Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1893-01-29
GREAT IS DUSE.
A VERY CAREFUL REVIEW OF HER WORK
IN NEW YORK CITY.
In Camille" and Fedora" the New Italian Act
rsss Ras Scored the Nest Decided Successes.
A Pleasing Description of a Great Woman and
Her Work-0thsr Dramatic News.

GUeGLLb lcttCFUm 70 tLs DNfbAAg -
New YORK, January 2S.-A tense and
morbidly sensitive temperament has
Eleonora DUse, the Italian actress, who
this week made her American debut at
the Fifth Avenue theatre.
She is superStitions. Before the ris-
ing of the curtain on her opening night
she discovered in a trivial circumstance
what she vehemently declared to be an
omen Of failure, and when continued
plCdits followed the final act she could
scarcely understand that she had sue
ceeded despite the omen OF failure. A
favorite superstitution of Italian play
ers had been smothered beneath her own
achievements.
The DuSe has not an upward line in
her physiogomY. The outer lines OF her
eyes, the nasal shading and the corners
of her large sensitive mouth all droop
and blend into a face whose general ex-
preston in repose is thus rendered sor-
r0wful. There is even a pathetic sad
ness about the features, and this may
be the result of early trials in poverty,
or it may be the outward shadow OF the
woman's inherent mental tendencies.
We have not yet seen enough OF her to
know clearly what her normal condi-
tions may be. Her face and her work
thus far are tho only bases upon which
Judgment may be formed.
To say that Duse is pretty would be
to belittle her; to say that she is beau
tiful would involve a misunderstanding.
And yet she is more than either.
SHE HAS A NOBLE HEAD,
with hair that is black. And her hair
is one of her strongest stage accessO-
ries. 1t Is not long. The coil at the
back of her bravely lined head is small.
The growth near the edge of the low,
straight forehead is too long TO figure
as a bang, and too short to reach, or be
fastened in the close coil at the bac k.
This u~nconfned black name does not
flare wildly about, nor is 1t fastened
into place; IL just flows backward from
the shapely temples in waves that give
a tone of nobility. somehow; Of freedom
and OF earnestuess.
In moments Of obstruction or of mem
tai stress the woman's thin nervous
fingers sweep over and through these
black waves, smoothing them to clearly
outline her head, or looSening them so
that they fall over her mples and her
Shapely cars.
The body of Signera Dase is strong
and supple, and the women who saw
her debut said they knew she wore no
corSets. Her action was unconstrained
and gracefully free. The arms are
thin, one would at first believe, and yet
they are not without fleshy grace.
The fingers are slender and long, and
they are used effectively in moments Of
elaboration or intent listening, tapping
their pointed nails upon the woman'S
splendid teeth.
And the teeth: they are so white, so
even, so large and yet so small, that
they serve to brighten the woman's
dark face. They are a foil to the deep
set black eyes. Against the cleaning
whiteness Of the teeth the lines Of the
woman's red lips play effectively in love
or passion. Thin these are-the lips
yet not those OF an aScetic. TendOnous
they are, and quick TO laugh or mourn.
They twitch and tremble with soft
emotions. and they draw down with
pitiful tension-womanly tension is
most pitiful TO see-when stress of
anger or regret stir the woman'S spirit.
Have you seen women players or
singers whose opened
MOUTHS WERE BLACK CAvERNs?
Bernhardt'S is such n one. There is
something uncanny in the spectacle.
Not so, however, with this woman Duse.
There is redness of interior, flashing
whitenesS OF teeth, red slnuosity OF lips
that render her mouth extremely hui
man when II laughs or scorns with BIZ
ter words. 1t has human warmth-not
the dark chill Of a manikin.
Out OF the yes Of this italian woman
flash unutterable things. Reading these
written words, the statement favors Of
cheap gush; and yet, applied to this
creature of an impetuous people, there
is in the statement nothing Of gush.
Signora Duse Is able while sitting
~motionless, 10 be angrier than 4 fury
the storm being entirely beneath her
strong brows. She can assume the Wis
age OF Rhoderick Dhu, and anon the
tenderness OF fair Ellen. But Ellen Of
the Isle never could have felt what
this woman feels.
Relaxing the black, up-drawn brows,
Duse is able with trembling lips and
dropping lids, and intent langnor OF her
eyes. TO love a man harder thus than is
possible TO the many with aid Of all the
usual accessories to amatory acknowl-
edgement. She is able 10 scorn q man
most yenomously with the tapping OF a
toe uuon the door. Men are tempted,
though only witnesses in the audience,
to turn up their collars TO keep away
the chill that outbreaths from the wo-
mans Angry slipper.
on Monday night Il was,that Signora