

The emotional scale is not played by moving from one specific

pose to another.An actress like Judith Anderson doesn't portray grief the same

way Audrey Hepburn does. Katharine Cornellor, for that

matter, any actress worthy of the namedoes not delineate grief

exactly the same way in two different charactemations.

Watch your family and friends. Take a look around you at

a wedding, a story conference, a political meeting, an accident,

a theateranywhere you like. You'll see at once that emotion is

highly personal. It is intensely individualistic in the way it shows

itself.

Since different people have different ways of expressing emo-

tion, the actor must develop understanding as well as technical

toolsfor flexibility and controlwhich will enable him to por-

tray emotion in many molds.

The tools are the same for everyone. The end resultof their use

is individual.

Through training, your voice, body and mind can become so

flexible and so well controlled that they will automatically obey

your commands without conscious effort.

Any acting theory that cannot be proved and improved by

actual use is excess baggage in the actor's tool kit. Throw it out.

Bit by bit, the science underlying the actor's art will become

concrete in concept, defined in detail, and clear in purpose to you.

When it does, you will be able to use the science with personal

selectivity and professional judgment, as do the greatest actors

of our time.

We are all creatures of the habits and characteristics which

influence our personality pattern. Our own personalities are made


44/140

THE CONSCIOUS, THE SUBCONSCIOUSAND A MENTAL IMAGE

up of habits, fears, gratifications, inhibitions, complexes, person-

ality mannerisms and traits, etc.most of which are subconscious.

We all know there are two parts to the mindthe conscious

and the subconscious. The conscious is your voluntary mind. Your

aware mind. The mind that functions when you're awake. Thesubconscious is your involuntary mind. It functions without your

knowledge and control when you're asleep, as well as when you're

awake.

You can use your conscious and subconscious mind as tools

of acting to develop, heighten and enhance your own personality

by making this mental image.

Picture yourself in a sailboat at night, floating on a dark,

uncharted ocean. On the prow of the boat, put a searchlight

The person in the boat is you.

The boat is your conscious mind.

The dark ocean is your subconscious mind.

The beam from the searchlight is your aware-beam.The size of your sailboat can be compared to the size of your

measurable, conscious mindand the unmeasured ocean to your

subconscious mind.

The subconscious-ocean conceals many things of which you

are not aware. But they are there. Anything you can think of

is thereand everything you have ever known is there.

A fraction of all this passes through your aware-beam. Beauti-

ful fish and dangerous fish. Big habit-waves and little habit-

waves. Good habit-waves and bad habit-waves. Fear and daring.

Destructive floating mines and beautiful colored-glass fishing floats.

As some of these things pass through your aware-beam you

become conscious of them. At will, you can focus your aware-


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HOW TO ACT

beam all around your boat to see something of what's going on

down in your subconscious-ocean.

You can focus your aware-beam on potentially dangerous things

like deep-hidden fears or on habits and personality mannerisms.

Let's say you've focused your aware-beam on a live, floatingmine (which is just our figure of speech to represent a potentially

dangerous fear). As soon as the mine is in your aware-beam, you

can cope with it. You can pull it into your conscious mind, exam-

ine it, find its detonator and remove it. The mine-fear then ceases

to be an instrument of potential destruction. You can safely throw

the pieces back, and they will sink to the bottom of your subcon-

scious-ocean.

Or let's say that with your aware-beam you spot a bad habit-

wave, such as poor posture, sloppy walking or incorrect breathing.

After focusing your aware-beam on the bad habit, you can use

what is called:

THE LAW OF SUBSTITUTION

to correct the bad habit You start by constructing a good habit

pattern in the conscious mind. By your conscious perseverance the

new "good habit" pattern will be absorbed into the subconscious,

replacing the old bad habit.

You can also use the law of substitution in dealing with un-

desirable personality traits. While fears, bad habits, undesirable

personality traits, etc., are within your aware-beam, you may know

they're thereand yet refuse to recognize them. Figuratively, you

hold your hand up in front of your eyes, like a blinder, to hide

from yourself whatever you don't want to see.

We will refer to this, figuratively, as a hand-inhibition.

