Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1879-06-24
SARAH BEREHARDT.
The Clara Morris Of Paris in LondOn---
The Wretohed Dressing Rooms
Of the Theater.
ParIs Cor. Ner ZOE Tribune.l

Paris Cor. New York Tribune.l
Mademoiselle Sarah Bernhardt's
accounts of English life in the Partisan
journal which has hired her at a huge
salary to furnish them are looked for
ward TO by the public with some
curiosity. Nobody believes that she
will write them. She is accompanied
by her sons Professor, and by a
chronicler Of the Gaulois. who. it is
suspected, will do the newspaper work
for her and share the splendid emolu-
ments. The young Bernhardt, who
goes with his mother, is fourteen years
old, and like to her as a boy can be to
a woman. | often see him with her
in the Pare Minceau, which is near
her villa, on the Plaine de Courcelles.
NJ. Emile de Girardin takes a p~aternal
interest in the youth, who is destined
to the bar and politics. The CORE
~spondents of the French journalists
who have accompanied the dramatic
artists of "Moliere House to Lon
don complain of the wretched dress
ing-rooms provided for the ladies of
the company. A frst-rate actress at
the Francois is luxuriously installed
between the acts. She has a large
saloon furnished with couches. easy
chairs, mirrors stretching from floor
to ceiling, and cheval glasses which
enable her to judge Of the effect of
her robe in ensemble and in each of
its details. Splendid ceramics orna-
ment the consoles and the mantel-
piece. and window-gardening is car
rled to perfection on the balcony.
Rare pictures, and marble and terra
Gotta busts of the fair occupant, give
a charmingly artistic finish to the
chamber. At the Francois greater
severity is affected in the dressing
rooms of the actresses than in most OIL
the other theaters. Mesdemoiselles
Croizette and Sarah Bernhardt. how
ever, have departed from the tradition
OF elegant simplicity and indulge in
fantastic imaginings to an extent
which would have made the tragedy
queens and leading condolences Of
former days to stare with sheer
amazement. One severe winter the
e%nslaver of the Due d'Aumale had
her apartment hung round with
ermine. The curtains were thick
ly fringed with the dark tails.
and the floor covered with Rus
sian sable. Couches and sofas
were in crimson satin, tufted
with butter-cup yellow, and the
firing woman was a mulatto
dressed in the liveliest colors and
adorned with the showiest Jewels.
Eighteenth century pictures adorned
the walls. They were a christening
present made to the infant son Of
Mademoiselle Croizette by a prince of
a royal house and Israelitish wealth.
Mademoiselle Sarah Bernhardt, not to
be Ou%tstripped in eccentricity, caused
her d~resslng-rOOm to be done up in
black velvet and silver, and %settees
having the form of collins to be
ranged round it. NJ. Perrin did not
like the noise and confusion which
arose out Of the changes of furniture.
But as the two gifted actresses were
determined to have their own way he
thought it polite not to get in their
way. There was one of them all
powerful with the director-general of
fine arts, and she threatened. if her
whims were interfered with, to pat
ronize a Well-known literary man who
was maneuvering to Dust M. Perrin
and obtain for himself the much
coveted post of manager of the Thea
ter Francois, which Is disposed of by
the French government.
Sarah Bernhardt has a genius for
getting herself before the public. She
Is q woman Of talent, has a melodious
though sometimes husky voice, and a
pair of fine eyes which seem to con
sumo the attenuated visage In which
they are set. Victor Hugo tola me
that, in his opinion, she is an ideal
Maria de Neubery'' in Ruy Bias, but
that che has nat the communicative
pathos or the exquisite tenderness of
Madame Dorval, who never, he was
sorry to say, acted in the piece. She
was sublime as she was touching in
Marion Delorme." Sarah Bernhard
has something Of Rachels talent for
recitlng Trades IN verse. She I'M
presses and astOnishes and sends
thrills through her hearers. but ac.
cording to Victor Hugo does not
arouse the finer sensibilities of the
gogl, Her self-consciousness is in
tense, and she is a very selfish woman.
though in her p%arculiar way a very
charming one. One of her charms is
that she is utterly unlike every other
fair charmer of the French stage of
which we know anything, and stands
! apart from all Of them. II was con
sIdered that the line Of beauty lay in
the gentle curve until Sarah Bern
hardt taught the skeleton might com
R9tS gEogssfg!y fqf tbe giFdla ,oEI
Venus. She docs moi seek to hide thel
meagerness of her form. Her clothes
drape her like a winding-sheet. Her
mouth is large, and she takes no pains
to hide its uncommon size by practic-
ipg Il smile which would only show
the edges 0f' her teeth. The mode
she has adopted in dressing her
hair on the stage adds to the
cbaEasteF. Of her strange nhysiog,
gomy. AZ h4&e She wearS ha
hair, which is nUt-browp and curly,
cropped like 4 boys, and is sometimes
clothed in a loose jacket and trousers.
When 2!aying at the Francois she
wears a wig, very mucn waved; which
Q l'8DtiqUe descends to her eyebrows.
Sarah Bernnardt is a good family
woman in SO far as loving and looking
after her children, of whom there are
Ennr Chn nil nnA lar hnr nrnnnr A !