When the action required him to laugh, he did so, exhibiting
his characteristic perfunctory smile.
He received a special call before the curtain after the third act. He had
no thought that it was meant for him until the stage manager pushed him out
from the wings. He came back looking distressed.
"Are they guying me?" he asked the stage manager.
The papers agreed the next day that one of the hits of the performance
was made by Newgag "in an odd part which he had conceived in a strikingly
original way, and impersonated with wonderful finish and subtle drollery."
"What does it mean?" he gasped.
I enlightened him.
"My boy, you simply played yourself. Did it never occur to you that in your
own person you're unconsciously one of the drollest men I ever saw?"
"But I didn't act!"
"You didn't. And take my advice--don't!"
And he doesn't. Upon the reputation of his success in that comedy he
arranged with another manager to appear in a play especially written for
him. He is a prosperous star now. Whatever his play or part he always
presents the same personality on the stage and he has made that personality
dear to many theatre-goers.
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