Don’t Step Out of Character
By VIRGINIA SALE
ON A PLANE flying from Chicago to New York, my seat companion was a young girl who gave me a friendly smile as I sat beside her, but whose young face showed great sadness. Hesitantly, she told me she was on her way to the funeral of her seventeen-year-old brother, who had been killed in Korea. She also told me that her only other relatives were two brothers, both in the service, and that they had lost their eldest brother in the war in Europe. I wanted to say something to comfort her…I felt so useless…say something to comfort her…I felt so useless…All I could say was “I’m so sorry.” And I thought, “Just what can I do to help bring order and hope into the world today?” And the thought came to me, “I can pray and my prayers will tune in with other sincere prayers to create a mighty force for good and for peace in the world.”
As a girl I was fortunate in having old-fashioned, religious parents, and I often think of the old hymn my good father sang so lustily as stood beside him in church, “I need Thee every hour.” As I’ve grown older my philosophy has changed—in a way. I don’t think of God now as an old man with a long gray beard sitting up on a throne. I believe in a practical religion. What good is it unless I can use it to help solve my daily problems, large or small?
I am grateful for what I consider the most worthwhile things in my life—a happy marriage, a good husband, and a son and daughter who become infinite ly finer as they grow up. Success in my theatrical career has come second to these. However, no matter what my material blessings may be, I realize that my happiness must come from within myself. I can’t get back anything I don’t give out. Anybody knows a sure cure for the blues is to get out and do something nice for someone else.
I have had a wonderful opportunity, on my tours with my one-woman show, to meet fine, good people in every one of the seven hundred towns I’ve played. From them I know that good people predominate in every part of this country.
I love my work. I believe that laughter is a great soul cleanser, and I pray that my audiences may somehow be better off for having seen my show. I believe in blessing everything and everybody along the way. Sometimes I may have let stage fright and nerves rob me and my audience of my best performance. I have failed if I haven’t beforehand blessed everyone in my audience, everyone backstage, and, when I’m working in television, radio or motion pictures, everyone in the studio—my fellow actors and the director and technicians. I admire their courage, their goodhearted generous qualities.
What do I mean by “blessing”? Well, I first have a deep sense of gratitude to an audience, and a feeling of good will and good wishes, so that I know there is complete harmony between them and me, and I know they will like me because I really like them—that we will tune in together.
My late brother, the great character actor and comedian, Charles “Chic” Sale, said to me one time we were talking about spiritual things and about being perfect channels for expression_r: “The thing to do, kiddo, is to stay in character—be God’s child.” And I try never to forget this.
演好自己的角色
弗吉尼婭·塞爾
一次，在從芝加哥飛往紐約的航班上，我坐在一個年輕女孩旁邊。我坐下時她對我友好地笑了一下，但她年輕的面孔卻流露出深切的悲痛。遲疑中，她向我道出了原委——她此行是要去參加她弟弟的葬禮，弟弟只有十七歲，葬身在朝鮮戰場。她的另兩位兄弟是她僅有的親人，都在服役，而她的大哥也已戰死在歐洲。我很想安慰她……我覺得自己無能為力……只能對她說：“我很難過。”我想，為了世界有太平和希望，我能做什么呢？突然我想到了禱告。“我可以禱告，我的禱告與其他虔誠的禱告一定能匯聚成一股巨大的'力量，讓世界充滿美好與和平。”
我是個幸運的女孩，父母的思想很傳統，篤信宗教。我常記起兒時在教堂里，站在我身邊的父親經常滿懷激情地哼唱一首古老的贊美詩，“上帝啊，我時時刻刻需要你！”長大以后我的人生信條在某種程度上有所改變。我不再認為上帝是一個坐在寶座上、留著長長白胡子的老頭。我奉行的人生信條很現實。如果它不能幫我解決日常生活中大大小小的問題，那它有什么用呢？
對我來說，演藝事業的成功是次要的，人生最重要的是美滿的婚姻、一個好丈夫和一雙越來越有出息的子女。這些我都得到了，對此我心存感激。可是，無論我得到什么物質上的恩賜，真正的幸福必須源自我的內心。沒有對他人的付出就不可能有任何回報。眾所周知，隨時準備行善才是根除憂愁的良藥。
我的個人巡回演出給了我一個大好機會，使我結識了我所到的七百多個小鎮上無數善良的人們。他們讓我相信在這個國家畢竟好人還是占大多數。
我熱愛我的工作。我相信歡笑能凈化靈魂，我祈禱我的演出能讓人們更加幸福快樂。我相信我一路上給每件事每個人送去的祝福。有時我可能怯場、緊張，無法向觀眾呈現最精彩的表演。我演砸了是因為沒有事先為每位觀眾、每位后臺的工作人員祈福，或是在電視臺、廣播電臺、攝影棚拍電影時沒有為我的搭檔、導演、技師等每位演職人員祈福。他們都那么勇敢、善良、慷慨，令我欽佩不已。
我所說的“祈福”是什么意思呢？我首先對觀眾充滿深深感激，然后對他們滿懷美好的祝愿。這樣一來我就知道我能和觀眾和諧互動，因為我真的喜愛他們，他們也會喜愛我——這樣我們就能產生心靈的共鳴。
我已去世的哥哥查爾斯·“奇克”·塞爾是一位了不起的性格演員和喜劇演員。有一次我們談起精神世界的話題，討論完美的演技。我記得他對我說，“小家伙，做上帝的子民——這就是你要演好的角色”——這一點，我要努力永遠銘記在心。
附注：
弗吉尼婭·塞爾：是一名多才多藝、工作勤奮的性格演員。
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