The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-01-10
VARY ANDERSON'S LIFE.
scMzTHING ABOUT THE AMERI-
CAN ACTRESS FUTURE.

Gen. sherman ard Went Ahead I'm
I'll she Leads in the Profession
Pen nsylvan:a and Her Congressman.
From, The Philadelphia Inquirer
NEW YORK. Jan. $50 Mary Anderson
:. beiny shuffied off her virgin coil again.
Why won't the newspaper boys give US a
,,r,ease of fiction about the lovely Blue
Grass Juliets It may be a tribute to her
-anics that she has been made the subject
ofm7re public gossip than any woman in
America-not excepting the adorable Mrs.
CIsvela1d-but it must be a cause of much
distress to one who undeniably seeks to
avoid notoriety. For reasons good and
sufficient, am not one of those who imagine
mat Miss Anderson lends herself to fictitious
Advertising schemes, as do so many
NJ her sister actresses even to the limits
If rneretriciousness. l did for a time
believe that her irrepressible and magnifi-
Gently asinne stepfather, DIR. Ham Griffin
was responsible for the various stories cir
rnated concerning her, but | have finally
come to the belief that English handlers of
the quill obtain some assistance in keeping
The Dot boiling by devising interesting tales
concerning one whom they know Americans
hold IN DlZU IcR6EQ. rEOiLl SUCH a source
comes the now much-worn romance which
represented her as only being prevented by
the tears of her relatives and the pleadings
If her friends from immuring herself
in q CathOlicss convent. There was never
the slightest foundation of fact for that
While intensely and conscientiously re-
lgious, Mary Anderson considers that she
is giving proper vent to divinely given
attributes by her life upon the Stage-a
stage which has never had shadow cas-
mon it by act of hers. Then last ring or
summer there came from London the
alarming statement about her being con-
fined in a private asylum for the insane
That was the malicious emanation of a
writer named Marks, whose arrest for black
mail the cable recorded a few days ago. The
story was given new vogue in this country
BIZ the tongue Of another woman, herself
at one time an actress of eminence, but
now occupying dizzy hight of prominence
as the v tie of a champion base baller. |
refer TO the estimable woman who once
adorned the stage as Helen Dauvray. but
who is now famous as Helen Homerun
Ward. Travelling to Long Branch she told
Charles A. Byrne, the dramatic writer
that she knew that Mary Anderson was
locked up in private retreat for che mad
and naturally Byrne sowed the news broad
cast.
Thus is history made.
And so it is in all likelihood about this
latest engagement story.
Navar O., whose name is given as the
party Of the other part, is a son of the rich
man who built the gigantic and gorgeous
Navarro lats on FlfUy-ninth street, oppo-
site Central park, aud which are SAID to be
the largest apartment buildings in the
world. Miss Anderson has long been
friend Of The family, aud notwithstanding
trip with them to the south of
France has long been contemplated.
Her natural ccmpanionship with YOU
Navarro would be sufficient ordi-
build marriage upon, let alone a mere
rumor OF an engagement This is at least
the 100tn time that public announcement
has been made that the fair actress was
about to plunge into the matrimonial abyss,
and yet she still remains Our Mary"
There IS no pei son whose opinion concern
lng her projects l would rather have tnan
John W. Norton, the well-known theatrical
manager OF st. Louis, and the man
who actually gave Miss Anderson to
tEe stage. lie is now in New
York on a visit. / talked with him
IN his room in the St. James
this morning concerning her. YES he
sud, with a contempt louS curl of the lip,
I'VE read that engagement story 1t is ali
bosh. The last time | saw her | frankly
asked her if she thought she would ever
marry. Without a trace of embarrassment,
She looked into my eyes and unblushingly,
ana with the laughter of a schoolgirl said:
That is a matter to which | have never
given even a seconds thought. 1 think l
must have had since have been upon the
Stage not less than 200 offers of marriage,
from artists, from noblemen, from nearly
all kinds of men, and, much as l may APP
lreciate those houors, they have never
fingered in my thoughts for moment
Those" continued Mr.. Norton, ''wao do
not know Mary Anderson well cannot have
the faintest idea CT the lovabe guilelessness,
tne ingenuousness Of her character There
Is not an ounce Of preiense, a drachm of
false pride, nor a pennyweighu of sordidness
In her composition. When she first a =
Ieared on the stage fourteen years ago-she
vas exactly 80 wears old on the 2lst day of
last July-she was a green, gawky girl not
yet II years Of age. To-day, refined, pol
h1ed, wealthy, the leading American
woman of her profession, she is in heart and
mind the same young girl who in 1875
dared fame to battle on boards of a
Louisville theater. Prosperity has failed to
ruin her. Those who falsely accuse her of
seeking notoriety should witness the manner
IN which she performs her religious duties.
Sne avoids the cathedrals and big fashiOna-
bic churches, through fear Of attracting
public attention, and seeks out obscure
chapels When in st. Louis, for instance,
she worshiped in little church down on
tne levee, whose congregation was between
ZuO and 800. Noticing that its carpet was
threadbare and its FUR Ishlngs shabby, she
unostentatiously had it handsomely car
peed and furnished throughout. She kept
tnls act a secret. She did not even tell me-
learned it accidentally through meeting
tie priest of the parish. She does thousands
OF such things Of which the world never
bears, and many men in her profession who
gave her a helping hand when Sue was
struggling can thank the looseness of her
purse-strings for preservation from dis
astern
1t Is lovely to hear such things about one
VINO has won In the battle of life.
Yet how lowly was her beginning!
:. Have you heard the story? l don't think
u has ever been told accurately. She was a
poor Louisville girl, and as green as grass.
one was fired with desire to go upon the
sage, and insisted upon recitlng to every
prominent actor who came to Louisville
ana ana who would give her an audience. In
thls way John Mccullough heard and was
50 much impressed by her that he wrote
aOout her to his friend John w. Nor
on who was then the acting manager
LOT lr Ben de Bars opera house in st. Louis.
norton came to Louisville and listened to
sue oVergrown chlld-she was little more
aud agreed to get her a stock company for
que weeks engagement, her step-fsther
plOLllSlnU fn nav Y.av,t Of fba