No Man Can Be A Genius In

No Man Can Be A Genius In Slapshoes And A Flat Hat.

Not Long Ago A Friend Asked Me What Was The Greatest Pleasure I Got From Spending My Whole Life As An Actor. There Have Been So Many That I Had To Think About That For A Moment. Then I Said, 'like Everyone Else, I Like To Be With A Happy Crowd'.

I Was Mad At The Time, Or I Would Never Have Done The Thing.

Down Through The Years My Face Has Been Called A Sour Puss, A Dead Pan, A Frozen Face, The Great Stone Face, And, Believe It Or Not, "a Tragic Mask." On The Other Hand That Kindly Critic, The Late James Agee, Described My Face As Ranking "almost With Lincoln's As An Early American Archetype, It Was Haunting, Handsome, Almost Beautiful." I Can't Imagine What The Great Rail Splitter's Reaction Would Have Been To This, Though I Sure Was Pleased.

I`ve Had Few Dull Moments [in My Life] And Not Too Many Sad And Defeated Ones. In Saying This I Am By No Means Overlooking The Rough And Rocky Years I`ve Lived Through. But I Was Not Brought Up Thinking Life Would Be Easy. I Always Expected To Work Hard For My Money And To Get Nothing I Did Not Earn. And The Bad Years, It Seems To Me, Were So Few That Only A Dyed-in-the-wool Grouch Who Enjoys Feeling Sorry For Himself Would Complain.