ACROSTIC

a 20th-century development of the acrostic is the quadruple acrostic. the following, taken from r. a. knox’s book of acrostics, is a good example. since there’s no a, b, let us c and d. reverse the name a schoolboy might apply, for bricf- ness, to his weekly subsicly. 2. a lady thus (but with an $) in southern lands you might address. 3. initials seen on many a truck. 4. tocattle breeders brings bad luck. uprights: lighvs:: solution uprights: ‘“‘ since there’s no help, come, let us kiss and part.” lights: hsactekcop (reverse of pocket cash). ti 2. (s) en or it a. a>) da no, ye aa ce a acrostics may be very simple and also very intricate. the modern acrostic seems to hit the happy medium and, whilst giving the reader plenty of food for thought, sends him occasion- ally to his cruden, his classical dictionary, or his encyclopedia. brn.tiocrapuy.—p. m. pearson, acrostie dictionary (1901); r. a. knox, book of acrostics (1924); l. c. scott, acrostic poems (lowa, 1924). 7 (e. wl.) acting.—in the course of the period 1910-26, several new and different theories of acting have appeared. different schools, academies of acting and theatres, mostly repertory, have done a great deal towards improving the standard of acting and team work or ensemble acting, on the stage. of such are, in england, the repertory theatre in birmingham, and the liverpool re- pertory theatre; in ireland, the abbey theatre, dublin. such english producers as gordon craig, granville barker, j. b. fagan, lewis casson, nigel playfair and others, have done very important work in improving the quality of acting, and creating stage ensembles, not only directly by their stage work, but also by their writings on the subject. in the united states, david belasco, the theatre guild of new york, the washington square players, the provincetown playhouse and such pro- ducers as hopkins, r. e. jones, the reichens and others con- tributed to this improvement. moreover, the little theatre movement in america must not be overlooked. acting os in reviewing the general style of acting during this period, it will be noticed that everywhere on the stages of the theatres where there is no leading producer who has a definite theory or system of acting, and who trains his company without having a definite system or theory, there is a mixture, not only of mod- ern, but of very many different styles of acting. in the so-called commercial theatre, with star actors, the typical style of acting is generally, not an art of creation of imaginary characters, but a kind of repetition of themselves by the actors in every part and in every play. these stars are not really acting, but merely showing themselves off to the public, using their personality and certain peculiarities of that personality, and trying to please and to obtain the sympathy of the audience. producers such as max reinhardt in germany and firmin gemier in paris use, for the most part, the methods of acting created by the naturalists, andre antoine in france, and kronig, the producer of the meininger, in germany, and developed by otto brahm in germany and stanislavsky in moscow. some- times these producers introduce, in this naturalistic acting, ideas of the formalists, georg fuchsin germany, meyerhold and tairof in russia, gordon craig.in england and others. sometimes they introduce touches of the synthetic theories of acting advo- cated by komisarjevsky since 1910. the majority of the french actors trained in the conservatoire in paris remain still under the influence, not only of the old romantic school, but also of the pseudo-classical school of acting of the 18th century. the most complete example of that mixture of romanticism with its false “ theatrical,” effective pathos and the conventional, cold, learned and refined technique of the pseudo classicism, was seen in the acting of mounet sully at the comedie frangaise. naturalism.—the best known of all the new theories of acting which have appeared since 1gro is the system of stanislavsky, the leading producer and director of the moscow art theatre. his system is founded on the principle that an actor, having to be natural and sincere on the stage, could be so only by means of reproducing emotions experienced at some time or other in his life. that form of ‘ psychical naturalism” became part of stanislavsky’s system as a result of “ outer naturalism,” which he advocated before he turned to psychology in the endeavour to find out a scientific system of acting. the “inner naturalism ” in acting is not a new feature in stanislavsky’s theory. some french theatrical theorists had already, in the r8th century, founded their systems of acting on the same ideas. they held that an actor can represent himself on the stage only if it is desired that he should be sincere (bat- teux, les beaux arts redutts d un meme principe, paris, 1746). remond de sainte albini in his book le cemedien (paris, 1747) wrote that, “love scenes are much better played by actors who are in love in real life.” in a similar manner to that of the followers of racine, stanislavsky believes that contemporary actors living in their own time, and each onc in his special atmos- phere are unable to produce other emotions than those that are applicable to the time and to the surroundings in which they lead their everyday life. to be sincere, they must place, beneath the lines and stage directions of the author, their own emotions al- ready experienced in real life. nemirovitch-danchenko, another producer of the moscow art theatre, and the collaborator of stanislavsky, wrote: ‘‘ an actor must live on the stage only with emotions, and not with