The Washington times., 1914-05-09
Miss Janet Beecher Born in
Missouri. Which Might Ex-
plain Some Things.
Bv GARDENER MACK.

Couple an artistic temperament with a
Missouri birtLright, and you have raw
materials for strife beside which the
chance meeting OF Greek with Greek or
the casual collision of the well-known
Kilkenny cats seem like the reunion Of
Lovey and Dovey after four hours of
continuous separation while the honey
moon is still in the ascendant.
That is-yOu generally have.
Ard when-chaneing metaphor so
quickly that the words almost clog
the tvpeWriter-we split the tempera-
ment three WAYS. We appear to turn our
backs squareIv on every form Of media
ton from 4. r. c. 10 the very bottom
of the alpha bet.
But once more We pause 10 note an
exception
You see. for WAYS that are dark and
tricks that are vain, the late Mr.. Bret
Harte's heather Chinee had absolutely
nothing on that mischievous vagrant TO
time and era who calls hcrsel" OppOr-
tuuity. and who goes through the whole
world. ev"n unto Missouri. whispering.
screaming, singing. sobbing OF in dumb
show Of mysterious signs bestowing
upon tdCn SOn anu uduSnAtI VI -hudLai
the magic open sesame" to success.
A majority of the people who spend
weary hours wondering why they are
eternally doomed TO turn a key in soma
other persons time clock. can charge
their condition TO their initial mistake
of expecting the fair danes knock or
their doors to be precened BY the roil OF
a drum and a fanfare OF the other in
struments comprised in the conventional
brass band. When tn. mystic lady ard
her boon companion. Destiny, are ShaE-
ing their little bags of tricks in the taces
Of the passersby in this vale OF tears, 1t
is their great delight to assume ar in
finite variety of disguses.
Who would suspect. for instance, mat
a career that sunk its first tendrils in
the fertile soil Of the good old state of
Missouri shaped the stalk Of its early
youth into a resemblance to the maui
stick OF q portrait painter. gave promise
Of Towering as an interior decorator.
would reach full bloom in a delinca-
ton of wOmanhoOd on the stage. so pure
and wholesome that to qualify the type
ny any form Of adjective supcrlatiVe
would make tho classic task OF painting
tho lily OF gliding refined gold S"'''n IKE
an ACCOMPLISHMENT Of a highly dcSlrdblr
nature And yet that is n brief sum
mary of the curious career of Janet
4ccChcr-the Jenny Brown OF th" new
BelaScO play at the National Ihcater
this week.
Miss Beecher is from Missouri. Miss
Beechcr has. or SHOULD have, all tn" In
grcd.cntS of an artistic temperament.
And that is precisely the reason that
Iarnred composition like this * ming
ling SO freely on a newspaper page III
an atmosphere "f pcrf"rEid patriotism.
tNeNl with more or less lit"iik" and
oxpI.natnrv illustrations by Felix Ma
honey. For opportunity Was not salts
rcd with knocking 1t MISS Be""h"r 3
door "nCe-sh" rlaye,l = Who'll" *"rl"S "t
one night stands through tn" ladNs ca
r,.er And Miss lSeeCh"r bad her care
juIIv trained car NJ thH k"yhol" FaCh
time the good darn" cam along.
II voI ask Miss B".-Ch'r herself she
will tell vOu that she missed great fame
and fair Chin'" at fortune. by nose"
And sh, will further assert that sh: Is
rot merely statinj. a theory, hut is deal
ing with a fact thar IL perfectly plain
to her every time she looks in mir
ror. The curious thin; about it is that
she honestly beli"""S Sh" IS stating the
truth While, as mattac Of fact. no
one would ever b"licvc ther" is a thing
tn" matter with Miss B""chor's nose.
II is just like her Missouri nativity.
and tho artistic tcmperament-l handi-
cap that doesn't really exist. Sh" is IA
living rctutation OF all the funny para
graphs that appear in tho newspapers
about all these things.
Born in Capital.
She was hOrm at Jefferson C:ty, the
capital city Of Missouri When she
was ~ very little girl her family
moved to tmroI". for d. change. In
less YOU have been in jefferson city
YOU can have II" idea what Il change
L.,
rnovcg frCm there to Europe.
Miss B"echer $ family realized ii
right away. They lived tirst near the
banks of the Thames. and Later moved
TO the foreshurc OF the Seine. While
neither was like the good old Mis-
souri,. yet the Beccher girls managed
to worry along and acquire fairly
decent education. Whom the time
came for her To choose a career Miss
Janet, who had deV"lOncd a marked
ability to draw pictures of people she
saw. elected to follow the profession
Of portrait painting.
Shn put in several weary years at the
studios of Taris and Dresden. bought a
complete OUttit OF painting tools and
hung out little sign I'm New York an
noumcing that portraits won Il he paint
ed at regular union rates, With special
Inducements to families. engaged cou-
pIes and cats. The strict enforcement
Of the railway rate regulations or the
rcmoyal of water from certain stocks
or some other contingency arisjI,.,
amcng the class of people HearnlnC to-
have their portraits painted put what
might be termed a Crimu in the bust
ness which prevented il 1aying divi-
,iends at the start. As a side line Mis-"
Beecher eSsayed making funny pictures
for magazine departments of humor,
She drew one set of pictures showing