The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-01-12

old ragged dress and wornout shoes of
Maggie of the play, but she was ra-
diant with the radiance of lovliness and
charm and magnetism, which appeals so
strongly to her public, and which makes
her SO unusual and unlike other people.
l wanted to talk to her, of course, about
hei self, but it was her naive suggestion
that we talk about something else
Yes, yes, l know, she said prettily.
but couldn't we talk about-er. well,
anything and you just make up the inter-
view yourself"
She spoke of making up an interview
as casually as If 1t were done with grease.
paint and rouge, blended with the mag
ical hare's foot
I'D stand for anything you'd write, .
she said generously.
DO talk about yourself" | begged !;
won't you?"
why not talk about-well, let's see
suppose we say Shakespeare. l really
could say lot of interesting things, you
know"
But my time is so limited and what
my public wants to know is something
about you" | suggested again.
Il adore to talk about pictures" Miss
Ellington evaded again. do You happen
to know the work of young painter out
in California named Keith? MY husband,
| Mr.. Bowes, bought one of his paintings
recently Tor 9zuDJ, WHICH ne cOulu sell To-
| day for $4,000 If he chose"
Some other time I'll be delighted to
talk about CALIFORNIA; s promising young
artists, but not today please | begged.
She folded her pretty hands and looked
quite resigned, and said presently:
well If l must, must. Go on, I'm
| ready
Not about beauty she went on a
moment later when l offered to let her
hat -1,a ar,fa a1 10 taIl hAtt
concerning herself. Nor the first days
OF my stage career, nor why / happened
to go on the stage, nor about all hat
tiresome darning and the foolish things
| the newspapers credited me with saying
about home life and retiring from the
stage"
Didn't you really say it?" I in
quired
Never" she avowed when was
| i'll some years ago and in deep trou-
BILE. the newspaper people sought me
and begged for interviews and rather
than talk about things that were de-
pressing I seized upon the home life,
which | love- and socks particularly, as
symbols of domesticity 1t was a ran
dom remark and I've never heard the
| last of it, AS matter of fact | should
| have chosen the frying pan, because
| I'm a better cook than a seamstress
| Perhaps | should have chosen some less
| innocuous subject altogether, as, for
| instance, The Relation of the Stage to
the Church. or Should a Young Girl
Chose the Stage or something equal
| 1y bromidic.'
| Suddenly with Il pretty inspiration
Miss Ellington said:
'11l tell you; let's talk about the
voices. That's what counts more than
everything
| THAT passing sweet enchantment. a
gentle. lovely voice. | followed
PRECISELY she said, "and the mair
| thing on the stage or off is to get
ones voice placed, I've trained minc
by low humming sort of Nm err II
Its an excellent vocal exercise This
homely little humming of Nm m -er- n
| has done wonders for my voice. The
| human voice is a marvellous thing. an,
| way. Every voice is like some musica
instrument. There ere voices like Ger
tain keys on the piano; some are deer
and soft and throaty; and many are
way up in the treble clef, while still
} others jingle, like sweet bells out o
! tune. TO me in every womans voice
there is some musical instrument hid.
| den; oftimes it seems begging to b,
i released. Sometimes a voice carried
the violin tones; sometimes the violin
cello at other times | hear the flute
/ and all the other wind instrument.
With the eucHdHtinE, DeSulllHS nOtes
that may be evoked from them ar,
duplicated in woman's voice whel
she understands how to use her breatf
and draw all the sweetness and purit,
fine, fine, like the thread of mer
maids hair"
/ 'But some voices are born so. hide
ous-like banjo. or hand organ ou
of whack, l ventured.
Not necessarily. Every woman cal
ot,l 81 ynica If c1 ppl 90
about it right" said Miss Ellington
Its a CHASTITY thing for a 20 year-ol,
girl to have a tin-panny. cracked voic
that sounds every day of 40. And thel
there's so much color in voices Th
voice runs the gamut of the entir
| spectrum in colors. There's Bernhardt'
voice, like a stream of molten sunshine
Most women at her age have voice
that sound like rusty crepe yeiAs-
look
"The human voice." she exclaime
presently in that engagingly, franl
Ellington way. zone could study il
great are the possibilities of it's de
velopment3'
n IF | may be personal Miss Hing
ton said modestly, after pause jus
as If l hadn't been trying to keep he
along the personal line all the while)
Il had to work ionge. long time .ol
my Maggie's voice in Kindling. / ma
to keep it sweet. but not allow it t
be the voice of a lady. / tried to uni
versatile her voico--to make 1T sig
nificant of the woman herself-he