Pass P/V26/g Book - J ' -' MODJESKA AS "JULIET.' HELENA MODJESKA BY JAMESON TORR ALTEMUS WKfy 3iittstrattou3 / r New York J. S. OGILVIE AND COMPANY 31 Rose Street. Copyright, 1883, By J. S'.'^GILVIE >•• * ALL EIGHTS RESERYED. TO MY FRIEND fljennj dag ffitkns, THIS VOLUME IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED. 1 There are four sisters, known to mortals well, Whose names are Joy and Sorrow, Death and Love : This last it was who did my footsteps move . To where the other deep-eyed sisters dwell. To-night, or ere yon painted curtain fell, These, one by one, before my eyes did rove Through the brave mimic world that SI. ikespere wove. Lady ! thy art, thy passion were the spell That held me, and still holds ; for thou dost show, With those most high each in his sovereign art, — Shakespere supreme, Beethoven and Angelo, — Great art and passion are one. Thine too the part, To prove that still for him the laurels grow Who reaches through the mind to pluck the heart. R. W. Gilder. CONTENTS Introductory Helena Benda's Childhood .... Studying Shakespeare First Appearance in Bochnia .... Debut in Cracow . Count Charles Bozenta Chlapowski First Appearance as "Adrienne Lecouvreur" . First Appearance in America .... Return to Poland and Debut in London . Return to America and closing performance at Booth's Theatre, New York Modjeska's "Juliet" Modjeska's " Marie Stuart ". Modjeska's ' ' Adrienne Lecouvreur " Modjeska's " Odette " . Modjeska's-" Camille" Modjeska's "Frou-Frou" . Modjeska in New York . . . Modjeska in London ...... Success on the Stage 13 19 29 40 52 60 69 82 93 108 123 137 J 45 15* 165 173 181 195 207 INTRODUCTORY, EORGE HENRY LEWES, in his work " On Actors and the Art of Acting/' speaks of Rachael as the panther of the stage, who represented scorn, triumph, rage, lust and merciless malignity in symbols of irresistible power; but who had little tenderness, no womanly caressing softness, no gayety, no heartiness ; although at the same time she was so graceful and so powerful that her air of dignity was incom-* parable. Ristori, too, was, in the minds of many critics, the greatest actress the theatri- cal world has ever known; while Neilson 14 INTRODUCTORY. also enjoyed a large share of the laurels awarded to the great of histrionic fame. But within the past few years a greater star than any of these has arisen in Madame Helena Modjeska, the Countess Bozenta. The critics of Europe and America, the Sche- legels of to-day, who enjoy the reputation of being both unbiased and severe, have all pronounced her as being the first tragic actress on the stage. In studying Madame Modjeska's acting, we find that she follows Ristori in her style ; that is as far as her own genius will allow her to follow any one. In every part she aims at originality, and has a deep sympa- thetic feeling for the character. Rachael worked up her scenes with mathematical preciseness, until they became a vigorous denunciation of her enemy. They were grand and magnificent pieces of elocution, but they lacked that soul-stirring power, which is noticeable in Madame Modjeska's acting and which works on her audience in INTRODUCTORY. 1 5 such a manner that they are held spell- bound, as it were, with fascination for the characters which she portrays. To recognise genius is a genuine pleas- ure, and to appreciate its power is to feel in- spiration. * When it flashes and illuminates there is a revelation that brings the vast pos- sibilities of the human brain to the conscious- ness of those who see and feel. Madame Modjeska is a woman of genius, who has ripened by study until she has become a master of the parts she assumes. With ele- ments of reason, definite, absolute and emphatic ; with principles settled, strenuous, deep and unchangeable as her being ; her wisdom is exquisitely practicable ; with subtlist sagacity it apprehends every change in the circumstances in which it is to act, and can accommodate its action without loss of vigor or alteration of its general purpose. Its theories always "lean and hearken " to the actual. By a sympathy of the mind almost transcendental in its delicacy, its spe- 1 6 INTRODUCTORY. dilations are attracted into a parallelism with the logic of life and nature. Her percep- tions, feelings, tone, are always up to the level of the hour. While at the Imperial Theatre at Warsaw, the fineness of her acting came like a revela- tion of dramatic art to those who were her auditors. She worked hard for the building- up of the drama in Poland, and on its stage she introduced the highest dramatists of other countries — Shakespeare, Goethe, Schiller, and the classics of the French and Italian sta HELENA MODJESKA. l6l such as her that Heaven's justice is temper- ed with mercy more than man's. The les- son is a terrible one, and we are not dispos- ed to quarrel with it on the ground of social expediency. But the ' denouement ' pains and perplexes. Human nature is often bet- ter than human laws, and we would save much to see the sad and humbled creature who turns finally from husband and child to go forth friendless and condemned, received into their arms. " Odette " is a powerful play. Its appeals to human consciousness are forcible and true, and its problems are those which have an abiding interest for thoughtful minds. The Odette of Madame Modjeska is marked by qualities of the highest order. It presents a studied picture of the erring wife, swayed by conflicting emotions, and passing rapidly from one mood to another ; now revengeful, now loving, now hard as a nether millstone, now dissolved in