The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-09-16
CLEO DE MERoDE.
The Woman Said to be the Most Beautiful
in France Is in America.

Cleo de Merode, premiere ballet dancer
of the Grand Opera in Paris, the admira-
ton of the Partisan boulevardier, the
priced model of sculptors, and the protege
Of a King, is in New York. She arrived
on the steamship Spree, Monday morning,
accompanied by her mamma, Maurice
Forbee, manager of the Folies-B ergere,
her personal representative; one maid,
nine trunks, and dog. She will dance
for six weeks at Roster & Balls, and then
must return to Paris.
Cleo de Merode sprang into notoriety
about three years ago. She had before
| that been known rs graceful dancer
with a pretty face Gin the ballet. But
there are many such at the Grand Opera
House; SO she was simply classed with
the many King Leopold of Belgium
was attracted by her demure artlessness
| at that time, and made no secret Of it.
Straightway she became an object of
curiosity which two other events intensi-
| fed. The first of these was the winning
of the prize at a beauty show, wherein
she defeated Sibyl Sanderson and other
was the exhibition Of Falguiere's statue
of La Danseuse" at the Salon. Mile.
| de Merode was the model for it, and it
made her the most talked of woman on
| the Continent
| The real name of the dancer Is said to
| be Hortense Gervais, and 1t is added that
she Is the daughter of an humble family
In Paris: This she denies, and she claims
descent from the noble French family of
de Merode. She is twenty three years of
age and has been in the ballet of the
Grand Opera for eight years, first as an
| humble coryphee. During this time she
has danced but once away from the city,
and that was last summer, when she led
a the first production of the ballet of
| Phryne," by Louis Grant, at Brussels
| In appearance Mile. de Merode is about
| the medium height for a woman, slight
| in form, with masses of wayy brown hair
arranged low on both sides of her head.
Her complexion Is clear, and when she
| smiles her brown eyes light up and
little flush creeps up her cheeks. She has
| few of the mannerisms of her predeces-
sors in vaudeville. There was not one
shrug of the shoulders at her reception
| Monday afternoon, nor were her hands
constantly in use as Interpreters. She
laughed in an embarrassed way atstimes,
| and would every once in while drop
| her eyes to the floor.
"
voyage, and l was i'll but one day. All
the rest of the time I was about the ship,
| playing the piano, pitching quoits, or
| talking with the many nice passengers.
| They were all SO kind to me, and when
! danced at the concert they We're kind
enough to applaud me much.
'sWhen the steamer came up the bay
this morning the hills and the forts and
the beautiful houses on the shore made
1t charming. Then, too the Statue of
Liberty, is not that grand? But oh,
your buildings are SO high thought at
| first they might be the theatres and I was
much frightened"
Of her canoes she said: "There are
four l will try here, the gavotte, the
pavanne, minuet of Louis XIV. and a
dance of Louis XIII. In all of them my
costume permits my wearing my hair
this way, except in the minuet. There 1
wear gray wig and with little laugh)
you can see whether l have ears or not.
| You know somebody in Paris once said
that the reason of my wearing my hair
| in this way was that have the ears of a
fawn. But rode up and down the Bots
with my hair high on my head to show
them all it was untrue" and she tender
ly patted her hair.
Maurice Forbee was distinctly pessi-
mistic. "Mlle. dc Merode is the last SEN
sation we have in Paris to give you," he
said. "There are no more, and 1 do not
know what will be the result unless some
new one springs up. Who knows?
1.-THE supply of really clever people has
been decreasing lately, and just SO soon
as one does appear, if it is beautiful
woman, she soon leaves the stage. Mile.
de Merode has much to commend in her
besides the faculty Of attracting atten-
ton. She has come to the front BY hard
earned work and stays there because she
is competent. It was with much trouble
1 obtained permission from the Govern
Inent for her to come here, as the Opera
| is directly under its control. She is here
now, but may only stay six weeks; then
she must return"
| Mile de Merode will make her Ameri-
can debut next Monday night at Roster
& Bal s.-New York Times.
Thrift on Wheels.