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About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (March 8, 1908)
t THE OREGON SUNDAY) JOURNAL. PORTLAND, SUNDAY MORNING, MARCH 8, 1903. ex. Model Ibsen -3 By J. F. S. Br-' I ft ' Actress Mysterious Russian Noble-woman VonJerf ul in Her Interpretation of Creations of Norwegian Writer s Fancy. f 1 9 ' l ,A?v' ' A'?,. T was a very correct room in Portland's most correct apart ment house, and I committed the indiscretion of remaining an hour and 15 minutes. It was cruel, but it -was excusable. For I was to have talked "shop" to Miss Blanche Stod dard, one of that generally terrifying type, a leading woman. And instead down came Ellida Wangel, with her sea-green dress and blond Norse hair that would shine like green gold if it had the sea for a setting. So absorbing was the idea that the fi rst 15 minutes of the conversation which was really only a monologue punctured by syllables of assent was lost upon me entirely. She was the Ellida of the last act of the play not the neurotic, frightened, half-jealous girl of the first two acts, but the wo man who has finally sent her sailor lover about his business and returns to the good doctor an infinitely stronger, happier woman, but one in whom the element of mysticism and the longing for the unfathomable will never be eliminated. It wasn't until she went into rap tures over Alia Nazimova that I ccsuld pay any definite attention to what she was saying, and then' it was because she was doing some particu larly fine acting, with myself and the Japanese elevator boy as the only witnesses. In fact, "Nazimova" was the first word that stuck. It wasn't at all the Nazimova of our untutored pronun ciation, the Nazimova with its long "o" and its accented penultimate. In stead it was an extremely easy and gliding word, with what accent there was on the short "zi," leaving the rest to die away easily and naturally. It takes practice, but it comes in time. "I love her!" she declared. "She is the most wonderful creature imag inable, she creates her roles and makes of them things of supernatural fife. Never was there anyone like her. I workship her as an actress and vet I cannot be with her. One sea son was enough. It is playing with celestial fire, and that isn't good for mortals." ' And she might have added "nor-for mermaids" but she didn't. "I was in New York, out of work," she continued, "my new play hav ing been .a failure. I ran across my friend, Mrs. Schroeder, wife of Fred Schroeder, who grabbed me by the arm and without explaining at all rushed me over to Henry Miller's offices. " 'Mme. Nazimova needs a blond leading woman, and here she is,' said Mrs. Schroeder. " 'Do you mean to say you'll take it?' gasped Miller in astonishment. 'For heaven's sake hurry over and see her.' "I hurried. I simolv' rushed over there and sent mv card nn. I'll never iHoYget my first sight of her. She wore a low cut black gown, without any particular shape or style. She was very dark and looked a trifle like a Jewess, and when she spoke it was with the most en chanting accent the merest shade of an accent, that softened and lent color and beauty to her words. "She thought I had been sent to interview her, and before I could interrupt her flow of language she ex claimed, 'My child, if I could but have you I Why, Oh why, wernt you an actress? What a Ihea you would make for me V " This was too good to be true. Miss Stoddard hastened to assure Nazimova that she was an actress and wanted to play Thea that was why she was there. It must have been a proud and happy moment, because the Russian genius took her on the spot, and the meeting resulted in an entire season spent with the woman who has set sensation-loving New York wild. She has countless reminiscences of Mme. Nazimova, little anecdotes that are fascinating so fascinating, in deed, that poor Miss Stoddard had to submit to a 75 minute interview while she recited them. ; Nazimova is a