tears. Nothing in the performance is more admir- ii 1 62 HELENA MODJESKA. able than the ease and naturalness with which Madame Modjeska accommodates herself to this variableness, save, perhaps, the depth of feeling and power of pathetic expression shown in the interview of mother and child. In this scene Madame Modjeska touched every heart, and consummated a success by no means the least memorable in her career. Clemens Scott. HODJESKi'S "CAMILLK" MODJESKA'S " CAMILLE." ADAME MODJESKA is a great actress. Her nature is greatly dra- matic, and her art of mimetic expression is perfect. The play of Camille is a useless picture of the insufferable, yet remediless misery which follows upon a great sin. To see Camille is to suffer and to weep — and then to be neither stronger, wiser, better nor more clear-sighted than before. Persons who yield to vice must, and invaria- bly do, suffer the consequences of their wrong conduct. They sin in their souls, and their punishment begins in their soul's, co- incident with their sin. It is not society that tortures Camille and Armand; it is the 1 66 HELENA MODJESKA. eternal, immutable, inexorable, moral law of the universe. Art, when it touches this aspect of human experience, necessarily pledges itself to become didactic. It ceases to interpret, and assumes to teach ; and, in this instance, since it stops short when it has attained its harrowing picture of anguish, and makes no application of it, and asserts no principle or comfort, or hope, as growing out of it, the assumption surely cannot be held to be justified. The spectator may, indeed, leave Camille with the thought that any fate is better than the fate of those who love ; that insensibility is the one thing most of all to be desired in this life, and that no crime can be so madly foolish as the crime of those who trifle with their human affec- tions. This way there may be a lesson and warning in Camille, but the most that ensues upon it is tearful, despairing pain; and this is borne in upon the heart in a manner greater than words can describe by the act- ing of Madame Modjeska. In her ideal, HELENA MODJESKA. 1 67 Camille is by nature a good woman whom wayward impulse and evil accident have plunged into a bad life, from which under the stress of a pure and sacred love, she is striv- ing to free herself, but from the consequences of which she can never get free. In her execution of this ideal she has set before the public an embodiment of such bewildering beauty, natural emotion, and exquisite grace, that for the first time, the subject of this piece is really made to seem one that ought to be treated, and the piece itself is half redeemed. No logic could accomplish this result ; but the force of genius and the fineness of con- summate art have power to make the theme one of feeling rather than reason. Mod- jeska's Camille once seen, will no more be spared from our stage, nor suffered to fade from remembrance, than Ristori's " Theresa," or Seibach's " Marguerite." As we think upon it there rises in fancy a lithe, willowy figure, whose raiment is the perfection of opulent simplicity — just touched 1 68 HELENA MODJESKA. with a kind of strange richness — and whose every movement is perfect grace. The face is pallid with sorrow ; the large, dark, liquid eyes are full of mournful light ; the voice — in its low tones as sweet as childhood, and always suggestive of innocence and happi- ness — pierces to the heart in its louder tones of supplication, and vibrates with a nameless thrill of despairing agony. This figure obeys in every motion the feeling that pos- sesses it. The tumult of self-reproach, the bitterness of doubt, the ecstacy of contented and confiding love, the mingled torment and sublimity of enforced self-sacrifice, the devotion to virtuous purpose, and the conflict betwixt earthly hope and heavenly resignation are all expressed by it with the elements of abso- lute sincerity and in a form responsive to the nicest touch of the guiding thought which controls every particle of the work. It is impossible to recognize with too much acceptance the splendid mechanism with which the artiste acts. It is a net-work of HELENA MODJESKA. 1 69 movements, attitudes, gestures, tones, pauses, glances, and quiet, indescribable, subtle sug- gestions which, altogether, is faultless in delicacy and superb, in completeness. Her portraiture is all action ; her simulation is all reality ; her art is all inspired. This was felt more than it was seen in her embodiment of Adrienne, because that character is some- what evanescent and impalpable in compari- son with Camille, and also because Madame Modjeska had to speak thin and ineffective words — in a badly adapted translation of the French play. In Camille she attains to a freedom that she did not before entirely possess ; and if indications mean anything, she will be greater yet in Phaedra, Myrrha and other kindred characters of classical drama. It is not possible to specify all these great mo- ments of her Camille. The outburst in the third act, when this tortured human being cries to heaven : " Why do I live ?" is as fine as anything that ever was done upon the rjO HELENA MODJESKA. stage. No actress has ever here expressed, with anything like the fidelity to nature, and the winning sweetness of temperament which Madame Modjeska employs, that glad con- tent and speechless ecstacy with which the eyes of pure love look upon the object of its devotion. This wonderful felicity of expres- sion, so simple and easy when it is devoted, Madame Modjeska is the first to use ; and by this she