New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-05-08
AIMEE DESCLEE.


THE WOMAN-HER OWN VIEWS
OF HER ART OF THE STAGE.
OF THE CRITICS. AND
OF HERSELF.
Nice, April 16.
The volume OF letters from Aimee Desclee just
rublished in Paris ought never TO have been pub
,sbed. No doubt they are full OF nterest-of very
o,nfuI interest but they none the less
uanton outrage upon the memory Of one OF the
nost gifted women Of her time. The woman Is
sacrificed 10 the artist. Perhaps the artist gains,
,bough not much but the woman loses far more
A. any rate the fame OF Aimee Descee needed no
such testimony as this NJ. Dumas. In his funeral
euIogy on the admirable actress TO whom he owed
so much speaks Of the everlasting oblivion into
which she Is about to pass. Not So The fame or
great actress or actor. is not so perishaDie
thing as he seems for the moment TO suppose ~
Rachel forgotten? Are much less distinguished
actresses forgotten? Mile. Mars Mic. Rose
Cleri-are not they remembered? Has MIS- SD
dons or Garrick passed out of English memory or
Talma Of French? NJ Dumas quotes Alfred dc
Musset's fine verses on Malibran. saying: Win
out the poet the great singer would already be
torgotten save for the vague and confused echo
sll sounding In the ears Of a few old men, always
suspected Of partially for the enthusiasms OF
their youth" I doubt whether that Is true, even
Of France. beyond which the French mind rarely
passes. But there is a wider horizon Ihele Is
Europe and there IS America. There are thou
sands who never opened volume Of Musset to
whom Mallbran is household word NJ Dumas
adds What Musset said Of Malibran we can
say and have chosen TO say again. with MN OF
her who in her life already known as la
Desc6e."
| have no quarrel with NJ Dumas and little
criticism to offer on his euogy upon Desclee
But he seems in some sort responsible for this
present volume The editor, NJ. Paul Dup.an,
puts himself under NJ Dumass wing. and neither
the eulogy nor two letters Of the dramatist TO
Descee could have been published without his
consent NJ. Paul Duplan Is comparatively I'M
known man-whether he is known at all cannot
say-but NJ. Dumas Is the foremost dramatist or
his day and must be taken as representative
Frenchman. What he represents N this case IS
the cruelty Of the race 10 women He was
pesoees friend and benefactor. She was his
friend and Interpreter and benefactor. for she
lent 10 his plays lustre they never would nave
had but for her. 1t is impossible to suspect him
OF animosity. Yet twenty years after her death
he lends his name. and TO some extent MS COL
liberation, 10 a volume which must leave the
character Of the woman with needless stain on
!, 10 the end Of time. OF the woman he seems TO
take no thought. 1t was the artist who inter
ested him. and since the artist reveals herself
more clearly In these melancholy letters, what
matters II II the woman be branded?
OF course, nobody ever supposed that Aimee
Desclee was ST. Cecilia or an Agnes. What
the private life OF a comedienne is In Paris and
elsewhere in France and Europe. most people
whether before the curtain or in the coulisses.
That is their life the lie which the world makes
for them The letters OF Desclee now published
are addressed to her lover-one Of her lovers. the
last with whom she spent the falling years or
her life. He was known In Paris at the time: an
officer In the army OF good family. Ills relation
70 Desclee injured him not In the eyes OF the
world-of his own world II he had married her
he would have been an outcast Such are Inc
morals OF the world In Paris. The identity OF
this ofrcer is now hidden under HIS nom d'amour.
Fanfan. Descee writes TO him while he is on a
visit to his parents In the country:
How happy you are! love you more than
ought and you leave me only to embrace your .'ar-
en,s. whose love for you Is greater THAI you de-
serve dare not complain. So many people have
nothing at all. At least am sure OF loving you.
but beg OF you don't forget what asked you; to
think OF me when you embrace them.
And then follows this:
You know II fate had so willed. might have
been an honest woman like your mother. You
must Judge for yourself whether. as you Kiss her
at night. you can think OF me without OFFENDING
her.
The pathos OF that goes very deep
Whether there are many Americans TO whom
Desclee's name means very much know not She
died In 1873. Her celebrity, which at the time was
immense, was but for few years She had acted
IN Paris early In her career without success: at
the very theatre the Gymnase. which was after
ward 10 witness her triumphs. She shook the
dust OF that city of her feet and srolled through
Europe acting In Florence. in Brussels and many
other cities. 1t was az Brussels in. think. 1863.
that NJ. Dumas discovered or rediscovered her
She was playing Diane de Lys. Come and see
whether have made any progress she writes TO
NJ. Dumas; Il shall only believe 1t II you say So
He went. out Of mere good nature, and instantly
perceived. as he said that he was In the presence
OF an actress Of the first order. The rest is well
known He made Montgny. manager OF the Gym
nase. engage her. much against that astute per-
sonage's WILL but Dumas was not a man whom a
manager cared to offend.
These are the days when actors and actresses
are paid sums which Generals and Ambassadors
never attain to. What do you suppose was Des-
Gees market value at that time. Little enough
naturally. before she had conquered the public.
but at the very height Of her fame she had a sal
airy Of $1,000 francs from the Gymnase,-*3soo
Except Cabinet Ministers and Supreme Court
Judges in the United States, and Journalists
know Of nobody whose income bears so little pro-
portion to their services. All her life long she re-
NAMED poor often in money difficulties After her
success In Paris she had some good engagements
in Italy and elsewhere: as much as 500 night
IN Italy and finally in London what seemed
TO her. TO be at the very end. the enor-
nous Of 5000 night. Contrast that
with Nine. PATHS 5000 for three songs
Of an evening. or with the quarter OF a
million OF dollars which Nine. Sarah Bernhard
brought back from America the none too great