The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1893-03-19
parison possible between her $

Darison possible between her skill and that
OF Bernhardt. The systems of the two
women are wholly dissimilar. Duse's art
! Is hawless. Bernhardt's art is uneven.
! The Italian actress is enchantingly
smooth, easy and natural in manner. The
| French Jewess is tremendous in power.
Signora Duse holds people dumbly in
their seats. Sarah Bernhardt raises them
out of their chairs in wonderment. There
| is as much difference between the woman
of Padua aid the woman of Paris as there
is between Edwin Booths Iaao and
Tomasso Salvini's OtheIlo. One is con-
summation of art, the other is a whirI-
wind of dramatic fury.
Eleonora DCse first came into the atten-
ton of the world by Sarah Bernhardt's
declaration in Vienna last year: TIA Duse
is great artistic but she is not genius, -
The excitement over this criticism was in
ternational. Duse and Bernhardt narties
argued the matter holly and the French
woman eventually lost some reputation
Tor tact and good taste by general deris-
ion of the Italians power. But before
the famous dictum was pronounced FIeo-
nora Duse was well-known name in the
southern portion of Europe. The italians
worship her with an ardor of enthusiasm
that they never showed to Ristori.
Rossi or Salvini. She has won an
esteem almost as warm as that OF
her own country people wherever
she has played, and is now a favorite star
in Egypt, South America, Russia. Italy.
Spain, Austria and Prussia. This is her
first appearance before an English speak
ing audience. She has not vet performed
in London or Paris Two wears AGO she
preached to the author of ssFrancillon,'
her desire TO gain Partisan suffrage. M.
Dumas, however,, dissuaded her from the
idea. He declared that to be successful in
Paris she must act in French, and
her accent in that language was too nro-
nounced to satisfy the fastidious Paris
ians. Signora Duse closed the interview
in 8 huff, and dismissed the French ns
ton out of her tours forever.
Letters froma Vienna in which she
created an unexampled Juror last wear
give authentic and authorized particulars
of her history. Eleonora Duse was born
in Padua in 1851. She comes of theatr;coi
parentage. Her father and mother were
actors, although neither attained anv
celebrity save what her father possessed
in being the son OF famous Italian trage
dian.
Eleonora Duse was born in poverty.
Her childhood was engaged by the anxious
problem OF getting enough macaroni to
fill the stomach. She grew up in the
squalor and hardships of a poor actor's
home. When she was twelve wears of
age her father fell i'll of
fever, and the child was hired to
a strolling theatrical company. Her
salary was small, but it helped to supnort
the household until her father recovered
his health. BY that time her prodigious
talent had asserted itself. But the liftIe
maid was often so weak for lack of nonr-
ishing food that on several occasions she
tainted in sight of the audiences that an
plauded her.
Lest his conduct in compelling so vounor
child to play in the theatre should he
considered inhuman, her father con.
cealed the immaturity of the little oirl;s
years. Before she reached the age of fonr.
teen, she had performed Frd5,cesca da
Rimint, Juliet and many other heavy roles
with such intelligence and skin that the
spectators believed her to be a grown rvo-
man. At this period her life was little bet-
ter than that of gypsy She belonged TO q
troupe of strollers who played in an Omen
field under a tent. The young genius
earned only enough salary 10 supply her
with cheap clothing and coarse food In
the course of her vagabond jcurnev
through Italy the players wandered info
Naples. Here the talents of Eleonora
Duse were discovered by Cesare Rossi.