The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-05-06
SARAH BERNHARDT.
(By Montgomery Phister.)

(By Montgomery PhiSter.)
The great Bernhardt has said fare
well. 1t is more than probable that we
of this generation shall never see her
again. Zoraya, Marguerite Gautier
Phedre and Flora Tosca were all Civ
en- with the matchless art that has
made the great F'renchwoman the fore
most actress Of the world, the greatest
without dispute, of her own day and
time.
Sarah's versatility as we'll as her art.
is most remarkable. At 62 years of age
she swept through the fiery passages
OF the plays shown us of her roper
toire with the vigOr, vivacity and pas
sionate enthusiasm of woman of 20
while in the QuieteT scenes, she had
the same languid, Understandable sweet
ness, the liquid poetry in her delivery
and the graceful ease of bearing that
made her illusions, her assumptions of
character a living reality.
Compared with Rejane, whose age
has extended far beyond the limits of
youth, her activity seemed none the
less marvellous With Rejane, it is
said. her vitality is direct; it is as
Symons describes the appeal of Cav
roche. the shar npudent urchin of the
streets; while Sa~ah's energy is cleo
trical and shoots its currents through
all manner of winding ways In form
we discern, without the telling, that it
/ belongs to an older period. just as the
writing of Dumas fills belongs to an
earlier time than the writings of Neil
hac. 1t comes to us with the tradf-
tions to which it has given life: it
does not spring into our midst as
''unruly as nature"
In her modern plays, such as Ca
mile" and La TOSca.' the great act
ress is condemned to use only a few
instruments of that orchestra, her
voice, so exactly and originally de-
scribed by Mr.. SymOns. An actress. it
is plainly evident. must in such parts
be conventional. and for how much
beauty and variety is there room in
modern conversation? After the Ra-|
cine verse, holding closely to the Sy-
mons argument, along with Rzcone's
psychology, language has nothing more
to offer the voice of a tragic actress:
indeed, nothing further could be de-
sired Bernhardt seemed to speak the
words. the lines. in fact with kind of
Joyful satisfaction" all the artist in
her seemed to delight in the task. Her
nerves were in it as well as her in
telligence; but everything was colored
by the poetry and in her own acting
the surroundings and the work of her
company, everything was subOrdin-
ated TO beauty"
The first thing one notices in Bern
hardt's acting when one is free to
watch 1t cOOlly is the way in which
she subdues and controls effect to eff
feet. 1t seems only appropriate here to
repeat something of the impression her
acting in this particular has made upon
others, notably one of her foreign ad-
mirers, whose judgment seems. how
ever, never to have been even slightly
warped by his enthusiasm in her be
half. Speaking of her marvellous keen
and most artistic appreciation of the
Quieter effects. he says:
she has her creScendoes of course
and 1t IS these which people are most
apt to remember, but the extraordi-
nary force of these crescendoes comes
from the smooth and level manner i'm
which the main part of the speaking
is done She is not anxious to make
points at every moment, to put all the
possible emphasis into every separate !
phrase. 1 have heard her glide over
really significant phrases" he saws
which, taken by themselves, would /
seem TO deserve more consideration. /
but which she has wisely suboriinated !
to an oVerpowering effect of ensembIe.''1
Rachel, we are told, excelIed in the
grace of her attitudes which changed |
every moment and no painting, it is |
said, ever portrayed half the intensity
of her looks Her facial expressions !
came in such rapid succession that the
beholder was fatigued in following
them. The stage, through such exalted |
representatives, is shown to possess adj |
yantages that no other art can claim. |
No one can possibly have painted a |
Phedre as Rachel is said to have por-
trayed: no marble could have given a |
Camille "a creation, as a critic of that
elder day declares. such as the stage
shall never see again.
Sarah Bernhard has succeeded in /
equalling, indeed eXcelIing, even the
great Rachel in just these very parts. |
Phedre and Camille, for many of the |
critics who had enthuSed over the first
triumphant figure in the mastery of |
these characters lived to applaud a still |
greater, Dumas. himself, having de-
clared that Marguerite Gautier had
lived only in Sarah's art.
Nine Bernhardt better, perhaps than
ever did Rachel, realized a grace a |
beauty, a dignity, such as the ewes of /
TINS generation of play-goers had never !
seen, indeed, had never dreamed of in |
our most exalted rhapsodies She has
presented to us loftier ideas of Racine /
than many had ever ina gined from |
reading the poets pages: she had
scared beyond all of our pTeconceiyed !
notions as to Camille or La Tosca: she
has gone. in fact, beyond the dramatist 1
himself in many instances; for what is /
Sardous Flora compared with hers? /
w nat a weak and uninteresting thing
IS his Zoraya until Sarah had bYea thed !
divine breath into its imaginary be- |
ing2
Nine Bernhard plays Camille" at |
Saltair May Is.
"A Partisan Princess"