The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-02-09

lently over the footlights, he screamed pas
sionately
An no blawsted H American shall touch
Shakespeare while British cart still beats
within British bosom
The outburst of applause was SO wild after
this that looked around in anazement.
saw that even the people in the boxes were
as hard at it as. the presumably ignorant
crowd in the gallery. Il was the hit of the
night.
At Drury Lane, by the by, sat behind
the most pretentious and impressive crea-
ton of contemporaneous art that | had
ever seen. She was, when alone and una
dorned, a large, fat and presumably bald
woman of perhaps TO years. On this occa-
sion she was on parade An overawed
small boy sat on one side of her and de-
jected companion on the other. The boy
did not speak during the evening" the COM
panion spoke once, and once only. She
said timidly: Isn't it very prettyN
mic Cortland" said the other in large
and cavalry commander voice, cease your
everlasting chatterm
The woman must have weighed 200
pounds, and her skin looked like raw beef
steak where it was not covered with pow
der. She was dressed in yellow satin,
trimmed with what is known, believe, as
shrimp pink velvet The gown was cut
so low as to be vulgarly and repulsively in
decent. The back was cut down within
two inches of the belt, exposing a vast sur
face of nudity to the gallery IN the rear.
Around the neck was a pink ribbon very
much Soiled, on which were pearls worth
at least 81 900. The shoulder straps" were
covered by huge diamond stars and cres-
cents. The head was shining mark even
in that vast assembly. 1t was snugly sur
mounted by the most Juvenile wig of golden
curls ever saw. The curlS were very short
and very bright, and they clustered about
the head like the curls Of year-old in
FAINT. Beneath them was a haggard face
bedizened to point beyond belief. will
not enter into details beyond mentioning
that the eyebrows were glued on palpably
and unquestionably. | looked at the near
one with more or less alarm, for one end
had become detached and stuck out from
the forehead in a lonely and deserted way.
After the play stood i'll the lobby talking
for moment with an amiable Captain of
the Guards whom had met at prize fight,
when the painted spectre wabbled past
She gave the Captain a surly nod, and he
almost swept the ground with his hat.
MAY ask the name of that ladyF' | said
at is very famous NAME" he said, with
the peculiarly respectful tone which all
Englishmen use when referring to people of
exalted station. Then he told me who my
neighbor was, and the information nearly
took my breath away. | would give it
here but for the fact that the foregoing de-
scriDtiOn is--to use one of Mrs. bernhard
Beere's Americanisms-''r rather somewhat"
personal.
Sarah Bernhardt is doing an airy trife of
Sardou's in Paris, compared to which
''Theodora"is mirthful farce. LA TOsca"
is loaded to the brim with gloom, tragedy,
and horrors. Every character meets a
violent death until only Sarah is left alive,
and she kills herself IN the last act so as to
keep up with the procession.
The play reminded me of drama writ
ten for the late E. H. Sothern and now in
the possession of his son Sam, who showed
it tome not long since In this case all the
characters are killed in the second act, and
the rest of the play is carried on by their
executors.
The English of Nine. Bernhardt is now
thing of mastery beauty and force. We
fenced about for moment to see whether
we should talk in English or French, but
after had carelessly tossed off few Gallo
phrases Nine. Bernhard at once decided to
continue the conversation in the English
tongue Yet they say the French are in
nately politel
"N'Yok,n hazarded the tragedy queen,
"coPgn
Every cold indeed when l left it,"
"Meez -er-Abbay-u Meez-er-Phil-
moor cop?-ah-non-gootp
was rather staggered to hear any one
suggest that Abbey and Gilmore were good,
but didn't show it. | told Nine. Bern
hardt that they were both well when l left,
thoagh Mr.. Gilmore's preparations to enter
the prize ring i'll opposition TO the Boston
Pet had interfered for day or two with
his success as a professional beauty
- annOlinpad Nina
Bernhard, as a final Judgment on the
American managers.
"La Toscan has one scene which causes
many women to faint at the Porte st. Mar
tin Theater. 1t is realistic to such CHASTITY
extent that even Paris protests at its awful
brutality. The police are looking for a
fugitive. Bernhardt knows the escaped
convict'S hiding place, and, i'll order to force
her to tell where it is, the police seize her
lover and torture him before her. They
know that she would suffer any amount of
pain rather than tell, so they attack her
through her love for the hero. He is torn
from her arms, and steel clamps are placed
on his head that slowly press the temples
inward as the police twist the lever. He
screams like mailman as the clamps are
pressed more and more tightly, but insists
that the secret shall be kept. Then he
leaves off screaming and means weakly
from behind a screen. The effect, in
conjunction with Bernhardt's frenzy under
the awful strain, is overwhelming. Finally
she succumbs and tells the police that the
prisoner is in the garden. The lover is re-
leased. He staggers into her presence with
the blood dripping from two great wounds
in the temples over a pallid face. The eyes
are sunken, the jaw distorted. 1t is the
most shocking spectacle l have ever seen.
Then the police bring in the convict's body
He committed suicide when the torturing
began, so it was all in vain. This is the be-
ginning of the play. The succeeding acts
are not so tame and uneventful as this one
by any means. ia Tosca" will have to be
materially modified before it can be played
in America, for it has made Paris shudder
and blush. When Paris shudders some
thing must give way. | can't say much
about the blushing 1t may be possible for
Paris to blush, but doubt it.
BLAKELY HALL.