Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1875-04-21

creetest, best" of Camilla parsonage
who might have admitted, like Lola
Montez, that she had been 'lttle
wild and maynard" but would, like her
have added, ''yet never wicked" The
fact that this adoption was entitled
"Camile, the Coquette," showed how
the truth of realistic art-how the
French of twas sacrificed to English
proprieties and social moralities. Peo-
pie could not then bear such highly
seasoned French dishes as they gulp
down nowadays with hardly grimace.
Then came Matilda Heron, with an
impersonation that took the theater-go
ing public by storm. Her adaptation
had wonderful run, and the fame of
the passionate, impulsive, eccentric
young actress leaped at once into grand
proportions and grew night by night. 1t
was the Inauguration of the social sensa-
tional drama. Miss Heron gave us, if
not a profoundly interesting, very
etfecting Camille The abandon, the
fierce warmth of her passion, and the ut
ter desoIateness of her sorrow struck me
as rather Celtic than Gallo, but We're al
together startlingly realistic. She was
In extremes from the beginning
gayety was that of bacshante--her love
was something terrible in it's intensity
her grief more maddened than melted
one; you resented such merciless draft
upon your ssympathies. There was
something peculiar exasperating IN her
pathos a}ways-it did not touch, it tore
the heart. So deeply was [ affect by
an impersonation so peculiar and SO sad,
powerful to audacity and passionate al
most to frenzy, that for many years [
refused to witness any other representa-
ton of play SO morbid In feeling, SO
revolving in its half unconscious exhibit
ton of injustice, cruelty, falsehood, vice
aud brutal selfshness-shrank from
agonizing over any new picture Of that
fearful life Of social ostracism, of ghast,
ly tragedy, and more CHASTITY comedy,
to which French genius and art have
given lurid fascination. 1t is picture
full of darkness and horror to a woman
who loves her fellow woman and yearns
over her, down through folly and mad
ness, through degradation, sin and
shame But, with all its faults, this
seems to be sort of test-play for
emotional, as ''Hamlet' is for intellec-
tual power; so, when Miss Clara Nor
ris, an actress In whom [ am deeply in
terested, essayed the part of Camille, [
was tempted to see her more than once
Her performance was marked
by wonderful realization, natural
ness, and magnetic power, but
it was, on the whole too
plaintive, ingenious and innocent.
There are before me now two of
Sarony's exquisite photographs Of Miss
Morris-one as Alike, in which charac
ter she won her best. most lovable fame,
the other as Camille, and It is difficult
to tell which has the most pure and
maidenly air and expression. [
thought Miss Morris sinned little
against nature, or art, in being too pen
sive and djstraite in the early scenes of
the G-lay. She is far removed from her
gay companions; their wild merriment
brings but a Pickering smile to her
still, sad face-white and cold as her
camellias Love, the only true love Of
her unhappy life, wrought little change
In this regard III her Camille. She Is
lovely and remorseful from the first.
Yet surely a woman so exqulsitely con-
stituted, SO sensitive to the holIowness
and humiliations of her life, could
never have been the queen Of the mad
set in which she is found-could never
have SO recklessly reveled in extrava-
gance, luxury, and lying. There was
one moment when she looked the
woman of that mysterious half world
which SO often rules and ruins the
greater world. 1t was when her sweet,
subtle eyes were watering with almost
feline eagerness and cunning the swift
dissolving of Armand's scruples of
"honor," under the spell of her tempt
ing words and tender looks. Alas, the
chaste charms OF Valeria sleep coIdly
in her tomb, while the sorcerIes Of
Phryne are immortal. The great scenes
for Miss Morris, in this as in her other
roles, were those of pure pathos,
especially the one following her inter-
view with that dreadful Duval pere,
and the death scene. We turned away
from the last, fearful and silent, all the
feelings of indignation and rebellion
against the cruel fate, the falsehood and
stupid egotism that had broken the
heart and murdered the life of the poor
sinful girl whom love had at last re-
deemed, lost in a profound feeling of
sadness, almost of solemnity.
My fifth Camille was the beautiful
Mrs. Rousby. Hers was an elegant, re-
fined impersonation, not wanting in
strength, and showing careful study,
but, it seemed to me, lacking in spon-
taneity, magnetism and fexibility. Tt
was fine translation-but always z
translation. In dignity and heroism it
surpassed that of Miss Morris, but in
other features it was even further from
the Marguerite Gautie' of Dumas,
over whose woes and wrongs all Paris
I" fell to signing and soothing" twenty
years ago. She also, in the first scenes,
lacked the gayety of dress and cir and
repartee belonging to the radiant, reck-
less creature who plunges blindly into
debt and into love, and makes mad re-
prisals upon society. Her passion in
the love passages was certainly sufficient
less would have sufficed-but it had
a certain air of generalization. It was
literally love-making." It lacked the
Inconsistencies, the heartiness and
hurry SO remarkable in the more IN