Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1920-09-05

I y
Eleonora Duse. Here in This Pose
of the Great Tragedienne Can Be
Seen in Her Wistful, Brooding Pro-
hle-lndecd, in Her Whole Atti-
tude-the Profound Emotionalism
Which Once Aroused, as 1t Wa. by
the Poet d'Annunzio, Could Not
Be Restrained by Any Effort of
VIII and Left Her al Last a Spirit
ual and Financial Bankrupt.
FLEONORA BUSES life Of tragic SUI.
fering. unhappy love and artistic tri.
umph is entering upon its gaddest
chapter.
She who has drawn crowded houses of
thrilled admirers on two hemispheres is
now q poverty-stricken. prematurely-
broken woman-broken In body and broken
in spirit. Through unfortunate Investments
and Inevitable war conditions her large
fortune has been dissipated. One calamity
after another has fallen upon her and now
she is reduced to misery. She has been
forced to apply for the small pension tina.
Is believed TO be due her as the widow OF
an officer. although long parted from her
husband.
Saddest OF all in Duse's own eyes Is the
fact that she has been forced to abandon
her great dream OF recent years-the ere.
alton Of a home for travelling actresses.
where they could escape some OF the mis-.
cries and humiliations she experienced in
youth.
Italy regards Duse as the greatest &C.
tress in the world. France considers her
almost tho equal OF Bernhard" The rest
OF the world Is perhaps equally divided as
TO their talents. In her old age Sarah
Bernhardt is enjoying q happy and pros.
porous lie. Duse, who Is much younger,
seems TO have fallen into utter misery
after many wonderful triumphs.
what Is the reason OF the tragic down.
1ail OF Eleonora Duse, her successive mis-.
fortunes, her broken spirit, her failure to
rally In spite OF all the opportunities that
must still lie within her grasp? Many
VINO Know and admire her say that the
secret OF her tragedy lies in her intimate
association with Gabrielle d'Annunzio. tho
brilliant decadent poet and playwright,
VINO mas lately disturbed Europe and dcfied
MS natlVe Italy by his occupation OF Eiume.
Those who remember well the lives OF
Dnse and d~'Annunzio say that from the
time She first BECAME infatuated with the
poet she steadily lost her strength, her
vitality and her hope of the future. II was
as thoush a spiritual vampire had stolen
away her forces. They say that the poet
has had a similar influence on the many
women with whom he has been associated
ON all, perhaps, except the yirill and
statuesque Ida Rubinstcin.
a Good many years ago when d'Annun.
zio, the author OF 1.-THE Triumph of Death"
met Eleonora Duse, whose graceful but
rather melancholy beauty had charmed
thousands. She became completely fas.
cinated with the wonderfully talented poet.
and playwright and utterly devoted to him.
FOR her ne wrote his most brilliant
plays, including THE Dead City, and "The
Gioconda." two masterpieces of morbiditv
and strange sin that have never been
equalled. DAnnunzio showed q great an.
probation Of one Of Buses chief beauties
her hands. His "Gioconda" was dedi.
Gated T Eleonora Duse of the beautiful
hands," and in the play the heroine al.
lowed her hands to BIO crushed into shane.
lessness as a supreme sacrifice to her lover.
In her series Of d'AnnunZio plays Duse In.
creased her fame, although their NOR.
bidity must have reacted deeply on her
already melancholy temperament. But for
q time. undoubtedly, she lived In a kind
OF exotic Paradise with her gifted poet.
Then he callously dealt her q blow that
hurt her inexpressibly. He published a
new novel called "Fuoco" (Fire), in which
he revealed the story of her early life, as