Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 28, 1913)
The Omaha Sunday Bee PAET SIX PART SIX AUTOMOBILES PAGES ONE TO TWELVE AUTOMOBILES PAGES ONE TO TWELVE VOL. XLHI NO. 15. ffl Mr. Howard Gould, the Million aire Who Bought the Play. aire Win der Who ALI the world knowB that In fact or in Ac tion thero la rarely auch a conflict be tweon the sentiments of ambition, grati tude and love as la forced upon the beautiful young woman who Buddenly achieves distin guished success upon the stage. It Is n favorlto theme of novelists; the real Ufa of tho world'a great theatrical centres 4s constantly developing it. Just now New York .City furnishes a striking Illustration, which may fie outlined thus: The beautiful young actress who has leaped Into fame because a successful ycung dramatist believed In her Is urged by a multi-millionaire to bring her career Into the safe harbor of his name and millions. "But my author , has made-lHie'.Bhe. objects. "I am tho character his genius '.created for mo. How can I forsake it;ahd:hlm? Where would bo my 'gratitude ?" ' t - '' "Tush I You have flllJd,your author's pocket, your debt of gratltudo Is fully paid." "I would have- to leave the play which was written for;mo, which, ilia 'me like a glove, which has wrought the, satisfaction of my ambl(ion." "Can one plai)..onforeXejcli-deniandsthe multl-mllllonalre. "Aren't thero other authors with other plays T Behind the bulwark my fortuno you are safe." "No," says the beautiful, young actress, "I can't step out of the play that has made me, with which tho public still Identifies a rising star who, a year ago, was unheard of impossible." "yery well," says tho multl-mllllonalre, T11 buy the play with you In it" And that Is Just what this multl-mllllonalre does takes over the whole production, scenery; costumes, star and company; himself the real purchaser behind the figurehead of another theatrical potentate. Thus are rudely broken off the Intimate pro fessional relations between the young actress and the author who "discovered and made her." The sentiment of gratitude Is Jarred, romance re ceives a shock and a multitude of thoatre-goers are set to wondering whether there Is really a love story, and. It so, which hero has tho better chances. While they aro asking this question they are learning how mysterious, aro some women. Is J)oris Keane, who rose to fame and became the fashion in "Romance," old-fashioned and roman tic? Or is she modern and calculating? Will her head or her heart rule in the present most Important crisis cf her life? Beautiful, gifted, of infinite charm, "a woman lrreslstiblo as the prima donna Cavallina, tho character sho portrays in the drama "Itomanco," was irresistible, Miss Keane is refuting the chargo that there Is no romanco In 1913. Never was woman at so Borlous a parting of tho ways as the star of that play. Never was woman con fronted by such a dilemma of the emotlona. Never has she had to consider so many phases of a situation, nor have advantages been so evenly balanced. A year ago Doris Keane was looking for work as any working woman seeks it, by way of agents and managers' offices, through friends who knew managers who had plana. But she was unsuc cessful In the search and behind her lay two years of Idleness, of talents corroding through lack of exercise. Sho took Inventory of her self. She was young, Icsb than thirty. She was beautiful. Her worst enemy could not deny that She had talent Sho knew that, although some of the managers did not recognize it. She had played a love-lorn English maiden In "Tho Hypocrites," and been an Indifferent success. In "The Dec orating of Clementine" she had played a different part that of a coquettlan Frenca bride. It seemed that she bad succeeded but straightway the purblind, short-memoried managers had for gotten. She was poor and burning with ambi tion. Consider the youth. He was twenty-three when she met him and had been but a year out of Harvard. Yet at twenty-two he had written "Salvation Nell" and "The Nigger." and JuBt then he was writing "The Boss." He was very handaomo, very earnest, and he had admired her. A week after his first mooting with her It was pleasantly