Russian and a noblewoman, and like nearly all Russian noblewomen the mystery of her life is dark and Impenetrable, Even the Americans who know her best have been able to learn nothing from her. She came to America with the company of famous Russian actors which; visited New York two years ago. When they returned to Europe she stayed in New York and played a year under contract with the Shuberts for only $100 a week. "She had a terrible struggle," said Miss Stoddard, "and has told me that during the years she was studying in Russia and while she was trying to learn the English language she had to buy 40-cent shirtwaists. She is al ways poor, even now, when she commands enormous salaries no one knows what becomes of her money, but it is "believed that she gives most of it to the Russian Evolutionary cause. 1 '-. Blanche Stoddard Played WitL Actress Wlio Has Created Suck Furore, and Follows Her Interpretation. ( V ' r ' ' i i St ti.S t:' ' ' '':' , V -&.w:. , ? ' - V y4 ' s ft 1 riff iinMi BLANCHE STODDARD "One afternoon we were all gath ered on the stage for a rehearsal of 'A Doll's House.' Mme. Nazimowa was handed a telegram. She read it and fell to the floor in a faint. The rehearsal had to be given up and Nazimova was taken home. After wards I learned that it contained the news of the capture of a young boy whom she had helped educate and of whom she was very fond. He had been arrested for conspiracy against the government, and knowing that it would mean either Siberia or deaths he had killed himself. "Her moods were wonderful. In rehearsals she showed the most mar velous knowledge of how a play should be staged, of what should be done and when it would be most ef fective, that I have ever witnessed. Her resources are limitless. She has studied her parts until she knows what the author meant to write into every word. To some she frankly admits she can't do Shakespeaoe. She hates it and feels that she is dreadful at it. "At rehearsals she always comes In a dress which she believes will fit the part of the woman she is to play. In Hedda she wears a black clinging dress with a long train it makes her look taller than I, although in real ity she scarcely comes to my shoul der. She wear a short skirt, com mon stockings and flat-soled, ugly shoes as Nora. In fact her make-up as Nora is particularly remarkable. She must of course make of her a common woman without any particu lar refinement of breeding. She puts her hair, which is very black, down over her forehead. She grimes her hands. She wears turquoises in her ears. She looks exactly like a dirty little east side Jewess, but she is per fect in the part SOCIETY (Continued from Pat Two.) . oelM fntertlnmnt waa held Mid d- iicioub rerixihmenu erved. Tho next meeting will be held at tho realdenoo of Mn. W. B. Hamilton, 430 W Lilian) o venue, Friday March 14, at 1:30 p. m. A aurprlae birthday party was given Miss Maud Malott on her thirteenth birthday at her home, 861 Williams ave nue. Those preaent were: Ilasel Ros "JEdUn'Ryan. Vera Crandall. Mil dred Eddy, Maud Malott. Qladya kind ley, Ellae and Erun Kelnath. Claude Crosby, Harry Oraeyaon, Jefferaon Cran dall. Wllber Vinton. Bdwln MoCaiaon. Floyd Stark, Roy Malott ami Alvah Weston. Mrs. F. M. Branch entertained the Fellowship circle last Saturday even ing st her eaat aide home. There wus mualo and refreshments followed Inter The circle was formed when Hi'njuintn ray Mills wit here ana in dwoted to "soul culture." Once a month the mem bers plan to five a social at the Slruyer mission for ths entertainment uf the men of the north end. Women of Woodcraft, Portland Thim bu club, No. I. met st the home of Mm Ada Worth Marrb 4. Whist was played and Mrs. Bust Cook won the first prise, s burnt wood Jewel case. Refreshments were served at 5 o'clock. The next meeting- will be held at the realdence of Mrs. Mary F. Hurley, 114 Eaat Six teenth street.S Wednesday, st 2:S0. The Mispsh social club's dancing- par ty given st