The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1895-12-10

Remain a Month-Her Great Fortune
She Gives q History of Her Life and
Tells why She Adopted the Stage.
New York, Dec. 9.-Guilbert is COM
ing to America, In fact, Guilbert is in
! America, already, for she is passenger
on board the Etruria, and the Etduria
was sighted off Fire Island tonight.
All New York is ready to worship at
her shrine, and when she lands Gull
bert will receive a royal welcome.
Who is GuiIbert? She is a woman,
of course. Single. less than so years
Of age, and not a bit pretty. She is
tall, thin and awkward, and not per-
son calculated by either figure or face
to enrapture insipid youths or excite
/ the jealousies Of women. But her voice
is divinely fair, and her manerisms so
| bewitching. With her voice she has
enthralled thousands. With her songs
which, by the way, she says she COM
posed herself, she has won fame and
! fortune In Europe she attracted more
attention than the crowned heads on
! dress parade. From Paris to London
and back again she has been followed
| by the plaudits of thousands Of her adj
| mirers, while perfect shower of gold
| en- coin has been her reward.
| In the Paris concert halls she has been
| a goddess, worshipped by all classes
and conditions of society. Her appear
ance on the stage at any time was the
signal for complete silence. The hum
of the cork and the gurgle of wine ceas-
ed with the first fiutter of her dress and
I . - i g L. - - l.
were turned in her direction and all
ears strained to catch every word drop
ping from her lips. Her song was fin
ished and GuiEbert was behind the
wings while her audience still sat in
that staring fashion, hardly compre-
hending that she was gone. Then came
bursts of rapturous applause and Gull
bert was at the footlights again.
This is Guilbert-Yvette Guilbert
whom all New York is waiting to re-
ceive. 1t was intended to give her an
informal reception this evening in
private parlor at the Waldorf. But her
friends were disappointed. The stea-
mer was not sighted until too late to
reach the dock, and the private yacht
which had been cruising up and down
the bay all the afternoon and evening,
returned to the city without Guilbert.
But she will reach the city omorrow
and everybody will be satisfied.
EVERYONE TALKS OF HER.
The statement that Mile Guilbert
draws the highest salary ever paid to
any man or woman whose business it
is to amuse the public may be justified
by the facts, though there is good deal
written about actresses that must be
taken with a grain of allowance. It is
~~n|r. ~l.aA II. T. IL
than any other person employed and
there are those who say "she is the
naughtiest singer in Paris which is
public and incidentally provoke the lib
erality of the managers.
Of course there is plenty of rubbish
written about this Partisan favorite of
fortune, her manners, her methods and
her chic, just as there is about all
French women who happen 10 be in
fashion. and half a dozen different
stories have been told about her child
hood life and the way she shaved in one
shop or another to keep her blind moth
er from starving. According to one
magazine she was the daughter of
gambler who lost his money at the ga
ming table and then died. After his
death Yvette was Obliged to help her
mother in a shop for the making of en-
broidery. Not content with thus i'm
posing on the young girl, her mother
added to her troubles by going blind,
which obliged Yvette at the age of II
years to go out into the world to earn
her bread. Her world, according to
this biographer, like the world of plenty
of other women, was the dressmakers
where she became a LAY figure for the
trying on of gowns" After that she
went to the Printemps, the great Paris
dry goods establishment, and shaved
there as a shop girl for 500 month.
This slavery was too much for her, her
health broke down. and she tried writ
ing society notes for one of the papers.
This, happily opened her the way to
the managers. the magazine writer as
sures his readers, and at last she was
engaged at the Eldorado.
HER FORTUNE BEGINS.
A writer on stage matters for another
Paris magazine is even more interest
ing in his recital of the vicissitudes of
her early life. Five years ago." he
says, with all the ponderous gravity
Of an indisputable authority. "Yvette
Guilbert was a seamStress. living in
a Paris garnet with a widowed mother
on few sous a day Sometimes 10
would pose for the altogether in the
Paris studios. Then she tried the
stage. and as an actress, and even as
a spear bearer, she failed. Then she
got an idea. Why not sing topical
songs in a new way-new pantomime.
new intonation? She got permission
TO try one night at the AlcaZar II
made her fortune. Yvette Guilbert is
good womaS., <fey say. She has had
one grand passion, bur the man died.
and her heart has been virgin ever
since. She saves 'three-Quarters of
the vast sums she makes. She is good
10 her mother. and viii probably die
rich"
But the truth seems to be that the
enhancing Yvette while singing at 10
francs night in a cafe was discovered
by some Bohemian newspaper workers
and doomed because those idlers had
nothing better TO do. and that carried
her 10 the Divan Joponais. where she
was applauded by thousands and paid
with almost princely Hbsrality. After
a period OF splendid success there she
went 20 the Moulin Rouge 10 meet even
greater triumpns lie Courier Fran
Gals soon afterward published her por-
trait. and she became. first a celebrity
then a rage. and finally a passion. |
Since that she has sung in every part
Of Europe except Germany. where she |
refused 70 go on patriotic grounds |
She has made instantaneous success l
everywhere except in Italy. where she |
was Missed. Maybe she would have /
met the same fate elsewhere IL those |
who had applauded had known that |
she was singing 20 the rhythmic music I
because it IS admitted even by her 1