The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1880-02-25
SARAH BERNHARDT
Gives the New sPanIsh queen n Lesson HR
the Arf of KfaalnEs

[chSs Logan's Paris Lettsr.l
What a spectacle we saw last night
on the Stage of the Francais HsrntdnS
is the chief FeWvrs Of the modern re-
pertoire of the Francois, and last night,
believe me, Sara Bernhardt and her
valiant coadjutors were on their mettle.
During the first four acts La Bernhardt
has little opportunity to be more than a
living piece of stattiary. What posesl
What abandOni Every attitude grace,
not poise of a finger that might not
satisfy the eye of a .Canovaj yet no set
grouping, ali eese. Thus for the four
suppressed acts Sara moves, a thing of
beauty and TepOse, the latter broken
only by the fire of that classic utter.
ance;
"You are my lion, superb and gener-
ousl Hove you'll"
But when the fifth act comes, yop
must prepare to have your nerve shaken.
Great Heavens, is 1t possible that such
love ss this can be only stage-feigning2
What must this actor Mounet Sully be
made Of if, when the curtain falls, kS
can blandly say: "Good evening" and
turn his back on this maddening
creature who has been mauling kim,
with painting breast, and liquid eyes,
and half exhausted voice for nearly an
hour? 1t must certainly be said fot
Sara Bernhardt that she has diBcOvated
new departures Ii the art df kissing.
I don't believe the man lives WQOse
back hair has been so extensively, thor
uOghly and exhaustiveiy kissed as MOu-
net Sully's has by Sara Bernhardt.
From the very moment D>nna Sol finds
ho% oe IL
likely to succeed, and she is not going
to have her Besaraaj as much as she
thought she was, Bernhardt begins her
study of kisses, which certainly includes
all the ariatiOns-"andante, " allegro
con amOre, al penserOsO,n "cresCendO,"
and never "minuendO," until they are
both dead, and, presumably, can never
get kissed any more. As. q kissefg Sara
is too numerous to mention. She does
not stand on the order of her kissing,
but kiBs5s at once. Conventional kiss
ing spots are agreeable, but not indis-
pensable, if not handy. For instance,
when Hermann is using his lips to abuse
his enemies with, and therefore Is
obliged to borrow them for little
while from Sara, she employs the time
putting kisses all over him like the but
tons on. the jacket Of the page in
Cousin Joe She stands on her tip-toes
for MOunet Sully is over six feet tall
to kiss the real central lock on the
apex of his Uranium leaving her hands
clasped up there, she goes on excursions
with her scarlet lips in The iuterstices Of
his neck-frill When hampered by the
eonyentionalities Of bhphiIos0pbiC
wearing apparel, against whose absurd
trammels Carlyle's sage prOtes ed so
valiantly oman being, according to the
Teuaelsdroeck theory, naked and not
betrothed animal) 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 satin thereabOuts. She winds her
self around his waist and kisses every
puff on the front of his doublet. Aud
when at last he-kiss- assaulted with the
persistency of a besieger batteTing 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 off
the floor, as 8 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 statuaryf 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 a stage kiss
Mounet SuIly gives her-a kiss of dis
sembling, like the drinking Of the poison
and the stabbing of the poignards--a
make-believe kiss, taken to avoid the
swallowing of carmine on the scarlet
ps; if it be, then am willing to confess
that MOunet Sully is more accomplished
as an artist than impetuOus as 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, a
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 a fatigu-
ing voyage from England.