words. the meaning which the dram- atist wishes to convey is not in the lines of the characters.” it is quite clear that this type of acting destroys the form created by the author of the play and the rhythm of his lines, which express the inner content and the inner movements of the play. the actor who acts by the power of his imagination passes from the form and the rhythm of the play to the inner content of it. the idealistic and emotional content of the play, which he obtains through the form and rhythm of the play, exists in his imagination and produces the necessary working of his intellect to create a stage character with all its peculiarities. the pupil of stanislavsky neglects the form and rhythm of the play and substitutes his own remembered, intellectual states in place of those of the author. the formalists —another system, opposite to stanislavsky’s ileas, was advocated during the last years of symbolists, the formalists and the expressionists. here we have a complete negation of sincerity and lifelikeness; the less the acting 1s sin- cere and lifelike the better. here the actor must not try to create any definite characters; he must represent abstract ideas and convey these through his speeches delivered in a formal way, and through his movements and gestures, again produced in a formal, unlifelike and ‘ picturesque ” or marionette-like style. the russian formalists, for instance meyerhold and tairof, during the last years of the revolution, became very much inter- ested in acrobatics and circus business; the movement of the actors in their productions became something akin to a per- peinunt mobile, dominating both the psychology of the play and the meaning of the lines. thus the acting on their stages resembled very much a mixture of circus and cubistic ballet performance. later, meyerhold, in his manner of making his actors act, came back to the more or less naturalistic stvle. the german expressionists, such as jessner, use the formal methods, interspersed with psychological touches. more or less in the same way the actors work on the french avazi- garde stages, for instance at the atelier, directed by dulain, in the productions of pitoef and jouvet. in the closed vieux colombier they used the same methods of acting. copeau, the director of the above theatre, must be considered as a pioneer in france in the fight against naturalism and the old fashioned conservatoire acting. he definitely introduced such new methods of acting as the psychological and the formal on the french stage. views of didcrot.——there are, and always have been, very many discussions around the question as to whether an actor should really ‘“‘ feel’ or, as some theatrical writers say, “ live through ” his part. this question was first raised by the french encyclopaedist, denis diderot (paradox sur le comedien). dide- rot thought “ the possibilities of a good actor he in the complete absence of sensibility,’ and recommended to the actor that he should watch himself during the performance, that he listen to his voice and give only “ recollections of his emotions.” that kind of acting he called sizgerie sublime. it is proved now that an actor cannot move the audience, or be in any way creative on the stage, if he watches himself acting. instead of being concen- trated on the images he has to create, on his inner self, he be- comes concentrated on his outer self, becomes self-conscious, and loses the powcr of imagination. on the other hand it seems that it is impossible for an actor to get excited by the dramatic situation, and not to lose control of himself. dr. johnson said that an actor who, even for a mo- ment, could work himself up to feel like a murderer should be executed after the play was over. it is certainly necessary to be able to feel a passion in order to be capable of depicting it suc- cessfully, but as sir henry irving once said, ‘‘ the actor must keep the passion in hand,” or according to the words of the great french tragedian talma “‘ il faut que chez les acteurs lintelli- gence soit toujours en eveil, agissant de concert avec sa sensi- bilite pour enregler les mouvements et les efforts.” (alemoires de talma, a. dumas.) what does it mean, that an actor should keep the passions and emotions in hand? how can the reason walk hand in hand with the emotions and not kill these emotions? the way 1s to act only with the help of the imagination; to create, and not to imitate or reproduce one’s own life experiences. an imaginative actor is in no danger of being overcome by his emotions and of being controlled by them. ile is controlling these emotions ke- cause he has created them according to a plan which he has him- self devised. iie does not need to give, according to the advice of diderot, “ recollections of his emotions” instead of real emotions for fear of killing his partner, or breaking his own neck on the stage. the “imagination ”’ or “ phantasy ” unites in itself all the different sides of our psychical life. and when the actor playing a part is living in a world of images created by his own phantasy, he cannot and need not watch and control him- self. the images created by the actor’s phantasy, and obedient 6 | adam—aden to his will, control, guide and direct his emotions and actions during the performance. (see drama; stage.) birliography.