Sanford Meisner Master Class: Part 2

It's very easy to give advice, so I'm gonna tell you something's impossible. Keep working all the time. Eventually, there will come a time when you will catch up with each other, and your bases, which are solid, hold on to that. So, Barbara, why don't you chase them away like that? I'm talking, Sam. Well, Maury is my friend. Well, her too. Barbara, are you jealous of anything except for the way that she can eat whenever she wants to? We didn't come to New York yesterday, you know. Lots of girls like Sharon, they're just a little crazy. It shouldn't bother you. Why let a crazy girl bother you at this stage of the game? Got a letter from your mother today, soon. Oh, I was late to work. In the mail, it was addressed to you. Where is it? I opened it, but I didn't notice it was just you. It was a usual mother kind of letter, and pot roast Sunday, like that tall girl that your cousin was engaged to, one with his face. Elizabeth Moon, he got married last week. It was a lovely wedding. Oh, yes, and your father's been pretty sick. He was getting better, but things aren't so good. So, there's no check, five dollars in the mail this week. But as soon as she can, she starts sending it again each week, and she told me, she told you to give me her love. How long have you been sending this money? From the beginning? No. The interviewing job wasn't going real well. Well, how long? About six months ago, Mother sent a check for five dollars. I didn't ask her to send it. She's been sending it ever since. I still do the interviewing job as early and as late as possible, you know that. But you didn't stop. No, I didn't stop her from sending the money. Well, what is this, Sam? Is it a disease? Well, so you didn't mean it when you said you wouldn't marry anybody but an actor. Oh, let me think about that one. Let me walk out on the terrace of my penthouse apartment and think about that one. Barbara, I hate this. Don't you see that? Don't you see that I hate coming home every day knowing I haven't come through for you? But there's nothing I can do about it. I can just say I'm sorry and just keep trying. That's all I can do. But let's go home. I mean, not for my sake, for yours. Don't throw your life away on something that doesn't care whether you live or not. This is my life. God knows you tried. The group isn't dead yet, but other people have been happy when they've left the group. You're not happy here. Barbie, the actor's roster isn't dead. Okay, they're going to get enough money. We're going to pay the rent this month, and maybe they'll start paying us some salaries. So you can sit around for the rest of your life over cheap wine and talk about Stanislavski and the group of small artists who are going to mold the pottery of the entertainment. Why are you turning on me just now? You're turning on me just when things were at their worst. Is it because that girl is here? No. Was this some stupid girl reason like that? No. Was it because it made me? No, it's because it's not just the two of us anymore. I was insurance of today, and I was going to tell you tonight, and then we could celebrate with Marjorie and Alan. I mean, it takes money to even keep from having a baby, and I want to be alive too. Sam, don't be unhappy. When? Not for a long time yet. Be happy, sweetheart. It's a baby. I could work for a while, I guess. We need money to get home. Barbara, you got to give me another month to get to play. Oh, so it'll be two years and seven months. Yes. The more sleep you get, the less food you need. Just like extra food takes the place of sleep, up to a point. That's what I keep telling myself. What I'm saying, I was praying. What were you praying about, Sam? What were you praying about? A job. Up. Why does it happen? This scene happens because the people who just left. What am I lying in? Business at the door. At the door. Yeah. The people that just left at the door. Yeah. I saw him. Yeah. It was very clear. What did that mean? Them leaving was my last hope of ever getting a job. In my eyes, she blew it. What about you? Beginning? Well, I've just been trying to get rid of them. I, I don't like his friends. I don't like whatever's going on. It, that's been going on. You know what I would be looking for? Um, is who don't know how.

The director.

I don't want that now. I want to see what happens instinctively. You, why didn't I feel it in here? What would you do? Somewhere, I do a lot of that. If I indicated, I wouldn't have been true. That's right. I'd love to see. Would you like to be indicated? Who gets your heart broken? Um, why did you chase them away like that? I'm tired, Sam. Well, Maury is my friend. Well, her too. Barbara, are you jealous? I'm not jealous of anything except for the way that, uh, she can eat whenever she's. Oh, come on. We didn't come to New York yesterday. You've known lots of girls like Sharon, they're just a little crazy. They shouldn't bother you. Why are you gonna let a crazy girl bother you at this stage of the game? From your mother today, Sam. Oh, I was late for work, and the mail came early. Where is it? Was addressed to you, and I opened it. I didn't know it was just to you. And anyway, it was just the mother kind of letter. They had pot roast on Sunday.

Yeah, Elizabeth Moon. Well, they got married last week. It was a lovely wedding. Oh, yes. He's getting better, but things aren't so good. So, there's no check, five dollars this week. But as soon as she can, she's going to start sending it again each week, and she told me she told you give me all her love. How long has she been sending us money? The interviewing job wasn't going real well. How long, Sam? About six months ago, Mother sent a check for five dollars. I didn't ask her for it. She's been sending it ever since. I still do the inner ring job as early as late as possible, you know that. Yeah, but you didn't stop. No, I didn't stop her from sending it. What is this, Sam? Is this a disease? So, he didn't mean it when you said you wouldn't marry anybody but an actor. Huh? Oh, let me, let me think about that one. Just let me walk out on my parents with my ten hours apartment and think about that. Barbara, I hate this. Don't you see? I hate this. I hate coming home every day and knowing that I haven't come through for you. But there's nothing I can do about it. I can just try. I can just try and try and just say I'm sorry. That's all I can do. Barbara, what's going on? Don't throw your life away at something that doesn't change. This is my life. God knows you tried. However, the group isn't dead yet. Everybody, there are other people that have been having left the group. You are not happy here, Barbara. The actor's roster is not dead. They're going to get money. They're going to pay our rent this month, and then they're going to start paying me some salary and drink cheap wine and talk about Stanislavski and the small group of actors. Barbara, why are you turning on me? You're turning on me just now. You're turning on me just when things are at their worst. Why are you doing that? It's because that girl is here. Huh? Is there some stupid reason like that? Huh? I didn't know until today. I was doing clean tonight, and then we could celebrate with Margarita Allen. But they might even keep from having a baby. Why not for a long time? And be happy, sweetheart. It's a baby. Happy, sweetheart. It's a baby. That's like something holy. Yes, it's like something holy happening. How long have we got? I mean, to keep going on like this? But, well, I could work for a while, I guess. We need money to go home. Harbor, you gotta give me another chance to get in the play. So it'll be two years and seven months. Barbara, it's all I ask of you. Yes. Then let's go back. Oh, it isn't 10 o'clock yet. Well, the more sleep you get, the less food you need. It's just like extra food taking the place of sleep. Well, the more sleep you get, the less food you need. It's just like extra food takes place up to a point. I mean, that's what I keep telling myself. What were you praying about, saying? What are you praying?

Who, I would have no choice. I'd have to pick him because who's terrible? Who is happening? Oh, the second time, you know who we are meant to talk about. Yeah. Can we try it someday? Why? The reason you say them is because you want to tell somebody, but primarily because you feel in a certain way. You want to tell them implies it cannot be. Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty Dumpty together again. Do it again. No, Grandma. Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put him together again. It's tough. It's also over now. What is the point of that? To show that it's not primarily the words, it's primarily the feelings that then motivate you to speak. Yes. Let me say, let me ask you this. There's no doubt that she loves that foreign who loved him. She was moved. She's very compassionate in her nature. All right, she could sit there and do my thing. She could explain to you why she's so upset. Right? So, my character is actually very compassionate. We get that from her emotion, and that she shares her problems. We get that. The fact that she tells you, well, what makes them the characters? Her inner life from the. I'd like to shoot the person who came up with the word character because it's done more harm for acting classes, I think, than anything else in the world because people come in thinking they're going to be somebody else, and that's the antithesis of great acting. As I said before, great acting starts with yourself. So, in our program, the entire first year, we don't even use the word character. We don't bring it up because until you can be yourself up there, open, vulnerable, in the different imaginary circumstances, what makes you think you can be somebody else? It's true. So, the truth of the emotion is a product of your interpretation. Protect. There are such degrees of difficulty when you give, when you give me something like Humpty Dumpty, who's my little brother. It's, it's, it's a base, very natural feeling to be, to feel the way you wanted me to feel. Now, the difficult thing is when you get a text that doesn't, that you, that you don't instinctually feel for. That's where you're liking for, as if, as if it comes in. Okay, look, you're talking about monkey. Don't think I should be with your brother. So, you must find those answers in yourself. I will forever. Yeah. Could you talk a little bit about the relationship between an action and an emotion? I mean, a lot of what we've been doing is, for instance, did you do what I told you? Did it do something to you? Yes. That's the difference between doing something and what it induces over you emotionally. So, sometimes, just by doing something that induces a new, an emotional circumstance. So, like we were talking about this morning, it's really important to fantasize a lot because you might start out with a lot of fantasies that you think mean something to you because you want them to mean something, but they don't. You ever is emotion, right? Suppose you saw a woman wearing that dress. What would you do to her? What could I do to her? Isn't that all the jealousy? Isn't that all something that's not induced by reality? This is an emotional improvisation. In the first year, we learned the independent activity, what you're doing, the why you're doing it, when you're doing it, and the where you are. And there's so much emphasis put on that independent activity that I'm wondering, how do we use that? That concentrates you. It's good for your concentration. It teaches you to get yourself over. Hold on. Do what you have to do. That's what it is primarily. I was, I, I thought I heard once you saying something about the independent activity being the key to character acting. If you are doing something with all of you who involved, right? A character, which is just as inner dictates how it's what you're going to say and do. What comes out of you? So, a character is inside. It's specific, and so is the independent character who comes in from what you're doing. And what you're doing is valid because it's filled by the emotion. The more completely you do it, the more alive it is emotionally. If you're playing a character that is, it's almost like putting a filter over your own behavior. Do you know what I mean? Is it almost as if everything that you receive and everything that you give back is filtered through a particular point of view? At last, I'll know it. Okay, get up. I'm busy. Introduce me to one. Not very friendly, right? No. Why? You were occupied with something else. Oh, no. She once turned me down. Why? You do what you do in a certain way. Introduce me to it. Why? Don't know. But I know I like her. So, what I do, hope I do, move in a certain way because you have a characteristic. So, there's always a reason why you express your feeling differently. Carry. Okay, he got back again because his father who gave the school money. Do I like him? That's the reason he's here. Because of the money. Hmm. Quite different. That's because his father who gave me. So, you become a different character because of the way I do it differently. I'm an acting teacher, not a lawyer. I don't think much of corporal law, but I may have to play one. So, in that point, I'm going to have to look at the viewpoint of how that person thinks about what they do. But what I will do then is, because corporate law bores me, but to this man, it's the greatest thing in the world, I'll go to myself and say, "How do I relate to that?" Well, when I teach acting, I feel like I'm on top of the world. So, the way he feels about corporate law is the way I feel about this. But I will have to adjust how I do what I do to play that part. And that's really what Sandy said. Character. What work was character work? Is really simply how you do what you do. Let's say by eight people who come in late. I hate them. He's always late. I'm disgusting. Disgusting relationship. Which relationship? My brother's like.

