The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1885-07-05
oErHRONED. QUEEN.
Sarah Bernhardt's Wonder
o"i full Genius
,sD PHENOMENAL MEASSEsS
Tan By a Deaf and Blind Passion
Ori'' la- Money A Life of Cold
Calculation.
,,n PHENOMENAL MEASNESS

MD il ever VO|UA W n
actresses ought not to be poorf
a 1la bv the heyday of their profession
w. cain enough to insure themselves
~. ,fort in their old age; but like the
,,ar class in England, they prefer to
~ Nv" charity in their latter days to
W. -, m something of their easily
90 salaries. Take Nine. Sarah
oarnbardt, for instance. Never has an
.ot,ass risen higher in her profession
MAYER has one fallen into lower
lantbs of despair and misery than she
:, sure 10 fall before many moons have
and come unless she puts Oh the
Pie. very soon. Was there ever an
',or woman with such history as
Sa,, has been, and which is not yet
,ndad2 Her beginnings were difficult,
and already she was tormenied by
5sbts: but one day she scored success
y tbe PEASANT" at the Odeon, sue
voc, due partly to the tender charm Of
bsr voice and partly to suggestive am
biguitv Of her plastique. Then she en-
torsd the Coincide Franchise, where she
90 became famous. She was feted
md annlauded as no other actress had
5a nee Who ever appeared before the Pari-
sian public.
est order and she is original, attractive
~ r,tarefnl in her every movement, but
,be had the good luck to make her ap-
naorance at q time when there was no
ionger any truly great actresses on the
grencb stage and when there were very
'eW left among the public who remem-
nered Rachel and Augustine Brohan.
Her name grew and grew, and soon 1t
sled 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
lid their best to surround her with an
atmosphere of eccentricities. Her
roilets were looked upon as enigmaS:
her slightest gesture was said to conceal
= mysterious meaning; her hair to
render those mad who touched it; her
lowers to breathe forth poison which
were her only food.
When she received. her salon was
crowded with the noblest names in
Europe The kings of Christendom
bowed down before this stage queen.
She went up in balloon and nation
watched her ascent in GREATNESS inter-
est; she wrote a book for which the
publishers COntended; she made statues
and painted pictures, which the admir-
ing public declared masterpieces. 1t
cd IS how
der the tremendous pressure of her in
spiratiOn, that her soul was shaken like
3 reed by the whirlwind of creation.
All at once the public learned that she
had lett 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 Rus
iia, 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
theatres that came in her way, and
hardly entered into possession before
she relinquished them again. Now she
mas signed q contract with this mana
ger, now she has broken the one that
bound her 10 another; everything that
she touches falls to pieces; she lives in
an atmosphere Of lawsuits and execu-
IONS, and wherever she goes a long
string OF creditors cling to her skirts,
ana at last she IS no longer able to keep
them at bay.
KNOW that there are people who
PITY Sarah Bernhardt, and declare that
y nel loYe OF the ideal which has been
her rum; they say that in these DAYS of
prose ana artistic corruption, she has
1eyoted herself TO pure art and that it
y her enorts TO redeem the stage that
naS proved her ruin. For nv part l
can hnG nothing OF all this in the life of
oarah Bernhardt. l see in that life
great deal OF calculation. of grasping
Mter the main chance, cold and in
'ehuonai folly and above all n thirst
riter money. There is not an act in the
NE OIL Sarah Bernhardt which has not
money for its motive; it seems as if she
,eLs that mountains OF gold would not
suInce Tor her extravaganza. and she is
.oreYer driven by deaf and blind pas
non for money.
twas this that led her to leave the
l9eatre Franchise so abruptly. and that
1eu ner into all the acts which have
made her so much talked about because
tne knew that what kept her before the
pGOhc would make the public willing to
pay their money to see and hear her.
6ut there is limit to all things, and
Sne will find this out to her cost when
she goes back to the United States SIS
she intends doing under Aobey's mana-
cement next sesaOn.-Ey.