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THE CONSCIOUS, THE SUBCONSCIOUSAND A MENTAL IMAGE

It's up to you to overcome and consciously dispense with your

hand-inhibitions and look squarely at what is within the focus of

your aware-beam. By using the law of substitution, you can trans-

form your liabilities into assets.

Now, since all these traits and habitsregarding the consciousand subconsciousare true of our personalities in real life, it

stands to reason that they should exist in every character an actor

creates.

To ring true, a character's "personality" should be made up of

habits, fears, gratifications, inhibitions, complexes, personality man-

nerisms and traits, etc. These should consciously be built into the

character's subconscious: by the actor.

This is creativity.

With all the imagination and training at his command, the

actor should set aside his own personality andas far as possible

represent the character's personality.

TO DO THISHE USES THE LAW OF SUBSTITUTION.By substituting the character's personality for his own, the actor

establishes a common denominator, a connector, between an in-

vented image and its interpreted reality.

This is CONSCIOUS-Subconscious technique.

As you progress with these mechanical exercises, focus your

aware-beam steadily on each new element we take upin the

science underlying the actor's art

The brightness, scope and penetrating power of each person's

aware-beam is in accordance with his intelligence. The greater

the intelligence that powers your desire and drive, the brighter

your aware-beam will shine; the deeper it will penetrate the

subconscious; the wider will be the area it can illuminate.

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HOW TO ACT

Keep yourself alert to the many uses of the law of substitution.

It is within this law that a teacher can change and develop an

unfulfilled personality into an exciting personality.

The law of substitution is an important part of the formula used

to develop a plain, average boy or girl from any walk of lifeinto a big star.

Butwithout an indestructible inner urge, without great de-

sire and drive, without great singleness of purposeno teacher on

earth can make a star of anyone.

To help you learnyou can always make use of these two

important facts:

1. Your subconscious, your system itself, learns during periods

of relaxation.

2. Your conscious self learns during periods of concentration.

These are important tools for the actor.

These are the words to remember from this chapter:

Habit-wave Aware-beamHand-inhibition Habit pattern

Personality mannerism Law of

substitution Conscious mind

(boat) Subconscious mind

(ocean)

Once you've absorbed this chapter, you'll be surprised by the

added values you will find.

Have FAITH in what you learn and you will become AWARE of

the truth that is fully revealed in UNDERSTANDING .

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Actors like to work on what they call "something solid":

something they can "gettheir teeth into."

Student actors, in particular, are primarily concerned with things

they can immediately experience physically. Most of their early

questions begin with the word "what" rather than "why." They're

looking for action.

Now that you know something of the function of the conscious

and subconscious in learning how to act, the exercises have more

significance, more meaning. You understand their psychologicalas well as their physical purpose. By synchronizing the "why" with

the "what"getting them togetheryou achieve the all-important

"how."

Through study and practice you have acquired good posture,

which is a poised, well-balanced, graceful manner and method of

standing. It puts into operation the principles of relaxed constric-

tion.

Bad posture is a bad habit. Good posture is a good habit. By

using the law of substitution, you exchanged a bad habit for a good

one. Your bad posture habit was in the dark subconscious-ocean

you were not aware of it

First you focused your aware-beam on the bad posture. Then you

consciously constructed a good posture habit pattern in your

conscious mind. Next, by consciousand conscientiouspractice

of the new pattern, the law of substitution automatically operated.

The new habit "pattern" became a habitin the subconscious.

Through this process, you made good posture your own. But

remember, as long as something you have learned remains re-

stricted to your conscious mind, it's still on "temporary loan."

When your subconscious absorbs it, it's really yours.

The CONSClOUS-subconscious process is neither too difficult

nor too complicated for a sincerely ambitious actor.

Understanding and putting it into practice simply takes will power

and common sense.

If you haven't completely absorbed the previous lesson, read it

overagain and again if necessaryuntil you have thoroughly

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"WHAT" PLUS "WHY" EQUALS "HOW"

grasped the theory of habit transference through the law of sub-

stitution.

Take all the time you need to go back over the exercises. Syn-

chronize them in practice with the CONSCIOUS-subconscious theory.

