The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-02-27
JOSEPHINE
Personal characteristics of the Great Aus
trian Actress-A Much-Married Woman.

trian ActresS-A Much-married woman
From the Vienna Papers.
Gallmeyer married often. though none of her
husbands died. Three times did the theatrical
world interest itself in Gallmeyers nuptlal sto-
ries. The first time, she married an old, mslS-
ni6cant actor named Korn. This was a marriage
with a purpose, and only Gallmeyer woI1d have
had the courage to have brought this into the
scene. She needed badly, for a few days, a hus-
band, in order to be able to break a contract 9th
erwise binding. She became old Korns, wife,
freed herself from her other Obligation, and in a
few days left him. The husband for the time
being" settled for l $50 forms.
A second tire Pepi became engaged-to
Tewele-undfr rare circumstances. On Chrlst
mas eve, of 1871, a jolly party congregated at
the Hotel Lamm, among them josephine Gall
meyer, Franz Tewele, Anton LANCER and others.
Twele, in his exuberant way, was counting the
actress. She, in her turn, pretended to be not
wholly Indifferent to his words. Anton Langer
stood up and pronounced these words; ChAl
dren, you too make a pretty couple; love one an
other and be happy together The idea took.
Glasses were clinked, and on the day following
the friends and acquaintance of the par re
ceived the printed notice, Josephine Gallmeyer'
Franz Tewele, engaged" A few days later the
engagement was broken off.
The third marriage affair was of a more serious
nature. Gallmeyer had taken. a fancy to the
Hamburg actor ~Siegmann, and in 1916 aston
ished the newspaper readers with the lnforma-
ton that she had married Mr.. Siegmann. Inc
marriage was a happy one, but broken, after two
years, under circumstances Wnlcn nulcsVe IhdC
the free living Soubrette possessed, IN spite OF
all her eccentricities, a strong and honest charac-
ter. She wrote to her husband from Graz,
where she had made the acquaintance OF the
actor ThalIer-'I have committed a blunder
which I cannot answer for, to you or to me. L
pray you, on my knees, for your consent to our
separation" Siegmann agreed to IL, and the
separation was completed.
Pepi was in earlier years the dread of all direct
ors. She tyrannized stage managers, fellow
artists and friends, and gave vent to her mo
mentary eXcitemens in Il tangible manner. III
the opcratta wiener G'schichten, the soubrette
is, by stage direction, to pop a champagne cork,
to heighten the effect of the scene. This fun APP
oeared too expensive to the managers, who, on
The occasion of one rehearsal, substituted ordi-
nary wine. The cork would not pop, and Gall
meyer rushed from the stage in a passion and
planted the famous and sounding slap on the
cheek of Herr S~trampfer. But he, far from tax
ing offence. wiped his face and said with com
posure, THAT Is the penalty"
A second box on the ears was administered to
a comedian in Buda Pesth who had dared to per
petrate a joke of questionable delicacy in the
presence of the actress, who was not usually
overscrupulous on such subjects. For a third
box ON the ears. which she gave a fellow actress
in New York, she was fined 800 by an American
justice of the peace.
The history of the fourth box on the ears is
connected with a private individual. Pepi was
starring in Budha-Pesth. TIL performance was
billed at enhanced prices and the seats all sold in
the forenoon. In the afternoon, before the per
Torrance, Gallmeyer went to see o fortune teller.
The knave of diamonds lay on the colored side
which, according to the never failing law of the
fortune-teller, indicated that the lover of the
questioner was untrue. Pepi was beside herself
with rage, rushed home, packed up her baggage
and took the next train to Vienna. regardless OF
the performance at the theater. She rushed to
the rooms of her faithless one, and on that oc-
casion enriched the catalogue of her achiev-
ments of that nature by another box on the ears
At the Laube banquet, which took place some
wears ago, she was seated next to Makart, the
great silent one. All at once, in the midst of the
general conversation at the table, there was Il
pause, which Gallmeyer utilized by saying in a
loud voice to Makart, who, so far, had not
opened his mouth, But now. my dear Markart,
let us change the subject
A well-known architect stepped up to her once
at a ball, with the words, Permit me also to
make court to you" Pepi answered, slyly,
"Why, my dear F., why make courtl Let it
be a four-stOry house, rather"
Each year. and sometimes ofteuer, Gallmeyer
went to Mariazell, the famous pilgrimage. Only
the year before she had sent there a silver bone
and wreath for the image of the Virgin. The
bone she gave because since her American trip
she had been troubled with rheumatism in her
right knee, which had frequently, in America,
prevented her from acting, and which had given
rise, so Knaack said, to = reputation for capri
ciously refusing to appear. Her disease has in
the past two years kept her in constant irrita-
ton. With unspeakable bitterness she remarked
over and over again that there was no room for
ner IN vienna, ana was at the same June con-
stantly occupied with plans that might permit
her again to live there.
We understand that the friends of the de
parted propose a magnificent theatrical perform
ance, the proceeds of which shall go to a monu-
ment for her. Princess Metternich, Mrs. VOL
ter and Mrs, Boska take a lively interest in the
matter.
From many sources have come the evidences
of q bitterness of spirit in Gallmeyers last
years. Her will, dated Jan. 1, 1880, indicates
how completely out of joint with the world she
had become. The will, to whose publication her
friends took we'll grounded exceptions, contains
no reflection upon individuals, as was feared
would be the case. Gallmeyer makes only gen
eral comments upon her fate. She says that in
her life she has played many parts, but her real
one has been that of a hunted wild beast. She
wishes no one to know the time of her burial; no
one to know the hour when, the place where she
is to lie. She wishes to be buried in a common
grave, like a beggar, no cross or wreath
to mark her last resting place. Its no ones
business where poor Pepi lies, like "a dog" were
her words. She desires that there be placed in
the coffin that receives her mortal remains: First,
a picture of the Virgin Mary, with the child, and
the frame must be surrounded with violets and
snowdrops. Second, the little cross which her
mother hung about her neck on the occasion of
her walking for the first time.
She does not know, concludes the will, wheth-
er she shall die rich or poor-probably poor; but
in case there is any reSiduum. she desires the
sum that would have been spent for the ~costliest
funeral to be given to the nearest parson for
distribution among the poor. 1t was natural
that her friends could not carry out literally all
the provisions of this will. The funeral of Gall
meyer will be an imposing public demonstration
although it is determined that no word shall be
spoken at the grave, and her body shall be laid
in the earth without music or other sound.
The attention OF the physicians who conducted
the autopsy was directed principally to the brain.
These expectations were not disappointed. 1t is
a remarkable brain, whose manifold sinuosities
point to a high degree of intelligence. To put
Ahofa. n.1..1L - ~@--.I, - ii II
certain sections of her brain, where language.
mimicry and acting have their seat, were abnor-
mally developed. In the same way her marvel
GUS development of the capacity for receiving
Impressions by the senses, to combine them and
reproduce them, was indicated by the strong or
ganization and massive de~veIopment of the side