The San Francisco call., 1897-05-09

Princess, but, practically speaking,
the San Francisco public has be-
slowed upon Mrs. Dimond's nude
parture" those bits of anatomy face
tiously known as 1.-THE CLASSY eye"
'fhe clammy hand" and 1.-The marble
heart She has had a mild tsucces de
curiosity" it is true, but there has been
no fighting to secure seats, no dragging
the prices up to the top notch, no excite
ment or hysteria whatever. This may be
due to the innate delicacy of San Fran
cisco or it may be personal indifference to
Mrs. Dimond. Perhapsthings would have
been different had she been the beautiful
Princess de Chimay, whose debut was so
neatly nipped in the bud by the Partisan
police. l cannot resist quoting an ac-
count of the affair written by Paris cor
respondent:
Twenty-franc boxes were cheap at 500 francs
The ordinary seat was quoted at 20 francs and
the price, simply for the promenade, had gone
up to 5 francs All this to see the Princess
Chimay in three 'nudepar:ures." She was to
touch very big salary. know, but the man.
agement would have lost nothing if they could
only have been certain of that first nights
takings. Sandwichmen lined the streets an
nouncing the appearance of Clara, and her
name glared at you from every advertisement
pillar on the boulevards. 1t was TO be the
event of the season, and big theaters changed
the date of their premieres so as not TO clash.
But in France there is man with almost un.
limited authority and tremendous suavity,
and that is the Prefet de la Police. NJ. Lepine
He called the Princess to his Office and he also
summoned NJ. Marchand, her manager,
thoughtlessly overlooking Rigo He seems to
have acted with cOnsidera Bile grace.
He appealed to the better nature of the
woman. He pointed ont that the mother of
two or three children could hardly claim the
permission of the police in the name of Art to
appear as Venus. He also pointed out that
such performance could only bring pain on
the family whose name she had borne. Clara
replied in a thoroughly American fashion, 'T
have the right to appear, and appear Will"
Then NJ. Lepine spoke out 'sIf YOU dare to ap-
pear tomorrow night will tell you what will
happen. One club alone of which your hus-
band is member has bought 100 live rabbits
and they will be thrown on the stage. What
will be thrown from other quarters / don't
know. This much I tell you; If there is riot
in the hall tomorrow night, will close it, If
you are the cause OF that riot shall withdraw
your permission de seiour' and out you CO."
Half an hour later the Princess had doctors
certificate to say that she was suffering from
the influenza.
Mrs. Dimond's debut did not threaten
TO be so sensational as that and San Fran
CISCO has no urbane Chief OF Police, with
almost unlimited authority" to interpose
persuasive arguments and talk about
bringing pain on the family, and Mrs. Di-
mond has appeared as an Amazon, un-
checked and unremonstrated with.
asked her the other day why she has seen
fit to practice so much economy in the
matter of clothes for her debut, and she
answered frankly that there was no econ
omy about il. "Those costumes / wore
cost me S25 for weeks hire, but it was
an xorbitant price and 1 have changed
my costumer. wore tights because there
was more money in them than in skirts.
and l am out for money; It's a matter of
bread and butter with me-"
..And you did not feel a trifie-well-
nervous ?" asked.
''Of course was nervous she replied,
"but / thought OF the money in it and be-
came as cold as ice. Oh, I'm ambitious,
very ambitious. though you might not
think it, but Pm out for money"