whispered about that Edward Sheldon, whom Mrs. Flske had characterized as "That wonderful pink-faced boy," had fallen in love with Doris Keane. Consider tho man. Howard Oould waa a multl-mllllonalre, a man of the world, an ad mirer of beautiful women and a patron of dra matic art Like his brothers be admired actresses. Llko George and Frank Gould, he had married an actress. That Katherine Clommons bad divorced him was a mere Incident as tho lives of men go. Beautiful Kathryn Hutchinson pad been often seen In bis company. It was rumored that she might become Mrs. Gould, and then enter Doris Keane. Edward Sheldon, with youth, as he haa said In "Romance," lying "like a wreath upon Ms hair," Instantly admired Miss Keane. He in stantly recognized her talent Recognition Is passing sweet to one who has beon but coolly and faintly recognized. He talked of a play for her, a play which should fit her personality. She thrilled at his words. "Was It possible that fame lay not without her grasp?" Would this OMAHA, Jfoge Beauty Return in Grate' ful Love to the Young Dramatist Who "Made" Her; or Does the MultUMillion "Bought the Play pink-faced boy push open tho door that had been locked to her, the door of opportunity? "Your personality Is vivid, like a tropical flower. The character ycu play must be Intense, changeful, of tropical Intensity and beauty, and with the lightning flashes of a tropic sky," ho had said and sho had looked at him with hope In her eyes. Ho wrote "Romance," the story In action, of an Italian Opera slngor, a story Inspired In largo part by tho dramatlo life of Llna Cavallierl. Ho carried It to the managers. Ho talked with them about It All saw In It possibilities of success. But when ho added something they shook their beads. "I have chosen my Cavallina. No one may play tho part but Doris Koano," "Choose a bet ter known actress," said they. "One with a Broadway reputation." "But she will gain a Broadway reputation in a night In this part" From manager to manager he went Always he was dismissed with the ominous head shako until he reached the office of Shubert Brothers. They acceptod'.porU Keano with :n-?Jva I' Aao youn authofs prediction was fulfilled. Cavalina becamo tho topic of New York. Doris Keane. became tho toast of uiuaunu,' rum avenue, of ana a uguro in tne nest drawing rooms. The modest young author, boyishly dif fident, was yet radiantly trl-1 umphant the night of his .play's premiere in New York. More than'half of his Joy was at the success of Doris Keane. He stood In the wings and looked, with "his heart in his eyes," at tho actress, as, Bitting at the piano, very Quaint and very lovely In her costume of sixty years ago, she listened to the load ing man's love-making. "I never knew what love is until now," said William Courtenay, his eyes on her ,1j.y,ely .laco- Sho Plays little, Idly, as she watchoa him, according to the play. He turns and leans on the piano that he might see that face more closely in the fire light "An vhat Is loovo to roe V she asks. He leans toward her and speaks eagerly: "It's finding tho woman you want to llvo with all your life tho woman who'll you the right way and follow it with you. Its knowing she'll be with Photo . av . AIMt' Pupoht The Former Mrs. Howard Gould, Who Was Catherine Clemmonj, an Actreu nnd Stauteique Stage Beauty. SUNDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER Mrv BdTTBTd Shel don, th No U til lonalra Who Wrote with Her in It?" The Real Romance of "Romance" C-i.'i..lf. '. vt.' til;-.'!.!;-; ..r.v. . ihb.: .Aawjnnu. ymmWM'' SHslssssHK-sssBHlsssm you at your Journey's end when you're old and she's old and when you can smllo and look into each other's eyes and say: 'Wo'vo done our work together, dear and I think we'vo done It well." This speech always brought handclapplng from the audience. It brought handkerchiefs to wipe away furtive tears. Well was It understood be hind the scenes that by this speech, though epoken by another, Edward Sheldon was wooing the stage Idol whom ho had created, the Cinder ella he had taken from hor ashes with a princely gallantry. Ho was making love by proxy. But to those bohlnd the scones there was Bomothlng foreboding, a