Air. Completely different, but completely different relationship that comes from carrot, which is all you do with what you do. You give us these examples. We don't see the process that you go through to choose. We don't see the choosing process. I don't choose this instinct. How about when it's not instinct? How about when your instinct doesn't work? Then somebody's gonna thank you. You're interested. But this is not a high school, of course. It's a talent. You follow somebody. Cruel thing. I invited her into my body, and she brought you back. You are not white, and I am from the south. Jim, I'd like to meet my friend, Jose. Um, I really wish that I would have been around when he was on stage. Uh, having worked with him for 14 years. Yes, I saw this. The same thing. And that he's a wonderful actor, but I can't imagine how good he must have been on actually in a play on stage. So, the actor's roster was a thing of the past. Barbara, why don't you chase him away like that? I'm tired. Sam, Maury is my friend. No, I'm not jealous of anything. Okay, we can talk about this. This is coming up. Nothing, right? It's not coming out of any preparation, right? Right now. What about the circumstances that you can see this? Oops, they've just had a party, but I was, we were supposed to be, uh, entertaining friends of ours from Ohio. We've moved from Ohio to New York, and, uh, instead, that's not his thank you. It's not. Well, we're entertaining his friends instead of mine. And you throw them out. Yeah. Right. Do you really? Yes. Very important friend in the business. So, you're alone, right? You've been destroyed, right? What do you mean, of your career? You can live without opinion. I don't think I can now. You can. No. Get one opportunity. Open life to be happy to be an actor. All right. Your right. Who did it? She did. Well, the question is coming from a situation where your career has been ruined by your wife today. That's the question out of which you've got to have that before we even see you. I have been destroyed. Preparation. Why didn't you do it? Because, uh, it wasn't what I expected to happen that night. And that's in general. Yep. Uh, because this is what happens every time. That's another job. Because I don't want him to be an actor. What kind of a life? I do. Doesn't know what the next supper is coming from me. You're pregnant. Who are you? Friends to me? They're my enemies. They're bombs. Have you ever, if you could jump out of the window? His imagination. Yeah. Now you have. You're in hell of a situation, aren't you? Yeah. I'm stuck. Fine. I said I'm stuck. Stuck. So, it's a corpse, you say? Yeah. Yeah. So, we used that. Now, before you can open your mouth, you have to have a full preparation. Who can get back and prepare when? Right now? Can we prepare right now? No. Please. Oh, you have been reduced to nothing. Go ahead. So, the actors roster, you could never do that. That's no preparation. I'll show you something, but I'll tell you when to begin. I don't care what you do to yourself.

Quietly. So, the actor's rostrum is a thing of the past. Why did you chase him away like that? I'm tired, Sam. Maury is my friend. Oh, whoa, whoa. Oh, are you jealous? Oh, I'm not jealous of anything except for the way that she can eat whatever she wants to. Barbie, you didn't come to New York yesterday. You've known lots of girls like Sharon, they're just a little crazy. Why let a crazy girl bother you at this stage of the game? You got love from your mother today, Sam. Yeah, I was like going to work this morning, and it was early. It was addressed to you. Where is it? Well, I opened it, but I didn't notice it was just addressed to you. And anyway, it was just the usual kind of mother letter. You know, they had pot roast on Sunday. That tall girl with the spaces between her teeth that was engaged to your cousin Edgar, you know her? Elizabeth? Yeah. Well, they got married last Sunday, and it was a lovely wedding. Oh, yes. And your father has been very sick. Oh, but he's better now, but things aren't so good. Anyway, so there won't be any check for five dollars in the mail as it usually is. But as soon as she can, she'll start sending it again. And anyway, she wants you to give me her love. How long has she been sending you us money? How long? The interviewing job wasn't going really. Oh, yeah. How long? About six months ago, Mother sent a check for five dollars. I didn't ask her for it. She kept sending it, though. And I still did the interviewing job as early and as late as possible, you know that. What is it, Sam? Is a disease or something? I see you didn't mean it when you said you wouldn't marry anyone but an actor. Huh? Oh, let me just think about that one. Let me just go out on the terrace of my penthouse apartment and think about that one. Barbara, I hate this. Don't you see that? Oh, I hate coming home every night knowing I haven't come through for you. But there's nothing I can do about it now. I just have to keep going on. Let's go home. I mean, why are you throwing your life away on something that doesn't give a damn with you? No, this isn't my life. Oh, but you've tried to see. You've tried. God knows you're trying. Something will come through with the group soon. I know it will. Let's see. Others have left the group, and they've been okay. Why can't you leave? They'll get to a point, Barb, where they can start paying salaries. I know that. Oh, oh. So, you can sit around for the rest of your life and drink cheap wine and talk about Stanislavski and the small group of actors that mold the pottery, the entertainment world. Why are you turning on me now? Just when things are at their worst? Is it because of that girl? No. Stupid reason like that? No. Well, is it because of that letter then? You know, it's because, it's because it just isn't the two of us anymore, Sam. And I didn't find out until today. And, and anyway, I was going to tell you tonight that we were supposed to celebrate with Marjorie and Alan. And anyway, it, it takes money to even keep your baby. Sam, and I want to be alive too. Why are you so unhappy then? Why are you unhappy? When? Not for a long time yet. Come on. Be, be happy, sweetheart. Be happy. I mean, like, it's like something only happening to us. A baby. You got to give me a few more months to try to get into play. Oh, so it'll be two years and seven months. You've tried, barbecue. It's all I ask. Please. Well, let's go to bed then. We're both kind of tired. This is 10 o'clock. Well, the more sleep you get, the less food you need to eat. Just like extra food takes a place to sleep, you know what I mean? At least that's what I keep telling myself. Do you say something? I thought I heard you say something. No, I was praying. Rain. What were you praying for? What were you praying for? That's the same real condition. Yeah, I think I understand it better. You still have blind readings that you remember. Yeah. No good. How can you get rid of that? No, I don't know. Don't think if you want to, as long as they don't interfere with your act. Work on him, right? Always say you care as much about. Yeah, that one works now. That's the same. That's the same about a girl who can travel. A boy's trouble. What did you start to do? Replies, right? You can say, where did you get the habit about those live readings? It's a mistake in security. So, you do it once, you think you can do it again the same way. If you, if you say something, it's out. It feels right when somebody says, yeah, I understood that when you said that. So, you try to do it again, and you just get, you got it in your head. You know exactly what, which little intonation you made. Everything. And you can do it again a million times, and every time it's not real because it wasn't the first time. But it's a real bad habit. It's a dangerous world. We're married. She has been away in Hollywood. I'm an out-of-work actor in New York. What else? We've only been married for six months, and I take it, I've been away somewhere. I don't know. What would you say? It could be a week, two weeks. And, uh, he knows that I've been seeing this man that I used to see. And I am coming back to New York because I'm pregnant, and I want, not by me, not by him, by Maury. And I want a divorce. My feelings in the scene.

Get down. This position. Okay. Um, except I do want this baby. Yes. Is the point? What? Well, I would be lying to myself. I would, uh, okay. What do I want from her? I want her to open doors for me. I wanted to get me a job. Okay. So, I want her back. Okay. And then you get it. Sam, Sharon, I just got in. Hello. How was Hollywood? Fine. Um, I should be very involved with her from the moment she comes in. The should be at the end of my role. No.

Okay, you know the whole lie today is that we're not enough if we don't buy this. We're no good if we don't get this car. We don't get the girl. That we need things to be complete. And what Sandy's work does is it teaches you to be really authentic into who you are and step into that and reclaim your power because we've given it up for all of these years. And when people do that, then they stop being afraid. They stop being afraid of who they are or what their possibilities is or what they should and shouldn't do because this whole technique is truly about reclaiming and empowering yourself. Sam, Sharon, what are you doing here? I just got in. Hello. Well, how are you? Fine. How was Hollywood? Okay. You get a suntan, sort of? I'll try and catch up. They have a studio audience for the radio show. I have to go over to the guild to see about a play. I've been looking sort of pasty. So, be with you in a minute. You look fine. I mean, the back of you. One minute, Sam. I have something I want to tell you. I didn't want to write it. I wanted to tell you in person. Well, what is it? I want a divorce. Didn't you hear me? I said I want a divorce. Yes, I heard you. You said you want a divorce. I can't understand why. I'm in love. Are you sober? Yes, Sam. I'm in love. Being married never seems to have interfered with that before. Why the sudden decision? Sam, I'm pregnant. Maury, of course. It's Maury. My God, what a lousy. Let's not have any high moral tone about the paternity of the child. Sam, you're mad because your ego's been hurt. My ego? Don't give me that crap. You're marrying him now. Won't keep him out of the army, even if you are pregnant. Don't be a best. Don't talk that way. What's the matter? Don't you like the word bastard anymore? Sam, I am in love for the first time in my life, and maybe the only time. Maybe it's the baby. Maybe I finally got proof I'm a woman. And being in love isn't something I don't deserve. Straight from the psychiatrist, damn it. It's true. It's always been Maury, hasn't it? Yes. Yes, it's always been Maury. And now he wants me. Wake up, Sharon. You know Maury. You know what moves him around. It's not you he wants. It's his child. The most important, a number one piece of pottery in his life. He wants it. And he wants it so bad, he's willing to buy the oven. My God, you're crazy. It's the truth. I don't care why he wants me. He wants me, and that's all that counts. Oh, this time it's different. Yes. Yes, it is different. There's a whole new ingredient, and it isn't sex, and it isn't compromise, and it isn't convenience. It's love. Now, I used to think there wasn't such a thing, but now I know. I just forgot life. I hope you've given up on a teeth. Feel it again. You can understand hope, can't you? Yes, I can understand hope. Thank you, sir. I knew you'd understand. No divorce, Sam. Don't say that. No divorce. Sam, look, I want to work this out. I want to make you understand. I know what you must feel. But we'll find a way. Of course. Anything, Sam. Anything I've got to give, just name it. It's yours. There's no ceiling, Sam. No divorce. This is my last chance, Sam. Please. Thank you. Let me out. What is it? Money? Hollywood? You want me to open doors? That is the price, isn't it? You learned, didn't you? Had a good teacher. Let me, whether you believe it or not, best wishes. Oh, that was good. I, it was truthful. It was legitimate. Emotionally, you know, uh, what's the matter? I don't know. I.