reveals the soul that fills her works. This embodiment of living and suf- fering womanhood ends with a death-scene free from every taint of physical decay. There is no odor of drugs diffused around the death-bed of Camille ; and the only touch of realism is made with exquisite taste, and with a terrible natural effect, in the gradual yet quiet fall of the corpse from the little couch, at the moment of dissolution. William Winter. New York Tribune. KODJESKA'S " FROU-FROU.' MODJESKA'S -FROU-FROU." ADAME MODJESKA'S "Frou- Frou " proves to be like her " Ju- liet," far better than some of the personations in her repertoire. While differing in intensity and power- from her Juliet as the two plays differ, Madame Mod- jeska's " Frou-Frou " is as fresh, beautiful and fascinating, and equally instinct with a com- plete established and appropriate individual- ity. Like her Juliet this must henceforth be for those who enjoyed it the perfect, the ideal embodiment of the role. Modjeska's une- qualled elasticity, verve and spirited grace in acting, find most happy employment in the role; and the pictures made in the early scenes depicting the light-hearted gayety 1^4 HELENA MODJESKA. and frivolity of her Parisian life are simply enchanting. Her lithe, slender, supple fig- ure, whether in the black riding habit with velvet jockey-cap, the pink and tan- color negligdy the flower-trimmed satin even- ing dress, or the subsequent white cashmere and old-gold costume, is always as fine as a French painting. Her by-play, no matter how wild the gayety, how free the abandon with which she dashes hither and thither, or throws herself upon a sofa or a chair, is unerringly refined, and breathes of genuine ladyhood. This constant quality of Modjes- ka's acting is of special importance in a play where the slightest personal suggestion of impurity would make it all intolerable. It is in the delicate and thoughtful fullness of vivid detail and in the lighter vein that Mod- jeska's acting is most delicious ; but in the climaxes she rarely fails to make an electric fying effect at the last. George Edgar Montgomery, New York Times. MODJESKA'S "FROU-FROU." HE best " all-round" performance in the series in which Madame Mcd- J jeska has appeared was that of "Frou-Frou," which was produced to a crowd- ed house. This version of the comedy of MM. Meilhac and Halevy is by Mr. Comyns Carr, and is certainly a clever adaptation of the piece as it was presented at the Gymnase in 1869. The main feature of the performance was Madame Modjeska's impersonation of Frou- Frou. Those who had seen her as Constance and as Adrienne were curious to ascertain if she would reach in this part the high rank they had willingly assigned her after her for- mer efforts. Her performance as Adrienne I76 HELENA MODJESKA. Lecouvreur naturally suggested the thought that she would be equally satisfactory in the almost kindred part of Gilberte; but still the question remained whether her versatility was comprehensive enough to make as sig- nal a success in the one as she did in the other. The answer remained for a while in doubt. The evidence of passionate power came, as it must necessarily do in the case of a gifted actress, in the third act, where Gil- berte, after having vainly tried to induce her husband tu let her be the housewife, after having vainly sought the society of her child as a protec tion against the seductive influence of Valreas, assails her sister with bitter re- proaches that she has usurped the position of the housewife, and that she, too, has alienated the child from the mother. The closing words of this scene sound by no means so effetive in the English adaptation as they do in the original. That moving cry of Gil- berte's, " Mari enfant tu m'as tout pris; c'est bien, ga^le tout," after she has said in her HELENA MODTESKA. I 77 jealous rage, 'Je m'avcne vaincue : je te c£de la place/' is ineffectually rendered in Mr. Comyns Carr's version ; and it says all the more for the actress that she was able to carry with her to the end the whole sympa- thies of the audience, and not only to evoke their sympathies but to arouse their tears as, after the agonizing conflict with Louise, she bursts from the room—to fly, as we all know, with Valreas to Venice. Nothing could be more artistic, if so cold a term may be used in this connection, than Madame Modjeska's urgent appeals, as articulately rendered by her gestures and the clinging fcrce of her fair arms as by her voice, when she beseeches Sartorys, who comes to Venice on a mission }f vengeance, to abandon his purpose of fighting a duel with Valreas. The actress leaves no doubt that it is not for the life of the new lover, but for the safety of the husband she is pleading. Nay, she pleads, and in tones that moved many of the ladies in the house to tears, that she fears Frou-Frou is i;8 HELENA MODJESKA. too ignoble a creature now to be fought over. The news presently comes that the duel has been fought, and the first thought of the err an c wife is, not for the lover with whom she fled, but, as it had been before for her son, so was it now for the husband she in a hasty moment deserted. Those who know the play know the rest — how she returns to what once was her home, to see once more her boy, to be once more in her dying mo- ments taken to the breast of her husband. The death of " Pauvre Frou-Frou," like that of Adrienne, is in no degree sensational. It is the death of an exhausted woman, whose parting pains are soothed by the ecstacy of joy which comes from penitence and forgive- ness. Joseph Knight. London