shadow upon tho young dramatist's love, In tho prima donna's reply, which he had written for her. Copyright H13. br th Star Comoany. Great Britain IujMa Rm 28, 191!?. II illl T i jnUTOFKSKVBKW- . m v1 Mr. Sheldon Wooing Miss Keane by Proxy in "Romance." "We'vo done our work together, dear, and I think we've done It well." "O, my frlen' dat lo-ove It Is for some but sot for tne. For-r me lovo Is Just a lcetlo light in all dlB darknosR a leetel light In all dls col' a leetle flarao dat burn not long and den go out A star dat oome an' is so boo-eautlful It broeng tears, an' vhen ve dry de eyes an' look again de star (s gono. "I tlnk It Is to be a leedlo 'appler togedder den veu ve aro apart, von leotlo moment to forgot, my frlen' and dat 1b all." Tho play was chief of the season's successes. It ran for nearly a year in New York. Camo tho Summer's rest and tho swift, subtle changes wrought In the stifling weather In tho managers' offices, whore hope 1h stifled In many a breast whero beat high hopes. "Romanco" waB sold. The Shubert Brothers had derived the profits of Its long metropolitan run. Tho dim vague land, "Tho Road," Is al ways a boglo looming uncertainly on the man ager's horizon. Often tho Road la a heretic, flinging baok harshly n metropolitan succoss, curling the lip of scorn at the New York taste. The Shuberts sold "Romanco" to Charles Dllllng ham of tho rival theatrical camp. There enters erred. BE 5 A 4. SINGLE COPY MVE CENTS. TO -.sTUMMi. If P1 f t - - a.;: ii J t-rS. ".gf a P(oto B 6A00MV Miai Doris Keane, the Charming Yai Star, Suspended Between Grat itude and Ambition ta. man. "It ia understood," an organ of ta theatrical profession saya, "that Howard Gould Is behind hla purchase" The Gould "interest" are ropreBented lc tho smart little Globs Theatri of which Mr. Dillingham la manager. Entor the multl-mllllonalre. Is that the end for the playwright to exit? All Broadway won ders. While Mlia Keane waa in England last Sum mor, Howard Gould paid her ao many attentions that stage and society were both guessing th outcome. "Will he marry an actress?" "Ho married ono and wasn't he engaged U another, Kathryn Hutchinson, of course?" "Will Doris Keane give up the stage? She la tho most ambitious of actresses? Would she push the honey of success from her Hps after oat alp?" All these conjectures and then someone, this one of the stage, remembered the "pink-faced wonderful boy" of Mrs. Flake's characterization It was on tho lawn under the fine old apple tres where the Favershams serve tea at their place, the Old Manor, at Chiddlngfold, Surrey. The boy had often drunk tea with them there and the applo blossoms recalled his youth, hla fresh, ness and the springlike romanco of him. "What about Sheldon?" asked one who ret merabered. "More tea? Who knowa?" "He'll get his royalties Just the same. No one can take them from him," said another one who had lived long and grown unromantlc. "But Sheldon made her." "He did give her her chance In New York but Gould will gtvo her her chance on the Road, Tho world 1b only half conquered If you're un known on the Road." "But a play cannot last always none but RIp Van Winkle' and the 'Old Homestead.' Sheldon might write her another play." "But one Buccess does not mean another. The hardest thing for an author to do is to live up to his own reputation. The next might bo a cropper," "And, as Maxlno Elliott Is fond of saying, ' there is no condition In life which money doel not ameliorate.' Well, we shall see." And bo wo shall, at MIsb Keane's will. Or when she knows her will. With lovely Sphinx llko face sho stands as Laura Jean Llbbey would Bay, "Botween Two Loves." Boy playwright or mlddlo-agcd multl-mllllonalre. Gratltudo to the youth who mado success possible for her or am bition still further to be fulfilled my the man who is willing to play tho "angel" for a theatri cal company that la setting out at this time to conquer the frozen north, whence Harry Thaw has boon ejected In tears. Wbllo the company travols from city to city In that wasto of eternal nnows. the star has time to reflect. For whom will she shine for life? On boy dramatist or man of millions? That 1b the riddle of the Rial to.