Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1891-05-07
BERYH4RDrs WAY or DRESSING.
The Tragic Queen Wears Tights and no
Extra Gathers--In Her Dressing Room.

4
| Extra Gaihrrs--In Her Dressing Room.
Nine. Bernhard uses very little
makeup says the Toronto Mat. She
| never wears a wig save as Cleopatra
whore the heavy ornaments would pull
and destroy her own hair. She never
touches her eyebrows, which are of the
same reddish color as her tresses. On
! her arms. neck and superb shoulders she
spreads thick soft cream, brought-as
All her cosmetignes are-from Paris, and
then powders them freely. Her eyes
are touched with blue-black color,
which increases their almond shape,
and she brushes her checks, chin and
even her nose with the slightest tinge of
rogue, which she puts thiclSly on her
ears. She is much more careful about
her mouth, which She tints with "a little
brush dipped in carmine.
Between every act Bernhard gargles
her throat with a preparation Of her
own, and washes her hands to prevent
them from swelling. She has very
dainty hands and feet, and there is no
longer any need to muflle up her neck
in those high collars made fashionable
by her All the hollows are filed out,
and Bernhardts figure is superb. She
wears no underskirts, simply princess
undergarment of pink silk, a sort of
combination garment, which fits closely
TO the figure and is without neck or
sleeves. Over this the draperics arc ar
ranged with safety and jewclled pins; q
scarf of ceiAtnro of diamonds and anne
thysts, and sometimes only wide rib
bon sash is wound tightly around the
hips-ncver about the waist-and these
ceintures define perfectly her 1.-THE,
supple figure.
II never have Worn the corset, it is n
mistake; see" and she throw her arms
over her head and bent and swayed her
slnuous form till one wondered at the
almost tigerish swiftness and grace
Of the woman.
In her dressing room you are talking
to bright, natural woman, who looks
at herself frequently in the glass and
seems to admire her exquisite eyes and
red lips as she smiles and mods to her
mirrored image. On the stage all this
is forgotten. In the last terrible act in
Fedora where theunfortunate woman
pOlsons herself and dies in her lovers
arms, begging forgiveness in that most
pathetic and marvellous voice, il is genius
.iittb iSiS5li9 fNlllNllbs IL - HtunfN, not
Bcrnhardt, whom we see. Never, never
can that death scene be forgotten-the
drawn face, liyid with horror, the eyes
coal-black now and blazing with fear,
love, divine passion, the hands crooked
and thrust into the carefully arranged
hair, until the curls are all disarranged,
and instead of nesting piquantlv
round the face are pushed with nervous
hands up above the broad brow, to the
utter disregard of dress, ornaments or
any of the feminine trifles but moment
before SO carefully adjusted. 1t is
sublime. 1t is genius. II is Bsrnhardt
at her greatest and best.
When she returned to her dressing
room, pale, her eyes burning, her mouth
yet quivering with the passionate words
OF love and grief she had spoken to her
lover, | was almost afraid to speak. Size
painted as she Sank into chair, while
outside the audience Numbered and
roared plaudit upon plaudit, and SANE
the "Marssillaise," and seemed a f
they would tear down the house to got
at the woman who had so conyulsed
them with the magnetism of voice md
eye and gesture.