Globe. MODJESKA II IEW YORK MODJESKA IN NEW YORK. t^M^rl O D EST Y does not always accom- i(J \gA N pany great success and high popu- f^S^i larity on the stage. This is an age when the artist who hides his light behind a bushel might just as well extinguish it alto- gether. The first principle prevailing in all branches of art now is insistance, and it is found to have a potent influence over the public mind. If art can lay little claim to modesty, public taste may certainly plead its abundance of that virtue. It rarely if ever finds out anything for itself, but appreciates, or fancies it appreciates something which certain interested persons have told them is the best of its kind. If the interested per- 1 82 HELENA MODJESKA. sons should hesitate in their insistance, it is probable that the public will pause too, and hence the wisest and keenest purveyors of art carry their point by the breathless force and energy of their assaults. When the public complain, as they sometimes do, that they scarcely comprehend the beauty or the greatness of the treasure offered to them, the ready answer comes that the treasure is above their appreciation, and thus popular curiosity is aroused anew, and the artistic character of a nation is felt to be in jeopardy. A great many "triumphant successes" in all the spheres of art have been secured by these bold devices ; and as human nature changes very slowly, it is more than proba- ble that the insistance theory will continue to be practiced. But the public sometimes make discover- ies in art themselves, and when they find that they have unearthed a treasure, they have the double satisfaction of admiring it and appreciating their own cleverness. Ma- HELENA MODJESKA. 1 83 dame Modjeska is a discovery of this kind. Three weeks ago Modjeska came before us after too long an absence, and gave us her well-studied interpretation of Shaks- peare's Rosalind. As the heroine of " As You Like It," Modjeska appeared for the first time in America as a comedienne, and to those who were unfamiliar with her tragic powers her Rosalind must have been a fasci- nating and perfect picture. In winning grace, in refinement, in poetry of motion, tenderness, and humor, it has never been surpassed in our day. It was a performance of infinite charm, and Madame Modjeska, whose art is ever growing, will, without doubt, furnish it with all the fullness it demands by fhe time she next appears in New York. When the great artiste appeared in " Camille," those who were strangers to her genius felt its full force for the first time. They had the grace of beautiful womanhood, the tenderness of the lover, the feverish fer- 184 HELENA MODJESKA. vor of a soul awaking to unexpected happi- ness, arid the tragedy of a sad and terrible life. Much as v/e dislike "CamiUe" as a play, and strongly as we resent its morbid teach- ings, we cannot deny that Modjeska gives us as its heroine a picture of such rare loveli- ness and such almost divine sorrow that we become reconciled to Dumas' insidious teachings, and feel that his work, as inter- preted by this grand actress, is wholly human, powerful, and true. Modjeska makes us forget that we are sympathising with an abandoned woman, and we follow the story of her love, sacrifice, despair and death with an absorbing interest which drives away reason and argument. An indifferent or coarse actress makes Camille repulsive and the spectators indignant ; but Modjeska idealizes the woman, and we have her saying with Othello, "Oh, I ago ! the pity of it, Iago !" In "Frou-Frou " Madame Modejeska had HELENA MODJESKA. 1 85 a task not unlike that which she under- took in " Camille." She had to charm away our sober senses and extract our sym- pathy for a frivolous woman, who sins with- out excuse and repents without contrition. Gilberte is an even more repulsive character than Marguerite Gaulhier. Dumas' un- happy heroine has some excuse for her profli- gacy, seeing that she is brought up in a circle of vice and surrounded by associates who live on her shame and their own. Gilberte is reared in luxury and refinement, has a devoted husband, and what should preserve the purity of any true woman, a child. But she falls without temptation, and deliberately goes astray before any genuine effort is made to lead her into sin. But here again the beauty of Modjeska's art and its wonderful variety reconciles us to a character we ought to despise. The agonies of the outraged husband are placidly forgotten by those who see Modjeska in " Frou-Frou," and we have scarcely a thought to bestow on a family 1 86 HELENA MODJESKA. shamed and humiliated by the folly of a friv- olous woman. It is all "Frou-Frou," with Modjeskas audience. There is only one channel for the audience's sympathies, and Louise -may make her virtue as pronounced as may be, and De Sartorys may expose his wounds, but we shut our eyes to them and find no place in our hearts except for the silly, reckless, sinful and heartless woman called Gilberte. All this is accomplished be- cause Madame Modjeska invests "Frou-Frou" with a charm of her own personality and because the art she displays is so subtle, so logical and yet so unobtrusive. Modjeska' s " Frou-Frou " is the moth fluttering round the flame. We know she will certainly be destroyed by it, but we watch her feeble efforts to resist its fascination and we follow her struggles with a pitiful but intense and absorbing interest. " Odette," in which Madame Modjeska ap- pears, is a powerful but somewhat unpleasant play. Being French, of course it deals with HELENA MODJESKA. 