The San Francisco call., 1910-02-06

II IL. of Mrs. Leslie Carter's poppy
creams are stage affairs. of
stage she faces stubborn facts.
just as you and I do. There is
mo oriental atmosphere, per-
f1med and heavy about Mrs Carter
when she steps away from the spot
leH, and out of sight Of that strange,
r.u-o.1v image in her tragic laudanum
baden drama. -Vasta Herne." To meet
r.e .Ircunstsnces Of reality Mrs. Carter
I.n-s buoyancy and an optimistic
saaadence spIendidIy refreshing and re
s1-ing.
just how hard a fight she is waging
is not generally known. and she did
not refer 10 it during the entire inter
view which n-e had at the Fairmont-
Though booked by the syndicate, she is
far from being a syndicate pet. Why,
indeed. should she be-? Wasn't she one
OF the greatest Of tho independent stars
along with Mrs Fiske and David War
field during many. many years when
she sailed in gallant company over the
atrical seas in an outlawed craft cap
taiued by David Belasco? Wasn't she
very devil OF a fighter during those
tumuItuous times, and didn't she give
valiant combat against the enterprise
or Nlaw d Erlanger? And now, since
the commander Belasco has flung other
colors t9 the winds Of the drama and
is no longer her pilot and captain, Mrs.
carter dnds herself against. the rocks
Or the syndicate's disesteem, and after
is years without the guiding hand of
one Of the greatest of this country's
dramatists-David Belasco.
,tEE talked for long time about
Nf Indifferent things. while she sat
w against the window in the Fair
mont parlor Outside it was blowing
Ieritable gale and the wind. whistIing
round the corners Of the great building
made means that sounded like the
Ehastly echoed laugh Of the fiends Of
Iaudanum in "Vasta Herne." But there
was nothing uncaany or creepy about
the player. Her laugh was nearly as
bright as her hair. and she suggested
!
ever else trouble and strife might make
OF character. in her case. there was no
bitterness, or any suggestion of mascu-
line sggressiveness.
1t would be very ungraceful," she
said, for me to say anything about
David Belasco. and ais treatment of me.
in this, his own city. where he has his
family and thousand friends. Be
sides. j should make myself unhappy TO
discuss the poor results which are mine
after an artistic association with him
Tor 3 years a woman likes TO keep
her beliefs. / more than any woman 1
know cherish those things. When the
parting Of the ways had come to US
went my way; he went his. The papers
ia New York told astounding things.
one account had it that ] gained ac-
= cess to Belascos Office in the Belasco
theater and wrecked ii in my rage.
That as a very silly story. / am in
capable of having done it. On the
contrary, 1 preferred TO remember only
the million pleasant and profitable cir
cumstances Of our work together and
10 recall the fact-and it is a fact
that the Stuyvesant theater and the
Belasco theater in &ew York are monu-
ments 10 my industry and TO the work
did under David Belasco's superior
management Would / sue him? On
no account. I never entertained such
an idea. The reason? i had rather
Lose what's mine in tangible dollars and
cents that to suffer the unhappiness
that would come Of an open fight in
the courts The association which 1
enjoyed with David Belasco, the things
he taught me and the advantage that
accrued to me artistically during all
those years when 1 was playing under
his direction shall remain happy memo
ries with me, undisS by fights and
chickering's There were 16 Of those
years. TO be exact We fought to-
gether, we advanced together, we fell
hack together, and there was no thought
or breaking faith or quitting. ! knew
The theater only through him. IT had
been a hard struggle, but We won.
There lay the JOY OF it all, and that
5ov 1 shall keep as a memory. Du
Barry Zaza,' -Adria'-they were in
his storehouse when the end came He
lad the plays. he had the theaters, he
Lsd that nine-tenths which is posses