Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-04-10

| has rarely elected to survive in any OF
her plays. The idea OF living happily
ever afterWard was invariably repulSfve
| to her.
| A restless. many-sfded character is
Sarah. Not content with dramatic tri-
umphs. she essayed sculpture and paint
| ing and won high praise. She was as apt
( with her own tongue as in. mounting
1.-THE utterances of great characters. In
! the United States a clergyman pleasantly
referred to her as IAN imp of darkness;
| a female demon sent from the modern
! Babylon to corrupt the new world y
Sarah responded with the retort courte-
Gus thus:
MY Dear .Confrere: Why attack me so
violently? Actors ought not to be hard
on one another.
SARAH BERNHARDT.'
Hers was the genius of advertising.
Her quarrels with the Coincide. the faces
she slapped, her swoons, her emotions on
Iessaying new part We're all grist for
the press agents mill. She took two
young lions for pets, and her picture
with the two cubs-no more feline than
| she-was scattered over the world. She
had her coffin made and professed to
sleep in it. to the joy of newspaper max
ers and readers the world over For the
coffin story NJ. Edmond Rostand. the
author Of ''Cyrano de Bergerac,'' refused
to stand.
"The Sarah He Did Not Know"
II never made the acquaintance Of the
Sarah with the coffin,'' he wrote. and
thereupon gave his description of the
Sarah he did know in phrase as nervous
as she was, thus:
IA brougham stops at door; a
! woman, enveloped in furs. jumps out
threads her way with a smile through,
the crowd attracted by the jingling of the
bell on the harness, and mounts wind
ing stair: plungeS into. room crowded
with flowers and heated like a dollhouse;
throws her little beribboned handbag,
with its apparently inexhauStible con-
tents into one corner. and her bewinged
hat into another: takes off her furs and
instantaneously dwindles into mere
scabbard of white silk: rushes on to a
dimly lighted stage and immedia tely puts
life into a whole crowd of listless. yawn-
ing. lettering folk; .dashes backward and
forward inspiring every one with her
own feverish energy: goes into the
prompter.s box, arranges her scenes,
ton rises UP I'm wrath and insists on
everything being done over again: shouts
with fury: sits down, smiles. drinks tea
and begins to rehearse her own part:
draws tears from .case-ha rdened actors
who thrust their enraptured heads out of
the wings to watch her; returns to her
room. where the decorators arc waiting.
demOlshes their plans and reconstructs
them: collapses. wipes her brow with u
lace handkerchief and THINKS of fainting:
suddenly rushes up to the fifth floor, in
vades the premises of the aston:sted cos
tumier, rummages in the wardrobes.
makes up costume, pleatss and adjusts
it: returns to her room and teaches the
figurantes how to dress their hair: has a
piece read'to her while she makes bou-
quets; listens to hundreds of letters.
weeps over some tale Of misfortune and
opens the inexhaustible little cink:ng
handbag; confers with an English per-
ruquier; returns 20 the stage and super
intends the lighting of a scene, objurgates
the lamps and reduces the electrician to
a state OF temporary insanity; sees a
super who has blundered the day before,
remembers it, and overwhelms him with
her Indignation: but -enough. We cannot
follow the Partisan to the end OF his
brainstorm. Let us dismiss the subject
of the sketch with Mark Twain's simpler
comment on her entire uniquenesS
There are five kinds of actresses bad
actresses. fair actresses. good actresses,
great actresses and Sarah Bernhardt.