Marguerite hall Frldsy ev ening. February 18, was enjoyed by 60 couples. Eighteen numbers were played by Qallchlo's orchestra. The hosteeaea were Mra. Deldlna. Mrs. Oreenwood. Mrs. Haynes Jr. and Mrs. i nompaon. The Misses Mary Ge Bott, Helen etaridlrh. Frances Vandermeer and Jes sie De Spain entertained about 100 of heir friends with a leap year dance ant Haturday evening. February 2. nt the Artisan hall, Portsmouth avenue. The hi, 11 waa decorated with green and yellow. The Phllothla club of the Eaat Forty fifth atreet Baptist church met In the class room Friday afternoon. A pleas ant time was spent in mounting plc turea of Christ. dlana. Ths ceremony was read" by Ttev. N, . tinopp ' of Jeff Arson. The writing march was played by Miss Mink 1h)I?, cousin' of the Drtds. Mlaa Klste Lt attended tW bride, -and Albert Ferri. r was beet man. , The bride wor white, with xuU-Iena-tb veil, snd carried a bou quet at whits carnations Tbs houi was tastefully decorated with Oregon grape, English try and potted plants, snd ths bridal party stood under a floral bwlL -After congratulations supper was served - to 31 guests. Mr. and Mrs. Wright hsvs left for their home in ths SSJt. V A '-. ' : ti, - i. C .' v A slmpls wedding' Was cejebrated last Mondsr morning st this :3 mass sr St. Mary's church, when Rev. Father Daly united In matrimony 'Mlas Kstherlne L. Chambers snd Terrance J. Conway. - Ths sister of ths bride. Miss Maris Chambers, waa bridesmaid and Charles J. Sheridan scted ss best man. Mlaa Elisabeth McMahan presided at ths or- . gan. After ths eervloes st ths chumt -a wedding breakfaat wss served at ths bride's boms. , The current events department of ths I'ortnnmah Study rhib will meet st the - home of Mrs. P. W. Stewart. 174 East Sixteenth atreet. Wednesday afternoon ai i o ciock. . ' W Mount Hood Circle, W. of W. guards, will give h St. Patrick's dance at the Kant Fide Woolmna hall. East Sixth snd..; 17 at Vso"'' Tu,,'day snlng, March, - W . '-:.: J J Ilralm of Portland and Amanda ' Rose of Rnlnler were married la It. Ilplrni 8nturduy, February 13. by Jus- ' tice WHtklns ENGAGEMENTS ' . ii aj Miss Irene Mnrguerlte Kellv and K. P. Booser of Alnska will be mnr'rled In this city May 27. COMING EVENTS WEDDINGS MME. ALL A NAZIMOVA "In Hedda I saw her using that remarkable neck of hers in the most effective way imaginable. I tried the same trick I wis so enamored of it. She sprang at me. "'What are you doing!' she exclaimed, 'I spent four years trying to learn that movement. I am short. I have to have it in order to overcome my lack of height. You have no right to it' and I had to give up to her, of course. "At a reception given by the Pulitzers on one occasion a guest said to her, 'Mme. Nazimova, I wish you would wear silk hose and pretty slippers as Nora. I hate you as you are.' "'Yes, that's just like you Americans,' said she.. 'All you want is for a woman to be pretty and to wear pretty clothes. You don't care anything about acting. You want us to be pretty.' "But Mme. Nazimova isn't pretty and she is success ful," I put in jubilantly, certain that it would prove a poser. "Oh, the people follow the critics like sheep, you know," she said. I didn't know, but she continued: "Not one person in 20 appreciated Mme. Nazimova's act ing. It was merely because the critics went wild over her that she became so much the fad that now on her matinee afternoons it is almost impossible to get near the theatre. You should see the other actresses at the mati nee performances. I have watched Ethel Barrvmore sitting resting her chin in her hands, sitting forward in her seat so" all the time illustrating her talk in the most interesting fashion "and scarcely moving through the en tire afternoon, so intent was she upon catching every tiny gesture and change of facial expression. "We all watched her and all of us wondered and mar veled and I can assure you that if we put on the pro posed Ibsen matinees here that I shajl do my best to imitate