Thanks. There's an interesting problem in this state. You haven't seen each other in five months. You're right. Yes. A long time. I don't care if it's four and bucks. You decided that you still want to, right? Yeah. That's the way you began. Yeah. The scene. Yeah. Where did you get that idea? Where did I get that idea? I got it from you. No, you didn't. It comes from the circumstances in the play. Without her, I have no hope of ever having a career. She's my key to a career. Is that what's going on with you? Before she comes in, she's, as far as I know, before she comes in, she's left me. So, I have no hope of a career. That's what your preparation was based on. That was the, the base of it. Yes. Suppose the script said you, everyday, your, your enjoyment, you were enjoying life again. The part of the sunbathing was part of living well again. Then you hear a voice. It's called a shock reaction. A shock reaction is when you open the telegraph and there's some dreadful news in it, and you've been feeling very good. Brian, I have left you with Joe. Emotionally, one can imagine who causes a very strong immediate shock reaction. That could have been. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, what would you look at? If I hear her voice, it could be like, uh, I, I don't know how to put that. Not in a result. It could be like, um, I don't know, like I just got kicked in the stomach. That's, that's a possibility. Let's see. I'll tell you, a shock reaction is very, can be very difficult because in order for it to be realized truthfully, it's very difficult because it happens so shockingly fast. Yeah. Yeah. So, you pick up a note which says, if your wife is right away, who put some money? Now, you said you think about that. What three things would you do which, when you do them, would traumatize the chakra? Let's say, first, you run like crazy into a closed closet, and it's empty, right? Okay. Then you run into the kitchen, and then outside of being, and then you decide not to do it. So, you throw that telephone on the floor. Now, the difficulty is to get that much emotion going for you. Yeah. You know, as you would in reality. But if you do every one of those consciously chosen things, really doing them, rarely know why, if you're doing them, it will induce the emotion that ordinarily you would have to put yourself up by the bootstraps and fake. Yeah. You follow? Yeah. Now, that's why if you had been lying there for the first time in months, really good, yeah, things went right today for a change, whatever. And suddenly you hear my voice, that produces a shock reaction for you. Then it's a question about how to break it down, isn't it? You say, you say, now, if you do each one of those chosen things fully, it will induce within you the emotion. Hopefully, otherwise, you have to push yourself, and it's a [ __ ] can see. Yeah. Because otherwise, you're going after the emotion directly. That's right. Instead of doing what you've chosen, knowing why you do it, you're doing it. It brings with it its own emotion. Suppose you said to yourself, if he'll give you a divorce, you'll kill yourself. You've been coming all the way from the post, right? You got to do a cab, and you came here immediately. What was going on? Okay. All that time, and why you have to play with all the ramifications of circumstances, then the emotional life would be fuller, right? See what happens. Hello, man.

Have you seen father? Yes, he's down there in the garden. Garden, puttering with the flowers. Does he know you're here? No, I don't think so. I saw him down there in the garden. That's a new one. He used to call everything petunias. You'll find some other changes in him if you look closely. Oh, this one I like. He's got a harmless occupation that lasts. Sit down, Jock. You look to me, Mandy, like a girl with a very long story on the tip of her tongue. Kindly make it short as possible. I've got to get back to Southampton this afternoon. I don't want to go back. When you know how it is here. It looks all right. Let me tell you about this. You're not enjoying yourself. It takes some thought. I do want my problem stuff, right? Yeah. And then I have to cover it up. The preparation comes first, and then I have to. I did. Did you want to let me see you cry? Hurry up. Um, and cry. Don't look for the reality. Nobody, like your grandmother passes away, will cry. You, me, I just pretend to cry. Let's see what happened.

Jock, hello, Mandy. Have you seen father? He's down there in the garden. Does he know you're here? No, I don't think so. I saw him puttering down there with the flowers. That's a new one. He used to call everything petunias. You'll find some other changes in him if you look closely. Well, this one I like. He's got a harmless occupation at last. Sit down, Jock. They look to me, Mandy, like the girl with a very long story on the team. Oh, gosh. Amusement. Hurry up, Jack. Hello, Mandy. Have you seen father? Yes, he's down in the garden. Does he know you're here? I don't think so. I just looked down and saw him puttering with the flowers. That's a new one. He used to call everything petunias. You'll find some other changes in him if you look closely. Oh, this one I like. He's got a harmless occupation at last. Sit down, Jock. You look to me, Mandy, like a girl with a very long story on the tip of her tongue. Kindly make as short as possible. I've not got, got to get back to Southampton this afternoon. You won't want to go back. When you know how it is here. We'll argue that one later. Shoot. You better snap out of that beach club lightheadedness of yours because you and I run into something desperately serious. He looks all right. However, he looks, I don't think he has much longer to live. What's he got? There isn't a name for it. You might say spiritual malaise in its most malignant form. A spiritual malaise is my foot. You'd say something like that only if you've been to Bennington. There's every sign he intends to kill himself. No, I don't believe it. I don't believe it. Not him. That's just what I was saying to Toby last night. Well, who's Toby? Dr. Wells' son. He's also a doctor. Well, I remember him. He's not much older than us. He can't know anything. All right, okay. But I bet you right, right, you gotta. When losing his legs, and he was good. What's the point of trying to mentalize? But the fact is that you go through. Yes, I say no. Yeah, I'm crying. You know what's funny? Don't be funny. Then we will find out whether or not you are adjusting to each other. When we walk into a room, we have a point of view about everybody. You look at somebody and you think they're attractive. You look at someone else and you think they're unattractive, or you don't like the way they dress. So, you automatically have an honest point of view. Every time you do something, it's whether or not you use it. A point of view in a relationship would be affected by what you mean to me. So, that if you basically were someone who's going to give me a million dollars to run my theater, I am going to have a point of view about you. If you're the IRS man coming to me to take a million dollars from me, I'm gonna have a very different point of view. But ultimately, point of view is just your honest opinion. How you really feel about that person in that moment. What do you think I'm trying to do? But face it and make you face it. Oh, you know, I'm no good in this. I'm only the wayward son is after thought in his love life with mother. That's a horrible thing to say. Well, all right, but it's true. I mean, this is your problem exclusively. I don't mean a thing to him except as some kind of reminder of his own failure. The only thing he cares about in this world is you. It's like an obsession. It's wrong. That's fantastically wrong. Why does he go on so about your getting married? Has it ever occurred to you that maybe Please shut up, lively. You don't have any point of view which is strong enough towards your father who, towards your mother who, touch your father's troubles moments. Don't need anything until you buy the you. They come to you spontaneously, but you have to work for them. I mean, I, I guess I know what I, the point of view I should have, but it's not in my behavior at all. I wonder if there's a reason for that. I sure there is. What is it? I'm not sure, but I don't think I leave myself alone to allow that to happen. Why don't you leave yourself alone? Maybe too conscious of what's happening around me and playing the scene. I don't know for sure. Are you trying to be simple? Yeah. How do you feel like your father? I don't like him at all. He's never treated me well since I grew up, and, um, and I'm angry at him. You're not emotionally involved in this. That's rather neutral, isn't it? Yeah. Oh, that's not good. Yeah. What do you think of your father? You almost had it then. Because I think he's a real bastard. He's been as [ __ ]. Let me see your expression. What do you think of your father? No words. That would be better to say now. The fact that you know a point of view, and what do you think? In fact, that your sister says your father may kill himself? That's ridiculous. Oh, nothing. It's a joke. What do you do here? Good joke. A laugh. Oops. You follow? Yeah. In other words, there is no meaning for impacting in what you're doing. You can do it by the way in which you read the lines, which would be empty, or you can do it in. He's thinking about killing himself, and you have a ball on the bed, right? This is, but do it anyway. Oh, tell him there's every sign he intends to kill himself.

I don't believe it. I simply don't believe it.

