Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-12-13
ENGLISH INTERVIEWS

The average, interview with celebrity
published in lalmosei any Of the English
Illustrated wekkiies is not a fearful and
wonderful thtng. It is too grotesquely
funny to desegve any such description.
The calsdiseaTsiyeness-to employ
less harsh term than conceited garruleus-
ness-of the average English interviewer Is
a never-failinS source of amazement to
Americans who Occasionally pick ap the
British Yeeklies while travelling around the
tight little isiar 1t seems to be the aim OF
the English interviewer to take the reader
into his confidence and show him how much
he. the interviewer, knows. inform as
to places he has visited and the personages
he has met, and SO on, instead of doing any
writing looking to the portrayal of the state
In brief, the English interviewer, to judge
from his printed hash, appears to inyaria-
bly, do all of the talking himself.
A pressman" attached to modish Lon
don weekly Is assigned, for example. to
visit and Interview a celebrated actress.
The result OF his visit and of his interview
appear In form something like the follow
ing:
When I was ushered by the trim French
maid surely girl with such masses of
purplish black hair must have come out
OF Gascony, thoughD into the famous
stage Woman's bijou receiving room. with
Its Byzantine effects in draperies and or
naments, fancied I detected delightful,
reminiscential fragrance. as Of altar CT
helietrope "a charming redolence which
brought yividly back to mind certain
little garden in the middle Of a court In
Algiers, where one once enjoyed many
protracted stesta, the balmy air all vibrant
with the sound Of lutte music and the
out at this point in my reflections the great
actress herself swept into the room, and the
cordiality of her welcome was indeed well
calculated to dissipate ones dreams OF the
days that are no more"
After the exchange of few OF the paid
est commonplaces, which, however, are set
down to the extent Of about LOCO words:
the interviewer gets well into his work OF
declining to permit the actress to slip In
Woro edgeWise and Of intervening NM
self and the thing runs along about as
follows:
Observation-Disclosures you are. of course,
aware how great the general curiosity Is as
the emotions which she poftrays on the
stage 1t Is my opinion, based upon
good many years of experience ana upon
many conversations with notable actresses
Of the present day and of day that Is
now. alas! gone. that she does not In this
opinion / am sustained, l believe. by no
less distinguished an actress of another
generation than the wonderful, the ineom-
parable Rachel who affirmed, II l remem-
Der correctly. that during the moments or
her greatest apparent Intensity on the
stage she invariably felt as cold as Ice.
few years ago, while sojourning on Lake
Maggiore, In Italy, / had a conversation
with Signorina Duse on this subject
Actress-Oh, do tell me every word of the
divine Duse
INSTRUMENTATION are very fattering.
madame. / shall She said that were she
to enter with all of the pent-up rapture OF
her southern nature into the character she
is depicting on the stage, she felt certain
she would collapse long before the play had
10 /
assure you our conversation was most
delightful and interesting one) that the
mere conscientious endeayor to portray
character as the author intended 1t to be
portrayed was trial sufficient to test the
nerve of any actress not actually OF Anna
zonian material, let alone the virtual i'm
possibility of attempting to live ana feel
the part in all OF its tragic intensity. Now
I have observed that in your more intense
parts the choking sobs to which you give
utterance are positively heartrending In
their effect upon the audience. Is one TO
assume, therefore. that you actually suffer
while you are depicting these parts?
Actress-Weli, I should hardly
IntervieWer-Ah, just SO, madame! / felt
confident that you would sustain me In my
opinion that your apparent agonizing grief
was simply the very highest art of make
believe, which. after all. is the ideal art,
since 1t requires such an absolute subjec-
ton of the merely physical personality to
the intellectual ego. However. perhaps we
have pursued this topic far enough l am
DESTROYS of asking you, madame. Whethef
you consider that the problem play OF the
present period is ever destined to attain
large, one might almost say, an universal,
popularity?
Actress-well. you know. all of my plays
are what might be termed
Interviewer-Of course; but two OF them.
at least, madame. are dangerously close to
the line of problem plays, are they not?
However, we seem to have pretty thor
oughly threshed the problem play subject.
Now, you have been to America. Did the
Yankees appeal to you?
Actress-The Americans
Interviewer-A most amazing people and
a most amazing country. 1 am told. But
did you not find them just trifie vulgar?
You know, of course, how fond We are
supposed to be of that term, ''our cousins
across the sea- but l suppose that the
initiate among us fully understand that
that phrase is employed simply to please
the Yankees, and it doesn't hurt us to give
utterance to- 1t. After all, 1 suppose the
view that Matthew Arnold expressed, that
the states were totally uninteresting from
almost every point of view except that of
heard of your very great success in New
York and Washington and such places;
but madame, how did you get on with the
COWBOYS in those cities? All, yes Sir
Henry you know, processes the very
greatest admiration and all that for the
Americans; but do you not believe there Is
something sardonic in Sir Henry's express
sions In this regard? I'm. Yes. Permit me
to thank you, madame, for a most IN
structiye and entertaining afternoon. All,
YES, one of your autograph photographs
how kind. You should really see my col
lection of them some time. Au revoir!
Actress-Au revoir!