The San Francisco call., 1903-01-25
2 HEWi
Y Y HEW!
I positively blinked as I
AAI climbed down from Caro- Ro-
" ~ mas picturesque eyrie on Web
ster street last Thursday. Was
BY Guisard.

ster street last Thursday. Was
I dreaming? Or had l really shaken
hands with one to whom the palms of
Duchesses are as naught. to whom his
imperial majesty King Edward of Eng
| land is Teddy"
/ 1 really had
! Caro- Roma is it, the Carrie Northey
! of East Oakland we used to know, famed
for her beautiful voice and for roguish
propensity to shock the unco guild by go
| ing to church in red shoes.
You wouldn't have thought 1t either
the Duchess part. mean. until she told
| you. There wasn't a suggestion Of du-
cal splendor in her gown l am rather
used to the piquant peignoir, the cos
TUNES of NJ. Worth, but nothing could be
more unlike the unaffected little work
jacket, the stern, unsentimental skirt, in
which Nine. Roma received me. But the
other, things were all there.
Stuck in the pin cushion were brooches
/ innumerable, one from the dear old
Queen" for singing at the private chapel
in Windsor. There was a fat-pearled
ring from one Duchess, an antique
breastpin from another and from Ted
dy" was vastly symbolic and unhappi-
ly acknowledgement invitation TO the
coronation dinner But we anticipate:
Are you glad to be home again
honest? l asked, as soon as L got
breath enough after climbing the stairs.
She pulled out the coolest chair in the
room for me and placed herself opposite,
then replied:
every, for some things, and again, not
at all You work too hard here, every
body. In London 1 sing only twice a
week for example, in the opera. Here it
is every night, Sunday, too. That's why
our women all look worried, frOwns here,
lines there and Roma tapped her own
smooth brow and unlined mouth. She is
the very picture of healthful content her
/ L. foo ha~
swapping black eyes as full of fire. Stout
er, too, she is, her voice suggesting too
the oil and corn and wine OF life. "On
Friday night there we leave town for a
house party" she went on, getting back
again on Monday. Or there is a meet, or
something. You don't forget to live as
you go along. And the afternoon teas
1 adore the afternoon tea she vowed
when did you go to England?'
six years ago..
"And since then?
1--WE been mostly with the Turner COM
pany. 1t is something like the TivoH com
pany here, only we have only 15-week
season in London. The rest Of the time
we go touring We sing in London at the
Shoreditch Theater-it holds 5000 people.
Repertoire? Oh! everything from 'Lohen-
grin to Lucia. I've sung Elsa and Lu-
cia both. not to say Carmen"
1 was lying in wait for an accent, but
beyond ''fancying" this and the other, and
finding dinners and such decent" there
wasn't q suggestion of the singers six
years stay in England. Whereat joyed.
You have a vacation now?'
For one year-papa's health"
Papa" Is Nine. Roma's husband for
in private life the singer is Mrs. Jesse
Douglas
II should go back then to create a part
in Audran's LEnlevement de la Tole-
dad ="
How is light opera over there? We
think 1t in a parlous state here"
Just as bad" decided Roma. 'Hrhev
are all writing things round one or two
people, usually women, with nothing but
their beauty to commend them. Nat
urally both fail. The thing has assumed
absurd proportions. People are so an
noyed with the girl show fake that
they will hardly go to a light opera. And
1t will be so until the composers-save the
mark!-go back to the Gilbert and Sulli-
van methods-write their opera without
an eye upon some stockholders petite
annie, for the arts sake. Then find the
people to sing it. And the theaters have
to come back to the people who can sing
in the end. They've got to have you, or
no one will co.
There are many Californfans in Lon
don who do things"
Half London is American" laughed
Roma, 'and there are lots of U.s.
Then, in her staccato, prestissimo deliv-
cry, she told off name after name of Cali
| fornians there. Sig" Beel, who is teach
ing and concertizing with marked sue
cess; the Withrows. painter and singing
mistress, who are prosperous BOTH Edna
Groves, who is singing well, and Dr.
Ryan, her husband, prospering as a spe-
clalist. Frank Belcher, the singer, is an
other whom London regards with favor.
and Miss Buckingham's debut was one
or the events of the season. Fannie Lid
diard was another mentioned, and Miss
Mckee, with two successful young ply
slcians of local forbears, DR.. McNutt and
DIR. Ziegenfuss. 81 met Marie Barna
too" she concluded. marie is lust mar
ried again, to a very wealthy stock
| broker She had on the night L met her
one evening at the theater-an ermina
coat clear to her feetr'
Dear old Lunnon isn't so bad to Won .
Its mighty good Then veering off
Nine. Roma asked: '.Dfd You hear hers