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About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (March 21, 1909)
if K . (wit1 5 A- m, "5 4rtV " , V' "tt .1 v- ; AM ii Modem Conception of the World's Famous Women SVL'EEX MJRIIi J.XTOI.XIITTE I 7 ti"" silling for Madame l.ebrun, the g famous painter. h "Your majesty," declared the painter, "it is tir. You haze assumed the char acter of the time. You haie adorned your self as the quexn posterity shall honor Mid admire. Art shall immortalize ou as sou are. V More than a century after her death an actress attempted to resurrect the queen of France, to portray her as she had ap- f eared to her court and subjects, ott she-, succeeded in the cci'iitcrfeit ma be seen bx kAKE Mr. I-niiitry a Marie Antoinette. who was eonidTod one of tl- lovi !i( m omen of her time. S,,. too. the "Jcm v . I.lly. as lie kn.'VJti in the day- when Kins- Ednerd r, Knplai. i. tl;n prii L i f Walr,-a4tTjfrfd itrr mer thnn sny othi r rt nut,. B herald-d the Mjpmne beauty -.f 1 r iav. Eirt of 1!, t),iv a- a diff- rrn.v ktj'ti tn leirijHTaiBnit of " llw two Ixmitie. Ant' i nrtt' wa .tivaeiroi Jd caprieiu) ; tn Itrtrv rfwinl.W the lily, u-1 nly hit and rH.- ful. t lift fatv. it ii olwrrel in the j.innre, is tkX fo fitio, mijTt)enD at that tie Fr neh 1411. 1 1 r fr .larks the iuiii ituKlo tom b wkt'h bi' Qten Mari tin-psoot in the cittrt. Tin n- altrayt onftbii!B ref -he-relic in the'l'rtni-h jiitu" tire; Mm. Iangtry, ia" lis tnt iz-iu', faili to carry ct.intktiot. 1 THE OREGON; SUNDAY, JOURNAL. PORTLAND, SUNDAY 1 ' ; ' t- V nun r ' a comparison of the queen as shown in Le brun's painting with Mrs. Langtry in stage costume. Many other heroines of history have been impersonated on the stage within re cent years; it has become the fashion to re enact the romances and tragedies of those whose figures become magnified with the passing of lime. Rut can women of today assume with fidelity the roles of famous ones who lived in the long-gone past? Is not there always the temptation to idealize, to tamper wth the original picture? j'j interesting to see. Attractive and charming a was the ehar aetrr of the French quoen. just as forbiddinj? h the character of Elizabeth of England. I'aintiii;- were made during Elizubeth'a liff! wiu h ivi-al to in an rtttrcinelr handsome flini priciou" woman. For thrne doubtless thx? daugh :rr of .Henry VIII paid excellent prices. For :h- re ere artiU ia her tiraera there ar-artist i ' rr. who did not Imitate to embellish what n u'jre had diphtl and for considerations of cin made liiMioinc by means of the transfigur ing brus-h what nature made eioeolingly plain; Nanr O'Neill wmf years ago attempted to portray Elizabeth on the modem tage. .Tin w no drmht, critic KaiU that Elizabeth rripht have found tlie prenitation fattering, Juditw; ly the Verrailles portrait. Elirabeth was an ex tremely jLin vomtfi. ller face wa rai Lur . ' - ' PS" hi it si -ftf 3 WJ it: 5 6 fc Art i mm i'f ny ""i Xaiaarrfci 1,1. 'T I c : 5i u n. fialurcK small; her eyes were. large and hard; her oliin was sharp and determined. Had Elizabeth possessed jhe American actress' fane she might have been more popular in her day. Miss O'Neill presented a Queen Elizabeth with a full, plump, rosy face a oueen with soft blue eyes, a broad, liberal chin, a gen-V erous mouth. Uoubtlcss Miss O'Neill did not achieve the waist line of the historic heroine, for Elizabeth's cornets were aid to lc wonders. -With her hair dressed high, in a mountainous jeak surmounted by a jeweled "crown, a wide, stiff, ruffled collar about her neck, her waist laced dangerously. Queen Elizabeth must have been a unique-figure. Few characters stand oui jn history a Joe tlie Pgure of. Joan. of Are. Jn, both ilarie. "Antoinette and Queen ElizaLeth the human qualities were extremely strongi lhee qualities wore at Oiice ' their strength and their weakness. But in the little maiden from Dorart-mf. it ia more the spiritual that transfignrctl "her and; made her the marvel of history.