The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-11-19
SOCIETY WOMEN
 WILL GO ON STAGE Kyrle BelleW Came of Prom inent English Family GOODWIN CRITICIZED New York Will Have Nearly 800 Con- certs From October 15 to May
 II, Including Operatic
 Presentations
By JAMES GRANT THURsTON

Stage professionals are wondering Wheti | the epidemic of society girls taking up
 the stage as a profession. which is raging in England, will strike this country. l We have had sporadic cases of society women achieving more or less success be- 1 hind the footlights, but nothing like the influx which has been seen in England recently. Within the past week or two
 more members of the peerage have an- nounced their intention Of becoming chorus girls. One of these is Miss Eiean- or Mont gomerie, daughter of Lady So- phia Montgomrie. who is sister of Lord Englinton and Winton. The other is Lady l Sydney Montague Ogilivie-Grant, a I daughter of the tenth Earl of Seafeld and sister of the present earl Both these la I dies have given as their reasons for doing l so that they find social life dull and un- attractive and long for the delights Of l Bohemia.
 1 Miss Montgomrie has secured an en- l gagement with Mr. George Edwardes, | whose company at the Gaiety is already l llumined by the presence of Miss Elaine I Cecil, daughter of Lord Montagu Of Beaulieu, and visceunt Dangan, eldest son and heir of Earl Cowley; Lady Ogili- | vie-Grant has not, up to the time Of going to press, found an engagement, but she is reported to have said, 'I shall per- severe until I succeed and there can be no doubt whatever as to her ultimate suc- cess.
 The number of blue blooded amateurs who join is steadily increasing. It was only yesterday that we witnessed Lady Constance Stewart Richardson's little ebullitions at the Palace theatre, nor have we forgotten Lord Yarmouth's brief but inglorious theatrical career, nor Lord Rosslyn's efforts in comedy, nor the Cowboy haronet' Now that society girls no longer lose caste among their own set by going on the stage. the danger is that the vogue will spread until there is not O post left for the struggling pro- fessional who depends upon 1t for live lihood.
 The fact is, says an English authority commenting on the matter, there is not this motive as yet on the part of Amer
 ican society girls, but with the evolution
 of high society we may have 1t before
 long.
 Society girls are getting scared. They
 see their smartest men snapped up under
 their very eyes by pretty musical comedy
 girls, while they themselves are left out
 in the cold. So they want to compete with these girls on common ground-to get into the fascinating Bohemian set in order to learn how, and by what means to attract their own mankind. They come down to the stage In order to rise in society. It is a curious see-saw arrangement, but it has l it's bed rock of ingenuity.
 1 The value of scenery is frequently over- estimated In the presentation of stage en- l tentainments. Scattered about the neigh 1 boring districts of New York are store
 houses full of mountain peaks and rav- ines. chateaus. landscape gardens and mythical islands; cobwebby mementos of great expectations based on paint and
 canvas rather than on story and interpre- 1 tation. But the play which Is big enough l to hold splendid stage setting In due ar- l tistic subordination is finely fortified by great effects in scenery. The picture thrown before the eye suggests big things and places the audience in state Of receptive sensibility. If the big things can be delivered, they are doubly effective because of their harmony with the plc- torial environment. If they suffer by comparison with the setting the scenery becomes mere misf1t establishment, and the contrast emphasizes the impression of insufficiency
 Many fantastic stories have appeared in print of the early life and antecedents of Kyrle Bellew, the prominent actor, who died of pneumonia in Salt Lake City re- gently. Probably 1t was due to his pas- sion for the sea that it was said he began life as a sailor before the mast. He cavne
 of prominent English family and his father, the Rev. J. c. M. jBellew, was at
 one time Queens chaplain in India. A novel stage door romance has caused
 a futter of excitement behind the scenes of the London Coliseum.
 TNz.. young woman has been in the habit of
 waiting for Mime. Sarah Bernhardt at the
 stage door, and presenting her with a bouquet of flowers Sometimes this
 strange admirer would ride around and drive up in motor car and buy a stall.
 During the production of 'Le Process de
 Jeanne D'Arc' it was discovered that the
 walking on part of the Queen was not filled.
 The management made various sugges-
 tions, but Mme Bernhardt offered the
 part to her young admirer. and the offer
 was gladly accepted.
 The matrimonial experiences of Nat Goodwin may always be depended upon
 to enliven dull evening, Recently it
 may be remembered that the muchly
 married Nat commented on his various ex-wives and incidentally said some pret-
 
 rich Goodwin. The fair Edna now comes
 lack in these words:
 q see he says of his wives, Edna Good rich was the worst. She could not act. My marriage with her was frame-up, a motherly interest
 q never thought of Mir. Goodwin as a mother" she continued, ''although at
 times he does act like an old woman, and this certainly sounds as If he were in his second childhood. He is so inconsistent
 In one paragraph he says my marriage
 was business transaction,' and in ar- other he says could not act. Then he
 either married me because he loved me
 else he married me because he looked
 If the latter then T certainly had some
 claim to acting. And they say women are not logical"
 To be sure there is nothing especially original in his remark, but William Fay- ersham's statement that there are too many theatres may add interest to the discussion relative to bad business now going the rounds.
 MT. Faversham's explanations ns he finds them wes made in an interview given to Kansas City newspaper the other day.
 "Too many theatres: too many thea tres" he walled. There are too many in New York. too many in Chicago too many elsewhere. Why don't they get rid of a few of them? Sell them. Burn them. Do something."