187 a profligate wife and an outraged husband. French dramatists indeed give us very curious pictuies of French life. They try to teach us that all married French women, or at least those living in Paris, are unfaithful wives, and that their husbands are devoted and high-minded dupes. Surely, this basis of play writing is getting somewhat threadbare. It is almost as monotonous as the everlast- ing virtue of the English peasant and the de- termined rascality of the British nobleman who used to form the people of the old English domestic drama. It has none of the simple merit of the last named dramatic the- ory, for in the English drama vice was al- ways properly punished ; whereas, in the modern French play virtue has rather a hard time of it and sympathy is extended to the wicked or heartless heroine. The character of Odette is only saved from absolute contempt by the yearning love of the guilty mother for her child. This is a powerful dramatic motive, and Sardou uses it 1 88 HELENA MODJESKA. with all his own remarkable skill. He boldly introduces it in the first- act, at the very mo- ment when the false wife is caught flagrante delicto. It thus secures sympathy at once for the erring mother and becomes the leading motive of the play, and redeems Odette from the disgust with which she would otherwise be regarded. In acting " Odette " Madame Modjeska has a much harder task than in playing either "Camille" or "Frou-Frou." These clever dramas to a certain extent play themselves, as they have a simple story with strong dramatic situations. " Odette," on the other hand, is rather a psychological study and the various acts seem written to show the working of one redeeming instinct in a nature which is otherwise coarse, sensual and false. Sardou seems to have thought himself able to dispense with dramatic effect, and hence we find that except in the first act, the curtain falls not on situations but anti- climaxes. The third, and most powerful act in the play, has three or four different HELENA MODJESKA. 1 89 stories in it, and might suggest plots for half- a-dozen plays ; and the long and great scene between Odette and her husband after work- ing us into a fever of expectation, suddenly collapses, and the curtain falls on a bewil- dered audience. Though we think the pages of a novel better adapted for psychological studies than the stage of a theatre, there can be no deny- ing the remarkable interest the character of Odette provokes, as acted by Madame Mod- jeska. The fine delicacy with which, in the opening scene, the actress suggests the true character of Odette where the author has not aided her by a sentence or a word, is among the most artistic of Madame Modjeska's effects. When the discovery is made, and the guilty wife is confronted with her hus- band and her shame, the change from the agony of fear to the defiance of despair was given with a thrilling power which Modjeska has only surpassed in her last act of " Adri- I90 HELENA MODJESKA. enne Lecouvreur." The wild fury of her grief and passion when she finds that her child has been taken from her was wonder- fully real and touching, and had, as we have already indicated, the effect of transferring the sympathies of the audience at once from the betrayed husband to the guilty, shame- less, but not quite heartless woman. Throughout this play Madame Modjeska exercises all her native charms of grace, elo- cution and refinement, and in the parts call- ing for the exercise of something almost akin to tragedy she rose to a height of which we think no other English-speaking actress is capable. "Rosalind," " Viola," "Camille," "Frou-Frou" and " Odette" form a broad repertoire, and to all of them Madame Mod- jeska was able to give an artistic finish and a personal charm which made her appear- ances in them memorable and notable dram- atic events. Of the five creations " Camille " is undoubtedly her greatest, but "Odette" ex Helena modjeska. 191 hibits the actress in a new light, and gives us hope that we may yet see her in a play which will give scope to a great genius which is somewhat confined in its present limits. John C. Freund. Music and Drama. HODJESKA II LOIDOS. MODJESKA IN LONDON. SHALL be obliged to draw largely on my stock of adjectives in order to convey to you an idea of the brillian- cy of the audience which gathered on Satur- day to greet Madame Helena Modjeska's first night as " Marie Stuart." The scene of exterior London, with the fog, which Dante must have failed to make one of the attributes of his " Inferno," only because he was unfamiliar with it ; with the rain, whose swashing torrents cause one to fancy there must be a mistake somewhere, that man was destined to be amphibean and suffers because of this error in the manufac- ture of the human article; suddenly transla- I96 HELENA MODJESKA. ted to a region where fair, perfumed women, arrayed in beauty's brightest, sit in serried stalls awaiting the appearance of the star of the evening, the beautiful star! Here behind me is the handsome Lady Monckton, wife of Sir John, who is ' something in the city/ Perpetual Lord High, Chief Sheriff to a tran- sitory Lord Mayor or something. He was knighted when great Disraeli bade a farewell to all his greatness. Lady Monckton is a very handsome woman, and to-night wears a dress which well suits her beauty. It is an exact copy of that in which Mrs. Siddcns is painted in the fine portrait which is to be seen in the National Gallery, the only agree- able likeness of Mrs. Siddons extant, for surely that terrible, horrible 'Mrs. Siddons as the Tragic Muse ' ought to be suppressed as a breeder of nightmare. In the National Gallery portrait, Mrs. Siddons wears a very ladylike costume of blue and white narrow- striped silk, made to fit the figure closely, the bodice, open almost to the waist, folds of Helena modjeska. 