- Tlierefore the character of Joan of necessity must be difScuh to portray. . . . . , Variou actresses have tried to portray Iwr.i among them Julia Marlowe and Amelia Jling-, ham. Mi Marlowe waa the Jwo of Dommny, the pJift and lovely peasant girl. Mb- Bingham tayed to portray the Joan of battle, the mix 'it N TNG, MARCH : 21, 1009 Avs-H A V 4 Oueezt rs' in J lant leader of the forces of France. It might be invidious to say that Miss Bingham was too big." Truth to tell,' criticg remarked lier Joan in armor looked more 'like Minerva sprung from the forehead of Jove than the slight but brave maiden of Oileifns. Biasing his conception on historical deacrip tions of Joan of $rc, I)e Monvel, a meleru paiuter. drew a picture of the maiden as she Mood accused before her judges. Here we see her historians have described her a small, lithe limbed, fine-featured, delicate woman; a woman dressed as a peasant boy, her hair cut short about her ahouldem. This is the Joan of hia tory. On the stage he ia generally shown in a -suit f -armor, brand hew; a helmet and a skirt cmhroidemL with the fleur. de lis.of Franee a big, vicoroua Joan, with fnll. rosy face and long, flowing hairr- t - T" Another favorite heroine of history with jnodern actresses is Uiat qoeoa actress -of her day, gay Nell Gwyn. whom Charles II loved until his " death. - tfhe was gay; sJie always ' la tic bed : her irift of repartee waa so keen that people aeldottt. ventured to say -a displeasing . thing to her.. Sometimes, historians tell tis, she swore. . ' ' ' ' t ' ' - Whrn -Henrietta Crosman took the part ef NV II critics praised ber performances highly.. Miss CrosxnJn laugbed and danced, and to a . - ' ' y . - -. . -" i "fv lA m r .V 7 j W3?1 1 T"." '"""-, :i in in. I JT yazsr ejfJh? yffe.tfr , remarkable degree imitated the winsbweness of Nell. Did she laugh as Nell laughed? Bid she dance as Nell danced? Was she as fair as Nell? Nell Gwyn was small and slight o small, to. slight, so merry that to. play a serious role was impossible. It was her custom between nets, or when her dance was over, to leap from the stage and make merry in .the boxes. According to the paiuter, Nell Gwyn pos sessed a full face, soft eyes, with a suggestion of merriment even in repose.. Her hair was soft and curling. The modern actress who so well counterfeited. the1 favorite of Charles possesses a more angular face, sharper, more brilliant hut less merry eyes. , . , . leafing over the pages of history, many actresses have selected ancient queens r and heroines for their roles. Cleopatra, Judith, the Queen of Sheba, Delilah, Sappho, Electra have appeared on the mbderii stage. Sara Bern hardt essayed many historic .roles. As the Queen of the Nile she threw into the character all lier passion and. mystic temperament. . . ' . SHAW'S IDEA' OF CLEOPATRA . . . . Miss Gertrude Elliot gives us a new inter pretation of the queen of Egypt. It is Cleo patra as Bernard Shaw imagines her and most critics agree that Shaw in his conceptions is wrong. Miss Elliot, however, in appearances made an ideal Cleopatra. Her features are fine, her eyes large and dark, her eyebrow heavy purely Egyptian, one might say. As the queen who brought the riches" of Sheba to Solomon, Edith Walker wcni praise. Possibly one of the most eon.umuite de lineation of an historical heroine wa Madame Modjeska's presentation of Mary Htuart. Mod jeska impersonated, the high-bred, melanclioly, lovable queen "with such skill that audience felt that the victim of Queen Elizabeth Jived again, only possessing a voice such as Mary never boasted. Some one bas said that historical characters appeal to one more strongly than any 1-orn rf pure imagination. It is interesting to ob-rve, therefore, howr closely art can counterfeit hero- incs long dead. -",".. A
