The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-05-15

/ actresses on the stage fed panic
/ stricken. The curtain came down with
/ a crash. hiding the blood stained stage
/ from the public gaze and the perform
1 ance Immediately came TO an end.
IT is stated that Hasda committed
/ suicide because one OF The actresses
Of the company had rejected his suit
( When 1t was announced recently that
( Nine Janauschek had applied for adj
mission 10 the Actors home on Staten
/ island. there was likely more than one
/ OF the older playg0ers who went sour
Tying back ia his memory for recol-
4 lectiOus of the tragedy queen whose
( reign was noteworthy.
Nine. Janausehek has been for some
/ years past extremely poor and help
/ less invalid, practically forgotten by
I the public
/ A week ago. says a western writer
/ when one of the Orpheum imperson-
/ ators announced that he would next
{ give a representation of Nine. Janau-
/ sChek,' more than enc in the audi-
s enCe whispered, 'Janauschek: Who is
/ she2"
And q young woman who read re-
! Gently the announcement with which
+ this article opens, looked UP from her
paper.
who is she, aunty?" she asked of
a stately woman by her side II mean
was she anything great?"
she vas the greatest actress I ever
/ saw" replied the stately. gTay-haired,
! elderly woman. She spoke shortly, as
1 if the task of detailing that greatness
! was beyond her.
what actress nowadays was she
/ iSe?' persisted the girl in her pretty
! audacity.
None" replied "aunty."
/ Did large crowds 90 to see herZ'
/ THE theatre was always packed"
"She must have made money"
'She was blazing with jewels when
1 ever I saw her"
why is she so dreadfuIly poor
now?''
Why ? Why? Why?
} it was on leaving the Orpheum the
! atre the very night of the persona
/ sion" that I talked about Janauschek
with a man who had been in the audi
! ence, and who once was her leading
man. His voice shook when he spoke
I Of her. He traced her name in the air
/ with his fOrefnger.
That was all the advertising we
/ needed, he said. Just that name on
! a plain 'three-sheet.' Night after night
! the theatres were full TO the doors. The
/ poster stands of today would have
1 been absurd. The crowds fOcked %
| see her at the mention Of her name.
/ She was a great artist, a great soul
/ a great woman"
I was she a happy wOman2"
/ she had many experiences. The
/ first season I was with Der she -woEs
decorations bestowed on her by half
I the crowned heads Of Europe. She
owned what was then the largest dia-
mOnd In America.
And she could act
'She could act as could none Of the
[ others. Her voice was like some deep
] toned organ. There were a thousand
lights and shades in it, but always it
was JanausChek's organ voice.
did you ever see herr" he inquired.
only as Mother Rosenbaum in The
/ Great Diamond Robbery
Even in that she was unsurpassed.
! And she was the best good fellow of
them ALL I never knew anything to
put her out Often I've seen her sit
+ on the baggage at station and chat
and laugh with the crowd; ali her peo-
pie loved her.
she was great woman as well as
a great actress" We're his last words
as we parted Poor Janauschek!"
Poor Janauscheki A quarter of a
million in diamonds. Decrepit, aged,
poverty strickeni WhyY
Yesterday I asked another actor
about her. He had once. he said,
played small parts in her company.
she was the meanest woman that
ever lived, he said. she made more
money than any Of them. Why didn't
she save it2'
Perhaps she was generous"
Perhaps she Wds-Of her money.
She certainly wasn't generous TO her
fellow artists. No one in her company
ever had the slightest opportunity If
she could take it away from him..
They say she was not really q hap
py woman"
"She always wanted the moon. The
moon was always men. She ran away
from Europe with her brother-in-law.
!. That was why she came to this couu-
try. so me could tour with her.
Where are her jeWels2'
"Pawned-solo. They went little by
little each year. INSCRIPTIONS man
ayers sot most OF her wealth"
But she was 2 great actress
'She was the greatest actress j ever
saw. In any one else her broken Eng
lish would have been funny.
"The night ] heard her declaim The
path to glory leads through blut she
was SO great that not a soul i'm the
stuart. Meg Merrilies, Lady Macbeth,
BTUnhilde and in Bleak House. In
Bleak House she always played the
French maid, as well as Lady Ded-
lock. 1t was wonderful how she could
change from the fiery F'renchwOman to
the stately Lady DedlOck. Once one
of the women i'm her company was Civ
en- q small part which had one good
scene iu it at the end of an act. When
the time came for the climax TO be
effective Janauschek swept down stage
and across. no one ever knew her 20
give an actress an opportunity If she
could help it. She was mean that way
through and through"
Those are the only ones whom 7
have found able TO speak of Janau-
schek from personal knowledge. And
their remarks were certainly at wide
variance. Which was right2 Perhaps
both.
But when I think of the jewels and
the glory which the great tragedienne
wore not a quarter of a century since,
when I recall how. born in Prague, BO-
hernia, seventy-fouT years ago. she
won surprising triumphs i'm all the
countries Of Europe. and was proudly
proclaimed the American Queen of
Tragedy" by right of adoption; and
when 7 read of her today. a beggar,
decrepit aged and alone. I say, with
her former leading man:
Poor Janauschek.
And then, again: why is Il SOP"
Truly, IT is a vain little life, this hour
of stTutting on the stage-as the play
eTs come like shadows, 50 depart.
In ST. Louis last week Mrs w g.
Jones held a birthday party, celebrat-
ing the siXty-seveuth anniversary of
her debut as player. With the eE-