Los Angeles herald., 1907-01-01
DEBUT OF MISS
NETHERSOLE A HIT
WELL RECEIVED, BUT "SAPHO"
is MERETRlCIoUS
Fine Audience Gives Star a Most Cor
dial Welcome--Torrid Drama Fails
to Convince, but Affords Much
Dramatic Enjoyment

Gently presented at the Mason, III was
more than an ordinary leap to the pas
sionate lurid and erotic drama
'Sapho" which Miss olga Nethersole
offered there last night as the vehicle
for her debut before a wildly enthusi-
astic Los Angeles audience. Yes con-
siderably more than an ordinary
change It was cataclysmic, chaotic. II
shifted the scenes from pastel mauv'
and mauve and drawing room dilettan-
tism to scarlet, sordid demi-mondain-
Ism; from the parlor of propriety 20
the purlieus of prurlency, from the
veneer of society to the naked nastl-
ness and bald bathos of vice. Truly, IT
was a long leap, and a startling one.
And yet the KERNEL of both plays was
the same-so slight line divides the
proper and the "prurient," after all.
In the one, 81 man proposed to make a
woman his mistress under code OF
conventionalism prevalent among roy
atty; in the other-this one-a man
does make a woman his mistress, open
ly and boldly, unhampered by any
conventions whatever.
The first playwright uses an impos-
sible subterfuge to avoid the contre-
temps his plot leads him into, and thus
wriggles out of his difficulties-with no
- credit to himself-into the conventional
but illogical and mushy ending; this
one handles his material with the typ
ical Gallo lack of modeSty or evasion,
but he evolves from it strong, con-
sistent if vicious character whom, too,
in the end he spoils by maudlin senti-
ment.
Inherently, neither play has any rea-
son save eXpediency or a catering 10
the vicious, for existence. The former
was avowedly written to order for
beautiful woman who can't act; the
latter was adapted for a beautiful Wo-
man who can act-superbly. Ergo, the
watery Weaknesses of the former are
supplanted by strong scenes in the lat
ter; but, being altogether based on
wrong hypothesis these do not ring
true; they fail to grip one; they are
hollow and theatric. Hence, intrinsic
ally, "Sapho'' is not a real drama
though it appears to be-any more than
is Her Great Match
"Sapho'' tells the story of scarlet
Wanton who, at a fancy dress ball of
great splendor, wins a country gauche
who charms her by his very simplicity,
not to say stupidity. DESERVING her
sophisticated syncophants, she goes
with him to her rooms, he carrying her
up stairs, and they later go away and
live together. Finally wearying of his
toy, he deserts her, and the usual re-
suits ensue-passion torn to shreds,
anger aroused to frenzy the typical
big" act, the sloppy finale wherein the
sad scarlet sister, her soiled plumage
bedraggled and her beauty besmirched,
becomes good" repents, reverts from
her vicious past, and is ''redeemed' by
returning to a previous lover, the
father of her child. Which draws
puerle tears from the over sentimental,
just as does the angel stunt in tom"
show. In other words, it is 'ZaZa" in
a different masque and wig-just as
f,1c i,. 4 t,,iI i'm -
tinment; as libidinous in motif and as
foolish in result.
Argue as one may, there is only one
real purport to such dramas as
"Sapho" this includes the whole
category from Camille" down. That
is, to play upon the false sentiment
evoked by the so-called reformation"
of denizen of the redlight district,
from a wanton into a paragon of pur
ity via the ''sufferings" route. Now, 70
one knows better than the man or the
woman of the world that this doesn't
happen; the man. because his sense
tells him that gold cannot be made
from mud; the woman because she
wouldn't let her sodden sister be trans
muted if it We're possible. Yet play
after play is written portraying this
very thing, and they succeed tremend-
ously. 1t is one of the contradictions
of human nature; that Wonderland
they are the real patrons OF the erotic
drama-will go in droves to see a teary
Magdalen on the stage, and will slob
Der over her imaginary heart torments
in acutest pain, when, if they met her
on the street, they would draw aside
their sanity skirts in horror!
"Sapho' is just that and nothing
more-a plea to the sloppy sentimental
in woman, for the sake of dollars in
the box office.
OF course, 'Sapho' pretends to teach
a great moral lesson" they all do.
Bah! If you want a moral lesson of
this sort, go down into your own red
light district and see it at fret hands.
Try your sentimentalites on the scarlet
creatures there, as you do on this
"Sapho" of the stage-and do you know
what will happen? You'll get the all
firedest most lurid and most pictur-
esque cussin' that ever startled your
seashell earsi
1t is true that "Sapho" does afford
Miss Nethersole opportunity for much
fine acting; that some may believe
and the writer admts-s sufficient
cause for its being. Miss Nethersole is
an actress of superb ability and great
force. She possesses a magnificent
physique and a deal of the ripe-red sort
of beauty, a finely modulated voice
which sings in cello tones Of mahogany
timbre and which she handles perfectly,
though often pitches in too low key.
She is graceful and fascinating power
full and winning. She has the natural
skill that Mrs. Carter lacks; i'm the lat
ter il is all acquired the mechanics
show through every gesture. With Miss
Nethersole the soul is there, and it
breaks largely forth; she rings true. As
the Wanton Sapho ii is difficult to be-
lieve that one is not behOlding the real
demimondaine, instead Of one who,
though depicting that role perfectly, is
as above suspicion as was Caesars wife
-austere, single hearted and severe.
Her art is not that of the average
American layer-superficially brilliant
but shallow: she lives her parts and puts
into them her very soul IT is a long
time since Los Angeles has seen an
actress so Virile, so fine, so convincing
and so gripping.
Los Angeles took her right to its
heart from the start, and every curtain
means half a score of recalls, which
she well deserved.
In the main her support is excellent.
bo,,