The Irish standard., 1895-08-24
PRETTY IRlSH|! + 1 / s
mrs. PatrIok Campbell Is this Rage OF
London al the Prsssnt
Time.

MRS. Patrick GampD9Il y tn0 RaBo. go %
london at the Present
Time. y.
"a CAREER FILLED WITH ROMANCE
Like Most Other Women She THINGS
Pretty Frooks Have Much to
10 With Success.
The woman of the moment in London
is Mrs. Patrick Campbell. PAINTERS p
paint her; poets rhyme her; critics praise
her, and all London is talking Of her. anu
has been ever since she burst upon walt
ing world in the difficult and unpleasant
role, of ..".The Second Mrs. Tanqueray. AS
she was won't to say in the Notorious
Mrs. Ebbsmith," which she so recently
and vigorously interpreted, Every Wom-
an has her hour. Nine has come"
Mrs. Campbell owes a very respectable
share of her handsome success to her real-
" magnificent Irish eyes that are large
brilliant and burn with magnetic hight
To her first success as Mrs. Tanqueray
has been added her crisp forceful presenta-
ton of the still more difficult role OF Mrs:
Ebbsmith, and just now her Intelligent
reading of Fedora, Is adding fresh laureis
70 bor o1roadv heavy crown,
What matter if her voice has harsh,
unpublished ring-her exits and her en-
frances are unfinished, her walk is I'M
graceful and her hair almost unkempt.
She has earnestness of purpose and man
ner, and a pair of magnetic eyes, that
compel your admiration and senses.
And, now, who is Mrs. Patrick Camp
bell. Very few people N London seem to
be clear on that subject. Her name has
led people to believe that she is an Irish
woman, and she is said to have
had a romantic and unfortunate past.
Other than that little is known of her.
However, according to a recent interview,
when asked as to her romantic marriage,
she said: eyes It may be called so, for
the match was a runaway one. l was mar
rted before I was 18 years of age, and YOU
wi see my choice of the stage as profess
sion was a pretty mature one When say
was the mother of two children before
was 20. At one time my tastes strongly
impelled me to the choice of music as
profession, for l have been devoted to
music all my life-a taste inherited, be-
lieve from my mother, who is OF Italian
birth, though my father is an English
man."
Mrs. Campbel's first appearance on the
stage dates back to 1883, when she es-
sayed small roles at the Alexander the
alter, Liverpool.
It is said that when Mr.. George Alexan-
der, London's first leading man, had the
reading of P:nero's new play "The Sec
ond Mrs. Tanqueray," he acknowledged
the play to be "great." 'But where"
said he in despair, "can we get Mrs. TAM
oueray? Miss Willard cannot play it, in
fact. I know of no London actress who
cam
The situation seems desperate. Just
at this time it happened that Mrs. Alex
ander went one night to witness the
melodrama at the Adelphi, and at once,
upon the appearance Of Mrs. Campbell,
Mrs. Alexander said to herself Here is
Mrs Tanqueray"
Such confidence does Mr.. Alexander re-
pose in the opinion of his wife-for she
is Acknowledged to be his he!pmate in
every sense of the word-that summons
was sent the next day to Mrs. Campbell
to come to him. In turn she was brought
before Mr.. Pinero, who said, whek he saw
her: Eyes, this is the woman / had in
mind. Now, if she can act'
That she could act almost the first re-
hearsal, and, of certainty, the first
night" of Mrs. Tanqueray proved.
This creation has been further supple
nented by her mastery rendering of the
unpleasant truisms and lines of the un-
fortunately environed and misunderstood
Mrs Ebbsmith. Such powerful render
ing as has hardly left room for the, very
intelligent, but opposed, interpretation
of the gifted Miss Nethersole, who has
followed her in this part.
OF the difficult social problems set by
the lines along which Mr.. -Pinero's later
plays are cast, and Of her opinion OF the
class of parts with which she has been
lately identified, Mrs. Campbell says:
81 scarcely think it fair to ask me my
opinion. 1t is sufficient for me that the
parts have afforded me great opportuni-
ties, and I certainly have no desire to be
drawn into any controversy on the mat
ter. I may tell you that have received
hundreds and hundreds of letters dealing
with Mr.. Pinero's play, and my share IN
them as an interpreter. I gather from
those not only that have made many
very kind and sincere friends, whom
have never seen, but also that Mr.. Pine
ro's handling OF certain problems has
excited the admiration of hosts of peo-
ple of the most divergent callings and
stations in life. Mr.. Pinero has himself,
I believe, been inundated with such let
ters'
Mrs Canpbell's conception of her late
unusal roles, while apparently simple,
are daringly original, and she is free to
confess that she had no particular model
in actual existence from which to build
such conceptions. Having become better
perfect in her part, she then frames in
her own mind, ard often very quickly,
a distinct notion Of the woman she wishes
to present. Many details are added at
rehearsals, and sometimes In an actual
performance.
Mrs. Campbell, who is possibly a wo-
man of 80. is strikingly tail, 1.-THE and
slender has mobile mouth and force.
full chin, set in a face of unusual pallor,
which is, in turn, framed in masses Of
dark hair worn in an artistically dis