New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-10-30
NINE. DERNHARDT HERE
Famous Actress Bears Lightly
Her Sixty-Six Years.
KEEPS YOUNG BY WORKING
Comes for Tour of Eight Months
and Will Appear IN Score
of Plays.

/ Nine. Sarah Bernhardt, in the autumn or
her career, is once more among US, bear
/ ing lightly the weight of her stxty-slX
! years
Nine, Sarah. uncrowned queen Of the
drama sat in state at the Hotel Plaza yes
terday and received the homage Of admir-
ers. She was dressed in a moleskin coat
/ lined with er1nine a green skirt Of velvet
and white silk waist. Her only orna-
ment was a long gold chain. the IOcket of
which she fondled as she talked
I She spoke as one with the secret Of
eternal youth Her great eyes flashed de-
fance against coming years. She over
flowed with energy of one with indomttable
/ WILL
She had a rough passage, she said and
/ remained most Of the time in her state
room. although she was not i'll. She was
/ received at the dock by the Jeanne dare
+ Suffrage League, Of which she was made
/ an honorary member by cable some months
ago. Nine. Bernhard was honored, but
she is not a suffragist- There are no suf-
/ fragettes in France. she said. and she has
no particular interest in the movement.
Last Sunday on board La Provence she
! celebrated the sixty-sixth anniversary Of
her birth. She was asked yesterday the
secret of her youth.
4 don't know" she replied, unless II is
| the good God To another she said: The
secret OF preserving ones youth is in keep
! ing agoing-ln working all the time"
In speaking Of her visits TO America the
great actress said:
= came over here thirty-ive years ago.
and it is a strange coincidence that 1 have
come every FIVE years ever since"
/ She is here for an eight months tour Of
the country She will play first at the
/ Studebaker Theatre, in Chicago, opening
on Monday night when she viii act in
''L'Aiglon-" After visiting the cities OF the
Middle West and Canada she will come TO
New York for four weeks. beginning De-
cember 3. She has brought with her COM
/ pany of fifty players and scenery for
! score of plays.
/ She will be seen in America for the first
! time in Jeanne dare" by Emile Moreau
and Sardou: Les Bourons," by Miguel
Zamacois; la BefTa." by BenelH and
/ Richepfn: Norma Wanna" by MaeterIinck;
/ Hamlet La Bots sacre" and Roman
/ esques" by Edmond ROstand. and Madame
! X" by Alexandra Bison. She will also
! create for the first time on any stage a
/ play called Judas" by John ". De Kay,
an American who lives in Mexico. Besides
/ these plays she will, of course, act in
/ dramas in which she has been seen here
! before. In six plays she will impersonate
/ men When asked why she liked male
! roles she said;
II like them largely, perhaps, because I
/ have played them for so many years.
! Then, too, there is little to wOmen's parts.
! They involve only love. maternity and sor-
row, whereas in men there is more intel
/ lect, more force. more character"
! IN view Of the number of Rostand's plays
! in which she acts, she was asked whether
she thought he was a truly great play
wright-would he last through the years2
! "Oh. yes"' she replied. emphaticaIly. He
| has imagination and writes in beautiful
style He is classical. He will endure"
She was asked If '-Chantecler'' had been a
| success in Paris.
| "Oh. yes" she replied 1T has been
played two hundred times II has been
very popular with the intellectUals. And
( others have gone TO IL out Of curiosity.
As a piece Of poetry, as literature, It is
| beautiful-wOnderful But Rostand dreamed
too much in it. And the costumes interfere
with acting It. He would have done better
/ II he had done as Maeterlinck did IN The
/ Blue Bird'-drawn human characters with
certain animal attributes"
Nine Bernhard paid her respects to
/ Rostands La Samarttaine."
/ Though I first played II fifteen years
ago." she said, the people still demand it,
! Next year, she said, she would play Ros-
/ tand's Princess Leontine" in Parts. with
/ LIE Bargy.
! Who is your leading man." she was
/ asked She tactfuliy replied: Il have
/ three-Telingen, Neuborg and De Cours."
Why are you playing none of Victor
/ Hugo's pieces during your present visit?''
The last time I was here the people
/ didn't seem to care for him." she answered.
She mentioned especially "Ruy Bias
| During a pause in the questioning Nine
Rernhardt said.
There have been great changes here
since / first came over. Then very few
people spoke French. Now almost everybody
speaks It or understands It. But. Of course
/ II Is easier for TO play in my own coun-
| try than elsewhere. I notice there a GER
/ tain sympathy in the audience which can
not prevail elsewhere. That makes acting
a greater pleasure"
Nine Bernhard was very patient with
/ the custom house officials upon landing
/ Yesterday. but they made her walk the
/ length of the pier TO sign papers which
could have been done with much less in
convenience.
The customs here are terrible" she said,
| worse than II Russia"