St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-01-20
Miss De Wolfe just as she was dresset
at the opera.

OF the average masculine person is to
chaff women about the vagarieS and &C.
centricities of fashion, and to assert
that nothing can be too hideOus for
them to wear so long as 1t is fashion
able" An opportunity has now Oc-
CURED which we should not lose of
turning the table upon our libelers. l
would ask the honest man. if there be
such thing, whether in all the cata-
lOgue of our peculiarities he can find
anything more hideous than the ''sack"
coats which now hang upon the shout
derS of the young men of the period
with much of the grace of the "artful
dodgers" garment, as Denoted by the
fantastic pencil of George Cruikshank.
Nor is the origin of male fashion often
l IS ''redicul0us than in our case. The
particular parsonage who strikes the
keynote to masculine good form finds,
it may be that his neck is getting baggy
or his cheeks scraggy, and up goes the
collar to an abnormal height; or
his waist may be developing Fall
staffian proportions, and bulgy
sack coats are promptly the vogue. AS
poor Leigh Hunt was sent to prison and
made to smart in purse as well as per-
son for pointing out that certain
"Adonis of loneliness" was ''cOrpulent
man of fifty" /, naturally timid
woman, will not say more than that II
the young men of the day are prepared
to make themselves scarecrOWS at the
bidding of any mlddle-aged arbiter of
taste, they must at least, for consist
ency's sake, refrain from shooting the
arrows of their satire at us women until
such time, at least, as they shall once
more be clothed as if in their right
minds.
THE OPERA LANGUISHES
for beautiful prima donna. Frau
MOran-Olden possesses the fatal gift OF
beauty to as scanty degree as the late
Theresa Tietjens, a great artist, whom
our public failed to appreciate solely on
account of her age and personal ugli-
ness. The New York public is the most
exacting in the world. Even in Paris,
Gabrielle Krauss, who is fright,
is accepted on account OF her
great gifts as singer, and neither
in London nor in any other Euro
pean capital is a lyric expected to
he paragon of youth and beauty in adj
dition to possessing superior powers as
an actress and singer. The New York
public demand, however, that their
ideal prima donna shall enchant them
with personal loneliness, hold them with
magnetism, delight them with what in
Nilsson. Gerster and Adelina Patti
were called cunning" ways, and in adj
ditto nto all this sing like a nightingale.
Christine Nilsson owed her popularity
almost as much to her charms OF person
as to her glorious voice. There was a
sort of rustic grace about Etelka Ger
Ster in the days she used to MARBLE on
the boards of the Academy OF Music that
made her the idol OF our public las we'll
as the most charming Amina that ever
went walking in her sleep in white
muslin and violetS), and the best pre-
served of PATHS has only to toss her
head and run forward to collect her
floral tributes to subjugate every per-
son in the audience. A prima donna's
popularity in New York depends, in
short, more upon her personality than
her art.
The prima donna chosen to succeed
Lehman is, however, Frau Moran
Olden, who has been heard in several
operas, including ''Siegfried." The ap-
pearance of this matronly lady in the
doublet and hose of ''Fidelia'' created
uneasiness. Her discovery as the slum-
bering heroine in the last act of "Sieg-
fried" proved shock. The public, in
fact, is cold, almost resentful. 1t re-
fuses to be cOmfOrted. Alas! the New
York public is no respecter of persons,
even if the PERSONS chance to be prima
dOnnaS, when our audiences find any
thing that is not to their liking. When
they are bored they do not hiss, they
simply depart, and, unlike tine ParIslans,
our Observation-Disclosures do not expect to
be entertained until after 10 midnight.
THE PUBLICITY
raooptiv ,,roourod Inv Sodia Martipot in
her intention of opening boarding
house on West TWenty-third street,
calls to mind a record which. even in
the unique social history of the Amer
lean stage, stands conspicuous i'll its pc
culiar, not to say feveriSh. features.
This actress has, from time to time dur
ing the past ten years, cut tremendous
dash in various parts OF the country,
and is perhaps to-day as we'll known as
any woman in her line of dramatic
business. Her personal, rather than
her stage career, has OccaSiOned most
etfectually her fame. Sadie Martinez
escaped from French convent in Mon
treal at very tender and somewhat in
nocent age, and worked her way to the
great art center of Boston. There,
in variety theater called the
BoylestOn museum, she was first
discovered by the undercurrent of
Boston society in the trying character
of a waiting maid in a queer afterpiece.
At this time Sadie was dainty any
most fascinating little girl, utterly de-
void of dramatic skill or ingenuity, but
alive with varied array of soft femin-
inc graces that worked an effective spell
over several youthful Scions Of Opulent
Boston houses. This was the initial
stroke of Sadie'S remarkable diplomacy.
These boys acted as stepping-stones for
her. After single season at this dread
full theater she was engaged for SOU
brette parts in the renowned Boston
Museum company, she having been dis
covered one evening by that alert man
ager, r. M. Field. Here she progressed
with marvellous ability, continually Civ
ing the town a spicy story of herself to
discuss, and having benefit each sea-
son for the entire edificatiOn of the
GALLANT AND GILDED YOUTH.
Then Sadie appeared as 'Moya'' with
Boucicault in '"The Shaughran." The
The scene where it is necessary for
'Moya" to hide in the cask with "COn'
proved too much for the soft SuScepti-
bilities of Boucicault, and an era of lux
ury and regal splendor was begun by
the sweet and progressive actress.
Then she disappeared suddenly and
went to England with Boucicault.
While there the veteran LothariO dis
posed of her in some way, and she re-
turned to New York with her sign out
for an engagement. This she secured
at the Casino-the Mecca of all hunted,
virtuOus and handsome maidenS-and
forthwith was launched upon another
sea of public worship and floral adula-
tion. And now young Cuban of
enormous wealth and dubious repnta-
ton, by name Tony Terry, caught sight
of the dead-ripe Martinez, and he stood
under her tree. She dropped with
luscious thud into his hands and sailed
away again to paradise.
Now She is back in New York once
more. with a determination resting on