Los Angeles herald., 1907-08-22
ORPHEUlN SINGER
PROVES HEROINE
DEsERT1 SOCIETY FOR STAGE IN
TIME OF NEED
Mrs. Van Studdiford Does Not Sulk
When Husband Loses His All,
but Returns to Her
Work

Grace Van Studdiford, who is at the
Orpheum this week, is perhaps TOO wen
known as a prima donna in the llsht
opera field to need an introduction 10
Los Angeles public, even though she mas
now deserted that field for vaudeville.
Rnt nrobably few Angelenos know that
the charming vocalist is heroine made
of the sternest stuff, as well as vocalist
of renown. -.
When she was Grace Quive with the
old and famous Bostonans, this present
day vaudevillian, who had just succeed
ed Alice Nielsen in that organization
met Charlie Van Studdiford. Charne
was-and is-one of the blue bloods OF
the best set in st. Louis. He inheriteo
q great fortune and he was well known
as a spender and a man about town OF
the best class. But it was on the TURF
that he chiefly had ambitions TO shlne,
and it was when he had string OF the
ponies out on this coast that he frst
saw the dainty singer and lost his heart
to her An introduction, a wooing and
wedding followed in quick succession.
Naturally, staid old st. Louis society
sat up in amaze. Charlie Van marry
stage singer? oh, horrors Would he
bring his bride to st. Louis. And would
st. Louis receive her socially?
Go to ST. Louis
Charlie did take his bride to st. Louis,
and though the old town gasped 1T dld
receive her socially-received ner IN d
short while with open arms ana the glao
hand on every side. She was sensatloh'
her beauty and her delightful presence
her superb voice and her clever enter
tainments marked a new epoch for the
elect there, and she was the rage. Charne
was her constant companion and the two
soon became leaders
Rut Charlie never lost his love for the
Monies and in the end they proved MS
undoing. His stable lost, his wagers
were wrong and his investments were
never successful. In an evil hour he
nlunred~and awoke to find that his only
possession of value in the world was MS
wife.
She met the issue bravely She didn't
sull1 nor get a divorce, nor run off with
another man, nor even let her love grow
cold. a.,
"It's I'D to me- Charlie she trilled. Il
sang my way into earning power once
and can do it again. Watch me.
ST Louis was worse startled than ever
when Mrs "Van' announced that she
would return to the stage. 1t rubbed its
ewes when she declared that it was comic
opera for her. And it blinked and was
dazed when, it being early summer and
no road tour offering, she took an en-
gagement with a midsummer comedy
company at Olu SiNS, oWoy
down town, where the Germans gathered
to drink their beer to the strains of
'The Bohemian Girp' or 1.-The -Beggar
Student"
Mrs. Van on the stage was not so bad,
provided she went away to do 1T, but
Mrs Van in beer garden comic opera
company, in short skirts, or-tights!-i
their own midst, and society asked to
go, was the limit.
''It's all that offers; they want me and
will pay me we'll; that is all there is to
it." was her answer.
She took the engagement The first
night society went in wells and unfa-
miliar clothes, and listened. Later 1T
went in proper person and enjoyed. The
marvellous voice had lost none of it's
clarity or beauty, and the meagerness of
the environment only emphasized the
treat. Uhrig's cave became the fashion
able summer resort for the ultra set in a
week and Mrs. Vans success was as
sured when one of the leading hostesses
gave a matinee reception in her honor.
She had faced the issue and had won.
Since then her career is familiar and
her great hit in "Red Feather" and with
the Savage forces is matter of history.
But those who know Grace Van Studdi-
ford always reckon as her greatest and
hardest achievement that conquering OF
herself her i'll fortunes and st. Louis
when she left its society to save her hus-
band from ruin.