That's better, but not as vindicated as you would think. Saying now, you are not full enough. Yes. What? Yeah, I know. This is a hard one for me. It's odd one for you. Yeah. Why? Um, I guess his hysteria doesn't come easy for me. I don't like that. She said you have to be hysterical. Well, that's what you wanted me to come in from. I don't know. Okay. Okay. Yeah. I don't care what it is. The source for preparation. She just says that. I thought she was your bookkeeper. Persistent. Go out for a minute. Open. Coming. But let me see your graciousness. Don't do that. I'm Andy. Hi, Jack. Well, that's like two people who don't believe in sex. This is actually not library. Show them the paper. Say, what's this? Don't examine it because you won't see anything. Okay. What is it? Some legal papers. Clifford Evans had them sent up from the bank today for us to sign. Father's already signed them. What does it all mean? Father settled practically all his money on us. It's sitting in cash in the bank, waiting for us to go and pick it up. What do you think of that? I think it's just great. Do you believe it? No, I guess I, no, no, I don't think he'd do that. You say it's some kind of, exactly. Not, yeah. It's a meaningless gesture. It isn't anything he did out of his heart. It's a joke. I'd say that for exercise purposes. Turn this into physical battery. Not blindly. Blinds a good actor who expresses the media with his behavior. So, even before you notice that she's in trouble, she gets this greater. What do you think of your father? About to kill himself. That's. I can give you. I'm about to. Okay. That. Keep yourself from breaking down. Can you keep yourself from breaking now? I can try. Oh, that's what you can do right now. Don't wait for God to make you hysterical. You understand that? Yeah. Before you come in for yourself again. But what are you gonna pull together? A terrific urge to break down. Right. I'm telling you, this is the worst kind of direction. So, go ahead and do it. Hello, Mandy. Jack, have you seen father? Yes, he's down there in the garden. Did you ever like said that a good actor expresses himself through behavior? I'll tell you.

Something about preparation. Start crying mechanically. And oh, Mandy, have you seen Father?

Yes, he's down there in the garden. Does he know you're here? No, I don't think so. He just—I just looked down and saw him puttering with flowers. That's a new one. He used to call everything petunias. He used to call everything petunias. You'll find some other difference in him, other changes in him, if you look closely. Oh, this one I like. He's got a harmless occupation at last.

Sit down, Jock. What point have I made to you, if any? My point of view, which is seems to be non-existent right now, needs to be expressed through my behavior. That's a big space. But, but you're right. What about you? I feel like I should just relax and allow things to happen to me. Why aren't you? I don't know, but I'm not. Why? I don't know. Who are you? Relaxed? I guess I'm frightened. What? I guess I'm frightened by what. I don't. Failure? Suppose you fail. I know. I suppose I fail. Oh, what? Laughing to you? I'll just get up again and try again. Will you lose your boyfriend? No. When you look—don't lose your parents. No. What terrible thing? Nothing happened. Nothing. And I know that. Here, we should get over here. Yeah. You can't fail. I know. All right, there's no point about being nervous or being afraid to fail or wishing you were dead. Important, but listen to your mother. And got a job in dance. Over. No point been saying any of that because you're gonna be afraid to fail. You're gonna be afraid to make a fool of yourself. All of these things are gonna happen. So they're gonna happen. Then you fixed them. All right, I'm getting that. Go like that. No, Mandy.

[Laughter] Have you seen Father? Yeah, he's down in the garden. Does he know you're here? No, I just looked down and saw him puttering with the flowers. That's a new one. He used to call everything petunias. Well, you'll find some other changes in him if you look closely. Oh, this one I like. He's got a harmless occupation at last.

Sit down, Jock. Listen, Mandy, you look like a girl with a very long story on the tip of her tongue. And kind of make as short as possible. I've got to get back to Southampton this afternoon. You won't want to go back when you know how it is here. Well, we'll argue that one later. Shoot. You better snap out of that beach club lightheadedness of yours because we've run into something desperately serious, you and I. He looks all right, however he looks. I don't think he has much longer to live. What's he got? There isn't a name for it. You might say spiritual malaise in its most malignant form. Oh, spiritual malaise, my foot. You say something like that only if you've been to Bennington. There's every sign he intends to kill himself. No, I don't believe it. I don't believe it. Not him. That's what I said to Toby last night. Oh, who's Toby? He's Dr. Well, son, he's also a doctor. I remember him. He's not much older than us. He can't know anything. He doesn't have to in this case. He broke it to me gently, as gently as he could. And since then, I've realized it's much worse. It's much more immediate. Why did you find a gun in the desk drawer with one silver bullet in it? For God's sake, Jock, you've got to see this plane. And for God's sake, Mandy, why couldn't you give me this baloney on the telephone last night and saved me the trouble of making a long trip? Well, take a look at this baloney. What is it? It's legal papers. Clifford Evans sent them up from the bank this morning for the two of us to sign. Father's signed them already. Well, what does it all mean? He settled practically all his money on the two of us. It's all in cash. It's sitting in the bank waiting for us to go and pick it up. I'm not taking mine, but you can do as you please with yours. Spend it, give it away, hide it under a break. Come on, it's nothing. Means nothing more than some kind of tax dodge. Which case, I'll be glad to cooperate to help the old man out. I was sure you'd be big about it. Is that all you have to go on? There is too much more and it all adds up. Jack, you—you love him, don't you? No, I don't think I do. And why should I? Should you love someone that's never given you anything but contempt plus a big allowance? Yeah, with too big, if you ask me. It was conscience money. Now, this is conscience money. He had a god complex, thought he could create me in his image. Well, it didn't work because I just happened to have a heart of my own, and it wasn't in the legal profession. And now, I guess he's begun to suspect that maybe he isn't God after all, and he's trying to square accounts the only way he knows how. Last night, he talked about you. He said he was the failure, not you. Oh, he said that, did he? And there was none of this god complex creating you in his image. He said you've done the right thing by choosing to live a life of your own. Sis, I hate it. I hate not being fond of him the way I used to be when we were kids. And he never had much time to spend with us, and Mother was always all over us, but I never had any respect for her. And I had real respect for him when he did have time for us. He could do nice little human things like letting me hold the fish pole when there was only one, and and the time he bought the Indian arrowheads at the antique shop and planted them in the garden for us to dig up and think we discovered them. And he was sore as hell and Mother for telling us the truth. Well, only if he'd done one little human thing since I grew up and disappointed him. Or have you figured out how he proposes to knock himself off? It'll be an accident, such as crashing a plane on a bad landing or swimming out beyond his capacity to swim back. Those accidents, you can't make a case out of those. Anyway, some people, what is known as accident-prone. If he's accident-prone, it means only one thing. He's deliberately careless and reckless. He's gambling with his own life because it's a currency that's lost all value for him. If the zone is locked in sabre, if he wanted to commit suicide, why wouldn't he do it simply? Do I go to such elaborate lengths as chattering a plane to crash in that's out of consideration for us? Make it look like an accident. Nothing messy. Father would never do anything messy. No, always legally correct. Someone's got to get through to him, revive him, stimulate, make him feel that he's needed. Well, who can do that? All of us. It's family. Last night, after I talked to you, I called Mother up in Santa Barbara. I bet you she was a fat lot of help. She understood. She said she knew that if Joshua Bolton ever lost his chosen mission of reforming the world, that he'd be dead. It's a nice feeling that when the emotions coming all by itself. No. Yeah, but just let it alone. Amazing. Yeah, they disappear. The very fact that you feel something happening.

28, 24. Why? Why?

[Laughter] I haven't had too much practice. That's my, my generation. Uh, here's some sandwiches, Lily. Bill Moore's mother made them. Their roast lamb. She—where'd you get those? Mr. Richard sent them. Who? You know Mr. Strobel's friend. You want to give the balloon to Carlo? Oh, the one who had to find out you were married. I could have been a widow over my dead body. Where do you come from? I come from rehearsing. What that means? It means that I'm searching for it. It means that I've got a new lease on life. By something. It's great. I guess it's greatness. How do you feel about it? You're great. Great, I guess. You know what about you? I think he's being irresponsible. You don't anticipate, obviously. Okay, about the minister, about the house and the job. Okay. Well, a man came to the hotel today and said that he'd consider him for a job that he's perfect for. Who is that? Well, there's a White House that comes with a job. Is that—it's great. Great. It's wonderful. You're gonna be dragged on laughing. All right, he's gonna get a job now. You're being dragged out of property. Why? To go into show business. That's not enough to be a star. What's that? Me, then I'll have, uh, everything I want. What are you gonna have? How do you feel? I don't know how to put into words. That's how you feel. Why do you come in? To get dressed. To leave? A watch? To go act? To do my act? To be a smash. That means what? Uh, triumph. Um, triumph. You're getting ready for disappointment. It's disgusting. I said that. It gives us no hope for the future. Nice people. I would like to be married to an actor who plays who knocks down Pennsylvania twice a year. That's all. I wouldn't like it. I wouldn't like it. What do you want? I want a home, and I want security, and I want a family life that's real. Yeah, that's all. What does that mean? To be surrounded by people that I love with me and familiar surroundings. Food. Food. Everything is wonderful. What's happening? Everything's all over the place, and there's no. Now, you would love it. Why do you come in? I come in to get ready to perform. So what are you gonna prepare for? For, uh, something in the area of ecstasy. Ecstasy? Yeah. Which goes as soon as, as soon as he says, like this is what you're talking about. The preparation being just for the first. Okay, now look. Actors don't, don't say something in the nature of ecstasy. They can't talk. I think they can, cause the words fill them with such full emotion. Now, you can't get that now, but you can get an approximation. Now, prepare, but then you present as much as possible. What do you mean? Who is rehearsing? Here's some sandwiches, Lily. Bill Moore's mother made them. Their roast lamb. She—where'd you get those? Mr. Richard sent them. Who? You know Mr. Strobel's friend. The one who gave the balloon for Carlo? Oh, the one who had to find out you were married. Well, I could have been a widow over my dead body. Yeah. That isn't funny. I think it is. We're going out to Washington tonight. Who's going on to Washington? Bill and I. I thought you were writing an act for Johnny and Bellen. As it turns out, Bill's mother delivered an ultimatum. She wants Johnny to forget the theater and stick to his job. But that leaves Bill high and dry unless I came up with him tonight. Julie was here today, and I had about five dollars. I wish he hadn't done that. Well, it's done, so we're sure of a few meals anyway. So you mustn't. Do you remember that blue shirt I used to have? Do you know where it is? It's still around. There's a manual today from Leffertsville. Leopards will stand now in the school. Oh, what do you say? Nothing much. He was here only a short time. He was a minister. That's done it. He said he'd consider you, man. Well, if you mean to say that if you and Bill went immediately, ten dollars? Because it turns out it's more than ten dollars. It's ten dollars to begin with. It's ten dollars to begin with, but it's also a trip on the Jersey. Yeah, okay. As it turns out, it's more than ten dollars. Ten dollars to begin with, but it's also a full week's work at a theater on Jersey Coast, and the pay for the act is 40. And then the winners come back for another week. Four weeks for another, uh, four weeks work. Four weeks work at the Jersey Coast, and to pay for the act is another 40. And even that's not the importance. What is the important thing is that the whit—the, uh, bookers, the guys who place the acts in all the it's too theaters. It's stupid. It's very good, but hope it's too big because it stops. They want to show it, you know? I mean, it takes a lot for a good actor to pull up this emotion. So the first thing you do is you want to say, see, see all this emotion I got. Look how good I am. Um, that's the main thing. Or they're afraid. They think they've got it. They, they've got to keep it to play the scene. But what it does is it kills the scene. That's not even important. What is the important thing is that the bookers, the guys who place the acts in all the theaters come to the Washington regularly just to sign people up. Oh, that's the important thing. Certainly. If Bill and I, here's that blue shirt. If we're any good at all, we're gonna sell right along after tonight. But I thought you were all through at the stage. I mean, going on yourself as an actor. I thought so too. I never dreamed it. I never dreamed I would either. See, it just happened. I didn't plan on it. Sometimes the greatest opportunities in life have been just this way. You call this a great opportunity? Certainly. Bill has a, Bill has a good vaudeville personality. And with any decent material, there's no limit to where he and I can go. Where can you go, Val? From one town to another, from one hotel room to the next. Why not? It could be a good life. You're not broke. You mean to say that we're gonna spend the rest of our life in rooms like this? No, not rooms like this. Beautiful rooms with good furniture, good service. Oh, hotel rooms are alike. What are you talking about? Some of them have—oh, I see. You mean they're all alike and feeling? I'm always surprised. I'm always—oh, I see. You mean they're all alike and feeling? I'm always surprised when you throw me a curve like that. What does that mean? He's usually pretty literal-minded. And what does that mean? But anyway, listen, if we really succeed, if we really make it, here's what we can do. You won't have to travel with me. You could stay in that. We could buy a little house somewhere, and you could live in it while I'm out of town. And what kind of a marriage would that be? They'd come with me, then. I guess we don't have to decide tonight. We haven't. I haven't signed any contracts yet. Fail, Val. I've never been to these amateur nights before, but, but I've heard about them. Is it true that the, that the audience throws things at the amateurs? No, well, sometimes it'll try for a while, but that's only when the management encourages that kind of behavior. With the right name, yes. You have all kinds of confidence in me, don't you? Oh, man, how could you stand it if if somebody threw something at you? Because I'd live through it. Oh, you lived through it, but you'd be different. How would I be different? You'd be a man who'd let somebody throw something at him. Well, what of it? Well, you'd never be the same again. You're not like Bill Moore. You've held a fine position and still call on me to choose. She didn't. She had a pair for Sundays and a pair for school.