197 tulle performing modesty's office ; sleeves to the elbows, tight, turned back with the mus- keteer revers. A fine effect of color harmony is produced by the bracelets worn by Lady Monckton, all of which on one arm are of sil- ver, and all on the other of gold. They are narrow bangles and very numerous. The porte-veine pig, which had such immense suc- cess on the Continent as a charm for bracelets and watch-chains has never been much fan- cied here. In Paris that pig has now gone to the slaughter-house where fashion kills his kind. The squirming lizard met a similar fate, the negro's head was decapitated, the tiger's tooth has been extracted. For a bracelet with charms, the now only really aristocratic one is that inaugurated last? week by the Princess de Sagan at her Chateau of Belbeuf, This is the petiche-bracelet ; a galley-slave's chain, in whose links are hung monkeys, ele- phants, cats, spiders, lambs, dogs, horses, donkeys, and an incidental Noah. It shall IQ§ HELENA MODJESKA. go hard, forsooth, if you do not find your fa- vorite creature in one of these. There yonder in the box sits the Duchess of — but halte-la ! If I go on enumerating one by one the beautiful women who were pre- sent, and how they looked, and what they wore, I shall leave myself no space for the real event of the evening — I mean Modjeskas success, not the presence of Mr. Gladstone and his handsome son Herbert. The pre- mier sat directly in front of me in the stalls. What an amazing man is this great minister, orator, author, statesman, and scholar ! He is seventy-four, is he not? A marvel! The stalwart frame is as erect as that of a strong man of thirty, the eye keen and bright ; the features no more worn than they probably were at fifty. The hair is very thin and scat- tered, to be sure, and during the whole even- ing I had so constant an opportunity to study the phrenological developments of the cra- nium of this great person, that I bitterly re- gretted my education in that line had been HELENA MODJESKA. 1 99 neglected. What signifies a little, button- like protuberance, about as big as a shilling, situated midway of the back head ? Is this a sign of greatness? If so, would one factiously raised, as, say by a boil, or a whack from some hard weapon, be of service ? Throughout the whole play Mr. Gladstone's attention was riveted upon the stage, and his valiant hands often led the applause. His son Herbert is a charming young man, with a thick mass of black wavy hair covering his shapely head. His nose is delicate Greek, a small feature, in great contrast to the Wel- lingtonian nasal organ of his father. Cer- tainly he must be set down as a ' real beauty/ this worthy young man, but his face does not show much sign as yet of force of character. He has the manner of devoutly reverencing his father, and to be animated by the admira- ble desire to be a good boy. The couple sit in the front row of stalls, and do not stir the whole evening. A good many opera glasses are levelled at them, but there is no other 200 HELENA MODJESKA. demonstration of interest in them on the part of the audience. London is conservative, as New York is democratic, and the people's William is not naturally such a favorite with the fashionable classes as Beaconsfield was. Ah, bon soir! that is Bronson Howard ; yon- der is George Augustus Sala; yonder Bouci- cault plus loin Palgrave Simpson, veteran critic and playwright and Secretary of the Dramatic Author's Society. In a box Mrs. Bancroft, with a great bunch of white lilacs, which she later throws at Modjeska's feet. Sir Charles Young chats with Lady Monck- ton i a the entr' acts ; they are members of an amateur dramatic club, and act quite well for non-professionals. But basta, basta / "The play's the thing !" What a beautiful picture is La Modjeska a? Mary, Queen of Scots ! No, no ; you should see it ; it is something quite indescri- bable. The sweet, pale face, with the soft eyes, where the sad soul speaks louder than any words ; the mobile mouth, the delicate HELENA MODJESKA. 201 profile, the frail form — all this encased and enframed in beautiful costumes of strictest ac- curacy ; the great ruff, the pointed coiffure, long, dark rich robes laden with fur, the large crucifix almost constantly held in the delicate right hand, the handkerchief cut in deep points and trimmed with golden tassels. Every inch a queen, by my faith ! nobility in suffering, royal grandeur in the face of death itself. And observe what self-command is shown by this exquisite artist in her firmness in resisting all acknowledgment of her amaz- ing ' reception/ At sight of her cheers rent^ the air, handkerchiefs were waved aloft, a storm of applause shook the welkin, and made it ring. Calm, resigned, a sad smile wreathing the fine lips, the tender eyes up- cast to heaven, so Modjeska stood until quiet reigned. "Such a sweet face," murmured Lady Monckton, behind me. The jolly Gladstones laid their heads together and whispered their opinions in front of me. Boucicault tells the critic of the ' Observer ' 202 HELENA MODJESKA. how successful the refined Polish actress was in America. Well chosen, the part of Mary Stuart for Motljeska in respect of accent. What harm that a French Queen should speak English with a foreign flavor? In the more exciting speeches, true, she was like Janauschek : occasionally indistinct, ran the words togeth- er ; but improvement in this will come. Fancy the excitement to her of such an un- derstanding before such an audience. The thrilling scene in Fotheringay Park between the two Queens was rewarded with renewed cheers — cheers, hearty, loud-voiced cheers mark you — cheers that, unlike the cup, almost inebriate, so exhilarating are they. Mod- jeska's frame quivered like a wind-shaken leaf during this delirious moment, when her artistic triumph was so superbly acknowl- edged by an audience of those people over whom the lovely Mary so ardently wished to reiom. But never once did she fall into the o stilted mannerisms of the old school of act- HELENA MODJESKA. 