Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1898-02-03
THEIR QUEER WAY.
ACTORS AND SINGERS AND THEIR
REMARKS ON THE CRITIC.

ACTORS AND SINGERS AND THEIR
REMARKS ON THE CRITIC.
CaIious Indifference or Ignorance the Com
nionest Refuge OF the Artistic Nature.
Several Cases Cited by the Innocent Re-
porter.
There are many amusing things
about the artistic temperament, said
the innocent reporter, tbut you have to
know the disposition in order to tell
how funny they really are You must
know enough not to believe them al
ways and then through all your inter
course with the professionals there will
flow an accompaniment of easy humor
that gives acquaintance with these per
sons an added pleasure. One charming
incident of this can always be found in
their views of what the newspapers say
about them. Mrs James Brown Potter
is the only woman / ever saw who
talked frankly about that subject.
So long as they don't ignore me,
she said, 1 don't care what they write.
Let them say anything SO long as they
say it. but it would be horrible to be
left alone
That was a very truthful statement
of her own opinions and almost un-
paralleled in its flankness. Every body
knows that Mrs. Potter has never had
very much TO thank the newspapers for
that was really pleasant, but she had
plenty to be grateful for as long as she
was willing they should print anything
if it kept her i'll the public eye.
Almost as genuine was young
American singer who came back here
after she had made debut and some
little reputation in Europe. She was
pretty woman and she had good voice,
but she was unfortunate. Once she had
a sore throat and another time she was
out of condition for some other reason.
At all events she was never in condi-
tion to do herself justice So there was
nothing pleasant that even with the
kindest intentions, the newspapers could
say about the young woman. One night
toward the close of the season she was
in a grand tier box at the opera house
During one of the entr actes she was
walking about the foyer with friend,
and halted in front of the greenroom.
What is that room?' her friend asked.
Planting herself deliberately IN
front of the partly opened curtains, she
said in voice audible to every man in
the room. oh, that is the place they
60 to write, in the most disagreeable
way they can. the most disagreeable
things they can think of about you.
The younger singer was unjust, but she
had no false vanity She was willing to
have it known that she read what the
newspapers said about her Her more
illustrious colleagues are not always SO
willing to admit that.
Il have heard Mile. Calve protest
that she never saw any newspaper but
the Paris Figaro, and declare that she
really had not the slightest idea what
New York papers wrote about her She
said this one day while waiting outside
of Maurice Grau's Office at the Metro
politan, and then turning suddenly to
a reporter standing near her asked if he
was the man that wrote she had signed
contract to give some concerts at
So, 1000 a night when she was really to
receive So, 900 The man did not un-
derstand French, SO Mile. Calves com
panion translated the question into
English The man replied that he rep
resented another newspaper, and when
she turned this into French for Mile
Calve she mentioned the name of the
newspaper from which she had had
paragraph which had led the public to
believe that Mile. Calve had consented
to take $500 less than she was to get,
Nine. Eames has an indicated in
difference for what the newspapers say
which is sometimes Il little bit difficult
to reconcile with her intimate knowl
edge of what they publish about her
Nine Melba is also familiar with
them, and she is a little less averse to
having that fact known than Nine
Eames is 1t is we'll known that Nine
Nordica takes her press clippings with
her coffee, and she makes no bones of
it. Jean de Reszke is regular reader
about him. and, whatever he may think
about it III reality. he never, but in one
instance. took any notice of it. Plancon
enjoys reading the agreeable things
that are written about him and doesn t
care who knows it Only the women
profess to be wholly ignorant of what
the newspapers write.
stW54l, +k,t, ofrarcoc ho oacn xyo,.xy
much the same The celebrated foreign
ers according to their own accounts,
are quite unacquainted with anything
that the American press may write
about them Agnes Sorma said that she
did not intend to read any of the crit
icisms of her work until she started
home on the steamer 1t didn't take a
conversation of more than three min
utes to show that she had fairly ac-
curate knowledge of everything that
had been printed about her 1t must
have been some superior sort of clair
voyance that is possible only to the ar
tistic temperament, for hadn't she said
that none of them would be read until
she had got OH the steamer to go TO Eu
rope? Sarah Bernhardt has them all
translated to her and accompanies the
performance with more or less emphatic
reflections on the intelligence of the
writers who do not agree with her own
ideas of what she does 1t is said that
the atmosphere of the Hoffman House
was heavily charged with birthstone for
several days after Nine Sarah had the
New York accounts of her performance
OF Magda read aloud to her in Eng
lsh. When the American actors read
unfavorabIe accounts of themselves,
they are always able to tell how they
came to be written. There is always
some specific cause for everything unfa-.
vorabie Either they snubbed the writer
accidentally or said something disagree
able about him TO one of his friends.
There is never any explanation beyond
their bold truthfulncss for the fiattering
notices that appear New York Sun.