[Applause] Element in a character which doesn't know how to fight. She suffers but doesn't know how to fight. That is, she's one of those old-fashioned wives who suffers. From those who fight eyes? They don't exist. But you know what I do? Can I ask a question? Is I think I understand why because later on in the text, she's, she still tries to convince him about the school. Okay, so she's still holding with that as as a possibility, but not inside. But she doesn't fight with it. Okay. Whatever feeling of excitement that I might have, it fed it by doing that. For some reason, that's good. But next time, do it with real clothes. Right. Bye. Who? When do you find out he's going into rehearsing? Who was rehearsing? What do you mean? Here's some sandwiches, Lily. Bill Moore's mother made them. They're roast lamb. She—where'd you get those? Mr. Richard sent them. Who? You know Mr. Strobel's friend. The one that gave Carlo the balloon? Oh, the one who had to find out you were married. It could have been a widow over my dead body. That's not serious. Okay. Oh, so I don't think he's going on yet. I don't think he's—that's what I'm trying. Okay. Okay. Oh, okay. All right. I could have been a widow over my dead body. Well, that isn't funny. Oh, I think it is. We're going out at the Washington. What's going on? Bill and I. But I thought you were writing an act for Johnny. Oh, as it turns out, Bill's mother decided Johnny's got to stick to the theater, stick to his job, and forget the theater. But that leaves Bill high and dry, and still I go on with him tonight. But no, no, you mustn't. Julie was here today, and I had a badge. That's it. You mustn't. No. When you really find out it builds yourself. I see. I see. You know, you could do this all by yourself without, uh— Why is that? Because I don't need her to go on stage.

[Music] Do I have an independent activity? You might have until he comes in. Okay. You know, acting is an emotional profession. You answer questions not to reveal the logical response, but the emotional response. You see, I'm a bum. What's happening? Nothing. You know what the most important word is in this active thing? Why? But the answer is emotional. We're stuck in our logic. You get stuck. You were going for a long time.

[Music] Oh, I brought some sandwiches, Lily. Bill Moore's mother made them. Their roast lamb. Where'd you get those? Mr. Who? You know Mr. Strobel's friend. The one that that gave Carlo the balloon? Oh, the one who had to find out you were married. I could have been a widow over my dead body. It's not funny. Oh, I think it is. We're going on at the Washington. What's going on? Bill and I. But I thought you were writing a knack for Johnny and Villain. As it turns out, Bill's mother delivered an ultimatum. She wants Johnny to forget his job and stick to the theater. But that leaves Bill high and dry unless I team up with him tonight. No, Valium, you mustn't. Julie was here today, and I had about five dollars. I wish you hadn't done that. Well, it's done, so we're sure of a few meals anyway. So you mustn't. Do you remember that blue shirt I used to have? I think if Bill and I both wore blue. Oh, there was a man here today from Leopardsmillvale, from Leopardsville, Staten Island, to school. Oh, what did you say? Nothing much. He was here only a short time. He was a minister. That's right. He said he'd consider you, Val. Well, if things go right tonight, honey, he could forget me. Do you mean to say that if you and Bill win a measly ten dollars? It turns out it's more than ten dollars. It's ten dollars to begin with, but it's also four weeks run at a theater down on the Jersey Coast. It's owned by the same man that owns the Washington, and the pay for the act is forty dollars. And after that, the winners come back for another full week at the Washington for another 40. And even that's not the important thing. What is the important thing is the bookers, the guys who place the acts in all the theaters come to the Washington regularly just to sign people up. Oh, that's the important thing. Certainly. Bill, there's a concert. If Bill and I are any good at all, we ought to sail right along after tonight. But I thought you were through with the stage. I mean, going on yourself as an actor. I never dreamed that you. I never dreamed I would either. But as you could see for yourself, it just happened. I didn't plan on it. Sometimes the greatest opportunities in life happen just this way, unthought of, unscheduled. You call this a great opportunity? Could be. The law's a good vaudeville personality, and if the right material, we can gain any limit to how far we can go. Where can you go, Val? From one town to another, from one hotel room to the next. Why not? It could be a good life. If you're not broke. You mean to say that we'd spend the rest of our life in rooms like this? No, not rooms like this. Beautiful rooms with good furniture, good service. All hotel rooms are like. What are you talking about? Why? Some of them. Okay. You mean they're all alike and feeling? I'm always surprised when you're throwing me a curve like that. You're usually pretty literal-minded. What does that mean? But anyway, if we really succeed, she won't have to come with us. We could buy a little house, and when you and the baby could, uh, keep it warm or while out of town. What kind of marriage would that be? All right, then come with me. I guess we don't have to decide now. I haven't signed any contracts yet. Well, I haven't been to any of these amateur nights before, Bill, but I've heard. I've heard about them. Is it true that the audience throws things at the amateurs? No, it's only, only sometimes they get a try for a while, but that's only when the management encourages them to do that. For Washington, they don't tolerate any behavior like that. Why? You're afraid that I can hold the rotten egg? Yes. Well, you're just loaded with all kinds of confidence in me, aren't you? Oh, man, how could you stand it if somebody threw something at you? I guess I'd live through it. You'd live through it. It should be different. How would I be different? You'd be a man who'd let somebody throw something at him. Oh, fail, you're not like Bill Moore. You've held a fine position and still call on me to choose. She didn't. She had a pair for Sundays and a pair for school.

