The San Francisco call., 1909-04-09

own personality. So it is. as l have
said, that the roles in which Nine.
Modjeska was best were those which
circled womanliness, buoyant optim-
ism, faith in God and joy in life.
PLAYED REALISTIC OPHELIA
have been thrilled many times on
the stage when playing opposite some
one by a. bit OF acting which has car
ried me beyond myself: but never have
been so stirred as I was when, as
Laertes, l stood before her Ophelia. j
entered full of fire and words and
fight; crammed with craving for re-
venge. Suddenly Ophelia enters. Never
have 1 seen so mad an Ophelia. / was
frozen with terror and an unnamable
sensation of horror obsessed me. The
truth of her scene, the tangled verify
of her songs, the background of pathos
before which this white robed woman
stood, formed an ensemble of effect
which rooted me 10 the stage and
stopped my speech.
LAUGHTER sPOILs SCENE
1 only saw Nine Modjeska once in
"Adrienne Lecouvreur." That, strange
ly enough, was at the Baldwin thea
ter. L was to open at the California
and Nine. Modjeska was at the thea
ter in Market street. A comedy team
Harrison and Gourley, was playing
Skipped by the Light of the Moon.
1t was noisy farce, but it had made
a hit here. One of the lines, per-
sistently repeated throughout the
farce, was "Oh, how / suffer-" 1t had
become a sort of joke around town; a
byword In the last act Adrienne is
dying while Maurice and Michonnet
stand beside the couch weeping The
scene had been beautifully developed
until Nine Modjeska said the words
"Oh. how | suffer" The Baldwin au-
dience nearly broke her heart. II
laughed. The tension had been so
great that it seemed as though the
auditors wanted an excuse to loose the
tug at their heart strings, and SO they
laughed. l shah never forget the
chagrin felt at being there TO hear It.
QUALITIES OF TEMPERAMENT
The very qualities which made Mod
jeska the greatest Rosalind, an almost
peerless Beatrice and wonderful
Ophelia were the qualities of tempera
ment that interfered at first with her
complete success as Lady Macbeth;
though, as her art ripened and her
assimilative nature expanded, she was
able to place her portrait Of Lady
Macbeth beside that of any actress and
not blush for the splendid picture
Temperamentally she was never fitted
for the ambitious murderess, but her
art became great enough for her to
make an effective and convincing char
acteriZatiOn.
DISLIKED LYTTON'S STYLE
She hated the role of Julie in Lord
Lyttons "Richelieu." How she did de-
spise Sir Bulwer's rhetorical fiourishes
and his high sounding sentences! AT
rehearsals she used to make fun OF
them in the most adroit and searching
manner. TO the dark converts ever
lasting winter" was one line that Of
Tended her particularly. What in the
world does that mean?' she used to
ask with a quizzical smile. and l for
one was never able to tell her.
ART ESSENTIALLY HUMAN
Summing up the art of Nine. Mod
ieska 1 would say that it was essen
TALLY human, free from the slightest
taint of affectation, womanly. serene
technically free from technic, as art
conceals art; generous and warm, full
of merriment and untouched by malice
or meanness. The measure of her art
is applicable equally to Modjeska, the
actress. and Modjeska, the woman.