Evening star., 1895-09-16
THEY ARE AGAINST THEM
Helba and Ber4hardt Dislike Knicker-
bockera
Both Think They Are H0rrid, and
BeHnhardt Once Wore Trousers.

From the Boston Herald.
1t is the least little bit diverting to read
in the letters of the various foreign corre-
spondents that both Nellie Melba and Sarah
Bernhardt are violently opposed to donning
knickerbockers in any form by women who
| will ride the wheel, or, for that matter, to
the wearing of any imitation of the male
attire by women.
Nine. Melba is quoted by one writer as
saying: 'I abhor masculine costume for
women. 1t is ugly, and 1 have, on the
stage, even, never consented to wear 1t.
| add that never will wear 1t, without how
| ever, blaming other actresses who have not
the same dislike as I for 1t. That will ex-
| plain to you how wounded 1 feel in my
artistic and feminine preferences when I
| see women dress themselves as they do"
| Then Nine. Melba, after stating that she
| does not care for the bicycle states that
| the necessities of conveniently riding the
machine are simply pretext. ''It is less,
| she adds, "for motives of convenience than
for more mysterious reasons that the skirt
| is sacrificed for the ample trousers"
| Now, Of course, to one who knows Nine.
| Melba this does not sound In the least like
| her, but, accepting 1t as true report of
| her words, it is wondered If she has for
gotten that she sang "Rigoletto," or what
she calls the attire she wore in the last
act with it's tights and tunic? 1t Is true
that she kept herself well draped in her
long black mantle. but there were moments
| when for a brief flash the drapery was
| dropped and the straight, weli-rounded fig
ure stood out against the long black cape
hanging down behind, and those who saw
| her in the role in Boston the only time she
| appeared in 1t here will recall one capital
exit, where she flew across the stage with
the long black drapery floating behind her.
| Perhaps Melba regrets singing Gilda, and
| hopes it. will be forgotten, and yet, in spite
| of the fact that she was not in good voice
| when she was heard in 1t here, the violent
enthusiasm with which she was greeted
| was hardly likely to make her give it up.
No. one can only suppose that the inter-
viewer did not take the singer down just
right. or that dear Mslba is forgetful.
Again, one would like to know just what
| she means by the mysterious reasons"
that women have for putting on the ample
| there was a mystery in the impulse that
| led women to don that form Of male attire,
| and an equally mysterious reason which
induced other women to don trousers that
| were not ample. For If you watch the
| crowd that spins over toward the entrance
| to the fens at dusk every evening you will
| rote that it will almost invariably be the
| slight, straight, girlsh figure that is at
tired either in the short skirt or the full
| trousers. while the figure that is most
| strikingly feminine-broad of hips, full of
bust-will be noted in the few skin-tight
| fits that are out.
All things 1nsidered, Bernhardt is eqIal-
ly amusing. Harold Frederick states that
she Is more vehement on the subject than
any one VINO was interviewed. She Is vlO-
| lently opposed to trousers on women for
| any purpose. and bases her strong objec-
tions on moral grounds" Seems to have
| imbibed hep present spirit from her visits
to America. 1t really IS q pity that Sarah
| did not visit us when she was young. Still
| she is not quite logical when she says that
| in her visits both to the states and to
| England she has seen too much of the re-
| suits of giving indiscriminate liberty to
girls to wish to see the French maiden
subjected to the same dangers.
Evid :ntly Sarah also is forgetful. What
about that famous attire for her atelier
| in the days when sculpture was the fad Of
the great French actress and famous men
| were quite willing to guide the slender
hand to results that were hailed as most
promising! Did she not needleSsly wear
| male attire then? Was she not photograph
| ed some eighteen, and possibly more, years
| ago, in this dress. which was white and
consisted of perfectly plain straight trous-
ers. small in the leg, as was the fashion of
| the male attire at that time, with a straight
doublc-b breasted pea jacket buttoned to her
neck, which was encircled by a fluff of lace?
| At that time Nine. Bernhard used to re-
ce've her friends, and even interviewers,
| In that attire. of which she was very fond.
The photographs taken of her thus habited
were Tor some years shown in all the Paris
| shop windows exposed for sale, and even
brought to this country, while no enter
prising newspaper writer thought he had
quite done with Sarah. at the time when
the papers both here and abroad were
filled with interviews of her, jokes about
her, anecdotes that were quaint queer
and impossible, or humorous, according to
the author-au preparatory for her first
American tour-until he had seen repro
| duction of one of these pictures in his pa
per.
Has Bernhardt forgotten all this? Does
she not remember the great number of
newspaper people that she received in that
attire In the days when she was living in
the house she designed in the Avenue lie
Villiers? But, Of course, that was all be-
fore she had come to the states, and OBJ
served the American girl, and then, Sarah
Is woman who believes, evidently
that she can do she pleases and
other people should do as pleases her,
also.
How just speaking of all this carries one
back to the Bernhardt of other days; the
days when Claron painted her picture with
her hound beside her; that long, 1.-THE fig
ure reclining in pillow of lace in the cor
ner of the couch. which was facetiously
called in Paris the dog and the bone"
The days when Bastien Lepage painted her
in profile sitting bolt upright, as IL a RAM
rod was up her back, were a little later
and we're still of the period when Sarah
was uniquely thin. 1t is an epoch by the
way, that dates from about 1869 TO after
that first visit to America. Fer Sarah was
never just the same after she saw the
possibilities Of money-making in this broad
land Of thee teri going people. 1t was Math-
ieu-Meusnier who, in 1869, inspired her
with that taste for achievements in art Of
which America seems to have cured her,
for, although her first visit was heralded
by an art exhibit, neither uninteresting
nor, considering it as the work of an ac-
tress who had achieved fame in her own
art, was 1t discreditable as an effort in
another art. But did any one ever hear
much about Sarah's art achievements after
that?