The age-herald., 1900-01-18
Edna Mays Return the
 Raue in London Society

The success of American women on the London stage furnishes the newspapers on this side an opportunity to plant columns of gush over the latest English favorite, taking 1t for granted that the play-goer over here wants columns about the win ming of English hearts by the American woman.
 Miss Edna Mary. the httle New York girl. has just sailed into harbor after phenome- mai success in London of "The Belle Of New York;" in which she played the lead ing role Of the struggle that she endured before she went over. of her great success at her first appearance on the London stage of her charming life in English so- ciety where she has been the rage, of her return to New York-every feature is being written of at length by her admirers on this side, and from the moment that she registered at one of the big uptown ho- tels she must go all over again the past two years of London life of the first night" of the applause, the flowers, the furor she created in English drawing rooms-she must chat of it all, because she went away an obscure chorus girl, and came back prima donna.
 Of her return the New York Herald says:
 Probably the most talked of girl on the light opera or musical comedy stage Of today is Miss Edna May She has just returned from Londcn with '"The Belle or New York" company, which closed run of 697 performances there to gross receipts of nearly a million dollars
 Three years ago a slip of country girl, pretty. but with Syracuse, N. Y.," meta phorically speaking, stamped all over her clothes and reflected in her manner, managed somehow to get down to New York, and applied ito MT. George Lederer for a position in the Casino chorus. MT. Lederer sized her up,' gave her place the flag end of the waiting list" with the onerous privilege of attending all re- hearsals, getting up in all the music and waiting for the possible chance of having something to do in the chorus when an opening occurred. After a little she re- ceived the munificent salary of SIP a week, and later when she had had some experi- ence, she got what seemed to her sudden wealth-she "got raise" of $3, and was absolutely receiving 1915 per-"
 End of Act 1. Three years are supposed to elapse, 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 successful American organization that ever went to London.
 MT George w. Lederer, the manager of .'1he Belle of New York" company, says of Mss May:
 ..The success of The Belle of New York n New York and London everybody knows, as well as the fact that no woman has such a firm hold on the English speaking pub lie today as that chorus girl of three years ago, Edna May
 What l like about her is tEat, notwith- standing her extraordinary success, she is still the same simple, modest tttie woman n that she was on her first stellar appear ence in New York. She has none of the .4ghead so prevalent among actors. Her success in society abroad-si1e has sung at any number of drawingroom entertain ments-is due to the fact that she has the happy faculty of being able to look wise and say little. She can yes and no in a prettier and more fetching way, and she can it oftener, too, than anyone I have ever met.
 Had The Belie' been a failure in Lon don, the briefest stay there would have cost me $30,00O. It has been enormously successful, running for nearly two years to average receipts of $l00OO a week.,