What more does anybody need? Depends on the anybody you're talking about. I want more to life than some deathly dull routine that guarantees my kid two pairs of shoes. I want to feel that I'm going somewhere. I feel I'm doing something. I want to feel alive. And going on at the Washington Theater is gonna make you feel that way. Listen, I put together a good act, better than the one I did for Ryan and Ray. I want to get something out of it. Remember how you used to argue with Dr. Harmon about about all kinds of deep things? Like, yes, I remember. Well, you're not going to be able to argue about Bill Moore about. You're not going to be able to argue with Bill Moore about things like this. Well, I'll argue when they're about prize fighting. That's what I mean. You're not going to have anybody around you who understand things that you know. Pretty soon, it's gonna be like you don't even know them anymore. Do you think that because I'm affordable that I'm gonna stop reading? Do you think that I'm gonna stop thinking? You stopped thinking already. You still thinking when you told Bill that you go on with him tonight at the Washington? It isn't right, Val. It isn't censored, for God's sake. Um, this White House, this, um, job in Lanford's room, this White House, because of it. Yeah, we've had those White Houses before. We've never had a White House. All right, so it was yellow and the roof leaked and the pile stove didn't work. You're coming over to the theater. No. Well, I guess that answers my question. I'll take the baby. You're not gonna take the baby to the theater in the audience while you're up on the stage? Anything could happen to her. She's not gonna be alone. I'll get someone I know to sit with her. You better call her and give her a sound. She ate already. She ain't with the Lamoire. Well, that makes two sandwiches for you, though. I'm not hungry. You stop brooding. Your fact that's always taken to a life of crime. I can't put my clothes on and I can't get any help. I mean, I'm frustrated. Who's frustrated? Because you're playing rush instead of speed. Um, hey there. Prepare for a peaceful life in the country and go moment to moment. Oopsie. I'm talking to you now, right? Do I have to get up? Cut noses instead of getting your clothes changed nicely? A moment, the moment, and stay there. Oopsie. You covered as much territory as he did, okay? Except he was going this way, you were going this way. The moments never happened because it was a question about setting a time record. Whenever you do something for its effect rather than for its mean, you have a dream of the White House. It's how you do what you do which makes the character. That's what character is. How you do what you do. That's what it is. You want me to make a character adjustment in the scene emotionally? I don't say you change your speech. I don't say you were just in a way that's not truthful to you. Or I said is, look, she's gonna play that Jesus your girl. That's the character. Where'd you get those? Mr. Richards gave them to me. Cool. You know Mr. Strobel's friend? The one that gave Carlo the balloon? Oh, the one who had to find out you were married. I could have been a widow over my dead body. And that isn't funny. Oh, I think it is. We're going on at the Washington. What's going on? For watching Bill and I. But I thought you were writing an act for Johnny and Billy. It turns out Bill's mother delivered an ultimatum. She wants Johnny to stick to his job and forget about the theater. But that leaves Bill high and dry unless I team up with him tonight. No, Valium, you mustn't. Julie was here today, and I had about five dollars from her. So you mustn't. I wish you hadn't done that. Well, it's done, so I'm sure of a few meals anyway. Just gonna go outside and prepare your bed again. Hurry up. All right. All right. Who put everything back? Why are you coming to get dressed to go on stage? What do you mean, to go on stage? To, uh, perform. I don't know what to say about it. I could just. Do you want to be? Yes, yes, yes, yes. The 60s were a very volatile time, you know, drugs, sex, rock and roll, and people were challenging the establishment of everything, and they were breaking down walls and all that. And when it came to to the work that Sandy was doing, they looked at it as establishment and old school, and they weren't disciplined in the way that he was disciplined, and they weren't demanding any serious emotional depth out of themselves, which is what he's all about. So at that point, he became very disillusioned. He said, I'm teaching actors for a theater that no longer exists. And that's when he began to say, you know, it's time for me to stop. But of course, he couldn't. He couldn't stop. You're a teacher. Well, what kind of teacher are you? I teach at a law school. I know. Right. Yes, it's play country celery, the rest of the spot. Go on strike if you don't. Right. Who would you say eventually you get to be one of the ladies' presidents school? Who can charge? That's good. Why don't you write the family? Because they're conformist. They're not. They're a unit, and I don't believe in these. In this unit. I would not be. I would be on strike if I were in his position. And we got cuts and sour, I'd be the one on strike. I'd probably be the one leading the strike. How do they feel about you? Well, I think I'm a troublemaker, and that I'm just a little sort of a twit of an end, you know. They, they don't like the way I behave. I'm not part of the, of the structure. Now, what is this meeting about that you won't go to? Well, I don't know what it's about yet, but my brother wants to talk about Edith, about one of our sisters. It doesn't matter what it's about. I have no interest in being part of it. That you should know. I should know what to do specifically. I'll turn you back on each other right now, and you start. Terry. Yeah, of course. If you want to act like a child. Why do you say that? Well, right now, I just don't get any answers. Is that enough? Just no answer? Yes. If I ask her, if I call her name, and I know she's there. Terry, John's waiting for you. Let him. They all are. Let them. I don't know what you hope to prove. I'm not trying to prove things. I just don't like conferences. Come on, please, dear. Be a good husband and go in my place. Francis, it's the family. John wants something to do with your sister, apparently. I wouldn't doubt it for a minute. Who went to meet the boat? Edith thought so. Martin too? No, Edith thought that only a woman should meet her. A true Boston spirit. I hope she took something long to dump into the harbor. Anyhow, John asked me to tell you that he wants to talk to us all. You can tell John just precisely what I like to tell her when she comes. Well, you must. It would be so very sisterly and considerate. You know, you have to fight, but calculated away. You've got to have a relationship, you know? Yes. And you've got to be prepared. And what you think the meeting is about? What could you think? You've got to invent it. You've got to invent a reason which will give you a springboard for the beginning. Otherwise, this is casual right from the beginning. To say you're sitting in a chair or both of you, but you have nothing going are inside of you. If you said she's got such a temper that you never know quite what quality. Oop. In other words, the play begins emotionally, but before we see you, you say, well, if you want to act like a child. Right. But she didn't do anything. I had an idea about that, but I wasn't going to do it until we stood until we did it. You're doing it. Do something which permits what he does to come from you. I don't understand. Danger. Oh, that's right. Look, the faces on which the scene is built is the pinch and the ouch. That is a principle which operates throughout your career. Go deeper and deeper if you understand that which brings the world. You know, he's there. He's there. That door open. American acting in the 20s was very cardboard. It was very presentational. Sarah Bernhardt was considered one of the two greatest actresses in the world, and the other school was Eleanor Duse. Now, Duse did all of her plays in Italian, but no matter where she went around the world, everybody understood every single moment that she did because she worked from truth, from who she really was, how she really felt, and you could literally see her blush on stage. Whereas Sarah Bernhardt was very presentational and and acting everything and didn't really cry in all of those things. So American actors were pretty bad, actually, most of them at that point. But when they saw the Moscow Art Theater, even the butler was real. He truthfully doing it, and the stage was galvanized, and people had not seen an entire ensemble of people. They might have seen a star do it, but not every single actor on stage. I don't in the tattoos. Now, just know that it's coming in as a meaning, but you, Terry, of course, if you want to act like a child. Terry, John's waiting. They all are. Let them. She said, John's waiting for you, and she said, let them. Oh, I don't know what you hope to prove. I'm not trying to prove anything. I just don't like conferences. Oh, come on, be a good husband and go in my place. Francis, it's the family. John wants it's something to do with your sister, apparently. I don't doubt it for a moment. Who went to meet the boat? Edith. Martin too? No, Edith thought that only a woman should go to Madison, the true Boston spirit. I hope she took something long to dump in the harbor, because that's funny. It's a little like.

