Yl
(
(
v!
i
tA
u THI. OMAHA SUNDAY I'.l.K: M) i .M I il l.'t HMO. "' " ""' - ........ . .
! I " v j '
v i at the . J; : ! . '7 : . fmmrow JA i , y V I I
H - "r 1 I b--
HDri'IlMLWrnm QmEimVf ' JZy i" A AMERICAN ys B
' . , .V x.'- A HilKy J. ':
C0B3ETT
Marie
Doro Finds
New Girl Type
.A RIB DORO has shaken hands
with a Dew type of American
CiJ. Che has mad great friends
wttt Iter, has had an hospitable
clasJt of mind to mind with her,
ana how Miss Doro Is buyln
herself day and night making known her
new rlrl friend to ail her old gtrl friend
Wherever you see Marie Doro, In thai
theater or at home, you are most likely to
find her arm In arm with the neweet de
relopmcnt of the newest kind of an Ameri
can girl. Everybody's mind's eye oarries
a picture of Mlna Doro an armful of men
tal and spiritual animation, with eyes so
luminous and hungry that in looking at
their owner one does not see the rest of
the fre not even the perfectly chiseled
nose nor the finely turned oval contour
that ends In a sensitive artist's chin.
The American girl, that often sits beside
her the new type that is soon destined to
oommand all eyes In woman's horlion Is
not unlike Miss Doro nor yet altogether
like her. Khe only resembles Miss Doro to
the extent that there is always some of
ourselves In everybody whom we discover.
Like the surprisingly sensible little philoso
pher that she Is, MIrs Dorcas happiness on
discovering a nnw specimen of feminine
Juvenility, right here in America, la far
greater than any Joy that she could feel
from the achievement of any stage triumph
for heranlf, however great.
As she delightfully prrsent her new
friend her whom all keen-minded Amerl
ran will soon recognise as the ultimate de
Telopment of their finer selves she ao-
eonipanlea the introduction with the majr-
nanlmous comment that It is a thousand
times better to find out another example
Of girl genius than to become one your
self "because, don't you sre, you can be
come only one at best, but you may bring
others to light In numbers."
AH the while Mine Doro's friend stands by
as the third member of the introduction
not as yet talking, not even visible Id
form, but distinctly present, thanks to Miss
Doro's vivid dlaorlption of her.
"I call her the super-girl. She is to the
average American girl what Nletsche's
super-man is to the ordinary man. Her
path through life Is straight through the
road of fullest exprt-sdon that leads to the
palace of wisdom.
'8he gayly gives full bent to every
square Inch of her brain, realising that
youth Is the period of formation. She re
fuses to become roov, set or rigidly
conventional knowing that blind adher
ence to convention ends either In one
sided development or in utter stagnation.
Ehe has a face stamped with the hsppl-bi-ss
of a ctild. she has the sptightllness
of a beam f Hunt, the conversational
brilliancy of cosmopolite, but she Is as
inconsistent as life lixelf. She is silly; she
is srious; now she talks cheerfully, now
gloomily; sh exprri as many sides of
her nature aa there are sides to life. The
only thing that shu never Is is dull. Phe
never trias to be consintent because she
knows that only the dead are consistent."
'Van you name any living example of
the super-gtrl?" asked the Interviewer.
"Tes, Emelius Talmbly or rather. Eme
tine Twlmbly Is her forerunner. I know
many Etuellne Taimblys right here In
New York. They are not necessarily the
girls who have been abroad, but they
possess a breadth, a range of expression;
they articulate themselves with a fulneai
freedom and variety that may come of
much travel, rubbing elbows with many
strauge people In short, multiplying one's
tliest suwuuut with life."
m
- -
O t$S I - IthMi plavg. rathpr thi,n grindlnir away I r --J 1
XS .V&y i : ' I at the Latin and Greek and higher I IF 1
'Bail
"That's a good phrase. Miss Doro. Does
that epitomize your Idea 'of the , Amer
ican auper-glrir' v
"No, it doesn't, but thank Vou Just the
same," was the answer. "It Is--eUran
approach to what I mean. Because, you1
see, the-, super-girl In her fullest develop
ment Is only approaching our American
life. She Is biasing out a path for herself,
but she Is not yet Quite acclaimed by her
sisters any mora than was Nletsche's
super-man grasped by the world until
Bernard Shaw appropriated the Idea,
breathed the breath of life Into a super
man Instead of talking about super-men,
put the character on the stage, and at once
we all loved him."
