The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-10-25
PARK THEATRE
THE GIRL OF THE

GOLDEN WEST
 Of the composer of .aThe Girl of Tn. Golden Vest Giacome Puccini, whicl Henry W. Savage will accord g. mag. nificent production in English ant which will be heard here at the Parl Saturday matinee and night, 1t hal been said:
 Though he is now recognized as the head of the Italian school of music and by many claimed to be the great est writer of opera in the world, Puc. cini was no favored son of fortune. He proves that true genius needs the or. igin of the soil to develop the finest fruits of art.
 Though he is now in receipt of 8 governmental pension in meagre rec ognition of his great services to Ital- ian art, and is>honored as the head o1 composition in the conservatory o1 Milan, he was not always the recipi- ent of honors nor the possessor of high distinction.
 Though Puccini owns a villa. al Torre del Lago where he spends his leisure in hunting duck and spinning over the waves of the lake in his fly, and though he owns another ville at Chiatri hill across the lake from Torre del Lago, he was not always a property owner, nor landed proprietor
 Once he was hungry, wistful stu- dent. dreaming wonderful dreams, his head full of splendid harmonies, even though his stomach was empty.
 Edgar" his second work. which was killed by bad libretto. but which Puccini still has a fondness for, was written during period of actual want, when Puccini was struggling for recognition in Milan. He lived in the poorest quarter of the big city. His companions in the fight for fame and food were his brother and another student. He received the vast CD sum of $400 for his first opera "De villf'' but that was gone almost as gained. He owed most of the money to the restauranteur whose faith in Puccini had prompted him to give the young composer credit for himself and his two companions. The proceeds from Edgar" while small, tided ~over the wolf from the door, though not out of growing distance. He and his comrades rented a top room in the rear of the via Solferino in Milan It cost them what would be equivalent to s6 .i in the coin of this realm.
 Like all men of genius, however, Puccini turned these unfortunate ex- episodes in La Boheme" are melodic memories of his old days in starved Bohemia.
 Tn one of the entries of a diary which Puccini kept beginning with the year 1881. there is the item, in the household accounts, of the purchase of a herring. That was,'' says Puc- herring incident was made use oi you see in the last act of La Boheme'' so it was a good purchase even if it didn't make a very good meal"
 At any rate Puccini has immortalized
 But. in "The Girl of The Golden divided. He has had peace, leisure and time for reflection and thought His sensitive muse has not been har- assed by the presence of want; and to the bitter experiences of the past he has been able to bring maturity ot technic and art, with the result that this opera has taken rank at once as the masterpiece of modern Italian operatie composition, and this in spite of the fact that it's theme and subject and treatment are foreign to the com poser. Just as Poe was able, sitting at his desk in Baltimore, to write 'eThe Resignation" whichs floatedN in an Italian atmosphere, so Puccini has through the alchemy of his imagina-
 
 illumination of an American subject
 ELSIE JANIS
 Elsie Janis, who will appear at the Park Oct. 30 in her greatest success '"The Slim Princess in addition to be- ing the youngest successful first class star in theatricaldom, is one of the most ambitious. AS is we'll known she has many years experience des- pite her youthful age of twenty-one and it is probably due as much to her almost abnormal ambition as to any thing else that she is now one of the foremost stars of the age. When scarcely five years of age, she made her initial appearance behind the foot lights Then she was called Little Elsie" Her turn. for she originally doing children's speeches and edances exceptionally we'll. Even at this ten der age, her ambition was much ir evidence She wanted to do the things sh saw others doing in the same vaudeville bills. She even initiated them-and with such startling fidel- ity that it was arranged for her tc do the limitations publicly. Her suc- cess was instantaneous. Now her am- bition lies in drama-dnd she is work ing toward that goal. And she will make it too, as she always has in the past. The great Sarah Bernhardt is her friend and dramatic councillor and who knows but that someday, Lit tie Elsie formerly of the vaudevilles will be the worlds greatest actress At 21, she is a great musical comedy star, so she has a whole life time ahead of her.
 THE SPENDTHRIFT''
 In "The Spendthrift'', which comes to the Park Nov >f;.e r-heis Ma