The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-10-22
Dolly Declares that Geraldine Fdrrdrs Carmen on
 the Screen Is Blood Red Rose Among the Orchids
By DOLLY DALRYMpLE

~ NCE upon time not so very many I( moons ago. a noted critic in speaking of the premiere produc-
 tion of Carmen at the Metropolitan opera last season in New York. referred Geraldine Farrar."
 | My soul chortled in glee for days to come, over the sulphitic expression. Today 1 am fairly reveling in it, for when Geraldine Farrars marvellous por- trayal of the ''gipsy girl''-Prosper Meri- mee's Carmen combined with Bizets on the screen at The Strand yesterday. be- gan to sprout and unfold and swell and topple about the stage. that phrase came back to me and absolutely stared me out of countenance.
 l wanted it; needed it; encyclopedias of synonyms couldn't have suited by pur- pose better in describing this wonderful artists portrayal Of the immortal Car men"-which perforce must remain im- mortal and in solitary magnficence like a beautiful butterfly stuck to the wall of fame with a golden needle. But this is no case for a needle. While there may be disagreement among some with "our own dear Geral- dines conception of the character, there can be no doubt of hers sincerity in the matter. nor in her audiences apprecia- tion; there Is none, to my mind. When the beautiful rhythmic music is played-one instinctively looks about for the great Amato. especially when the
 "Toreador Song" is heard. Pedro de Cordoba sounds like pure Havana, doesn't it? However, it gives most finished performance of the famous bull fighter: you know he was with Margaret Anglin for a long time and did some won derfu worl) Caruso, too. is missed as Don Jose, and Aida and de Seguroula, and the rest but one forgets for a mo- ment that this is the silent drama. not the vocally beautiful thing that we've heard at the Metropolitan Geraldine Farraris Carmen is the "Carmen'' that Spain recognized, and any other is spurious
 Of course we all know that the girl Is a vulgar, beautiful, fascinating young an imal up to the tricks of the streets, and all that. but if she were played differ ently in Spain even to the little quick
 stihing snort into the handkerchief (which is "a sign in the code" by the way) all the unlxind epithets and useful vegetables would probab bly have scared her way.
 Heaven forbid that Farrar should ever play Carmen other than just the way
  Spain
 Perectly consistent, you see it is; but that isn't all.
 This artist knows herself down to the ground. She has calculated her every ditch; there isn't a touch. look. charm movement, pose that this wonderful creature hasn't pondered over to nicety; it is all ammunition with Farrar. The in finite capacity for exquisite detail-which is not true of many big artists-for there is the unstudied school that etriumphs through the sheer fury of its onslaught.
 It is the shading, the nuances, the high lights that make Farrar's work com plete.
 She Is one of the few artists who has anything imperial at her commands one usually turns away in disgust at the many wish-y, wash-y, stabs at imperial ism; Farrars imperialism is positive thing, positive as her magnetism; it is even registered in photographs; it is so perfect that you almost want to destroy it, for it is only perfection that one would bother about destroying. longing to draw a knife, for instance, through perfect nectarine.
 My idea of something worth being shot about would be to have had sthe chance to tickle Queen Mary's heel at the psych- ological moment of her corona tion; she s such perfect lady, you know.
 Ea .'r