The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-02-16
EDNA MY Is HRAIHY
Manager Lederer Didn't
Make" Her, at All, at All.
DENIES ALL AND SINGULAR
His Claims for the Credit of
His Claims for the Credit of
Her Great Success.

New York, Feb 1.-THE Journal says:
Miss Edna May now adds her. chapter
to the spirited international controversy
as to whether Manager George w. Lee
dere made Edna May. Readers of the
Journal will remember that in last Sun
days Journal Mr.. Lederer claimed that
he found Miss May one night standing
demurely in the chorus line, picked her
out and personally manufactured her into
| the now famous Salvation Lassie, which
made such an unusual hit, not only here,
but in London. Today the Journal pre-
cents Miss Mays side of the question. 1t
is a sprightly retort, and highly inter
esting reading. You will have to judge
for yourselves between Miss May and Mr..
| Ledere.
| Edna May herself then says: Mr.. Lee
dere, lmy present manager, says in an ar
ticle written by him and printed in last
| Sundays Journal, "Give me a girl of
good looks and personality and 1 will do
the rest" 1 would apply this statement
differently: Give me a good part and a
good play and I will do the rest.
1t seems to me that there must, to say
the least, be a mutual degree of credit to
the star and the manager when a sue
cess is made.
And what constitutes success?
Is 1t the managers name on the pro-
gramme, or in the advertisements that
draws the crowd?
Is it the managers personality"
SOUL" feeling ''sensitiveness," ZAP
probation" voice" refinement" etc.,
that the people pay for?
Is it his figure or dramatic charm that
draws?
| Quite clearly it is not. There are quail
tiles that belong to the player which no
manager can manufacture, that few man
ayers can even convey. No doubt there
are spurious limitations of an original ar
ticle in stage performances, as in COM
merce, but the public is very quick to dis
cover them. There is a dairy product
| called butter and there is a manufactur-
ed article called oleomargarine The lat
ter is not famous luxury One looks re-
markedly like the other, but their f1avors
I believe. are very; different Oieomar-
garine savors very much of the factory.
| 1 am compelled to apply my own ex-
! perience to the subject in hand, because
my actual knowledge as to How Man
| ayers are Made" is limited to my own ca
reer. should never have thought of this
! subject seriously if had not read. much
to my surprise, that my present manager
Mr. George w. Ledere, had gone into the
! business of making actresses. His idea
is a good one, no doubt, and his guide,
to the ingenue, must appear TO be a final
solution of that old problem of how to
| become an actress.
In the article published last week, in
which Mr.. Ledere jauntily declares that
! he can make actresses out of raw mater
| ial as easily as he. makes contracts with
them, he has used my name to elaborate
! his theories, and, without consulting me.
has made an exhibit of my work in THE
Belle Of New York to serve as an ex-
ample of his genius.
Now, I distinctly object to being exhib-
| tied in this way. While it is entirely
/ within his province as a manager to draw
| the attention of the public to his star"
! L must beg leave to assume the privilege
as to the character and manner in which
! he presents me. 1t is a favorite trick of
managers (for they have their vanities, of
course, as we on the stage have ours) to
take an actress patronizingly by the hand
and say to the public, See what I have
/ found for you; see what 1 have discover
| ed, what 1 have developed
! This pose is not original with Mr. Lee
dere. 1t has been done before. And 1t is
all right, from the managers standpoint.
/ but all actresses do not take the same
point of view, and still they succeed. AS
Mr. Ledere considers that 1 am good
example of his theories, I will begin at
the beginning of my career with him
/ that time when he claims to have caught
sight of me in his chorus and in an in
stont conceived the inclination to make
an actress of me.
If he ever saw me in his chorus it was
| in a vision. I never was in Mr.. Ledere's
chorus. and he knows il. He says, II
looked over my chorus. I noticed that
Edna May had the demure style adapted
| to the part I called the girl from
the chorus line and asked her If it was
true that she could sing" Rather re-
Election on his own chorus, If it had ever
| occurred, but it did not.
He never saw me in the line, because
I was never there. and he never called
me- because was not there TO be called.
This fact must dispel many silent hopes
in the hearts of many lovely girls who
have come under Mr. Ledere's eye in the
chorus, but it must be. because managers
do not make actresses in that hasty and
abnormal fashion When Mr.. Ladere en-
gagged me for the leading part The
Belle Of New York 1 had been p-1virg a
small part in Hoyt's "A Confented Wo-
man" 1 was fairly well grounded in n
profession before Mr.. Ledere condescend-
ed to experiment with me. I might say
that I was an actress, fairly well ready
made for him, or any other manager.
I was quite alive TO the opportunity
which the engagement atthe Casino Of
forded me. l was not aware Of the nee
essities OF ny engagement however, till
1 began TO rehearse the second act Of the
Belle Of New York" when I discovered
that I was expected TO be supTemely.
startlingly naughty in that act
1 should Ike to say. just here, that II
actresses did all that some managers re-
quest them to do. on the stage. and II
they would wear the exact costumes re-
Quired Of them, the stage would be a
strangely adorned world.
The costume which Mr.. Ledsrs expect
ed me TO wear in the second act Of the /
Belle OF New YORK was 2n impossible /