[Laughter] Don't use it. Use words. He thought that only a woman should go to meet her true Boston spirit. I hope she took something to dump into the harbor. Anyhow, John asked me to tell you that he wants to talk to us. Well, you can tell John precisely what I'd like to tell her when she gets here. If you said one thing, and that is that people with the ability to quick irritability do something to you. I'll see if you know. Yes, right. So I'm constantly walking on eggshells with her. Matters, but this is one of them. Now, real emotions which would come from why? Okay, having this meeting will help you no matter how it changes. If you had to be impulsed to want to back away from all the time, but it's always for father. What time is it? You follow now. Play, play. It's a play. Does that give you something up to work? Yes. I hate the way we're living. Let's get out of this house at the moment. I think it would be senseless too. You wouldn't be too surprised, would you, friends, at what if I should suddenly call us a day? Terry, what are you talking about? It's not a new idea. It's been around for a long time. I don't see you can say. It seems I can say it at last. It seems I can say it. You never thought I would. I know you wouldn't. You've no reason. I don't. Real. What about our agreement? Agreements are easy enough before marriage. Then what's prevented? My too good a Catholic. That's one thing. I've never thought of any of you. Why not? Because we don't run to church all the time like newborn Edith. Maybe you better convert. She did and become more Catholic than a Pope. Now, you are being Irish. Maybe you're right. Maybe I'm not one. I've said that too. Maybe I'm not one. I'm nothing. Let them keep on pretending if they like. Not me. Look here, do you love me? Do you really love me anymore? What do you think? Then why don't you say something? In my opinion, with a necessity for a question of that sort of process. Think I'm going to be writing? Look, this lot more hidden means the eye. It's more than a question of where or how we live, whether I teach law or practice it. Now, you've got something on your mind and have had for months. Why not out? You handled that obsessively. Yes, reasonably. Right, without belligerence. That is what is meant when you say, what do I do? How do I do this? To give it character. That's character. This is what I have to do, and this is the way I'm gonna do it. Where does it come from? He was the one to go and get the wild cat over there to come to me. He's a teacher. All teachers, very reasonably gentle, mental, not emotional. In other words, but typical teacher. He did everything that way. How you do it. Who makes you for character? Otherwise, it would have been a free improvisation with him working off, fighting with her, a slum fest if you follow it. It's necessary to point that out. Ah, Spoon River. There, what Sandy said are the things that either make or break the person. They separate the men from the boys. It's from Edgar Lee Master's Spoon River Anthology, and they are poems, and they're stories of people's lives. We're using explorers because, among other reasons, they are all about people who make quite clear the feeling of their life. Although they are written as three-verse poems, they've got to be treated as conversational reality. Preparation is intensely secret. Nobody's business about where you got it. It is only yours. Nobody else. And there's somebody who says to you, you know, this is such a subtle question and so difficult that it's on me the thinking. You call it fantasy, call it preparation, call it transformation, call it what you like. Say the only test is, is something working for you? And then to learn how to let it envelope. He didn't think American actors could do Shakespeare. He said, if you want to do Shakespeare, go study in England for five years because we don't do it well. So he used this kind of poetry as his Shakespeare, and the assignment is to take that poetry and turn it into a real person so that literally, when they speak, there is no poetry, and they become real. And it is the ultimate form of character work because not only do you do it as yourself, but then once you understand it as yourself, you figure out what the character of that person is. So you end up creating all the three dimensions of the time, the person, their accent, everything. So it's the ultimate coming together of all of the elements of the technique. They're all broken down when we teach them, but at Spoon River point, they're together, and that's when you fly. And the great actors, it's amazing to watch them. Anna Klute, over and over, they used to ask me while buying the wine or the beer in Peoria, first and later in Chicago, Denver, Frisco, New York, wherever I lived, how I happened to lead the life. And what was the start of it? Well, I told them a silk dress and a promise of marriage from a rich man. It was Lucius Atherton, but that was not really it at all. Suppose a boy steals an apple from the tray at the grocery store, and they all begin to call him a thief. The editor, minister, judge, and all the people, a thief, a thief, a thief. Wherever he goes, and he can't get work, and he can't get bread without stealing it. Why, the boy will steal. It's the way the people regard the theft of the apple that makes the boy what he is. Now, we're going to talk about true preparation. For your purposes, it is a conversation between you and them. Employ you and Barbara, or anybody you choose. In other words, it's intimate poetry. It's conversational reality, not oratory. It's one speech, part of a play, and that's all. You yourself must to be obvious. Somebody. Okay. You, you don't look like that. Why'd you get that way? Why are you laughing? Over and over, they used to ask me while buying the wine or the beer in Peoria, first and later in Chicago, Denver, Frisco, New York, wherever I lived, how I happened to lead the life. And what was the start of it? Okay, not bad at all. Now, suppose, goodbye, as the director would say. Francis, emotionally, you are very alive. I think it's coming from your nervousness. You see. Now, tell me, the last two lines. Read the last two lines. It's the way the people regard the theft of the apple that makes the boy what he is. Now, big question. How do you feel about that? Angry. Angry. Your interpretation. Who comes from the last two blinds? That's what you have to prepare for. Our interpretation. Who was unhappy? You're saying she's angry. He's a prostitute who never watched one. Who, all of these things, deterioration. And that's your emotional interpretation. And reveal it. Your companion. Now, I don't get the impression that. And is that true or not? That's true. You'll have to characteristic and true of you. But I don't want that. But I'm the director, so it's up to you to find a different way. Who, by the way, is via preparation? Yeah. Would you keep the accent? When a great actor works, they're working from their private self. They're going down to the deepest, most private, darkest places a lot of the time, and they're working out of that. Sandy did not believe that acting was therapy. I don't either. So we don't divulge what we use for that reason. And secondly, what moves me does not move you. So if I were to tell you what I'm using, you may look at me and say, that's silly. And what you've done is you've just made me self-conscious about something that I feel. So his belief was, you don't share it. If only one, anybody asks you where did you get that from? You say, talent. Over and over, they used to ask me while buying the wine or the beer, first in Peoria, and later in Chicago, Denver, Frisco, New York, wherever I lived, how I happened to lead the life. What was the start of it? Oh, it, God. Well, I told them a silk dress and a promise of marriage from a rich man. It was Lucius Atherton, but that was not really it at all. Suppose a boy steals an apple from a tray at the grocery store, and everybody begins to call him a thief. The editor, minister, judge, and all the people, a thief, a thief, a thief. Wherever he goes, and he can't get work, he can't get bread without stealing it. Well, the boy will steal. It's the way that the people regard the theft of the apple that makes the boy what he is. It's good. I'm not going to ask you what it does for you, but you didn't have a. Can you make it stronger so that what you have at the end is what you begin with? What I come in with has to be something that makes me explode at the beginning. Is that it? So that it isn't something that grows? It's something that, as if it was like a slap in the face or something, so that I come back. And the word explode is different than having it. It's not exploding, but I know what you mean. Yeah, you know, it's somebody who has. Yeah, you have a complaint. Yeah. Now, who you have to spend in life? The voice of your complaint. The more it builds, because what I did was I think my own tendency of reaction again, and that is wrong for this character because I am slower to anger. It takes me. I'm not the kind that explodes back. You want to do it now? Well, I can try it. All right. Okay. Over and over, they used to ask me while buying the wine or the beer, first in Peoria, later in Chicago, Denver, Frisco, New York, wherever I lived, how I happened to live the life. What was the start of it? Well, I told them a silk dress and a promise of marriage from a rich man. It was Lucius Atherton, but that was not really it at all. Suppose a boy steals an apple from a tray at the grocery store, and they all begin to call him a thief. The editor, minister, judge, and all the people out there, they believe. Wherever he goes, and he can't get work, he can't get bread without stealing it. Well, the boy will steal. It's the way the people regard the theft of the apple that makes the boy what he is. Oh, that's right. Okay.

[Music] Um, you just began to do it. Let's see. And it brings all kinds of unanticipated.

[Music] No, no, no, no. You have to start singing inside of yourself at the very first note. So when you come to your, you're emotionally ready. Now, that's it for a preparation. Is that to say that the scene starts before you come on stage? I know an actress that never read the other parts because she said she always wanted to be surprised when she got on stage. In life, you never know what the other person is going to say anyway. She's got a point. I told her that. Um.

[Laughter] This is the only profession, creative profession, that I know that gives you, yeah, already made opportunity to avoid being specific. Can you imagine appearance playing my jet road?

[Music] [Laughter] The difficulty, one of them with acting is that you aren't given an out for being specific. Lines, beginning lines. You say the lines in the way that generally you feel they should be delivered, but what the lines permit you to do is to avoid having the life come from something specific that meeting behind every moment. Who is specific? Because that's the. And you know generally what would you like to feel? So you combine saying the words and suggesting the emotion might be, but there are no roots. It has no roots. The emotion of the body, no foundation. Beach specific. It's all over the neighboring plants. If you have felt the experience of the specific, uh, emotion, and then you try to do something, and you haven't got it, you really do feel so empty. You just don't know quite what is wrong, but there's something not there. It doesn't seem to matter even whether what you're called upon to do is supposed to be harsh or sad or depressing or whatever it. When you know what you're doing, acting wise, it's been fun.

[Laughter] Nothing in life is alien to you. I was a penniless girl from Summon who stepped off the morning train in Spoon River. All the houses stood before me with closed doors and drawn shades. I was barred out. I had no place or part in any of them. And I walked past the old McNeely mansion, a castle of stone, mid-walks of gardens with workmen about the place like guards, and the county and stayed upholding it.

for its lordly owner full of pride. I was so hungry I had a vision. I saw a giant pair of scissors dipped from the sky like the beam of a dredge and cut the house in two like a curtain.

But at the commercial, I saw a man. He, he winked at me when I was asking for work. He was Walsh McNeely's son. He proved the link in the chain by which I, I had half ownership in the mansion through a breach of promise suit. The scissors, so you see, the house from the day I was born was only waiting for me.

What do you think? The notes who blessed? I think she's had the town. I feel like she's, you know, the, um, she's really had the town. She's, she, the joke is on them. It's pure joy. It's triumph. Well, it's delicious. That's what you should begin with. Until I said, "You, I saw the funniest thing today. Who wants to laugh?" You know, I saw exactly squashed by a truck. And then at the end, it comes out that there were two dummies sitting up in the back of the taxi. But I thought more people by that they were killed.

Now, the essence of the phone is that if it was a marriage. So I say, "I saw two men killed and attacked me today." Now, she goes through hell at the beginning. No job, no money, patience to barrier. And at the end, she's the queen. Program. Can you see the point there? So, but let's say, don't do this. But let's say at the beginning, we see you overcome with joy. Who by delirium? Who by the lines would say, "I arrived"? We say to myself, "What the hell is your back again?" You follow until finally, by the end, it came out, "It's mine." But I didn't know it then. It wasn't that great.

Nothing in life is alien to you. Look, I was a penniless girl from Summon. I stepped off the morning train in Spoon. All the doors were shut and, and the shades drawn. I was barred out. I had, I had no place, no part in any of them. I, I walked by the old McNeely mansion, of a castle of stone, mid walks and gardens, with, with workmen all about like guards, and, and the county and state upholding the property for its lordly owner, full of pride. I was so hungry. I had a vision. I saw this giant scissor dip from the sky like, like a dredge, like a beam from, from a dredge, and it cut the house into like a curtain.

But, um, down at the commercial, um, I, I saw a man. He winked at me as I asked for work. It was Walsh McNeely's son. He approved the link in my chain of title to half ownership in the mansion through a breach of promise suit. The scissors, so you see, from the day I was born, the house was just only waiting for me.

[Music] [Laughter]

What is the justification for this poem? But they speak, she's full of her accomplishment. She's full of what she did with her life. I don't need your justification. The immediate justification. What causes you to try to cheer somebody up? Oh, because they, you know, they, they both feel that there's, uh, there's, there's no hope. That they're, you know, that they're, uh, that they're locked into the kind of life that they're living now. That they're never gonna have any money. That they're never gonna get ahead. That they're, you know, they're women. Why would it be if one of them was crying?

