New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-10-30
Anglo-American Memories
,,,,r AIMEE oEscIEE-HER UNIQUE AN ACTRESS
LETTERS-HER
Copyright. 1910, by George W. smaney,

Dumas pleaded with her. promised 10
use his influence with Montigny at the
Gymnase. promised her play, promised
her success. She hesitared long. finally
yielded. went back to Paris and again
failed. 1t was not till she created Neil
hacs Frou that she finally con-
quered the stubborn public Of the City
Of Light.
In truth, Desclee had much against her
IN that long battle and her best self was
probably never revealed till success
came. She needed the inspiration which
only victory can give. I never saw her
TIL after the contest was over between
them She was at first sight, disap-
pointing. There stepped out from the
wings a plain little woman. none too
well dressed. without much symmetry OF
figure or grace of movement. If you
looked for beauty you hardly found il,
except in the beauty Of brown eyes and
q broad. low, Greek forehead. What you
saw was almost insignificant, but what
you felt you had never felt before, IN
less perchance, you had seen Rachel
Different as the two were. they had this
ID fOiLAl44OAA- lilE pDFN y u L2hAA-5 POG5tS-
sion Of an audience without a word
spoken. Nobody has yet found the word
or phrase which really describes or de-
fines this power. You may say # is
magnetic. or sympathetic or hypnotic,
but that does not carry US far. What
Rachel did. what Desclee did, and what
no other actress I have seen could do,
was 10 create a communion Of souls be-
tween herself and the men and women
who We're before her. Desclee's was
soul Of fire. BY some process she herself
could not make clear, the fire passed
from hers TO yours
In such a part a the Princesse Georges
the first words Of the piece are electric,
but before they were uttered the spark
had found It's way from her to you. The
'-entreee en- scene is, as Dumas wrote it.
mastery. abrupt. rapid. employment, but
as Desclee acted it the lightning is play
ing about the house while the first SEN
fence remains unspoken-
Severine has been rendered by many
an actress since. including Sarah Bern
hardt herself But when you had seen
Desclee in it the piece became a closed
book to everybody else. In technique, in
range. in much else. Sarah was superior
TO DesClee. But IL temperament Desclee
stood alone She had passion and the
power Of expressing passion in q su-
preme degree. It was not men only who
felt il. once sat next q lady who saw
Desclee as the Princesse Georges for the
first time. This lady had. IN fact, never
seen her in anything. AS the curtain
went down on the first act she said:
I have never had an experience like
this When you told me what I was TO
expect I thought you must be in love
with Desclee- But what you told me
was nothing TO what feel"
Then a pause: then:
Whether you are in love with Desclee
or not I am. No man ever loved Ike
that No passion I have known or felt
in any man or in myself is like Des-
clee's'
II was not. therefore. sexual or not
mainly So It was passion Of the soul;
not intellectual first Of all, nor was the
rendering Of II an effort with which the
mind had anything 70 do; nor did it de
pend on technique. or even on art. II
was felt It was passion and nothing
else The impression left on you was not
that Desclee was trying TO open her soul
10 you. but that she was trying TO hide
il; trying 70 suppress and moderate all
this tumult Of feeling. She never over
stepped the line There WIS no extrav-
agance Of gesture nor distortion Of the
face. This was simply a woman in
whom passion blazed and burned; who
was in agony. who could not control il;
who would not have told you Of it II she
could have helped IL And all the time
there were unPIum bed depths Of emo
ton Of which you were allowed 70 know
nothing. G. ". s.