The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-02-14
NANCE O'NEIL

nA~ IVINEbY tall and most di 68 S.;ly ssa; ,sa5s sai5 is $. the rs9 sSrass ,s
 my lips yesterday when
 I -beheld for the first time, face-to-face. Miss Nance o'Neu, who is Mrs. Alfred Hickman in prl- vate life. her husband being nsr leading man and the producer of her lively play, The Passion Flower"
 had seen Miss O'Neil in many of her great successes, The wanderer,' Judith" "The Fires of St. John,o Mazda" "Hedda Gabler," but never before near enough to catch the glorious red gold glints of her mar vicious hair nor the height of her wondrous figure, nor the exotic at mosphere of her rare personality, re- minding me more especially of "The Duchess of Towers in the Du- Maurier play, Peter Ibbetson," CT again that other. Duchess" in Claire de Lune."
 Miss Nance O'Neil combines with her striking appearance. mental side which is delightful, her rare cul- ture and broad education, her love of all the beautiful things in life, music art, sculpture. the languages, making her a charming companion. delightful raconteur, whom to lis [ in.
 It is always pleasure to me 10 hear of new things. to learn of new people, and Miss ONeil introduced me to a charming side of Jacinto Benavente's character. the delightful Spanish playwright whose, The Pas sion Flower" Is the vehicle in which Miss o'Neil is starring this season.
 When I tell you that we have the
 
 hope you will understand how well pleased we are-for to me he is the universal writer: Galsworthy has lis field; Ibsen has his; all the French and Russian writers theirs, but Benavente is universali
 "Ibanez-yes, his novels are won derful-but they are all sectional if I might so express it. Blood and sand is the bull ring; The Cabin. is the peasantry; La Bodega. the wine fields of Spain, and while his novels may be dramatized and dram atized well, yet there is Benavente The Passion Flower is the only play of the peasantry he has ever written. but he has written equally as well of society,-and all other phases Of life.
 And being Spanish. the author has of course. made his play very emo tional,e I suggested.
 No. I wouldn't say that: he has made it very sincere said Miss O'Neil. Tn allying ourselves with Spanish plays, and more especially Eenayente's plays, we determined to get away from just that phase of Spanish drama, from the comic opera idea of Spain and things Spanish, so to speak. When I first read The Passion Flower the thing that most impressed me was it's magnificent sincerity; it's simplicity; it's utter lack of theatrical artifice. That IS one reason why the play goes home to the audience, whether or not thay are fa miliar with Spanish life. Bena vente's plays are universal in their appeal; that, to my mind is the great test of any novel or play-whethe- or not it is human enough to appeal to any audience in any part of the world. For, while climatic condi- tions and environment make the peo- ples of various countries different, the elemental passions and emotions of mankind are the same"
 Another thing: when we produced the play we determined quite to preserve the truth and simplicity Gf Benaventes written words on .he stage. We studied Spanish history; read the best Spanish novels and painstakingly studied costuming. The popular idea of Spanish costume, t seems. is the operatic costume If Carmen. though the true Carmen of Prosper Merrime is a marvellous crea- ture. She is far more interesting than the stage Carmen, because more real. The women of Spain do not go about every day dressed as Car mems. as we know them. So when we first began to work on "The Pas sion Flower" we determined to cos tune the play as real Spaniards, and not according to the popular concep- tion of how theyS should be dressed.
 "Benavente is a master when 1t