The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-09-24
MEN, WOMEN
 AND THINGS

woman
 Now, while have heard most of the ! great prima donnas of the past quarter of a century under the most favorable | in the capitals of the | world, I am wholly unqualified to music. although I am very fond of listening to even classical productions |
 But just here I am more interested | in the woman than I am in the singer, | for its her womanly heart which brings l her here as our distinguished guest, l and we but honor ourselves in showing her that all Alabama appreciates the fine spirit which caused her to leave her home in Chicago to make a long and tedious trip for the benefit of a worthy school at Brewton, Alabama.
 We are all too familiar with that form of charity which Is indulged in by some celebrities who use local sym pathy as a mere cloak for pulling down big fee and are happy if they make get away with out caring the least little bit whether the object for which the entertainmen was given is any the richer or not. But -Heink sets at rest any suspicion that she is here for a rake off for she gives not Forge at her own cost bearing all the expenses of the trip.
 nd 1n go sure that when she accidentally heard of the Downing Industrial Institute through the lips of an officer who knew of it's good works that 1t made a great appeal to her, for those who know her life history are aware that she rose to her place of eminence through hard work and privations. No doubt it was the memory of her girlhood days which caused her heart to yearn over those who were making sacrifices to get an education to fit themselves to play part in the world. And who Is Schumann- Heink? I wish that her biography might be writ large so that every ambitious girl whose voice is oomplimented by friends, and advised to go in for the stage might 1 be able to read and digest it. It might give them pause to think before set ting out on such an arduous task for 1 they would learn that the worlds greatest contralto literally climbed to her high place on her knees. They would get some idea of the long ap- premiership she served before she got her chance It would either make them turn aside or resolve to do or die.
 Earnestine Roessler. for this was her maiden name, was born in Lieben, near Prague. But do not jump to the her father was an Austrian army of- ficer who happened to be stationed at
 the little town at the home of her
 birth. Her mother was an Italian. It
 will be seen that it was partly by in
 heritance that she acquired the marvel
 ous faculty of uniting in her art the
 excellencies of the Italian and the Ger
 man vocal styles. "A faculty" says
 Finck, which rebounds to the advant- 7 age of operas of all schools and helps
 singer who commands it to triumph
 ant success.
 
 Schumann- -Heink is big woman with
 a big voice and big heart. She has
 had enlargement of the heart from hel
 childhood up, but she has not always
 been large. When you see and heal
 her it will perhaps surprise and amust you to learn that when she first sang
 for Director Jauner of the Imperia Opera in Vienna she was in her owr
 words, "a thin. scrawny looking girl
 and shockingly dressed" Now this il
 a confession which few women woult make even in after life when they hat
 tasted of success. Some might admi the thinness but few would own up t being dowdy. This gives a true side , light on the sincerity of the grea artist mother.
 Not only did her lack of flesh strik 7 the Vienna Herr Director but later a t Dresden the Director who offered he , an engagement at S900 year to sim in Royal Opera, after recovering fror I his astonishment when she threw he 3 arms about him and clung to his nee S in gratitude, said but aren't you
 mere slip of girl to go on the opera T tic stage?' She was equal to the oc [ casion and replied T will promise t
 eat and get fatter, and besides, I wi
 grow larger of my own accord" Sh
 made good and both grew and put o n flesh.
 The Muniche Allgemeine Zietung '. responsible for the following bit ( r, history which evidently Is true for 7. is in keeping with the character of tn , great American whose memory Amer $ ica is getting ready to perpetuate e some kind of history of worthy memo I rial The German paper in highl !, eulogiStic account of her ability as <" lieder singer says 'Whoever has hear l. her sing Schuberts eternally beautifl n Allmacht can understand that Pres V dent Roosevelt enthusiastically en
 braced her when she sang it at tl
 White House." I am sure that Teddy j. did not have to complain that she ws l. "a mere slip of girl"
 1 But Schumann-Heink was not alway
 prima donna, for there was a Ion
 wait before she was even second 'f donna, and it was while still an unde 'e study that she got her chance to d. n- clare dividends on years of patiel In work done almost in obscurity. To u
 her own words: "I had been cast f, .s roles without number, alto or sopral r. made no difference, had been compellt be to submit to every humiliation; it h; ,r been shouted into my ears that I Vi
 not singer, that had missed my voc. y tion, that I was a comedienne and Ii ts singer, and could meet with succe of only as such" It will be recalled tn
 while in Dresden. singing at an 1T S portant church service, she broke dov in the midst of her alto. whereat t ry conductor struck her and called her he goose.