The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1908-03-29
TO A YOUNG GIRL OUT WEST
BY JOHN c. FREUND.


Lord, [ have followed a man for a mile
to get a Whit of his clgar?
David Belaseo, playwright and genius,
said the other day: mo really great
actress dissipates.
Did you ever think. little maid in the
west, what that personality great
prima donna has meant in the way or
human effort to create? l do not mean
merely in the effort of the woman her
self | mean in the efforts of all those
who have helped her build up her career
from its earliest stages. l mean more
even than the teachers-l mean the
critics, the newspaper men, VINO nave
recorded her struggles as well as her
triumphs. l mean the dressmakers VINO
made her dresses; the jewelers. who made
her Jewels the florists who provided her
flowers; the artists who painted her pic
lures; the photographers who made the
general public acquainted with her APP
pearanee.
Did YOU ever think how much the pub
lie itself contributes to the making of a
prima donna? The money spent for seats
and boxes the fine clothes and jewels
worn to add grace and beauty to the
scene?
Think of the struggles of the mana
gers-their disappontments. Think of the
work of the other artists and the chorus;
and the training OF those artists and the
trainging of the chorus; think of the
work of the painters who paint the
scenery, of the stage managers; or the
scene shutters; of all the numberless en-
ployees in great opera house. Think of
it all-what 1t means. and the years
through which these efforts last before
we have that exalted parsonage, "a
great prima donna of worldwide re-
nown!"
And 1t may all be lost in a night!
Did you ever hear the story of Etelka
Gester, most talented and beloved OF
singers, who reigned supreme, with
voice of absolute purity and matchless
charm? Did you ever hear how, one
night, when the Metropolitan Opera house
was packed to welcome her, women wept
and strong men choked as she stood be-
fore them smiling not even a ghost of
her former self-the voice gone?
Have you ever given thought to the
prodigious memories of the great artists
and how they must have studied and
worked till the.- became SO automatic in
their roles that they are enabled to sing
them at a moments notice, sometimes
even without rehearsal with other sing
ers with whom they have never sung be-
fore?
1 say this to you, little maid in the
west not to discourage you, but to make
you to understand what Is back of that
triumph of the prima DONNA as she stands
smiling before the footlights and receives
the plaudits and the flowers of the au-
dience.
Do not envy her! She has come through
the fire, and many Others with her.
Rather try and understand her. Try to
realize what her success means, and that
the day will come when her name may
not be even a memory! Do not be mis-
led to think that the road is easy and the
goal near.
II. however your powers be not suf-
,It1ro OF orl0
nor the fates kind enough to bring you
this great reward-remember always that
there are plenty of humber places In the
world where you may fill acceptably anu
honorably a position, earn your bread,
give pleasure to those around you and
do much because you bring, though it
be only perhaps into sordid lives, beauti-
full music!
But If you have, we will say, little maid,
the ability, the personality, the good
teaching--if your endurance Is enough,
If you are, indeed, one of the elect and
the fates be kind to give you "opportu-
nity"-without which, after ALL you will
be nothing!-then, let me pray you, as
a pioneer in the work, as man who,
years ago, when such efforts were ridi-
culed undertook to establish such
thing as a musical paper-let me pray
you, I say, when you are winning your
success, be not misled, as so many have
Deen, 10 call yourself ny ooiie ioiSi5li'
adopted name. Do not cater to the vul-
gar taste which would proclaim that
there is nothing good except it come from
abroad. Be your own true self. Sail I'M
der no false colors. Sing under the good
American name under which you were
born-as Clara Louis Kellog and Anna
Louise Carey did-as sweet Fannie Bloom
feld-one of the worlds greatest plan
ists-plays today!
And abo all, when you are crowned
with the | urel and the world is, per-
haps at vi feet, do not, as so many
have done, give the credit of your per-
Torrance, of your success, to some great
foreign artist, who has perhaps done no
more than give you a few suggestions
because you perhaps like to link your
name with his or hers-but proclaim the
truth Let the world know that your
musical education was given you by
American teachers, in American schools
and studios!
One could, indeed, little maid of the
west, write volume on this subject, but
it would, after all, reduce itself to the
epigram of the Roman poet: Life is
short; Art is long"
Only those few, remember, have great
ly moved the world by their song or their
music. who gave themselves to their work
with passionate, with utter devotion
denied themselves everything; were able
to strive nightly and suffer till released,
as it were, from the material-they,
through their very agony, heard the di-
vine, eternal harmonies!