If you have thoroughly absorbed these lessons, you're going tofind that the processes of learning have become much easier. Your

entire outlook has broadened. You have learned that the subcon-

scious is a vast natural reservoir of creativeness, inspiration and

emotional power.

This reservoir is an inexhaustible treasure chest of your imagina-

tion. When you see your ideal selfyour perfect selfin a day-

dream, you are tapping the reservoir of your subconscious.

A great actor, either through knowledge or intuition, taps his

subconscious to construct consciously the whole personality and

image of a character. Then, using the law of substitution, he sub-

stitutes that character's personality for his own.

Among the great men and women of the theater none are moreuniversally honored than Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, stars

both individually and as a husband-and-wife team.

During one of his rare guest appearances on television, Alfred

Lunt, referring to himself as a portrayer of characters conceived

in a playwright's mind and born in an actor's performance, said,

"You don't react as yourself, but as the character you are play-

ing."

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There are two times people move: when they're talkingand

when they're not talking.

Notice the two general patterns.

When people move during a pause (while they're not talking),

the movement does not overlap either the end of their last spoken

phrase or the beginning of their next spoken phrase. Usually

they pause to take a breath. Sometimes to emphasize their words.

When people move during a spoken phrase, they generally

start moving on the first syllable of the phrase and stop moving on

the last syllable.By watching others in natural conversation, we find them using

these over-all movement-speech patterns. Instinctively, they are

obeying two laws: the laws of timing, which are these patterns

organized and codified.

People completely fill a pause with movement or they exactly

synchronize speech with movement becausethey're doing what

comes naturally. Their dialogue is spontaneous conversation, cre-

ated under real-life conditions. Consciously or subconsciously, they

direct their own scenes, in settings and situations they voluntarily

accept or reject.

The actor speaks dialogue created by someone else. He does it

under conditions deliberately created by someone else. He is di-rected by someone else, in settings and situations arbitrarily de-

vised by someone else.

In other words, he plays a part. The source of what he has to

say and do, when, where and how he has to say and do it is outside

himself.

The actor's problem is to make what he says and does, where,

when and how he says and does it seem real. As IF he were the source.

The actor's solution to that problem is the use of common

denominators, or connectors. One of the tremendously important

common denominators to help the actor in his substitution of a

character's personality for his own is the dual pattern of movement

and speech.

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TIMINGDOIN' WHAT COMES NATUR'LY

There are two times people move: when they're talkingand

when they're not talking.

That pattern becomes your TWO LAWS OF TIMING.

FIRST LAW OF TIMINGMOVEMENT DURING A PAUSE:

Move during the whole pause and nothing but the pause.

SECOND LAW OF TIMING---- MOVEMENT DURING A VOCAL

PHRASE:

Start the movement on the first syllable and end it on the last

syllable.

Now that you've focused your aware-beam on the two laws

of timing as a connector and common denominator between acting

and real life, burn them into your conscious mind.

Start with the eyes, face, arms and hands in some single actions

you make every day. We'll arbitrarily use them in some flexibilityand control exercises.

We will call each single action a UNIT OF MOTION.

Before you start your first flexibility exercise, sit down and look

straight front Imagine your head completely filling a motion-pic-

ture screen with your nose at dead center. Your chin touches the

bottom of the screen, and the crown of your head touches the top.

Mentally pinpoint your nose at dead center of the imaginary

screen. Don't let the pull of gravity draw your head down, thereby

dragging your nose below dead center. Don't let your head drift

or tilt to one side.

In practicing the exercise, follow the numbered order of the

units of motion.


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HO W TO AC T

You're establishing a technique habit of making one clean unit

of motion.

Do each unit of motion to a count of four. If you're working

with someone, take turns calling off the drill. If you have a tape

recorder, pre-record the drill for yourself. If you have no outsideassistance, call the drill mentally as you do it. Be sure your eyes

move in clean, straight lines.

All right, now. Head-on close-up. Nose dead center. Let's go.