203 ing. She is of her epoch, Modjeska. She knows the key-note of the character of the English nation of to-day : Avoid the ap- pearance of energy ; energy is such deuced bad form. Have feelings, but avoid the energetic expression of them. Be intense, not demonstrative. Look daggers, but use none. Olive Logan. Philadelphia Times, Success on the Stage, HELENA MODJESKA. SUCCESS ON THE STAGE. [The following article, written by Madame Modjeska, appeared in the ' ' North American Review " for December, 1882, and gives fully her ideas upon the art of acting.] THINK that success, in the usual meaning of the word, ought not to be the chief ambition of the dramatic candidate. His aim should be higher; his great object should be to be true to his art, whether such fidelity be rewarded by appre- ciation from the public or not. " Fats ce que dots, advienne qtie pourra" must be his mot- to. Success is not always the best evidence of artistic merit. How many good actors have remained all their lives in obscurity, and, on the other hand, how many indifferent ones 208 HELENA MODJESKA. have obtained a certain kind of popularity. Above everything, an artist ought "never to sacrifice his own artistic convictions to the momentary tastes of the public ; such a sac- rifice, although followed by a short-lived suc- cess, will lower him as an artist, and kill in him whatever there may be of natural ability. The actor, like the poet or the painter, must be born with a certain amount of native talent, which, if neglected, may disappear, but, if cultivated thoroughly and rightly, will produce the desired results. I believe, how- ever, that a person who is deprived of these natural gifts, and who possesses an average amount of intelligence, can, by careful and judicious training, acquire a certain amount of technical knowledge, or what I would call the handicraft of the profession, so as to fill, respectably, minor parts on the stage, and not be out of place in what is called a good ensemble. But I cannot believe that a person not possessing those natural gifts has ever ac- HELENA MODJESKA. 209 quired by study the " creative power " which is the distinctive mark of a true artist. With the actor, creative power implies the faculty of building up a character true to nature, and of endowing it with life, so as to produce the illusion that his personation is not a fic- tion, but a reality. True, we have, in the annals of the stage, quite a number of instances of actors being unpromising at first and eventually becom- ing eminent. This does not prove that they did not possess the necessary talent, but simply shows that for some reason or other, they were not able to display their ability. Possibly nervousness, want of experience, or injudicious choice of parts deprived them for a time of their power ; while later on, ex- perience, good advice, or some fortunate cir- cumstance allowed them to bring to the sur- face what was concealed within. In a word, then, the first essential qualification for an actor consists in an inborn talent, the char- acter of which might possibly be described 14 2IO HELENA MODJESKA. as an imaginative and assimilative faculty, which allows him to merge his individuality into that of another. The next essential is the constant study and work required to cultivate and improve the natural gifts. I never have seen genius succeed without labor, and I suppose that it is the inseparable quality of genius that it will never neglect activity in the special branch of science or art toward which it is inclined. Was it not Goethe who said that genius was always accompanied by an extraordinary ability to work, and that its peculiar charac- ter partly consisted of an instinctive knowl- edge how to work. But the happy possessor of genius has, intuitively, a deeper insight into the mysteries of art, which enables him to learn quickly, and which shows him the most direct path to follow. Besides, study and observation being congenial to him, his task appears easy, and his efforts are not strained. But, nevertheless, true genius could not exist with laziness and inactivity. .HELENA MODJESKA. 