The Washington times., 1919-12-21
The Suit of Silver Armor That Made
the Grand Opera Prima Donna
Build Up to Garry It As Joan of
Arc and the Mysterious Pills
lone Pink. One White That Scaled
Her Down Again From the

internationally admired prima donna
OF the Metropolitan Grand Opera, has
deliberately put on and as deliberately
taken of fifty pounds OF very fair flesh
Through this unusual feat Miss Farrar
stands as a lesson both for those who
have too little and want more and those
who have too much and desire less. Some
women have made themselves plump in
a year; some have made themselves thin
but heretofore none Is known to the annals
OF science 10 have accomplished both in
the twelve mcnths. Putting on and taking
OF fesh as readily as one puts on or takes
OF a coat is something distinctly new.
Most OF all is she beacon OF hope to
opera lovers who have grown weary of
seeing starving Minis dying Of con-
sumption in La Boheme and weigh
ing 200 pounds and more while passing
away; or OF Msrguerites supposed to be
wasting away In prison and looking like
the corn-fed heroines of the heroic past;
tired, too, OF Brunhildas who really ought
to be heavy ladies' but who look like the
before taking exhibits OF dyspepsia nos
trums
What a comfort, what conservation of
illusion and ideals IL would be to have
opera singers who could dress their skele-
tons for their roles just as they dress their
bodies for those same interpretations.
Most grand opera singers do not seem
to care whether they look their parts or
net. But Miss Farrsr does not think that
a voice alone can carry a part, nor that,
OF the operate stage. acting alone can
carry it, either The image in the eye Of
the behoider seems to her as important as
the song In the ear
Miss Farrar had what might be called
a medium figure. She was able to wear
the diaphanous veilings OF Camille and
look as though she were really wasting
away. At the same time she could put on
the more husky garments OF the unhappy
Queen in The Love of the Three Kings"
and still appear neither too heavy nor too
light.
But from the operatic stage Miss Farrar
descended Into motion pictures. She be-
came there Joan of Arc. The main cos
tune OF Joan Is a suit of silvered armor
Now IL this armor had been on the op-
cratic stage Il would have been cleverIy
silvered paper mache and OF no particular
weight. But the motion picture camera Is
a fend for reality. The suit Miss Farrar
had TO wear was not real silver, but II
was silyered metal, and when she put IL
on she felt her shoulders sag and her
knees bend and a general and painful feel
ing Of carrying a load greater than she
could bear.
And no wonder. for the armor weighed
exactly eighty pounds!
To carry around eighty pounds upon one
and be as swift and full Of gestures and
az light upon her feet as necessary devel-
oped into a very serious problem for Miss
Farrar. Joan could have carried eighty
pounds and probably twice that without
fiinching-but she was a country-bred girl
used to hard work. Miss Farrar is more
or less hot-house product like alr the
modern opera prima donnas Her muscles
were not used to any such weight as this.
In the heaviest OF her roles the heaviest
OF her garments, taken In all, probably did
not aggregate more than fifteen pounds.
The heaviest Of her coats and street ap-
parsi would not amount to more thar
twenty-five pounds.
In her picture the prima donna had to
lead her troops, inspire them to action bv
her own heroism, scale walls, lump moats
and so on and so on. The average person
would hnd Il difficult to frisk and frolic
about with a forty-pound sack of flour on
their backs. Imagine, then, the difficulty
with two such burdens. Miss Farrar had
10 pose for at least six weeks, and there
would be takes and retakes Yet she
could bear the weight of that armor only
few minutes at a time!
There was only one thing to do-grow
up to the armor
Miss Farrar began to exercise Also she
ate all the things she liked-sravies and
puddings, bread and butter and sweets
She ate whenever she was hungry and a
little oftener. She slept nine hours a day
at least In month she fitted the inside
OF the armor at every point and was able
to act in 1t for two hours at a time without
fatf