The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-10-31
WANTED TO Be 4 SAINT.
But Failing In This Ambition Sarah
Bernhardt Went on the
Stage.
Her First Appearances as q Com
edienne Was Also Very
Unpropitious.
Twsnty-Eight When She Achieved Her
First Mention by the Critics-Her
Subsequent Career.

E AW4uty-A11kA u SA1U V0A rave
First Mention by tho Critics-Her
Subsequent Career.
PANS. Oct. 13.-Special Correspondence
Of the Chicago Inter Ocean: Little Sarah,
after passing her school years in a convent
at Versailles, wished to become something
extraordinary--either a saint or d come
dienne! And she chose the latter. Her
mother, q short, fat, Dutch woman, took
her to tho conservatory where the introduce
tory examination was satisfactorily passed
in Sarah reciting the fable Of Les Deux
Pigeons to the director tutor.
Sarah proved a Woodworking pupil. She
made a hit on the day Of competition, =
and gained the right to q trial performance
at the Theater Francois. The debut was a
failure. The audience did not applaud,
which discouraged the young debutante to
such a degree that she boxed the ears Of an
actress. Besides Madame Joachim, nobody
to-day has any recollection Of the first APP
pearancs.
Not before January, 1863, do we hear any
thing Of her again.
One evening in the green room OF the
Odeon the artists had assembled, q little
more nervous than usual, az some new
pieces had to be tried, among them a one
act comedy in rhymes by a. young author.
It was Coppee's lie Passant," a little mas
terpiece Of stage literature, though nobody
expected much of it that night. The lend
ing pa1t, an Italian troubadour named
Zanetto, was entrusted to a young girl who
sat rather nervous and lonesome in her
pretty costume. A cap with n feather was
pressed negligently on her yellow hair,
hanging loose about her shoulders; a velvet
Jacket laced with white cords, and tights
covering her rather lean and angular limbs.
completed her costume. 1t was in exact
imitation of the "Florentine Singer" the
famous statue by Dubois now in the Lux
embourg gallery.
The other members Of the company paid
but little attention to her except to joke
about her gestures, gait and makeup,
and her p%retensions to assume a leading
part. !.
.What an ill-shaped woman?" remarked
one OF her rivals.
And IN fact her most realistic costume
left no doubt about her form. She was
thin to a ridiculous degree even the bones
and hollows of her limbs were perceptible;
her hands and feet were too large for the
slender pOuy ana Ihr from Deautllui IN
shape,
This young actress was Sarah Bernhardt,
then about twenty-eiRht years old. She
had met with but little success hitherto.
Like Lillian Russell she had appeared in
tiesh-colored tights in burlesque to get an
opening. I. The papers had not yet mentioned
her name. Only the great, fat critic, Sarcey,
had written a few lines about her, and
Pierre Lott, an elegant, jolly, young naval
officer, and now a well-known author and
member Of the academy, was among her
first admirers.
melancholy features, showing traces of
Jewish descent in the delicate, refined man
ner Of the French lsraelite. The move
1mepts Of her tall and serpentine form, 80
supine and odd, so refined, without any
searching for coquetry. already betrayed
the nervous will power which has often
mesmsrlzed her audience in late years.
Her play was noble and so natural. indeed,
that scme failed to see the beauty of it.
Her soft, deep voice. capable OF endless
meditation, penetrated into the soul Of
the audience and called infinitely to mind
a sultry evening with its tender c%aresses, or
the warm, heavy breath waited from a field
of clover.
Even Iurgeniew. who has said very bit
ter things about her. could not help ac-
knowledging: II have never heard such a
wonderful voice"
The unexpected success Of this evening
was her first step to fame. tOthgr male
parts she rendered successfully were
Iaoharie in "Athalie'' and the Marquis de
Villeniers.)
Her next appearance Of Importance was
in the ''Etrangere," by Dumas. She only
represented a comical, freaky, heartless
woman, whom the priest had imagined de
moniacal, but whom the actress possessed
only the power to render Rrotesque n
bizarre. Her costume was striking; she
wore an extravagant dress, a combination
of red and gray. and her headgear re-
sembled the comb of 4 peacock.
Her voice ruled the conversation as an
organ the divine service. In the second act
when she relates the story of her youth to
the duchess, she developed remarkable
Hnakelike windingS and curves, which set
Paris talking for some days. - III.
A picture Nero Trying a Poison o One
of His Slayes'' was exhibited in the salon
of 1876. The slave twisted himself in
spiral contortions on the marble floor and
the Psrisians affirmed that the painter was
inspired in his creation of the winding
Slave'' by the ~"Etrangere."
Her phenomenal leannesa is proverbial in
Paris and the constant theme OF many
witticisms. An officer once remarked that
she could battle in the barrel of a gun. A
dressmaker said Sarah could make herself
serted that Sarah could drink from Il we'll
without wetting her checks, and a profeB-
aor in zoology that. in consequence of a
total absence of cheeks, she could look into
her own ear with her large eyes. a.'
Her leanness ia connected with a very
delicate constitution. 1t does not hinder
her, however, to drink in full dtaughts
from all the sources of pleasure. She rides
spirited horses, drives a fiery Russian team,
md is a passionate fencer. She lives in the
Boulevard Peraire. in a fabulously luxuri-
ant dwelling. which resounds with her ex-
tr&vapant festivities and capricious adven-
lures from her. cream tinted poudoir to her
studio in which she chiseled her charming
group, AFTER tho Thunderstorm wrote
the drama, 1.-The Golden Pin" and made
the sketch which the house OF Moliers pre-
sented to the prince of Wales, was repre-
sented on the Partisan stage in Daudet's
lie Nabob."
However, the greatest success of her en-
reer was in the tragedy. 2"~Vanquished
Rome" by Parodi. In the third act an old
Roman matron, tall and blind, dressed in
a black flowing robe, leaning OH a servant,
above whom she lowered by II head, APP
peated on the scene. As sho strobe along,
20 tall and majestic, while her hagRard,
nearly Transparent fnce framed in, gray
hair wore an expression of classic cain
ness, heightened by tho white Of her eye
balls, q mUrmur OF admiration paused
through tho audience.
Her rolo was short and tragic. She had
to defend the virtue Of her granddaughter,