EXERCISE

{Repeat Ten Times)

1. Eyes right 9. Eyes right oblique up2. Eyes center 10. Eyes center3. Eyes left 11. Eyes left oblique up4. Eyes center 12. Eyes center5.

Eyes up 13. Eyes right oblique down

6. Eyes center 14. Eyes center7. Eyes down 15. Eyes left oblique down.8. Eyes center 16. Eyes centerIn your next exercise, while still completely filling your imagi-

nary motion-picture screen with your head, and still keeping your

nose pin-pointed at dead center, makeseparatelysome eye and

head movements. Make them without moving the shoulders or any

other part of the body not specifically mentioned in the drill.

No drift.

At "eyes right," for instance, focus your eyes on a definite point

at your far right.Hold this pointuntil you get another eye order.

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Take four counts for each single unit of motion, and take the

units in numerical order. The center of the screen is always "your

center" in the exercise.

EXERCISE

(Repeat Ten Times)

1. Eyes right2. Nose right3. Eyes center4. Nose center5. Eyes left6. Nose left7. Eyes center8. Nose center9. Eyes up

10. Nose up11. Eyes center12. Nose center13. Eyes down14. Nose down15. Eyes center16. Nose center

17. Eyes right oblique up18. Nose right oblique up19. Eyes center20. Nose center21. Eyes left oblique up22. Nose left oblique up23. Eyes center24. Nose center25. Eyes right oblique down26. Nose right oblique down27. Eyes center28. Nose center29. Eyes left oblique down30. Nose left oblique down31. Eyes center32. Nose center

You're ready to add other arbitrary units of motion to this

exercise. One is a ful l smile. When the drill calls for "smile up,"

it means show your molars and hold the smile without drift, until

you get a further smile order. "Smile down" means simply no smile.

It has nothing to do with making a grimace. The other

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HOW TO ACT

units of motion use the hands and arms, but not the shoulders.

We'll call the complete exercise a "continuity cavalcade." Follow

the units of motion in numerical order.

Still seated comfortably, look straight ahead. Rest both hands

on your knees in a starting position.

EXERCISE

{Repeat Ten times)

1. Eyes center2. Eyes left3. Left hand to top shirt

button

4. Smile up5. Nose left6. Right hand to top shirt

button7. Left hand down8. Eyes center9. Smile down

10. Nose center11. Left hand to top shirt

button

12. Eyes left oblique13. Right hand down14. Smile up15. Nose left oblique up16. Left hand down17. Smile down

18. Eyes center19. Right hand to top shirt

button

20. Nose center21. Right hand down22. Eyes right oblique down23. Left hand to top shirt

button24. Smile up25. Nose right oblique down26. Right hand to top shirt

button

27. Eyes center28. Smile down29. Right hand down30. Nose center31. Eyes right oblique up32. Left hand down33. Right hand to top shirt

button


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34. Nose right oblique up 38. Nose center35. Smile up 39. Left hand down36. Left hand to top shirt 40. Smile down

button 41. Right hand down

37.

Eyes center 42. Relax

You have just done an exercise using arbitrarily selected units

of motion. A whole procession of thema continuity calvacade.

Practice this exercise until each independent unit of motion fol-

lows the other with clocklike precision. There must be absolutely

no overlapping between units. No drifting, jiggling, or squirming

before, during or after the units of motion.

It may take several days to get the precise perfection of custom-

made machinery into this continuity cavalcade. But they'll be in-

teresting days. Days of important achievement.

Focus your aware-beam on the arbitrary units of motion. Pull

them firmly into your conscious mind. Work on them till you haveabsorbed them into your subconscious. Then they will become

your tools. You will be able to use them automaticallyon com-

mand.

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No book on acting is complete without calling on Shakespeare.

We're going to use an excerpt from Portia's trial scene in The

Merchant of Veniceas an exercise.

Memorize the following quotation. Get it letter-perfect so

you can rattle it off automatically. Don't try to act it.

The quality of mercy is not strain'd,

It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven

Upon the place beneath: It is twice blest//blesseth him that gives, and him that takes.

Tis mightiest in the mightiest, it becomes

The throned monarch better than his crown.

His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,

The attribute to awe and majesty,

how_to_act

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