Omaha daily bee., 1908-09-27
MARY GARDEN ON OUR ART
Singer Gives Her Views on American
Taste in Music.
CRITICS FORM OPINIONS OF PUBLIC
when Public In REALLY Educsted and
the People Understand Things
The Art VIII BE Most
Popular.

AIRY one who heard Mary Garden in
That's" in New York last winter will APP
preciate the artistic impulse which caused
he rto locate temporarily in an apartment
house called The Lorelei," says the New
York Sun.
Miss Garden herself laughs away the
suggestion that the fitting word on the
doormat has any meaning. but then she
laughs away nearly everything in the way
Of assubject that is preached at first, be-
ing in a particularly joyous mood. She
even laughs at the critics-more heartily
than at anything else.
The hour is one at which prima donnas
are not usually visible. II is precisely 10
in the morning, a time that Miss Garden
has suggested herself. 1t furnishes an ex-
cuse, II any were needed, why the inter
view should take place in Miss Gardens
bedroom.
There are big easy chairs OF chintz,
sprinkled with punches Of violets; the sun
light, a flood OF It, comes through long
silk curtains; photographs, flowers, books
and dogs are strewn about, and the trim
French maid, who only once forgets her
self and speaks English, has hidden care
fully away every bit of lingerie which
might give too domestic a touch.
At L. r. Z. is the bed, an ornate affair
hAALN tAA1 "a NAA1 RAlAdA % " NiE
seventeenth century beauties who used to
receive morning callers reclining under
perfumed coverlids and lace edged sheets.
Later in the interview Miss Garden con-
fesses that she has weak ankles, but so far
as the observation Of the artist and inter-
viewer went this cannot be vouched for;
neither can feminine curiosity be satisfied
in regard to her costume for the occasion,
for the much Wanted p~re-Raphaelite
shoulders and the poetic persuasions OF
mere flesh and blood are hidden from view
by these same coverings. There is a bit Of
lace, baby ribbon and medsllions visible
now and then, but just as pen and pencil
are raised to do justice to the result the
edge of the sheet is pulled up provokIngiy,
a pillow blots her out and-you have to
imagine the rest.
The Impressions that one carries away
are Of her freedom from futile posing,
her human grasp of things and as much
detachment from vanity as It is possible
for a celebrated woman to have.
Perhaps 1t Is the absence Of this quality
that makes her especially vigorous in the
expression of her surprise at the success
of Louise, which she describes as tire
mendous' and at which she is still in a
state OF Amusement.
Her Success Expected.
Il can hardly understand II yet" she
says. Il knew, of course, that 1 would
have success here, one always knows those
things does one not? But / did not think
for a moment that I would win II with
Louise which l thought too distinctly
Parisian-too modernly Partisan, I might
say-to please the American operagoers.
You see, 1 had the preJudices and past of
this operagoing class in mind and 1 studied
1t considerably. 1 firmly believed when
i landed that That's would be the work by
which / should win or lose. / thought that
'Pelleas and Melisande' would probably
provoke much discussion, for and against,
and l scarcely took Louise into considera-
zion at all. Louise has made the success
and That's has only a polite popularity.
II sometimes wonder IL the misunder-
standings Of Louise have not helped to
this surprising result. For she has been
misunderstood first of all by the critics
and then by the people Themselves Heart
less, vicious, cold-blooded. vain as 1 be-
lieve her to be, yet she has the sympathy
OF the American audience, while the dear
old people who have nourished her, idol
lied her and tried to keep her uncon-
taminated are sharply criticised. think
this is because the great mass Of people
who see this opera believe when she finally
does go that she is going to be respectfully
married. They do not grasp the idea OF
that free love which to the French is so
understandable, a part of the grtsette's
life. Consequently they feel that the par
ents are unnecessarily severe and are
standing in the way OF her happiness.
About Her Parts.
Louise has suffered too from the mis-
understanding OF the critics, suffered and
grown strong through that suffering. One
OF them went so far as to cavil at the way
l dressed the part, being especially virulent
toward the unoffending shoe buckles. The
Paris grisettes are very smart and trig In
their attire. II l had added q gold watch
and chain, a bracelet or earrings / should
not have exaggerated. Every one who
knows Paris has noted and admired their
little coquetries of attire as well as OF
manner. When they run away from home
and 90 out into the ~world-not to be re-
Specially married-it Is often the s~artorial
lure rather than the lure Of free love
which drags them out and down.
The shop and sewing girls are con-
stantfy in an atmosphere where nothing is
talked about but dress, Most OF them
work at Redfern's, Doucet's. worth's or
similar establishments. In the slang OF
the Paris studios and streets they are
called Mimi Pinson,' after a character by
that name in Henri Murger's famous book
OF the Latin Quarter. a nomenclature which
is also familiar to those who know Puc-
cini's La Boheme. One would not think
OF comparing these little girls, most of them
In their teens. 20 a degraded class. Yet
the critics. not content with an equally un-
savory comparison for That's repeated IL
for Louise. The word 'tenderloin' was
dragged in continually. They seemed so
familiar with the place that 1. who abso-
lutely did not know what they meant
finally asked TO have the mystery ex-
planned. 1t was.
o course such a comparison is as alb
surd In the one case as in the other. Ger
tainly so in the case Of That's. a celebrated
courtesan in the days when the role IN life
had nothing abysmal about II. When wo-
men Of her kind lived like queens-were
queens in fact, adored by the men who AID
mired their minds as we'll as their bodies
friends oftentimes OF the women who were
in marital bondage and could not on that
TALLY patronesses OF art and letters, for
which they spent fortunes.
Neither is Louise a tenderloin type. She
loves life, It's froth and fun, which does NOT