Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-01-07
| the same. The attractions are as novel
as ever, and the stage performance is
lexcellent.
Non a Ferner.

a5 ever, auu tuc beoSo PoiASihheo 40
excellent.
Mona Ferner.
Miss Mona Ferner, a sprightly, attrac-
tive young lady, 6 Californian by birth
and cousin of Rudolph Aronson, has
led some of the glittering marches in the
Casino of New York productions, both
at the home theater and in the larger
cities of the country to which these pro-
ductions are always ultimately trans
ferred. She made her first appearance
\ in that opera OF melancholy memory
known as Madelon. and began at the
lowest round of the ladder. In fact she
figured among the timidly twinkling
stars of the chorus, and twinkled there
all unnoticed for several months. When
the company went on the road after
wards, however, Miss Ferner suddenly
developed into q planet of considerable
magnitude, completely eclipsine the les
ser luminaries with whom she had pre-
viously associated, and in a marvelously
| brief period of time attained the ultima
tum of all mundane bliss, the goal of
every chorus girls ambition. Be-
| fore the company turned its face
homeward she was the girl who led the
march. She was we'll fitted by nature to
support the dazzling prominence Incl
dental to the position. About 5 feet 8
inches in height and weighing some
where in the neighborhood of 130 pounds,
she has figure whereof grace and SYM
metry are the leading characteristics. In
the tightly-ftting costume of comic
opera captain she has never failed to
attract and command attention. None
the less she adds to the advantages OF q
symmetrically developed figure re-
markably pretty face, black and curly
hair and flashing dark eyes that sparkle
with life and merriment. Miss Ferner
has not yet reached her twentieth birth
day, but looks somewhat older because
of her self-possessed manner and COM
manding air. She is an exceedingly
clever writer, by the way, and when
asked to say something of her expert
ences as a leader in spectacular marches
readily set down her ideas as follows:
| "The girl who leads march success
fully and with applause comes as near to
experiencing the sensation usually re-
ferred to as ''heavenly bliss" as she prob
ably ever does in this essentially COM
monplace and practical world. That is
to say, she approaches that condition
after she has become somewhat used to
the position. The first night, however,
tells very different tale, which sc rcely
offers a suggestion of the rare exhilara-
ton in store for her. But tine first night
Shall 1 ever forget mine. When first
came in view of the audience my initial
sensation was one of dizziness. A mist
seemed to rise before my eyes. The one
thing whereof my senses and my soul
| xy,x,;11v nancpinno fha tylarQ nj
the footlights. Beyond that everything
was darkness. And l must say that l
rather rejoiced over the fact that this
friendly circle Of light called halt both
to the eyes and mind and shut out from
my view the vision of what I supposed
to be a carping and criticising
audience, and what 1, of course,
imagined was the black frown of the
orchestra leader. l moved down to the
footlights trying to keep my mind on the
music, with my sword trembling in my
hand, and my heart away up in my
mouth and marvelling all the time
whether or not l would fuke when I
came to make the first turn. Before l
had quite estimated the chances of this
catastrophe l reached the front Of the
stage, halted, and raising my sword, as
we'll as l could under the circumstances,
saluted the vast space where knew the
audience was located. Happily l did
| not fuke, and gathering some confidence
from this fact, went through the remain
der of the drill with constantly increas-
ing courage.
81 suppose it was to all outward SEEM
ing calm and self-possessed figure
enough throughout, but as a matter of
fact, 1 was so nervous it was almost i'm
possible to control the involuntary
twitching of my muscles. 1t was not
until the march was over and l was
standing at ease in retired corner of the
stage that 1 caught glimpse of the
audience on the other side of the foot
lights, and as 1 surveyed it began to
wonder what in the world it was about
which 1 had been so frightened. The
faces we're all friendly, and the owners of
them all looked as though they would be
quite indulgent in overlooking mistakes.
1t is when you have passed through all
this and the first feeling of nervousness
has departed that the genuine de.
light of leading the march begins. The
girl walks down the stage with the air
and the feeling of conqueror and reach
ing the footlights, calmly surveys the
erstwhile dreaded audience and sweeps
it with flourish of sweeping magnifi-
ence. The girl is conscious that, for the
time being, she is the one object on which
every eye in the house is centered and
heart beats with conscious triumph, the
blood rushes enthusiastically through
her veins and tingles to her finger tips.
The sensation is delightful. The sense of
importance swells almost to bursting,
and involuntarily she assumes naughty
and grandiloquent air. At that moment
the girl who leads the mach would not
exchange places with the prima donna of
the company"