The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-01-17
PR|AA Donna MAKING
CopySook MaximS Don't Fit
in With Edna May.
SHE WAS JUST BUILT UP
And Is Exactly What Her
Manager Made Her.

Perhaps the most talked of girl on tn,
l ight opera or musical comedy stage o.
I sday is Miss Edna May. She is now re
Il Tning from London on the StPaul with
81 he BeR of New York" company, which
has / closed a run of 697performances there
to sross receipts Of nearly a million dol
lars. says the New York Herald
Three years ago a slip of a country girl
pretty, but with Syracuse, n. Y" met.
aphoincalEy speaking, stamped all over heI
clothes am reflected in her manner, man.
aged SOME how to get down to New York
and al plies1 to MIR. George Lederer for a
position in the Casino chorus Mr.. Lee
derer "sized her up" gave her place
the fag en- of the waiting list" with
the oner, pusi privilege of attending all re-
hearsels. ge sitting up in all the music and
waiting f'br the possible chance of having
something 40 do in the chorus when an
opportunityN occored. After a little she re-
ceived the m uniicent salary of s12 a week
and later, n hen she had had some ex-
perience she got what seemed to her sud
den wealth. he got a raise of 50, and
was absolutely receiving ''$15' per-"
End of Act T. Three years are supposed
to have elaspe d as the play bills say.
Act 1.-THE main deck of an Atlantic
steamer.-This same young woman is dis
covered coming home on the St Paul,
the head of the most phenomenally sue
cessful American organization that ever
went To London. She has been the talk
of the English capital for two seasons.
Instead of returning as she went out,
four in a stateroom and a modest sum
of money in her pocket, she is coming
back in a high. priced deck cabin, en-
suite, with a large sized bank account,
a maid, any number of trunks and prob
ably 100000 worth of jewels She repre-
sents the Evolution Of the Chorus Girl
into the Prima Donna, the walking re-
alization Of a dream that she may have
had long in her provincial home up in
Syracuse, but viii oh never for a moment
seemed possible of naturalization.
Do you wonder the extraordinary
success of Edna May the rapid advance
from the flag end of the chorus to the
front rank Of the prima donnas?
How did it come about? Give a guess,
l ask you. I know your answer; that it
is another evidence that there are girls
whose beauty, dramatic and vocal talent
and general ability to shin as comic
opera or musical comedy stars only await
opportunity TO make an immediate sue
cess. If the opportunity comes to them
their success is prompt, brilliant and COM
plete-the sudden shining forth of the
light of genius that had been hidden I'M
der a bushel.'
IL
pull down any such gods of theory you
may have placed upon the altar of i'm
agination, and 1 hesitate to destroy YOUR
illusion about lights that suddenly blaze
out from under Syracuse bushels; but IL
you want to know exactly how Edna May
became a prima donna I must break it
TO you gently that she was manufactured
so to speak, from the raw material. Just
as some good, substantial farm product
might be shipped down to New York from
Syracuse, find its way eventually into the
hands of chef and after being properly
prepared is served up ct a metropoiltan
feast as a dainty morsel-Qulte different
from the original country consignment.
The fact is that while Miss MAY as
the winsome, demure, little Salvation las
sic of 1.-The Bell of New York." is ex-
ceedingly pretty, has the most childish
ly innocent air, and is altogether fasci-
mating in the soiritue!le charm of her
whole bearing, much that IS most winning
in voice. tone, manner has been fairly
'crummed" into he's The very artlcss-
ress that is so caDtivstin the seeming
~ unconsciously appealing look from her
eyes, the modest dropping Of the ids the
furtive look at the audience, in her fam
Gus song. They all follow me-" was all
taught her bit by bit, by Mr.. Lederer in
rehearsal after rehearsal, during which
she all but broke down, and he all but
tore his hair trying to get her to catch
on to what she was to do.
Miss May is not the representative of
hidden genius suddenly discovered. but an
embodiment of how a manager can manu-
facture a prima donna out of a chorus
girl, if she only sticks to it, go at 1t
hammer and tongs at rehearsal, and keep
hammering away till the chorus girl is
forged into the star OF course. you have
got to have material in the chorus girl
to work with There is no intention to
deny TO Miss May the possession of the
natural gifts with which she is blessed.
She always was very pretty girl; there
is a certain amout of the spirituelle in
her face; she is quiet and reposeful in
manner, and has a good figure. Here
were the foundations upon which Mr.. Lee
derer built. bun when she came down
from Syracuse she was no more the Ed
ma May of the Casino or the Shaftes-
bury than a piece of Carrara marble is
the Venus de Milo. The managerial CHS
el and mallet Clipped and hammered at
her till the statue of the salvation Las
sic was completed
Take the song referred to. commonly
called Follow Me-" which has made a
veritable sensation in the piece. Miss Nav
sings it in the scene that represents an
east side slum; the song is most sweetly
given. with seeming artlessness. as though
she were oblivious Of those about her.
wrapped in almost an estacy of religious
ferver, as she tells how hard she finds
it to make men follow the Light-that
They never proceed TO follow the Light,
But always follow me.
I happened to have a look at the theatre
scores Of this song, and was surprised 10
find it all covered with Mr.. Lederer's
rotations OF how she was to sing it. Just
what she was to do here and there. where
she was to drop eyelids." where 10 look
up" where 70 look down. coached in
! every look. gesture and step all the way
through
Over thu Last ba-S ~ tba ,-,s,,--<--, l.