Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1884-11-08

Paris Letter TO New Orleans Picayune
Did 1t ever occur to you that actors ant
actresses ought not to be poor? While in the
heyday of their profession they gain enough tt
insure themselves comfort in their old age
but, like the lower classes in England, they pre-
fer to live on charity in their latter DAYS tc
saving up something of their easily earned
salaries. Take Nine. Sarah Bernhardt for in
stance. Never has an actress risen higher in
iIer profession and never has one fallen
into lower depths Of despair and misery
than she is sure to fall before many
moons have gone and come unless she puts on
the brakes very soon. Was there ever another
woman with such history as hers has been
and which is not yet ended? Her beginnings
were difficult, and already she was tormented
by debts; but one day she scored a success in
the PEASANT" 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 az 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 at time when there We're 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
soon it filled Paris. the provinces and foreign
lands. No one was talked about but her; she
was photographed painted in oils carved in
marble. and every one did their best to surround
her with an atmosphere Of eccentricties Her
toilets were looked upon as enigmas; her slight
est gesture was said to conceal mysterious
meaning; her hair to render 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 no.
blcst names in Europe. The kings of Christen-
dom bowed down before this stage queen She
went up in balloon and a nation watched her
ascent in GREATNESS interest; she wrote a book,
tor which the publishers cOntended; sle made
statues and painted pictures, which the admir-
Ing public declared masterpieces. 1t seemed as II
her brain must burst under the tremendous pres
sure of her inspiration, that her soul was
shaken like reed by the whrlwind of creation
All at once the public learned that she had left
the Coincide Franchise and was setting forth on
a victorious tour over the face of the earth then
came the news of her triumphant progress, 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 well as the public she got
married and then unmarried; she bought all the
theaters that came in her way and hardly en-
tered into possession before she relinGuished
them again Now she has signed a contract
with this manager, now she has broken the one
that bound her to another; everything that she
touches falls to pieces; she lives in an at
mosphere of lawsuits and executions and where
ever she goes long string of creditors cling to
her skirts. and at last she is no longer able to
keep them al bay. know that there are people
who pity Sarah Bernhardt and declare 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 devoted 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
Bernhardt. 1 see in that life great deal of
calculation, OF grasping after the main chance,
cold and intentional folly and above all a
thirst after money. There is not an act In the
life OF Sarah Bernhardt which has not money
for its motive. 1t seems as If she felt that noun
tans of gold would not suffice for her extrava-
gances, and she is forever driven by 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 is a
limit to all things, and she will find this out to
her cost when she goes back to the United
States, as she intends doing under Abbey's
management next season.