"Then you think that we must look to
the. Btage for the revelation of the super
girl r
"Not for the revelation, but for the rep
resentation of her.. Social conditions will
produce her and the stage will reproduce
her. You Just wait a bit. Some play
wright will build upon Mr. Gillette's 'Elec
tricity' und every' tongue in the land will
be discussing the super-girl as once we
were all taking of the super-man."
"But I don't quite see yet how she will
differ from any other bright, adventure
some American girl," Interjected the inter
viewer, feeling himself ever so stupid,
but with his curiosity quickened.
But how could you after any amount of
explaining 7" said Miss Doro sympatheti
cally, leaning very far forward from the
eilge of her dressing room chair. "X don't
expect you to; when she oomes you will
know her; you won't need explanations.
You will say to yourself In chorus with
everybody else 'Iter la something new
under the sun.' But not until then. Do
you suppose any amount of explaining or
illustration would have pictured the modern
oollege bred, out-of-door loving American
girl to the white capped, primly dressed
thee-lng and thou-lng Puritan lassies of
early New England days? No; the wheel
of humanity turns, and, although the pot
lor always uses pretty much the wing
clay, the Images he makes change with
the changing years.
"Styles Chang as frequently In individual
types as in the dresses of individuals. Our
avetage American man today Is of a to
tally different caliber from the average
American of, say, the civil war period. You
can see It in a single glance at old war
time photographa. Take an American to
day and an American of thirty years ago;
both are Americans; .but what was A mart
can then la not American today, by the
sams evolution the typical American girl
today will not be at all the typical Ameri
can girl of five years from now. ' She will
not be so conscious of her sex or of her
self; she will not feel herself Incessantly
reminded that aha is 'Just a woman;' she
will find herself greatly emancipated not
by the exercise of the vote, but by the X'
reise or tier iuueei responsibilities as men
do and carry them through. But above
all she will be thoroughly feminine but
she U1 have a fuller, mora rounded life
than the girl of today, because ahe will
have a greater seat for life. Expression
of her best self will b sver watchwords
- s v- 'A F.VanS . mathematics 'to which William and ll JT ' . I
ma - 1
In a word, she won't be afraid to make a
fool out of herself If by dolns so she
can grow Into a-finer understanding of
life, about her."
. "Ho that Is the super-girl. Miss Doro?"
''No, that Is only a rough sketch a
draughtsman's first plan of her. You will
ayree with me that the average American
girl of today is a much more compre
hending creature, a much more finely de
veloped specimen of her race than her an
cestress of generations gone by? Well,"
she went on In answer to the Interviewer's
assenting nod, "the American super-girl
will Infinitely surpass our best types of
today. What will seem her Inconsistency
will really be her greatest wisdom; for It
will prove hex multiplied interests in life;
her flexibility of viewpoint and above all
her open mlndedness. All these new quali
ties she will get at the cost, I believe, of
not one title of genuine femininity on the
contrary, she will gain In femininity be
cause she will gain In understanding."
When you talk with Marie Doro you
listen, of course, but you watch, too. For
most of the Ideas seem to be conveyed
through her hands, arms and eyes. As
the talks she rounds out every idea, or
rather, illustrates it with a gesture that
has the graphic quality of a pen and Ink
sketch. Some day Miss Doro will prove
herself an extraordinary pantomlinlst.
Hvery Idea is so aptly punctuated by ges
tures many of them of almost uncanny
flexibility that her well turned arms seem
almost without bones, so capable are they
of taking any position. h has the long,
ductile finders of a pianist always in prac
tice. And by the swift, appropriate play
of these, as well as her eyes and her hands,
her conversation, however lengthy, never
runs together, but Is neatly subdivided
Into paragraphs and little chapters. She
takes breath between these divisions, en
folding the listener In a pair of eyes that
swiftly guess whether the spoken ideas
have convinced and never miss their guess.
If the thought Is not seen to be driven
straight home tbe little actress again
quickly attacks the subject and the lis
tener until there Is n getting away from
her argument.
"Th:a American super-girl Is too subtle
a type," Miss Doro axpla'ns further, "to
make herself understood until she comes
in person among us to make herself felt.
