The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-12-16
G~RAY-HAIRED ACTRESSES.
Some Wear Wigs, Some Boldly Dis
play Gray Locks.
New York Sun.

1t used 70 be said five years ago that
middle age was having its innings at last.
and the innocent maid OF eighteen had TO
give place to the experienced woman of
forty. For a while the dramatists who
wrote plays about persons of this age.
chiefly because most OF the popular actors
and actresses were too old to appear as
young men and young women, and the au-
thors who put two or three mature char
aCters INTO their books made II seem as if
middle age We're really having a vogue.
Men who had begun to lose their waists
and women who were uncomfortably tight
in their stays began to regard themselves
as once more at the age for sentiment.
But this fashion did not last long, and
the newest style in ages is not likely to
survive much onger IL Is admitted even
by the hairdressers. with all their anxiety
to dye as many heads as possible, that gray
IS no longer regarded with horror even by
persons who have reached an age that en-
titles them to 1t. Such people were always
more apt TO be worried over the change
than persons prematureiy gray, who might
be expected TO mourn the premature loss
of the characteristic of youth. Now people
need give this sign of advancing years no
thought. for ii has been decreed that gray
hair is the fashion.
Ada Rehan was the first woman In public
life to allow her hair TO turn gray without
making the slightest attempt 10 conceaI
what is commonly regarded in a stage
career as a sign that the end has come, or
is at all events near. Other actresses have
since accustomed the public TO the idea of
eray-headed heroines. Miss Rehan. of
course. always wore a wig on the stage,
but EIeonora Duse plays Camille without
he least attempt TO conceal the fact that
since she was last here her hair has grown
so gray as to give her scenes with Armand
a slightly maternal suggestion. Signora
Duse has carried naturalness on the stage
further than any other actress ever did,
but its last point must be her refusal to
act such a role with a wig and her course
~AA nHhor rio nAnEa2I
of a young lover driven TO such impas-
stoned love-making by a very obviously
gray-haired woman. Such cases have I'M
doubtedly happened. but they are excep-
tional. so Signora Duse is probably en-
titled to more credit as a creator OF a new
fashion than as an observer OF theatrical
~proprietieS.
white for FIVE years, and, of course, as a
vegetarian she could no more be persuaded
to dye il than she could be to wear tight
stays, but she never encouraged the fashion
of gray hair TO the extent OF appearing as
Prunhilde or Venus without a wig. The
latest actress TO be added TO the gray-head-
ed group has for years had nearly white
hair. The secret was known only to her
self, her maid and her hairdresser. though
Ellen Terry's hair was not still blond with
the yellow hue of nature. As a matter OF
fact. IL has been dyed for years, but Ii
Was only the other day that the English
actress made her first public appearance
after a long vacation and astonished her
admirers by appearing with perfectly white
hair and wearing sDectacles. IL was at
a benefit performance that she gave this
first view of her natural locks to the pub
lie. She did look very lovely once, when
In 1.-THE Dead Heart she appeared as a
sorrowing French aristocrat.
Sarah Bernhardt has worn n wig always
for some years, and has never had TO con-
template the inconvenience of growing
gray. Mrs. lie Moyne took time by the
gray forelock. as It were. when she be-
came a star and the mature. If amorous.
heroine OF a drama in which she was the
mother of two sons. She ameliorated TO
some extent the rayne OF her locks,
which. when she was seen on the stage
two years ago., We're uncompromisingly
gray. Now the chestnut tones predominant
and probably will for some seasons TO
come