—nigel playfair, amelia (1903), and the story of the lyric theatre (1925); h. granville barker, the exemplary the- atre (1922), and from vionts v. to iiamilet (1925): e. gordon craig, the theatre advancing (1921), on the art of the theatre (1924), and books and theatres (1925). chika) adam, paul (1862-1920), french novelist (see 1.172), pub- lished in his later years various novels, including le trust (1910), stephanie (1913), and shortly before his death rezns devastee and le lion d’ -lrras. he died in paris jan. 2 1920. adams, henry (1838-1918), american historian (see 1.175), died in washington, d.c., may 27 1918. in 1910 his letter to american teachers of history appeared, and in 1911 his life of george cabot lodge. in 1913 his movt saint michel and chartres (privately printed in 1904) was published by authority of the american institute of architects. in 1918 his autobiographical work, the education of henry adams (privately printed in 1906) was issued for the public. no book of its decade evoked more discussion in america. in 1to19 the degradation of the democratic dogma, consisting of several essays previously pub- lished together with one hitherto unpublished, was issued, with an introduction by his brother, brooks adams. his brother, charles francrs adams (see 1.175), died in washington, d.c., march 20 rors. in 1zo11 he published studies military and diplomatic 1775-1865 and in 1913 zraits- atlantic historical solidarity (lectures delivered at oxford). in 1916 worthington c. ford edited charles francis adams; ant autobiography, from papers deposited in 1913 with the massachusetts ilistorical society. adams, henry carter (1852-10921), american economist (see 1.175), died aug. 11 1921. his later books include descrip- tion of industry (1918) and american railway accounitig (1918). adams, maude (1872- ), american actress, was born in salt lake city, utah, nov. 11 1872. the family name was kiskadden, but she adopted the maiden name, adams, of her mother, an actress. from an early age she played juvenile parts, and at the age of 16 went to new york. from her appearance in hoyt’s a afidnight bell, in 1889, her popularity grew steadily. in 1897 charles frohman gave her her first leading part as lady babbie in vhe little afinister: and in peter pan she achieved a great success. she introduced rostand to the american stage, taking the title-rele in zl’ aigion in 1901, and in chantecler in 1911. other plays in her repertory were romeo and juliet, the pretty sister of jose, the jesters, and as you like fi. adamsen, amandus heinrich (1855- ), estonian sculptor, was born in port baltic, estonia, on nov. 13 1855, his father being a sea-captain. while still at school adamsen managed to earn a livelihood by producing carved work of con- siderable artistic value. in recognition of his talents, and on the recommendation of count liitke, president of the st. petersburg academy of sciences, he was admitted as a student to the academy of art. he finished his studies at that academy in 1879, when he was awarded the silver medal. he received many commissions from leading members of st. petersburg society. in 1887 he produced a portrait in relief of tsar alexander iit.; he then went to paris where he lived for several years. in 1891 he returned to his native land and lived alternately in port baltic and st. petersburg. ‘adamsen’s technique in marble and wood has been moulded on classical lines. his small wood carvings are incomparable; and he executed a series of war memorials erected in memory of those who fell in the estonian war of independence. his most important works are an allegory, shown at the paris exhibition in 1889, entitled ‘‘ liebe, tod und wissenschaft ”; “ die welle ” and ‘‘ hunger ”’; also ‘‘ befreiter genius” and “ sieg der arbeit ” which were executed for the nijni-novgorod ex- hibition. mention should likewise be made of “‘ tod des hyakin- thes,”’ “ leukothea,” ‘‘ meeresrauschen,”’ etc. addams, jane (1860-— ), american sociologist (see 1.183), became an ardent supporter of the cause of women’s suffrage. she was chairman of the international congress of women held at the hague in 1915. a permanent organisation was then established, the women’s international league for peace and freedom, of which she became president. her later books in- clude twenty vears at ull house (1910); a new conscience and an ancient evil (1912); the long road of woman’s memory (1916); peace and bread in time of war (1922). adding machine: see office appliances. addressing machine: see office appliances. ade, george (1866- ), american author, was born at kentland, ind., feb. 9 1866. after graduating from purdue university, he took up newspaper work, serving on the chicago record {rom 1890 to 1900, after which he devoted himself to writing. ile belongs to the school of american vernacular philosophers and humorists, which includes artemus ward, mark twain and mr. dooley, his best-known work being ladles in slang (1899). ade also wrote a number of musical comedy librettos, motion-picture scenarios, including back home and broke (1922), and plays, the best known of which are the county chairman (1903), the college widow (1904) and father and the boys (1908). adelaide, south australia (see 1.188), had in 10923 a population, including its suburbs, of 278,856. electric tramways were started in 1909, and by 1923 7134 m. were open. a building was erected at the back of the town [fall for city offices in 1915, when a new wing was added to the natural history museum. the water supply has been augmented by the construction of a large new reservoir at milbrook, opened in 1925. a war memo- rial has been erected in lower north adelaide. anall-australian exhibition, the largest ever held in australia, was opened there in march 1925. the inner harbour at port adelaide has 4 m. of wharfage, and the outer 2,100 feet. the building of dry docks was contemplated in 1925. the chief magistrate was made a lord mayor in rg19.