Nothing in life is alien to you. I was a penniless girl from Summon. Stepped off the morning train in Spain. The houses stood before me with closed doors and drawn shutters. You don't say, "I'm going away for the weekend." Because when it comes right down to it, she's in trouble. But I watch around. Hell with it. Look at me. When I got off the train, I have a tendency myself to, to do exactly what you're, what, what you're saying. I, I, I have a tendency as a person to feel that everything is possible and that there are no boundaries in life. That's sort of the way my life is. And I, I was, I was preparing while all, you know, while we were talking. And I was, I, I was trying to deal with her in a, you know, in a way that was much more compassionate. Because generally, I am not very, I, I am compassionate, but I tend to in the last few years not be able to deal with that very well. I'm, you know, it's, it's kind of like there's a survival instinct that takes over. And I'm saying, you know, nothing in life is alien to you. Look at me. I'm a penniless girl from Summons who got off the train. That's why you shouldn't have done it. What's the matter with you? But it's not patient coming at you. That's no time to be patient. I think I got off yesterday. When we did, when we did it again, and, and I, and I was reaching out to her. And, and you said, "That's the direction I want you to go." And it was, it was much more compassionate and much more understanding. And I was trying to relate it to, to that pain that she's going through. And less to my own selfish, "Get off your ass and quit the bellyaching." That's better. It's not very nice. You know what direction you should be given for the way you did it, which was very nice. Come on, talk. See, I mean, if you, if, if the director wanted it the way we just did it, yeah, it still would have to have an energy that's and simple tempo. The tempo is the only thing that's wrong with it. No. Another thing, she's got trouble laughing off. I hate crying. Let Franny do it tomorrow. Will you? Yes. You demonstrated very clearly that today you couldn't cry. [Laughter] I will see. I don't like to. Because if, when I get those parts, I don't like them. There's a difference, you know, of can or not wanting to, not want to do it yet. They hurt, Sandy. And that's why I try to choose parts where I don't have to cry. That's too personal. But if you play a part where you have to be emotionally disturbed and hurt yourself every night, eight a week, which I did once, and I said I'd never do it again. Because I, I, I don't want to live like that every night. Lose the objectivity of the fact that to play a part is like the chop wood. There's something embarrassing, a little bit. You mean keep your distance from the beach? Say it. I know, but I, I know that's what you're supposed to do. But, uh, it never happens that way. So I get on the stage and I have to hurt myself from something somebody does to me. I take it personally. Well, that's possible. But you said today, "You can't cry." Tonight, I didn't think I could because I didn't want to so badly. Did you notice that I ignored it? I know, I know you ignore it. But it is a problem that I wish there could be solved where you could just, uh, do things on stage emotionally and not have to feel them. There are many ways. Oh, tell me. Give me the bag. All right. The part that I really was hated was, I loved it. I mean, it's not that it was by Tennessee Williams. It was my favorite playwright, anyway, aside from old year. And, um, I disagree about the playwrights. I know. I think I know you do. You like Shakespeare best? Loves? [Laughter] But he doesn't write as good women as Tennessee does. Um, that's his problem. But poor Shakespeare is dead. Uh, no. Asking you, this is such a thing as being too subjective. But all right, if it is called for in the play, which it was in "Period of Adjustment," I come on howling with tears and I howl through tears for three acts. And the audience would not laugh as much if I was faking it, which I began to do because I couldn't physically. I felt, "It's not a release for me to hurt myself to feel abandoned," which is what though Isabel had have a stick in that place about. She feels abandoned. This is not a pleasant thing to have to go through eight a week. I could hardly. That's the weakness in it. But you have to do it. Late. Yes, sir. I know that eight a week is only an economic, what do you call them, in our theater, uh, but what I'm asking is, is it all right just to say, "The hell with it," and fake it? Five performances at least. You may be doing a play or a film where you have to go to some pretty dark, deep emotional places. That's not easy for any of us to do. Nobody wants to feel this horrible tragedy. So we have those natural defense systems. But what's great about the technique is it teaches you how to get past them and do it. But if you are a true artist, you will heal yourself through your art. Because we have a saying that says, "You cannot use that which you do not acknowledge." If you can't accept something in yourself, it's not in your work. Because how can you go there? You don't accept it. You don't want to deal with it. And I truly believe that acting is a very spiritual art. And the longer you do it, if you're really going to keep going to the next levels and not stagnate, you have to go and you have to get to know yourself. And you come to at the bottom, you come to accept who you are. And some, that's one place that some people only reach. But if you can accept everything that you are, good, bad, and ugly, you can be a great actor. Now, what we hope for is that you reach the next level where you truly learn to like who you are. And I don't just mean the good things. You know, it's really easy for people to accept what's good about them. I have a temper. I'm Irish. It's not my best side, but I accept it and I like it. Now, I don't use it wrongly. But if I get mad about something, it's okay. It's a part of me. And then ultimately, I think the highest level that we all want to achieve, I haven't achieved it yet, but I'm working towards, is that we learn to love ourselves. So when you look at it that way, acting doesn't hurt anybody. In, in 21 years, I've never seen acting hurt any real actor. I've seen them say, "Oh, I'm tired of playing this part. I don't like feeling it anymore." But in that, there's understanding. If you're going into yourself that deep, and you're looking at yourself and what makes you feel and why you feel, you're going to come to some pretty powerful insights about life.

Now, do it like a big joke. One sentence did not get itself out. You know, that's ridiculous. What's making us so miserable? Nothing in life is alien to you. I was a penny, penniless girl from Summons. I got off the train in Spoon River. The houses stood before me like with closed doors and drawn shades. I was bored out. I didn't have a place for part in any of them. I walked past the old McNeely mansion, a castle of stone, with walks and gardens and these workmen all around like guards, and the county and state up holding the property for its lordly owner, full of pride. But down at the commercial, I saw a man. He winked at me when I asked for work. It was Walsh McNeely's son. He approved the lincoln, the check, the title to have my ownership in the mansion through a breach of promise suit. [Laughter] The scissors, so you see, from the day I was born, the house was only just waiting for me.

You know, that's a characteristic difficulty. But I don't know why. Yes, I do. But it's easier to be miserable proven to be happy. You know, when you're supposed to be happy, you get all dense and miserable. [Laughter] What was your trouble? It was my preparation, Sandy. I can't tell you. I'm sorry. That's all right. Well, you tell me sometime. Oh, of course, privately. It just said, you know, that's all right to come back to this business by being happy. It's a pain in the neck. That senses you up. You're afraid to stop. Mostly. But that was well on its way. Preparation is a daydream. It is wishful thinking. Call it what you like. Uh, it is a device of the imagination which stimulates you. What you're looking for emotionally. There's a study out that says that by the time a baby is three years old, they have heard the word "no" twenty thousand times. Twenty thousand times. Can you imagine that? And at that point, they stop believing in who they are. They stop listening to their own sense of truth. And it comes from mom and dad, and they're the authority figures. Now, you multiply that by school. You have to conform to fit into those rules. Religion, I'm not saying religion's bad, but there's a lot of dogma in religion that you have to follow. Relationships. By the time somebody gets to be 18 or 20, they don't know who they are anymore. They're so used to listening to what they're supposed to be or how they're supposed to fit in, and they've quit listening to themselves. So this work is all about unraveling that and getting back to the instinctual person of you. We believe that your instincts are 100 percent right. They're there for self-preservation. So how can they be wrong? So when you listen to the heart and you listen to your truth, your inner truth, you're on the ground. You're solid. Nobody can knock you over. But when you listen to society, that's somebody else's idea. So you're not grounded, and you can be knocked over very easily. You can't be a or a gentleman. That applies for older girls. You cannot be a lady and be an actress. No, no, no. Characteristic nature doesn't work that way. Um, society is man-made. Somebody made up a bunch of rules that said, "I will subdue or repress who I am and how I feel for the betterment of the group so that we can all survive." And perhaps we need those rules to live in a city. We have a city of 12 million people here. We need some rules, and I need to subdue some of myself so that everybody gets to benefit. But in art, it's complete and other death. The thing that's okay emotionally. Quite, I could explain it to you in the character. Now, this is, and it won't help you because it doesn't touch your experience. I wondered, Sandy, if you still, this is after the preparation of a scene, if you still teach and help those actions that you did when I was in school? You, you would say to do, you know, this particular beat has a certain action, and this one will have another one. If you put them together correctly, and breaking down the script into beats, huh, into this action here and this action here, I mean, the underlying action, or if you have to get mad or something, just go, "Whoa!" Make yourself do something. Well, then you look mad. If you do that, I mean, you feel mad, what not? Do you still teach the students to write those things down in the margin? No more. I found it so valuable when I was stuck. Maybe why is it wrong? It's not right. It's not wrong. You don't teach whatever helps you emotionally. You said many years ago when I was in school, you said, "Okay, a few years ago when I was in school, you said, um, to fantasize the rest of our," not you didn't use that word, you said, "Do preparations just for fun every day at home for the rest of your life." And, um, I've done that. Sometimes it gets to be a killer, you know, and then sometimes it's wonderfully funny. But that I found too, when you said that, I thought, "Oh, gee, how can anybody go do a daydream or a fantasy every single day?" I thought I would never be able to do it. But I found it easier and easier and easier to do something and more fun. Give you really a nice. And you said you shouldn't share with anyone what your preparation is. Well, it's not. It's too personal. Much too personal. You know, I don't like to talk about preparation because it's too complicated for the not talented and comes from brother injury. I studied with Stella. I was at the Actor's Studio two weeks after Lee Strasberg died. For a year, I studied with Bobby Lewis. I watched Judy Holliday work for years. I studied with Herbert Berghof. So I studied with all the best. But Sandy's system is the only one, the only one out of all of them, that has a systematic approach from day one all the way up through what I would consider college, that gets people who don't have that raw talent that we're talking about of Marlon Brando to the same place that Marlon got naturally. Literally, just because I don't come to life with any one particular activity, it's, I shouldn't have just attacked myself. Not saying, "Well, I'm not a good actor because I can't get this." It's probably because I didn't set it up right. And I've learned it so much. Probably 99 percent of it is the homework that has to be go into setting up the exercise and the activity. And if I set it up right and just simply do it after that, it will just happen for me. The state of the technique today is that we're becoming the main technique. You're seeing a lot less method classes. You're seeing a lot less Stanislavski because it takes too long. You know, Sandy's, I always said Sandy's work is nuts and bolts. There is no such thing as grammar, punctuation in acting. Okay. Periods and so on because the whole thing works on your natural impulses. Okay. Did you know that there was no punctuation in Shakespeare? The academicians who put it in, it's when the colleges who've got their offense on them. Is somebody dropped in? You don't need any punctuation.

The secret of the stars, gravitation. The secret of the earth, layers of rock. The secret of the soil, to receive seed. The secret of the seed, the germ. The secret of man, the sower. The secret of woman, the soil. My secret under a mound that you shall never find. The worst possible thing that I can say to you is that it's gotta be made back in order to do that. It means, in its simplest way, to find a way of doing it right. Yeah. The secret of the stars, gravitation. The secret of the earth, layers of rock. The secret of the soil, to receive seed. The secret of the seed, the germ. The secret of man, the sower. The secret of woman. [Music] The soil. My secret under a mound that you shall never find. More interesting, you know? Yeah. What made it more intriguing? Having a specific, uh, intention. The teasing, an attitude made it more a way of doing it. Yes. Right. Right. You know, it's not merely nice to be interested in it. [Music] Upon you. It depends on what the other fella does. When I read this, uh, I really had no idea what to do with it. Isn't the whole racial process of working out hope your character idea? Yes. Yes. You're a good actor. Stuff making a living that way. [Music] You.