The great screen lovers - Valentino, Gable, Garbo all had to start somewhere. Perhaps they started out like George Brown.

"When I was sixteen years old I was playing the role of Bo Decker, a young cowboy in the city for the first time, in Bus Stop. Since it was a college production, I didn't have as much experience as the other actors.

"When it came to the big kiss at the end of the play, the actress who played Cherry, took charge, took the lead. She gave me a kiss I'll never forget for the rest of my life," said Brown, a graduate student studying directing.

The reactions of the other actors were just as memorable, he added. "There were a lot of blushing faces."

For those actors who encounter their first love scene, professor Tom Foral has this advice: "The best preparation for a scene is to fall in love," said Foral. "You've got to have some frame of reference."

Most students are excited about doing love scenes if the conditions are right, said Foral, who teaches two University acting classes -- Theater 120 and 221.

"The first reaction of the students is 'with whom?' " laughed Foral. "They love it, especially if there is an attraction, a chemical reaction."

"If the person doesn't do anything for you -- and that is rare -- there has to be something or someone that you can imagine and substitute."

There are some students who refuse to work together but, "That occurs mostly in the classroom, not when roles are cast," Foral said.

Actors who are cast opposite each other, but do not have a good relationship offstage, may have problems, said Brown. Actors who do not like to associate with each other effect the rehearsal process. However, they are professionals and should be able to work around it, said Brown.

"Hopefully, that incompatability is noticed in the audition process," he said.

Dick Caram, another graduate directing student, has only ocassionally worked with actors who would not work with each other.

"The actor is making love to a character, they are in love with the character, not the actor," said Caram. "And most actors are pretty good at imagining the actor as the character."

Actors not only have to portray heterosexual relationships, but they may also have to play the role of a gay man or lesbian.

"I would direct the scene the exact same way as a heterosexual couple -- as two people who love each other. I would make sure the actors understand the playwright's intention," said Brown.

Homosexual relationships on the mainstream stage are fairly tame, said Caram. "They may consist of a kiss," he said. If they actors are auditioning for the parts, they must know what is involved, said Caram.

There are going to be some people who do not agree with what is going on in the play, said Brown. "The more mature, the more involved the actor is in the production, the easier loves scenes are to pull off."

Some actors do not try out for roles in plays that go against their religious beliefs.

"Religious beliefs can affect some scenes," said Brown, "Especially with things like extra-marital affairs."

Not everything always goes smoothly in the scenes, though. Foral recounted a story from his own acting experiences.

"In The Girl from Maxine's, I was wearing a painted on mustache, and I had to kiss an actress. When we pulled away she had a perfect imprint of the mustache on her upper lip." This is one of the classic jokes, and fears, of stage kisses, Foral said.

The most difficult part of doing a love scene is keeping a serious face.

"If you start to laugh you're really in trouble," said Caram.

Laura Ouziel (junior-general arts and sciences) had to deal with overcoming her embarassment to perform a scene.

"I had to throw my arms around this guy's neck and kiss him passionately, then he had to throw me off," she said. "It was really awkward at first."

The rehearsals for the scene, a requirement for Theater 102, The Fundamentals of Acting, were harder on Ouziel because they had to be done on the students' own time. "I wasn't expecting the scene -- I had to approach him, which is something I wouldn't do at all."

She said no professor directed the students, and they had to decide on the staging themselves. And her partner was as embarassed as she, Ouziel said.

"The scene turned out really well," said Ouziel. "I felt more comfortable doing it in front of the class because they were all doing the same kind of stuff."

"Rehearsals are all about getting better. You have to work so hard to believe it, to establish the truth. You become really acquainted," Foral said.

The scene would have been even harder to do if she had to act opposite someone she knew, Ouziel said.

"There are stories all over about stars who won't work together because they are friends or friends of spouses," said Foral. "Look at all the marriages that began that way."

Because actors work in intimate situations and open their souls to the other characters, they are very vulnerable, said Brown.

"They become involved to the point where it starts to destroy outside relationships." The best thing to do is to know yourself, he said.

Rehearsals are concentrated time, Foral said. "If you spend all day kissing someone, who wants to stop when it's quitting time?"