It is no arbitrary idea of a new woman,
but the recognition of a rapidly develop
ing type of superior womaa a quick
wtrted. lively natured, original thinking,
thoroughly natural type of a girl who will
be the fullest and finest development of
all that is finest la our present day Amer
ican girl. And some day, mark me," she
concluded with an emphaUc forward
plunge of her head, "you will see an Amer
ican audience s.ttlng In delight before a
stage conception of the American super
girl; and when you sea that you will see
the first specimen we have had of the
American super-comedy -drama. And now
I rouut leave you. That Is 'overture' they
are calling."
ROBERT Oil. BERT WELSH.
New Turk, November a.
Evans
Tells His
Stage Story
PITTSBTJRf traveling man was
A
signing his name on the register
of the little hotel in Madison
Court house, Orange county,
Virginia.
"Any show here tonight?" he
inquired of the clerk.
"I don't know that you'd rightly call It a
show," replied the hotel man. "There's
two young fellows, who allow they're col
lege students, who've got the proprietor to
let 'em have the parlors and give what they
call Shakespearean readings. I'll bet it's
bum enough."
Falling to find other employment the
commercial traveler half unwillingly Joined
that evening a company of twenty" or
twenty-one people who assembled In the
"parlors" of the hotel. Afterwards he de
scribed the evening as follows:
"The firtt part wan't so bad. A young
fellow came on and did a Dutch monologue
that was a scream, but the second guy
was a citron sure. What do you think he
gave us? A line of Lingo from Hamlet or
eome other of those sad shows, and then
he did another Una of talk Just as bad and
Just as sad about 'mercy.'
"They had a dog with them that did
some tricks and this was fair, too, but
that second fellow! Every time I see the
name of Shakespeare in print It makes me
think of him. And, ray! you ought to
have seen the two of them next morning.
Hauled back to school by a deputy sheriff
In a wagon. They had run away and the
school people got wind of where they were
and wired to have 'em arrested."
This narrative Is a truthful account of
the Initial dramatic esiay of Edwin Evans
of the Eva Lang company at the Boyd. He
was the second man of the troup which
consisted of the other student, the dog and
Mr. Evans. It played an engagement of
three nights at three different hotels and
like Mr. Jeffries It never came back. Mr.
livens Is the sole survivor. His companion
waa drowned some years later and the dog
died of disgust.
Returning to school In this herolo fashion,
Evans stayed a student a courtesy title,
he aays for no.e months. Then he left
for Washington and "went Into the busi
ness regular," as the same traveling man
would have said." In Washington ha fecured
a place In the Berger Stock crtmpany of
w hich Percy Harwell and Eugene Ormonde
were the bright particular luminaries.
Next came an engagement with a reper
tory conpany which met the usual end.
Then Evans secured a place In the George
Fawcett Stock company In Baltimore, and
her his real theatrical career began. He
worked up to playing leading Juveniles and
parts Ilka Cafgto in "Othello" snd that gay
Mercutio hoie line he quote.
An interlude followed. It might be called
a scholastic Intermission, for Mr. Evans
now went for two .aid a half years to
William and Mary college at Williamsburg
In this, the second oldest college In the
LVnlted lates, he followed the Roger Bacon
tradition rather than the Jefferson-Msdlson
hard study example. It was two and one-
half years of foot ball playing, and manag
ing college dramatlos aud playing' pstrts in
these plays, rather than grinding away
at the Latin and Greek and higher
mathematics to which William and
Mary reverently and tenaciously clings.
One day during a lull In athletics and
when no play wae In prospect It all
rather bored him, his nostrils became
hungry for the smell of grease paint
and his soul hungered for the balm of
applause. So Mr. Evans once mora shook
the campus for the stage. He reached Bal
timore unheralded and arriving at the
Fawcett company theater, walked In and
announced, "I've come for a Job."
Two years" more here and then a try at
New York. Mr. Evans was fortunate
enough to get a start with Harrison Flska
and his first New York part was In Bertha
Kallch's ' production of "Fedora." When
this ended he fpent a few weeks with
Jacob Adler and then was with the Man
hattan company when Mrs. Flake and her
husband staged "Salvation Nell." In thla
Mr. Evans played the ambulance interne
and understudied the man who played the
high bred lover, not. of course, the role of
Jim in which Holbrook Bllnn shone.
The other day In Mr. Evans' dressing
room two other men were talking of Mrs.
Ftske and one of thewv-an objectionable
person had to murmur something about
Mrs. Flake's "distinct enunciation."
Mr. Evans Interrupted.
