The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-03-27

sink Helena Modjesla's personality unto
that of the woman who would SpoHta-
neously and naturally, under the cir
cumstances indicate in the play, speak
! these lines which already | have ac-
onired. If | cannot feel THAT under
! these conditions this woman's words
! would spontaneously come to me,
| wnow | am far away from what my i'm
/ PRESERVATION must grow to be-"
/ For this reason ut rs impossible for
me ito play part which ] cannnot learn
TO Sympathize with. Twas years and
years in learning TO be able to play
| Lady Machbeth." / could not feel her.
| could not possibly have any sympathy
| for her. She replied me. j wanted to
run away form her and | refused, while
| L was in THAT state concerning her, to
attempt iii impersOnate the character.
| ION the other hand, take Porita for
example. ! loved her from the first, 1
| felt THAT she was a woman of eXtTaor-
! binary sweetness, of brilliant wit, SPLEEN
| did generosity, feminine piquancy and
great intellectual power. She belonged
to a century noted for its brilliant wom-
eta yeritable golden age of feminine
mentality
'porita was undoubtedly woman OF
DISTINGUISHED social position, With the
charming. easw manners of high breed
| ing and perfect knowledge of 1.-THE world.
She was undoubtedly "a linguist. All the
women of wealth. and position OF that
day were superby educated, and it was
quite common for them TO speak five or
six languages fiuently.
when | was preparing to become
| Al. II 1.,a1 "a,
Erench. Italian. Polish and English con
corning the period in which she lived. |
threw my whole personality, so far as
| | could, back into that time, | absorbed
all the HISTORY. romance and poetry and
the period. | became familiar, geograph-
ically. with the Italian towns i'm which,
she dwelt. | studied the manners,
wore the dress. / familiarized myself
with the ethics of the time and people
until / was saturated with the atmos-
phere of my beautiful heroine. Finally,
| I began to realize to myself the compo>
nent parts of this young and lovely
woman of marvellous speech and extraOr-
binary sagacity.' w
II discovered that just as to-day many
| women are legally we'll informed, SO
I'M a century which closely resembles
our own in various lines, it would not
have been at all strange for a young
woman of Portals caliber to be legally
| learned Gradually L felt the cold OF
the time in which PorGia lived, the at
mosphere of the woman herself, the
noble love which makes her so ad0r--
able, the dnarming daintiness and sweet
| Port:a woman of 300 years ago had
ness of her innocent gayety, when this
dominated the 10Th century. Helena
ModjeSl1a. j felt that / had caught her,
intellectually. Then it became my De
| liglTtful task to make her physically as
lovely a picture as l possibly could.
do not know how | succeeded, but from
the very beginning j have tried 10 make
my other selves harmonious. In fact.
believe thesky to my whole existance
is my dependence upon harmony"
AS a little child, / could not bear a
discord-not a discOrd alone in music,
| but in anything. | f colors were dis
corlant, / hated TO look upon them. /
wanted everything in our home harIno-
nious, and as d tiny little girl. this pc.
culiar distance for anything out of tune
was looked upon merely as am absud
| idiosyncrasy As 4 grew older. my
mother recognized that this so-called &C.
centricity was one ] could not conquel
RSliE SdlA III lA1G lLtiN vi
artist In all my work / feel there
must be perfect harmony. A Portia
must have the soul of a Portia. She
must have the figure Of Portia, and
above all she must have the voice of ii
Portia. A Portta in her wonderful
speech the quality of mercy with the
voice of a Lady Macbetfl-iand | see that
you smile. but indeed | have heard
Juliehs with voices so mature and heavy
that they were only suitable for the
OId-fash:oned tragediennne in her most
lblOOd-cImidllng declamations- would be
out ofharmony, and, in studying this
role. | should make an especial point or
having my voice the right age. the
right quality, in fact the very reflection
of the character of the woman"
"NOw, if you ask me what are the
attributes that make a successful ac-
tress, ] must tell you that / am alto,
gether ignorant, and also i am unable
to reconcile myself to the popular test
of success, which represents dollars
and CENTS alone. Success appears also
to me to depend so much upon adver-
tising that it can no longer be said to
be the Just results of altistiStic merit.
There are many much-adyertised wOm-
en- who deserve all the success that they
| have attained, but IL could name 10 y0n
others who have, in an eminetn degree,
the artistic temperament, who are deli
cate, refined, poetic, exquisite, and yet
who never reach success. Ii you ask
why | must say eandidly, because they
have not been advertised.
| Take, for example, Annie Russell,
There is, I'm my opinion, no woman more
highly endowed as an artist than she.
In her impersonaffon of Elaine she was
exquisite almost beyond belief Certain
ly no other such creation has been seen
Of equal delicacy and beauty in the last
20 years, to my knowledge. Yet, where
\ is Miss Annie Russell to-day? Not, GER
| tainly, where she should be. | do mot
| wish to be "a cyulic but the true artist
unjust find compensation in thejoy of a
! life devoted to so glorious master. l
cannot say to the young women that pa
/ tience and perseverance Will bring their
! inst reward in the dramatic profession
because it would not be true. With the
Temperament, a real love of art, a will
jngness to devote ones life to the work
and Il good press agent, there is hope,
hut without the press agent i'm these
days, / honestly believe the chances are