The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1896-03-05
IT MAY BE DUSE'S WAY.
She Gets Quite as Much NotorIety as
Other Players.


~ should hate to think, " he said, with
an expression OF panied skepticism on
his face, ssthat Madame does this be-
cause ehe Knows that she gets more adver-
tising by it than she would II she follow
ed the tactics OF, most celebrities. should
really ate to believe that she realizes the
value OF this new lose.
lie fell into profound thought at the
suggestion OF his own words, and when
he began to speak OF the actress again 1t
was with a voice touched with the un-
easiness OF growing doubt.
"She Gays, you know, that her life Is
her own after the curtain falls" he went
on, ''and that the pnblic is not concerned
in her life after the play 10 over. That
may be possible, you know. Genius has
its particular eccentricities. sarah's is to
get Advertising In every possible way at
all possible times. Possibly buses may be
just the reverse. F"
The reporter asked him II he had heard
the story Of the King OF Wurtemberg.
That Is the last addition TO the Duse lore
that has been accommodating like rolling
SNOWFALL In the pa three years. II Is
theatrical paraphrase of the story OF Can
ossa, and Mr.. Schufmap, Buses present
representative, tells IL. When her form
er manager heard il he sighed again.
"Well, maybe what they say Is true"
he said sadly.
"Perhaps it's only her way OF advertis-
ing herself. Nine. Duse's managers have
an easier task than OF most men whose
duty IL Is to disseminate information
about her to the eager outside world. She
Is never like ly TO deny 1t, whatever they
happen TO say. That would Immediately
damage her interesting position. She is
not oniy retiring, but she Is Indifferent,
and TO deny story about her private life
would indicate an interest which she ~
not presumed to take in what Is said
about her. So any sort of Q story goes.
When Richard Mansheld's industrious ad-
vertisers say that he lost his memory in
typhoid fever, Richard can excitedly deny
it-a proceeding which has only the dis
advantage of advertising him twice as
much as he would otherwise have been.
But Duse must remain quiet, while the
legends about her go on accumnlating
day by day. To talk about them would
make her as ordinary In that respect as the
rest of the stage geniuses. SO her mana
gers have free field, and the public lis
tens To them"
Mr.. schurman tells the story OF how
the actress snubbed the kipg. MIR. Schur-
man was once the manager OF Nine. Sarah
Bernhardt, and he was trained in a good
school. When Duse was playing in Stuti-
CART last winter William III, King of
nuremberg, was one of the enthusiastic
spectators in the audience. The play was
''Magda," and after the third act the
monarch sent for Nine. Duse's impresa-
rio.
lyon will tell Mime. Duse," he said,
'that am profoundly impressed by ber
performance, and that shall give myself
the pleasure OF visiting her in her dress
ing room immediately
When the king had finished the suave
schurman, who has French manner and
Prussian beard and hair cut, hurried
from the royal box back TO Mime. Duse's
dressing room. He neryously conveyed
through the keyhole the kings compll-
ments and the additional news that the
king was about to visit the actress. The
first part of the message elicted no answer
from the actress. But the second did.
"You tell his Majesty" she said to her
manager, opening the door of her Dressing
room and appearing fully dressed, "that
1 am very grateful for his compliment and
hattered by his attention. But tell him
feel just as much honored by hearing it
from you. Tell him can't see him be-
cause / am dressing.H
Then the king was heard approaching.
Before her manager had finished whisper
ing the fact TO Duse the door of her dress
ing room was closed. The important TACT
that his Majesty was waiting was COM
municated through the keyhole. The
answer came back from Duse that she
was dressing and could see nobody.
:" Then I'll wait, )" answered the suabian
ruler blandly.
"If you do, you'n have TO wait outside.
as long as stay inside, your majesty"
was puse's answer, as her manager re-
ports 1t, 'for ] shall not come out while
ySu are there"
The king waited, but the actress did not
appear. lie waited for half an hour, but
there was no sign of Mime. Duse. A
knock on the door brought only the
answer that the actress was still dressing.
The audience began to grow impatient
for the curtain TO rise. The king began
to believe that after all the actress was
not coming out to see him. Some recent
kings of Wurtemberg have not tended TO
make the royalty rank high in the minds
of the people. Probably to lose Duse in
the last act of 'Magdap might have
added no new esteem t. the rank in
which royalty is held. So the king gave
up the effort to make the actress's ac-
quaintance, and by the time he was in
his seat the curtain was up and the play
had gone on again.
Various interesting stories Of Duse's life
were narrated by the Rosenfeld Brothers,
who introduced her to this country, but
none of them was better than this one.
and no story ever told about her could
be half SO interesting as the history of her
own life. That has been passed on the
stage. From the time that She was old
enough to act, Duse has known no other
life than that OF the stage. IL is said that
now her art is distasteful TO her; that she
no longer enjoys acting; that apart from
the ill-health which makes il difficult
the occupation is irksome to her. This
Is often the experience of actors who
have passed many years of their life O
the stage. 1t has for them none Of the IL
lusions which IL offers TO persons who
take it up when they are mature, and
look back to n childhood with which the
stage had no connection. They find in
1t only the drudgery and labor of an ex-
acting profession, and, even with the en-
inence which Duse has attaine5, there
must be recollection of the long, unre-
warded struggles that preceded the fulfill
ment of ambitions. Duse has gone
through all this. In what purported.
with some show of truthfulness, to be
an photographed account Of her life,
edited by a friend, she told her expert
ence in Rio playing round of parts
that had been played there before by act
tresses of school whose traditions differ
ent from Duse's. She played Fedora. Denl