The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-11-05
A DErHRoNED QUEEN.
Sarah Bernhardts Wonderful Genius A
BIind Passion for Money A Cold Call
ans Picayune Paris letter.

Blind Passion for Money A Cold Call
~culatOr.
New Orleans Picayune Paris letter.
Did it ever occur to you that actors and ac-
tresses ought not to be poorR While in the hey
day of their profession they gain enough to in
sure themselves comfort in their old age; but,
like the lower classes in England, they prefer to
live on charity in their later days to saving up
something of their easy-earned salaries. Take
Nine. Sarah Bernhardt, for instance. Never
has an actress arisen higher in her profession.
and never has one fallen into lower depths of
despair and misery than she is sure to fall be-
fore many moons have gone. and come, unless
she puts on the brakes very soon. Was there
ever another woman with such a history as hers
mas been, and which is not yet ended2 Her be-
ginnings were difficult, and already she was tor
mented by debts; but one day she scored IA success
in the 'Passant" at the Odeon, a success due
partly to the tender charm of her voice and
partly to suggestive ambiguity of her plastique..
Then she entered the Coincide Franchise, where
she soon became famous. She was feted and
applauded as no other actress had been who ever
appeared before the Partisan public. No doubt
her talents are of the highest order, and she is
original, seductive and graceful in her every
movement, but she had the good luck to make
her appearance Mt a time when there were no
longer any truly great actresses on the French
stage, and when there were very few left among
the public who remembered Rachel and Angus
tine Brohan. Her name grew and grew, and
soon it filled Paris, the provinces and foreign
III N II was tdLkttl dOOup DuE H6T.
She was photographed. painted in oils, carved
in marble, and every one did their best to
surround her with an atmosphere of eccen-
t~ricities. Her toilets were looked upon as
enigmas; her slightest gesture was said to
conceal a mysterious meaning; her hair to rem
der those mad who touched it; her flowers to
breathe forth the poisons which were her daily
food. When she received. her salon was crowded
with the nohlest names in Europe. TIN kings
Of Christendom bowed down before this stage
queen. She went Up in a balloon, and a nation
watched her ascent i'll breathless interest; she
wrote a book. for which the publishers con
tended; she made statues and painted pictures,
which the admiring public declared master
pieces. 1t seemed as If her brain must burst
under the tremendous pressure of her inspira-
ton; that her soul was shaken like Il reed by the
whirlwind of creation. All at once the public
learned that she haG LETT the Coincide Franchise,
and was setting forth on a victori-
Gus tour over the face of the earth; then
came the news of her triumphant prog
ress. of the diplomatic incidents which
she was the cause of. She WAS in America, in
Russia. in London. in Italy; millions were poured
into her lap; to surprise herself as we'll as the
public she got married and then unmarried; she
bought all the theaters that came in her-wdy,
and hardly entered into possession before
she relinquished them again. Now she has
signed a contract with this manager. now she has
broken the one that bound her to another: ev-
cry thing that she touches falls to pieces; she
lives in. an atmosphere of lawsuits and execu-
tons. and wherever she goes Il long Suflng OF
creditors cling to her skirts, and at last she Is no
longer able to keep them at bay. | know that
there are people who pity Sarah Bernhardt, and
dclare that it is her love of the ideal which has
been her ruin; they say that in these days of
prose and artistic corruption she has de
voted herself to pure ART and that it
is her efforts to redeem the stage
that has proved her ruin. For my part, | can
find nothing of all this in the life of Sarah Bern
hardt. see in that life a great deal of calcutta
ton. of erasning after the main chance, a cold
ana intentional folly, and above all, a thirst at.
ter money. There is not an act i'll the life of
Sarah Bernhardt which has not money for its
motive; 1t seems rs if she felt that mountains of
gold would not suffice for her extravaganza, and
she is forever driven by Il deaf and blind passion
for money. 1t was this that led her to leave the
Theater Franchise so abruptly, and that led her
into all the acts which have made her so much
talked about, BECAUSE she knew that what kept
her before the public would make the public
willing to pay their money to see and to hear
her. But there's a limit to all things, and she
will find this ont to her cost when she goes back
to the United States, as she intends doing, un-
der Abbey's management, next season.