"Once," said he, "Mrs. Flske said to
me, " "you did that very nicely.' Now I
Understood that perfectly. I hold her
enunciation quite clear and distinct."
Mr. Evans did not stay with the Man
hattan company after It left New York that
year, and he was not In the cast when
"Salvation Ne' was given at the Bur
wood . season before . last. After this Mr.
Evans played about two years with the
J. B. II well stock company at Columbus,
and might have been there now If Howell
had not given up stock production. Last
summer ha took a dash Into musical comedy
snd played at Dayton and Springfield, O.,
In the Rod Musical Comedy company, a
summer stock affair.
Coming to Omaha, his first assignment
was a stiff one. He had to negotiate
Ernest, the book worm lover In "Love
Watches." It Is a Sol Smith Russell sort
of part and not at all like that fur which
a leading Juvenile la usually called upon.
Since then he has. had a variety .of roles.
mostly more In his line and he has rung
the bell at every shot, as he did, for that
matter in the. "Love Watches" part
Mr. Evans Is the son of a clergyman of
the Episcopal church and la a native of
Virginia, where his ancestors used to flirt
wltn Focohontaa. His father would have
rather seen him In holy orders than on the
stage, but has quite reconciled himself to
the departure from orthodox F. F. V. be
havior. Like many other " actors, most of them
perhaps, Mr. Evans has been occasionally
bumped by the bumps in the road. But
generally he has found a softer bed than
that of the first night when he and the
other fellow ran anay from school. This
first night they spent on the roadside, with
their heads under a fence.
"This barb wire pillow Is the limit,"
murmured the companion.
"Oh, say not so." urged Evans. " 'Tls a
lovely hawthorn hedge, methlnks."
Even the dog barked at this. This dog
has since been replaced. "The new one Is a
lineal descendant cf the wolf-dog which
nursed Romulus and Remus," says his
master. "If you don't believe It, come see
hi in eat spaghetti."
yYARJm) AZ
Comes
Pavlova,
Queen of Dance
AVLOVA of tha Twinkling Toes.
Pavlova, Queen of the Dance, Is
coming to Omaha. She and
Michael Mordkine. will dance
together on the Brandels stage
the evening of December S.
P
Omaha has the imperial Russian dancers
but on evening, and may consider Itself
lucky and fortunate to get them that.
Those of us who keep somewhat Informed
about matters dramatic musical and
terpslchorean outside of this city, have
known that last March In the Metropolitan
opera house. New York, appeared two
young Russians, who created such a furore
as New York hsd not known In a long,
long time. A season of financial failures at
the opera was turned Into a golden suc
cess, although Anna Pavlova rece ved 11.00)
tor each night when she hovered like a fay
acroes the Metropolitan stage.
Since then other entertainment providers
have been scouring Russia to Bee if any
other Russian dancers, even remotely ap
proaching her and Nordklne, could be
found. Recently Pavlova appeared In Chi
cago, and not all the rhapsodic utterance
wbioH thure greets and appreciates Sarah
rim lUiUCr,
Bernhardt, surpasses the fervid rhetorlo la
which pean on pean of praise was sung for
Pavlova.
Merely to read of her dancing, together
with Mordkine' m, Is to tempt on Into ver
bal excess. To see her must be adjective-
exhausting. Read a paragraph or two
from one of the mora conservative writer
about her dancing:
"Pavlova, greatest artist f them all,
fairly talks pantomimlcally. There are
tongues In ber toes. In her legs. In her
feet. The ends of those artistically turned
fingers flash messages; though she be vo
cally silent, her whole being speaka. At
times when she Is at he climaxes of her
dazzling dances, she appears a sort of
ethereal body, half released from the
earth."
Again: "Pirouetting,, coquettinjr. swot
Ing end bending, leaping to the call of the
music's rhythm; now floating about, Li V.
a tiny piece of thistledown blown hither
and thither by the breath of the wood
winds, then contrariwise, with varying;
quality of mood, suddenly bounding
through space ns does the athlete; with
toes a-twlnkle and skirts swirling In the
flaHh of shadowy legs, she comes a mar
velous artist, a Russian creature who soar
Pavlova, Queen of the Dance."
The same writer, Pierre Van Rensslsar
Keyr, In the Coxmopolltan, thus describe
ber dancing with Mordkine:
"Supreme though she Is In her solos. It
Is with Mordk.ne, premier of the Imperial
Opera at Moscow, that Pavlova has gained
Immeasurable triumphs.