The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-05-31
Histrfonfc Matrimonx.

The marriage and divorce records of
members of the dramatic profession give
rise to many humorous and not a few
censorious comments on the part of the
outside public, and it must be acknowl-
edged that the public has good ground for
It's scoffing attitude. The haste and fire.
quency with which actors and actresses
assume the matrimonial yoke and the ease
with which they lay it off certainly tends
to convey the impression that they have
but a light regard for the marriage state,
and that they are apt to be off with an
old love and on with a new even more
rapidly than they can sever. their legal
bonds. There is assuredly something in
the atmosphere of the stage which tends to
lessen the regard of those who move in
it for certain conventional and moral rules
that go far to make firm the foundation
of civilized society. At all events, the
weight of evidence points that way. Many
members of the profession are. of course,
Of unblemished private life and their do
nestle relations of the ~happiest, but so
many others figure in scandals and in the
divorce courts that the world cannot be
blamed If it refuses to take their woes
seriously and looks upon a marriage in
theatrical circles as a mere episode sure
to be followed by separation. Neverthe-
less, injustice may be done to individuals
by this view. There, for instance, is Lii
liam Russell. Lillian has been three times
married, twice divorced, and has now a
third divorce suit pending. In the abstract
the public has no business with the per-
sonal affairs of stage people. All it has
a right to demand is that they play their
parts well on the stage. In reality it
does concern itself with their private lives,
partly because of a natural curiosity TO
know more about interesting and attrac-
tive persons, and partly because the per-
sons in question show a disposition to pose
behind the footlights. Lillian Russell has
been an especial object of interest because
she is a pretty woman and rather pleasing
as a singer and actress, but she has also
been a subject for the gibes of the light
minded and the critical and has afforded a
text for heavy moralists. Everybody has
persistently regarded her matrimonial
ventures as a farce of which she herself
took no serious thought. Her recent mar
rage with Perugini and her speedy separ-
alton from him emphasized this opinion.
Now she has seen fit to take the public
lUlO ntI oAo ~NN ANOoe
diced must admit that her story has a
pathetic touch. She is, perhaps, a frivolous
woman; she is foolish and vain, and very
much spoiled by adulation, but she has a
natural and wholly womanly desire for
love and sympathetic companionship, and
circumstances and her lack of correct
judgment of men have led her into a
series OF blunders in seeking these con-
solutions. The first marriage, at the age of
sixteen, to a man much older than herself,
proved uncongenial; in the second she was
the victim of a bigamist; in the third the
husband speedily showed himself to be a
brute and an adventurer. The public will
doubtless persist in looking at the humor-
Gus side of the matter. but from her side
it is wholly serious and tragic. 1t is only
when such erratic lives are seen from all
points Of view that they can be fairly
judged.