many of Nazimova's interpretations. I feel that she knows more about Ibsen than any one else, so why shouldn't I accept her way of acting him?" I told her that I hoped she would. Also that I was very anxious to see her in the Ibsen plays. And I am. She is the most intelligent actress, the most finished en tertainer under the disadvantages of a perfectly correct drawing room in a perfectly correct apartment-house that 1 know ot. bhe ought 'to be a delight on the stage. But I had stayed so long had so frightfully outworn my welcome, that I couldn't even stay to ask her, in her role as Ellida, how she ever happened to allow that re markable step-child of hers, Hilda Wangel, to grow up .a I . J tf ...... n . J- into tne young woman wno cnarmea master tsmiaer oi ness .into climbing the steeple. Pjay, how on earth did you do it, Mrs. Wangel? charming wedding took place Tues day evening a week ago at the residence of Mr. and Mra. R. C. Prince, when their daughter, Frances M Prince, was married to Frederick 8. Allvn, by Rev. John R. Welch, pastor of the Fourth Presbyterian church. The bride wore a handaome dress of white silk, and car ried Bride roses. The bridesmaid was miss Dottle Wrenn, and the bride's sis ter. Miss Vera Prince, waa maid of honor. Both wore pretty frocks of pink mull, and carrlod carnations. Muriel McCully and Oeraldlne Root were the riower girls, and they wore white and carried pink carnations. The bride was given away by her father. Miss Flor ence Howe played the wedding march I rum Lionengnn. Arier tne ceremony the wedding sup per was served by the Misses M. Mc Laughlan, Verne Clawson snd Olga ine nouse was prettily decor ated with ivy and pussy willows. The ceremony was performed under a bower of Ivy and pussy willows. George A. B. Walker was best man. Mr. and Mrs. Allyn left on their honeymoon the next day, and will be at home to their friends at 1144 East Yam hill street after March 15. A pretty hpme wedding took palace February 26 In the evening at the residence of Mrs. Mary a Ferrier. when her daughter, Flossie M. Ferrier, waa married to Ruasel 8. Wright, s prominent young man of Newcastle, In- The E. fl A. C. girls an- planning ,tO give their March clam ing party In Rlng ler's hall Mondav evenlnir. Mamk is The committee In charge constats of junei jonnson, Margaret Brown, Ella Strelmer, Alice Agler. Mahel Brown, Gertrude Wetsler. Margaret Boyd, Mlna Hoffman. Bessie Fltigerald. Esther Ed wards, Freda Pfaender, Edith Elklngton and Lenta Stahley. Stiles orcheatr will furnish the music. The patron esses are Mrs. W. B. I.ottman. Mrs. V, C. Agler and Mrs. M. M. Rlngler. Women's Relief . Llncoln-Oarleld Corps No. 19 will have s special meeting l YV I wood, for the purpose of sewing. All ednesday at the home of Mrs. 1. A. Spooner, 678 Lexington avenue. Sell- members are urged to be present st . 10:30 a. m. Come prepared to spend tha day. The Vesper Stellas will glvs . their March party at Murlark hall Thursday evening, March 12, 1908. Praspn' or chestra to furnish tha music. Patron esses are Mrs. J. Olllen, Mrs. J. F. Sil ver, Mrs. O. Couture and Mrs. A. llen-nlg. The Mlipnh Social club will give S : whit soc ial Thursday, March 19. at ths . home of Mrs. Thompson, 447 Benton ; atreet. , w Learn to dance correctly from Prof. Rlngler. Instruction dally. Phones. PERSONAL Mrs. Otto Kulper snd Mrs. Hortenns Rice spent Sunday with Mrs. W. B. Pil lard of St. Helens. . Miss Florence George, one of - the nurses at Oood Samaritan hospital spent two days with ber parents in St. Helens last week. Mr. and Mrs. John H. Wllllngton re turned Thursday from a five-months trip to 'England and are visiting rel atives In St. Helens. L Mr. and' Mrs. "TV V. Kuettner of Elton Court 'hve taken apartments st - the ; New Nortonla. where they are st homo ' to their friends. FRALEY'S Hats of Distinction 212-214 Third Street WILD AND WOOLLY. : . "Bad Men" Depicted in Alleged Western Plays Are Surprise. tu . Frem Boston