The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1886-12-16
Lady Notions on Male Beauty.

Handsome women are subjects for
critical Judgment. especially when they
appear on the stage, writes New York
correspondent of the St Louis Gto6 e.
Democrat, but did it ever occur to you
that the professional beauties might
have views of masculine beauty as they
see it from their side of the footlights?
On thinking of it recently | at once set
out in a hanson to do bit of in
terviewing. My first call was on Fanny
Davenport, and | put the question
plumply to her:
WHO is the handsomest man you
have ever seen in one of your audi
ences?"
Ned Price she promptly replied,
But he is your husband"
10 be sure; but that doesn't alter the
fact
Mr.. Price is well-buiIt chap, aged
81, l should guess, and his face is in
deed very bright and admirable. In at
tire he is something of beau.
Next l went to Nine. Modieska with
my query. She, too. was inclined to
vow supreme admiration of her hus-
band, but l told her that | had taken
that kind ofreply once and for all. Then
she said:
"Well, the handsomest auditor | can
remember was Mr.. Nicholas Smith, the
husband of one of Horace Greeley's
daughters. He used to 90 to the thea
ter good deal, and usually sat in
box, where he was conspicuous to me,
of course. He was big. lion-like man,
with a positively beautiful, yet manly
face. Yes, | think Mr.. Smith is the
handsomest man ever saw across the
footlights."
Wilson Barrett's principal actress,
Miss Eastlake, gave the palm of her
highest admiration to lester Wallack.
| tried to shake her verdict by lmpeach-
ing it with the charge that he was
theatrical manager and was advanta-
geously exhibited to her in a private
box, but she declared that she rendered
it judiciously. Wallack is now white
haired, and his face is that of a veteran,
but his air is so bewitchingly distin-
guished and he retains so much of the
beauty that made him an idol quarter
of century ago, that | could readily
justify Miss Eastlake's decision. MAY
torteSque had in mind a man who
had sat three rows from the front on
the previous evening. He was a straw
berry blonde, but she did not know his
name, and | couldn't place him.
1t was o'clock in the afternoon
when | alighted at the residence of Mrs.
Langtry. A crowd was around the
place, and that is the case every day
about the time she starts for the thea
ter. A free show of the famous beauty,
though limited to her skurry from door
to carriage, seems to repay waiting for.
She laughed at my question, and then
meditatlng awhile, as though marshal
ing a line of handsome men past the
eyes of her memory.
The most beautiful man recall from
all my audiences in America, or indeed
anywhere else, bears the unpoetic name
of Smith, | believe. Describe him?
Yes; he had face at once masculine
and beautiful; nut-brown mustache
curled just enough; nose slightly
Roman, but svmmetrical; soft brown
eyes, a model head, kindly expression,
and about 80.
His name was not exactly Smith,
though, but Schmidt, = Edwin P
Schmidt, noted as the handsomest
man in Wall street. | am told that he
made $780, 900 in Northern Pacific
along with Willard, and has lost it all
in other CANDLES; but finance is beyond
my field, and | am sure he is nowhere
near bankrupt in beauty.