Evening star., 1923-03-27

the profession Of his mother, and aft
er spending short time In the French
army. he married a Russian princess.
She died after bearing him a daugh-
ter. and Maurice Bernhard took a
Parisienne az his second wife.
Many stories have been told OF the
fabulous sums accruing to the famous
actress. especially In America, but
authenticated figures show that the
gross receipts of each tour were In
the neishborhood of 100000. OF
which she usually received so per
cent. A large part of her earnings
was refnvested In theatrical enter
prtses. and at one time she owned or
controlled half dozen playhouses in
Paris.
Played 200 Parts.
OF the more than zoo parts Bern
hardt essayed during her long stage
career, perhaps the boidest expert
ment of all was the title role in a
French production of Hamlet" which
met with such unmistakable success
again as man in 'L'Aiglon." Her
| repertory. In addition to the plays
Fedora" "Adrienne Lecouvreur,"
"Sappho," Theodore" and "Hermani."
| Her greatest successes. however,
seemed to center in the Hugo and
Sardou dramas. both tragedies and
comedies. Many of these plays were
written around ner ana ntteo IKE a
glove"
A physical description OF Bernhardt
! Is difficult. In her youth she un-
doubtedIy was what might be called
beautiful. although from the French
standpoint her slimness was against
! her. The greatest interest in the
actress. aside from her art. was the
tenacity with which she clung to her
girlish appearance. At seventy-f1ve
| she might have passed for a woman
.l-t- L. r.,
her younger days been preserved.
Bernhardt seems to have had no
disillusions about her personal ap-
pearance. BY themselves her fea-
tures-high cheek bones. aduiline
nose and lips parted above an al
ing. but. taken together. they COM
prised the harmony of expression
which gave her the title OF the di-
vine Sarah" She admitted on one
| long white face emerging from a
| long black sheath was by no means
pleasant. I'm this rig l look like
an aunt" she said
Bernhard was the most famous for
| her death scenes. but IL Is doubtful II
| her breathless. spellbound audience S
ever knew that many of them were
| played while the actress was suf-
| fering almost unbearable agonies
| from her various physical ailments,
| of which she never was heard to COM
plain.
| Patience seemed to have been one
| OF Bernhardt's Unborn characteristics.
/ She would spend weeks and even
| months trying to correct technical
| faults in some member of her COM
| pany, and then. IL the subject failed
| to improve. she would explode and
| have nothing more to do with him
| either on or Off the stage-not even
| speaking to him under any circum-
! stances.
She always displayed a keen In
| terest in the heart affairs OF her
troupe, and delighted In holding a
"cupid's court" in her private car, at
| which she would require aggrieved
| swains and the objects of their af-
| fections to submit their differences
-Bernhardt to be the final arbiter.
Was Fond of Gambling.
| Another Of her pastimes was
! gambling. although she was a poor
| loser. She remained joval and vi
vacious as long as the game was run
| ming in her favor, but the moment
| and sarcastic. Her opponents. once
| they had lost to her. knew that Il
| was gone for good, for she would
| throw down her cards and leave the
| game at the first sign Of reverses
| A love for strange pets was
another Of Bernhardts peculiarities
When she was little girl she saved
her money and bought a goat. She
LEARNED to love the animal so much
herd. and cried when her, mother
| ridiculed the idea. During the
Franco Prussian war she raised geese
| for the soldiers, but grew to care SC