The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-06-12

riages approach the unaristocratic Rue de
Faubourg st. Denis and the coachmen in
buff greatcoats reaching to the feet and
gold laced hats, signify that they are in
service of the haute voice.
The admission is accordingly; mar
row box with four rather uncomforta-
bic seats cost 20 francs. a seat in the or
chestra francs. But strangers, who
drop in accidentally. are obliged to rely
on sidewalk agents, as the theater is sold
out regularly, and have to pay thirty to
forty francs for box and about seven
francs for an ordinary seat.
The numbers of the programme preced-
ing the appearance of Yvette Guilbert
offer but little of interest; it is the same
repetition of acrobat,c feats, juggling,
funny monologUes, sentimental love and
wild revanche songs, all of which one has
heard and seen a hundred times before.
BY far more interesting is the audience
Over the balustrade of the balcony leans
the bareheaded working woman, the CO.
0uette female student of the Quarter
Latin, laborers In their blouses, soldiers,
chambermaids, made up in all possible
limitations of their mistresses. Nor is the
burgeos family failing; they have brought
their grandame of so to the theater
who sips a chartreuse as we'll as their
naughty little brats, no drink book. Below
among the demi-monde, glittering with
Jewels, we see dandies from the fashionable
clubs wearing monocless and large
gardenias in their buttonholes. corpulent
old men with wicked faces and high white
cravats, artists with siouched hats and
loose neckties, etc. In the boxes one can
observe any number of dukes, marquises
and ambassadors and foreign milionaires
A molly crowd which gives one much
subject for thought in this age where al
desire to be equal.
At last Yvette Guilbert appears. There
is but a trihing similarity between the
pictures in the advertisements and the
chantense. She is heavy boned and tall.
with long limbs, a long neck and head
decidedly of the Monaghan type. Strongly
developed cheek bones, short, snub nose,
a broad, strangely flexible mouth, with
thin, red-painted lips, which gives her
face an expression of vulgarity, painful in
such young woman.
Her costume resembles the one in the
advertisement in outline. but not in color
She wears an olive green dress of pressed
velvet, arranged in straight. vertical lines,
with narrow V-shaped decollete and the
already mentioned gloves, reaching to the
shoulder. Her biographer says she is not
more than %, but in the glare of the foot
lights she looks more like 40.
A tumultuous applause greets her. The
audience is full of expectancy. and stretch
forth their necks TO listen. She begins to
sing Her voice is neither very strong nor
meiodious. a moderately high soprano,
like that of the better chorus girls. who
now and then take minor parts. Her yes
lures are neither particularly graceful nor
refined, but they suit very we'll the words
she sings. She takes every note correctly,
always keeps in time and marks the
RHYTHM with fire which brings it into
bold relei. The distinctness OF her de-
livery proves great advantage in making
her songs popular, as the public, even the
most unmusical among them, cannot help
remembering the melody.
Her power of recitation is remarkable
She understands how TO give every word
a double meaning. illusions. etc. All
which the author says she embodies to
perfection.
In her the seamy side of Paris has found
an impersonator which never had it's
equal on the stage. She can initiate the
rorues and gaiiows birds OF Paris 10 such
perfection that no detective could surpass
her. though mis- life NAV often depend on
the clever disguise and imitation. when
Obliged TO enter tavern on the outer
boulevaris frequented by criminals.
She mas learnt from them every character
istic every popularity, which only the
sharpest and most constant observation
and the finest psychological analyses could
produce.
Observe. for instance, the face she is now
making: one eve shut. the lips drawn to
one side to broad grin, while the lower
lip is dropping. That Is the typ!cal face OF