Ham, more harm by thunder !!! -- The Robert Newton Chatboard

[ Show ]

Support VoyForums

[ Shrink ]

VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, [2], 3 ]

Subject: Ham, more harm by thunder !!!

Author:
Tim

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 12:55:40 02/01/06 Wed

Looking at some of the "ham " comments on earlier threads it made me wonder if some of it came about because of Robert Newton and others such as Laurence Olivier and John Laurie, having come from the theatre to films and having worked in rep, and also in theatres where there were no sound systems or PA gear, had learnt to project like anything to reach the upper gallery ?

The make-up was also different,it was reckoned to be a good idea to use eye liner to emphasise the eyes, and a touch of carmine to the nostrils was also de rigeur for some.
Gestures, likewise were larger than life.

In certain plays a barnstorming effect is needed to get the thing across to the audience, "Merry Wives of Windsor" tends to read a bit "flat" off the printed page, but in the hands of a good group of actors "giving it lardy" as the saying goes, it fairly flies over the footlights !

Robert Newton certainly shows a theatrical approach in much of his work, as we see it today, and it seems to me that this might have come from his early training, as the two techniques of stage acting and film acting in many ways are as similar as riding a bike and gardening.

Or so it seems to me.....................

Tim.

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]