The sun., 1897-01-09
IDEAS ABOUT ACTRESSES.
THE C<RMEN AND ANITA FEpbH
THAT WAS CA U0HT FROM CALVE.

THE C<RhEN AND AHf1A Fb' ~"
THAT WAS ca U0HT FROM CALVE.
short s.s share Spanish Attacks which
sos, OF Our Adr,iret wemen OF the
Drama Have sufered-Liii Lehnsss
I-pro.sio. or Dsse ssd Bernhsrst'
Emma CslvS has . good deal to answer for.
Her Carmen put idess into the heads OF many
actresses who had kept on their even way oe-
fore she presented her conception OF tho spanish
gypsy here. II she had stopped there' ner TO-
pponsibility might have been loss but wnas
should she do but act the peasant giri IN La
Nayarraise." and with her dishevelled black
hair and realistic dress inject the Calve microbe
. little more thoroughly into the ambitions OF
our women Of the stage. 1t 10 true that be-
,ond TN. black wig none Of them ever had
..rious Infection. 1t was only . slight attack
aha gave them, and not serious enough even to
i.axs them pockmarked, for IL was perfectly
plain at q glance that the disease was too slight
10 be even skin deep. Olga Nethersoie was the
srst victim, but O black wig, no corsets, and
blue qrease paint under the eyes do not make Q
calye as Carmen. Jessie Bartlett Davis demon
strsted with the certainty Of problem In
veone,ry that q loose cotton frock and stin.
black locks don't mako Calve ~ Anita.
Rose Coghlan. with charm OF per-
.onaIity that is almost sturdy. and has
carmen bee into her billyoock hat, and
Il burzed there until San Francisco had to see
her take q fall out Of the Merimee wanton.
Elta Otis went to Boston and pulled through .
brief attack there. Few Of these individual
cases have been lingering. They were violent.
but quickly cured. But Calvs has dragged over
the stage q long trail Of black bandeauI.
bolero Jackets, mantillss. and lace-trimmed
skirts. and left the phantoms Of . few black
wIgged actresses washing the paint out of
their eyebrows. and wondering why In the
S s,y 1ys ,hsSEh ,hs az Roy.
over to Eishth avenue. but Csive has no. yet
Opera House No less effectuai effort to carry .
single suggestion Of her from that establish
Davis, Ia specifically Mexican in her essay.
The raven curl. Nd, md 'h. .o,h, hiSs comb In.'
simon. pure American article II ia II come body
crawled up and tried TO disguise II with these
;isnss sasf of a asn fem!ainiiy there b nothing
to bs gained by blaming Calv6 now. Tie worst
o. the thing is past TIE yirS'snes Of the mt mt
little harm II II likely to do In the future. This
Greaser variant OF Carmen and Anita wouldn't
deceive fancy-dress party. 1t Is too plainly
homo made.
The scene which Edwin Milton Royls has
one that has rarely, II ever, been utilized the
stage. 1t Is full of picturssausnsss and color.
The dramAtist can hnd great opportunities in
It's life and character. One of the scenes at the
American Theatre 10 typical of what can be
done with the merely scenic possibilities OF the
locality. II represents an old Spanish mission.
and. appropriately designed and painted as IL is,
the view 10 full Of the romantic and artistic
possibilities of that past season. Thus
Mr. Royle has chosen an admirable scene
for his play. but his originality In this respect
10 dsporable. The waste Of IL In such play a.
time d aud any place would have = answered HSs for
such an unassimilatsd accumulation OF stage
worn .itua,ions q ,. and stage ,yDss No Pietur.
old friends ss the plotting Msaicsns conspiriSs
ossr ssa :Sa the
W. v, ,,I. knew :. q them Sn,,, By By heart TS;y 40
md their way through the mission house. just
ion II Which has ps..a poSsrsy eyesF Of ns.n
ton TO place Them for the past two decades.
They are proof against pistols and poisons. and
We know II Just - quickly as we recognise from
tSs S ssIns even Il |, S b. served a. ho. % ..msls.
ss:s aasd saf . .s disguise tho In
One OF tho greatest lyric actresses OF the stage
10 Lilli Lehman. and she told SUN reporter
the other day some interesting impressions OF
Eleonora Duse and Sarah BernhArdt. She had
seen Duse only onoe. and she frankly admitted
that her performance proved great disappoint-
ment. II saw her in Berlin" Nine. Lehman
said. land before that had heard the usual
enthusiastic praise OF her talents l was very
much disappointed. / saw her play Camille, and
my impression OF the performance was she
lacked entirely the dramatic temperament.
Her deliberation and slowness In Camille partic-
ularly irritated me, and ! know that II I
were & man should never have found any
thing fascinating in such Q woman. remem-
Der one scene in particular that seemed very
inappropriate TO me. When she entered in tho
ballroom scene with the bunch of camelias. I
handled them and her .afrectsdiy quiet manner
ss,s very unnatural In reality and unsuted to the
only saw Puis 's ,ay %g
she was better in other parts. but my
was that had none Of the truly dramatic tenn.
Psrament. In Paris saw Sarah Bornhardt in
,SooThs and sss. va: ons in which
not the German Md0dd, and there was not tho
herman t character necessary to the rlay about
hne as anything had ever seen on the stage II
rasin that conversation OF Md0da's In which
she uis OF her lie after she lett her home, and
what thought was tho best Characteristic Of
twas the independent manner In which she re-
cited the story, taking tho entire responsibility
81 II herself and made II such = part OF her own
ine, so distinctly possession OF her own, that
nobody was allowed To take any share in II but
herself. She had lived through what she was
Telling and she did not mean that any body else
should claim any share in that part of her life or
teke any responsibility for It. That was tho
part OF Bernhardts performance that I enjoyed
a.osI m ana u was very fine acting-as impressive