2 I 1 I do not think that the feeling of a special aptitude for acting should be much relied upon. Genius is generally unconscious of itself. I have generally observed that the most eminent artists were often the most diffident and unassuming, and that they passed frequently through periods of great discouragement. There are moments in the life of an artist when he may feel like Michel Angelo, exclaiming before his statue of Moses, " Pore he non parlai?" But such moments are rare. How much more fre- quent are those when, feeling how far he is yet from the ideal that he tries to attain, he is tempted to throw away his brush, his chisel, or his stage-purple, and to give up the Herculean task ? The right frame of mind, I imagine, for one who enters upon a dramatic career, must not consist so much in a feeling of confidence in his own powers as in a sincere devotion to his art, a firm belief in its high mission, while in his heart must burn that sacred 212 HELENA MODJESKA. flame which gives him the courage and energy to overcome all obstacles and undergo all privations. It is what we Catholics call " vocation/' It would be a great mistake to choose the profession with the idea that money comes easier and work is less hard in this than, in any other. There is little hope for the advance- ment of such aspirants. There is no greater mistake than to sup- pose that mere professional training is the only necessary education. The general cul- tivation of the mind, the development of all the intellectual faculties, the knowledge how to think, are more essential to the actor than mere professional instruction. In no case should he neglect the other branches of art; all of them being so nearly akin, he cannot attain to a fine artistic taste, if he is entirely unacquainted with music, the plastic arts, and poetry. The best school of acting seems to me to be the stage itself — when one begins by HELENA MODJESKA. 213 playing small parts, and slowly, step by step, reaches the more important ones. There is a probability that if you play well a minor character, you will play greater ones well by and by ; while if you begin with the latter, you may prove deficient in them, and after- ward be both unwilling and unable to play small parts. It was my ill- fortune to be put, soon after my entrance on the stage, in the position of star in a travelling company. I think it was the greatest danger I encoun- tered in my career, and the consequence was that when I afterward entered a regular stock company, I had not only a great deal to learn, but much more to unlearn. The training by acting, in order to be useful, requires a certain combination of cir- cumstances. It is good in the stock com- panies of Europe, because with them the play -bill is constantly changed, and the young actor is required to appear in a great variety of characters during a short period. But it may prove the reverse of good in a 214 HELENA MODJESKA. theatre where the beginner may be compelled for a year or so to play one insignificant part. Such a course would be likely to kill in him all the love of his art, render him a mechanical automaton, and teach him but very little. Private instruction can be given either by professors of elocution or by experienced actors. I know nothing of the first, as there are no professors of elocution, to my knowl- edge, outside of America and of England, and I never knew one personally. But speaking of private lessons given by experi- enced actors, there are certainly a great many arguments and instances in favor of that mode of instruction. Of course, a great deal depends upon the choice of the teacher. But, supposing he is capable, he can devote more time to a private pupil than he can to one in a public school. Some of the greatest ac- tresses that, ever lived owed, in great part, their success to the instructions of an experi- enced actor, of less genius than themselves, HELENA MODJESKA. £t$ Take, for instance, Rachel and Samson. Strange to say, it happens often that very good actors make but poor professors, while the best private teacher I ever met was, like Michonnet, but an indifferent actor himself. The danger is that the pupil in this kind of instruction may become a mere imitator of his model. Imitation is the worst mode of learning, and the worst method in art, as it kills the individual creative power, and in most cases, the imitators only follow the peculiar failings of their model. There are many objections to dramatic schools, some of which are very forcible. There is in them, as in private teaching, the danger of imitation, and of getting into a purely mechanical habit, which produces con- ventional, artificial acting. Yet it is not to be denied that a great number of the best French and German actresses and actors have been pupils of dramatic schools, and that two of the schools — those of Paris and Vienna — have justly enjoyed a great cele- 2l6 HELENA MODJESKA. brity. Of the schools I have known person- ally I cannot speak very favorably. One point must be borne in mind ; a dramatic school ought to have an independent financial basis, and not rely for its support on the number of its pupils, because in such a case the managers might be induced to receive candidates not in the least qualified for the dramatic profession. Of the three elements that, in my opinion, go to make up a good dramatic artist, the first one, technique, must be acquired by professional training; the second and higher one, which is art itself, originates in a na- tural genius, but can and ought to be im- proved by the general cultivation of the mind. But there is yet something beyond these two : it is inspiration. This cannot be acquired or improved, but it can be lost by neglect. Inspiration, which Jefferson calls his demon, and which I would call my angel, does not depend upon us. Happy the moments when it responds to our appeal. HELENA M0DJESKA. 21 J It is only at such moments that an artist can feel satisfaction in his work — pride in his creation ; and this feeling is the only real and true success which ought to be the object of his ambition. Helena Modjeska. sic and Drama, Unhesitatingly pro noun cod by the entire press, the public, and the profession, to be the leading paper of its kind in the world. 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