New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-05-22
AnglO-American Memories
I,XVIII.
MooJEsKAMME SARAH ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS csoi-
zETTE


and Mile Crolzette. 1t was not always
concealed from the public. 1t flashed
out even on the stage in the presence of
a public which knew all about il and
idolized-at that time-both actresses.
In the famous scene in the first act OF
Dumas ils' L'Esrangere. where the Due
de Septmarts (Coquelin). brings Mistress
GARRISON. whom he loves, to his wife's
drawing room, on an errand of charity.
the Duchess fSarah). fulfilling her prom
Use, gives Mrs. Clarkson tCreizette)
cup of tea. But she gives IT as grande
dame might give a gold piece to a beg
gar; then smashes the cup and saucer
on the floor and orders the windows
opened. In the third. act. after long
speech, to which the Duchess has lis
tened disdainfuIly and left unanswered.
comes this:
Mistress Clarkson-''Vous lie prenez de
tres haut, madame"
La Duchesse-"Je lie prends don je
suis."
All this is in the text, and the stage
directions are followed. But above and
beyond that came plainly TO the surface
the hatred of the two actresses for each
other, visible to the audience, meant to
be visible, the temperature rising all
through the long dialogue, till at the
end. on the stage and in the sale II
stood at fever heat. 1t was Nine. Sarah
who told me that at the end her man
ner had such an effect on Mile. Crolzette
that she could hardly articulate the
words "Je lie prends don je suis." IL
was Mile Croizette who was the grande
dame and Mime. Sarah who was the ad-
ventures, but the roles were reversed
And there is nobody now to play either
part.
Here in London Mile Croizette was
never seen at her best. She came too
late and she had grown too stout. But
for years she was a real rival TO Nine.
Sarah at the Francais. In her early
youth she had an exotic beauty; fig
ure which permitted her to play Cheru-
bino in lie Marriage de Figaro" She
was. 1 believe, Creole and had the UNI
dulating grace and full contours belong
ing to the Creole,-a semi-tropical fire In
her dark eyes and a mouth all tempta-
ton and promise. From the time she
created lie Sphinx she won and kept a
place as a comedenne de premier ordre.
Nine Sarah's great renown as tragedian
came a little later; and to the last Croi-
zette had a Partisan public faithful 10
her The last in her case meant mar
riage to the banker, Stern. I am not sure
that il was not from the exhibition OF
her portrait by her brother-in-law, Car
olus Duran, that Mile. Croizette might
date her first celebrity. An equestrian
portrait-rather a rare thing at Paris
salon,
But you see the contrast and how far
apart the lives of these two actresses
were thrown. You see Nile. Croizette
leaving the stage with much of her life
still before her: leaving that hard, ex-
acting life of incessant toll, dependent
on the caprice of the public, on the
favor of play writer's and theatre man.
ayers; looking pleasantly forward TO
long afternoon Of sunshine in the lap of
wealth She was one of the sights of
the Avenue des Champs-Elysees as she
drove 20 the Bots at 4 o'clock and back
again at 6. always in an open carriage,
always rather overdressed. the whole
equipage little too splendid, and per-
haps Mile Croizette-Stern herself little
too splendid in the autumn of her re-
dundant beauty.
Far otherwise the road Mime. Sarah
had TO travel-not the loneliness or lux
ury OF the Champs Ulysses, but the
highways which traverse Europe. and
the pathless seas and the immensities
Of America. l dare not guess at her age.
She is probably immortal; but to the
end, if the end ever comes, hers will he
the life of the cabotine: never at rest,
never a year of leisure. no escape from
the thraldom of her career. She comes
to London this autumn to act in a music
hall Mime. Rejane has done 1t before
her,-is doing It to-day,-but l care not
who does il nor what is said about the
theatre and the music hall being one.
They are not one. They ought not To be,
and il Is a distressful thing that a great
artist of the theatre should descend TO
the music hall level G. w. S.