Transcript, t TV, , Vtr1 anil Wonll V " AenfetaA dramatically or melodramatically in Ifouc local theatres simultaneously, serves also ss a theme ror a most en tertaining little assay on "Tha Maga zine We at." Its author, having lived extensively In ths west, sxpresses mln- ifiea amaaement ana aeiecuon over the "bad men," "Senorltss and '"tender f est'V of Everybody's and" McClurs's. I It must be sight or nine years now sines your clerk trod the gulches and coulees of ths Rockies- time enough for the wild and woolly to have quieted down to an even tamer placidity than when last be saw It, But even then it wss not "as advertised." Cowhovs I f:n yt,never once a cowboy .5hieiuUV8KaJI Pf hlm llk- Had he sure enough lie wore a "boiled shirt" snd a derby, ad s a sombrero? Ift- eviiaoiy ne would omit the "chaps." A sorry mongrel, sartorlally, he recalled uw iacinnng .incongruities or mituma missionaries -when . first m pressed . upon the heathen reported by iney naa impressed iino the spiritual potentialities of dry goods. they had Xn nine months of aweet expectancy i aaw no recourse to gun play, encoun lerea no ratuesnaKes. uui met ifiit nn coyote, t Some .fascinating hold-ups took place, I admit, though not so many as In Boston. And, mind you. i was la the very heart of the Wild and Woolly an tne wnue, ana Keeping a Drlgnt look out for "copy." Meanwhile, they of tho Wild and Woolly maintained a pretty stirewa surveillance over me. Many and loud were their complalnta that I was introducing into the Itocktes a sue. cles of slang that corrupted taste and norrinea an persons or discernment From what I hear, the town has been uncomfortably quiet and conventional ever since my return to the east. Still, I am a bit out of sympathy with the writerf "The Magasine West" in the Contributors' club. He seems to me a little touchy. Indeed, rather unnSqes-sarlly-iervid In his denunciation of those "needy authors to. whom fbad VIA. '. "fiftnAwlta " I spell several square meats a year. The Wild and. Woolly doss no reut barm I In the magaslnes. . Real Westerners have long since denied themselves the anguish or reading Wild ana wooiiy fiction, save for the fun of Jeering at It. But when it comes to staging the Wild and Woolly, that's different! Who knows but, almost any night, some touring, ranchman. In evening clothes Snd a hopeful mood, may blunder Into a theatre where the life of the ranch Is so weirdly" travestied. A horrible scene would ensue. Sobbing. moaning, and begging everybody's pardon, the poor fellow would dash out of the theatre snd drown Ms woe in a tnimoiarui or Moxls. Champagne Iastead , Opium From the filngapors Free Press, . If ws take the experience of this col ony, we are arriving at a stage in which tho better classes of Chinese ere tend ing to drop opium and take to ths con sumption of liquors. " Champagne Is by no means unknown, and whiskey and soda Is commonplace of domestic consumption with well-to-do Chinese residents. t m 1 ' 1 .f - Mrs. H. E. Jackson of the Art Milli nery has returned from an extended business trip, bringinr with her manr pretty novelties, including a number .of the choicest patterns which - ahe will be pleased to show her many friends at her millinery parlor. 409 -Stearns builaing. Sixth' snd Morrison streets. New form model Wade corset l J7 Thirteenth street, near Washington. 388-390 East Morrison SU Near Grand Ave.il".i Sec Window Display Today, on Sale Tomorrov If you live on the West Side a short walk over the bridge; will open your eys to the wonderful buying possibilities of the "NEWER EAST SIDE : , , - A HALF A THOUSAND SAMPLE SHIRTWAISTS Beauties every one all sizes -$I$I5 arid $1.50 Waists tomorrow for v v - , r- t. SEE WINDOWS You have never before had the opportunity of particlpatiui? m such an offering as -this. SEE OUR WINDOVV awl compare with the bier store Drices.:Panpv Tni AU.vjr.ri . Alpacas, Fancy Galateas -ALL ON SALE TOMORRQV, Al orJS-HALF AND ONE-THIIiD CHOP EAI!LV,
