The San Francisco call., 1896-02-23

| quarters of the audience who go to see
| Sarah or Duse do not understand one word
| either of them says. Nine. Bernhardt
speaks beautiful French, but she speaks
very rapidly, and one has to listen keenly
| to get each Y ord and the full value of each
| word. / consider her great actress, but
simply because Mrs. Millionaire, who be-
longs to two or three French classes, and
who likes to make you think she is fine
linguist, pays her money and goes and
laughs and cries at the proper points, why
should you take your S3 and trot to mat
inee simply because It is done by heri
Possibly you know the story because you
saw Fanny Davenport play 1t, or else be-
cause you have heard Calve sing it, and
then you talk about the perfect emotion of
Bernhardt or Duse, and how one did not
need to understand the words, their art
and their soulfulness making the story in
telligible. Bosh. Or, perhaps, you have
you weep OF laugh when it is desirable,
and you tell your friends how sorry you
feel for them In their ignorance.
This nonsense about the art and the
soul telling the story is another bit of
tommy rot. With picture it is different.
1t tells one episode IN lie, not the story
of lifetime. How in the mischief are you
to know whether the curl on French
mans forehead means that be is in the
depths of despair, OF that he is joyful be-
cause he is going to run away with his
friends wife that night?
When Sarah rustles her petticoats
you listen to the frou-frou and say,
''She looks as if her soul were GO
ing from her, and escaping to an
other and a better world" Whereas
she shakes it so you may realize that it is
silk. Ii she raises one arm in the air and
droops her head, you whisper that that
is concealed love! And then if she folds
lN1, l.
derous, passionate love that wouldn't hesi-
tate at killing an audience. Go to see
Sarah all you want if you enjoy her-for-
tunately her repertoire is composed of
plays that are well known here, inasmuch
as they were presented by Miss Davenport
with better company, better clothes and
decidedly better Suggesting than any
French company ever gave, but don't buy
even an admission ticket to see Duse.
Give her chance to appreciate what Amer
lea can do when woman insults it by pro-
nouncing her dislike publicly.
Perhaps my opinion in regard to Duse
and her acting is worthless, but give you
my word. dreadful as it sounds | should
have had much better time if 1 had
spent that afternoon with ''Chimmie Fad
den." and | would have been in dollar
and half. am perfectly willing to &C.
knowledge her greatness, if it will please
anybody, but she is dreadfully tiresome,
dii1 ohouSA VIC Vi ItlCS are given W JdlhlIS
about her concealed emotion and great
sorrow, she looks to me as if her liver
were not quite right, and l could not but
wonder what early spring medicine would
be adapted to her. and whether, since she
goes IN so strongly for realism, it would be
proper to send her a bottle of doctor
Dinkey's Drivelling DRINK instead of
roses. Flowers fade. but the liver and its
medicines are always with her. Bother
let's be truthful and seek in the theater
what we EN- Joy and what we understand
| want an evening that makes me feel
when 1 get home, as if I had had good
time, and not one where | have to strain
ears and eyes to catch a little of the
strange language, and grow weary during
the long waits. There are plenty people
who will say, Bah is stupid, we under
stand French" All right; go to the
French play then whenever you wish to.
But [ am perfectly certain that not three
quarters of the average American au-
dience outside of New Orleans, under
stand what these strange goddesses are
saying.
By the by, the girl of the twentieth CEN
tury is fitting her hat down, down, down
over her eyes until it nearly touches her
nose, and looks, well. l must confess if it
is the right shape hat that it looks ex-
tremely coquettish. The new springtime
hats are coquettish and she of the sum-
mertime will be quite as pretty as pict-
ure when she puts them on. | am told by
people interested in missionary work that
with one church collection went book on
physical culture to the missionary, SO that
to gain a convert. after reading this book,