Richland beacon. [volume] (Rayville, La.) 1869-1890, 1880-02-28
SARAH BERNHARDT


Gives the New spanish Queen . Lesson II
the Art Of Klssing.
tolvs LogAn's Paris Letter.l
What a spectacle we saw last night
on the Stage of the Francais! Hermann
is the chief deuvre of the modern re-
pertoire of the Francais, and last night,
believe me, Sara Bernhardt and her
valiant coadjutors we're on their mettle
During the first four acts La Bernhardt
hss little opportunity to be more than a
living piece of statuary. What poses!
What abandon! Every attitude grace,
not poise of a finger that might not
satisfy the eye of Canova; yet no set
grouping, all ease. Thus for tho four
suppressed acts Sara moves, a thing of
beauty and repose, the latter broken
only by the FIRE of that classic utter
ance:
"Yon are my lion, superb and gener.
Gus! Hove you"
But when the fifth act comes, you
must prepare to have your nerve shaken.
Great Heavens, is it possible that such
love as this can be only feigningi
What must this actor Mounet Sully be
made of, if, when the curtain falls, he
can blandly say: "Good evening" and
turn his back on this maddening
creature who has been mauling him,
with painting breast, and liquid eyes,
and half exhausted voice for nearly an
hour? 1t must certainly be said for
Sara Bernhardt that she has discovered
new departures in the art of kissing.
don't believe the man lives w.Iose
back hair has been so extensively, thor
Coghly and exhsustiveiy kissed as Mou-
net Sully's has by Sara Bernhardt.
From the very moment D,nar Sal finds
that tine plans of the conspira,ors are
likely to succeed, ana she is not going
to have her Herman; as much as sne
thought she was, Bernhardt he:ins her
study of kisses, which certainly includes
all the variatiOns-'andante. allegro
con amore, ""il penseroso," "cre-cerdo."
and never "minueEdO," until they are
both dead, and, presumably, can never
get ki>,ed any more. As kiss5r, Sara
is too numerous to mention. Size does
not stand on the order of her kissing.
but kisses at once. Conventional kiss.
ing spots are agreeable, hut not indiS.
pensab!e, if not handy. For instance
when Hermann is using his lips to abuse
his enemies with, and therefore is
obliged to borrow them for a little
while from Sara, she employs the time
putting kisses all over him like the but
tOns on the jacket of the page il
Cousin Joe. She stands on her tip-toe-
for MOunet Sully is over six feet tall
to kiss the real central lock on the
apex of his Uranium; leaving her hand.
clasped up there, she goes on excursions
with her scarlet lips in the iuterstices OF
his neck-frill. When hampered by the
cOnvent;onalities of unphilosophit
wearing apparel, against whose absurd
trammels Carlyle's sage pro,es ed SO
valiantly (man being, according to the
Teuaelsdroeck theory, a naked and not
betrothed animaD, she finds no more
can tof kiss, she simply falls to kissing
his wardrobe. She puts her loving head
upon his arm, and kisses all the velvet
and satil thereabOuts She winds her
self around his waist and kisses every
puff on the front of his doub!et. And
when at last he -kiss-assaulted with the
persistency of a besieger battering a
fortress sheds On her his noble smile,
and lifting his kissing slenderling right
off her feet, clasps her with his long,
strong arms to his breast, and goes into
the kissing business himself, there is
positively a sigh of relief and satisiac-
tion among the audience. She has got
her kiss at last, poor girl; we hope She
enjoys it! We can see the 1.-the, snake
like frame shiver under it, and hear the
golden voice, broken into syllables by
kissing, murmur ecstatically, "Oh, my
Hermann" He has got her up clear of
the floor, as a mother holds babe. one
arm around her shoulders, the other
perdu in the folds of her trailing train
of pink silk crepe; he is simply nursing
her. A group in statuary? Aye, so
help me Michael Angeloi Now. BY the
Swan of Leda, by the Cupid love of
Pysche. by every Kissing deity in the pa
gan mythology, if it be only . stage kiss
Mounet Sully gives her-a kiss of dis
like the drinking OF the poison
and the stabbing of the poignards--a
kiss, taken to avoid the
swallowing of carmine on the scarlet
lips; if it be, then lam willing to confess
that Mounet Sully is more accomplished
as an artist than impetuous as a man.
And while the future Queen of Spain
was leaning on the scarlet cushion in
front of her. in the Imperial box to
witness this fascinating spectacle,
lesson to her in the divine art of kissing,
poor Eugene was resting at the resi-
dence of the Duke de MOuchy, in the
Avenue de Courcelles, after . fatigu-
ing voyage from England.