New Britain Herald Newspaper, June 20, 1927, Page 14

. : i Charming Ariane Rouvier, who has been the subject of such a spirited controversy between her mother and stepmother, Lina Cavalieri By MARCELINE ROUVIER, Prima Ballerina at the Paris Opera PARIS. OW that the French courts have N given me back my child and 1 have prevented her father, the operatic singer Lucien Muratore, from marrying her to the son of his present wife, the noted Metropolitan star, Lina Cavalieri, 1 am at last able to publish the whole truth about this “Rouvier- Muratore-Cavalieri mystery” which is agitating the Paris world of the theater as nothing has in many years. It may sound like a melodramatic movie tale, but I will tell it frankly as I told it to the judge, and without blushing. I am just a plain ballet dancer, you see, and some people may think this is merely another case where a girl from the ballet did not watch her step—and slipped. » Many may think,I should have com- pelled Muratore to marry me and give our child a name. Others may say I was selfish in wanting my daughter to share my modest existence rather than let her live a life of luxury and gayety in the mansion of the wealthy diva who is now her father’s legitimafe wife. But will anyone censure me, I wonder, when “the whole truth is known? I know a ballet girl should have no heart. She should be all legs, stiff toes and no brains. Her smile should be the kind that never comes off, no matter what is going on inside of her. If she loves a man and lives with him | a full dozen years without the sanction of the law, she should be glad, I sup- pose, if there is a baby, to have some one come alonig and take care of it. But could I go on dancing and smiling, I ask you, with the torturing thought in my heart that the wealthy woman who took my man from me now wanted to take away my little girl, too, and marry her to her own son? The life of a ballet dancer is a droll mixture of joys and sorrows. 1 had plenty of both, as you will realize when you read my story as I told it to the Pro- cureur of the French Republic. I left nothing untold. In order to get my girl back I had to prefer charges of abduction. She will be back with me in a few days and I could force her to re- main under my roof until she is twenty- one; but she is past eighteen now and able to think for herself. So I will gimply ask her: “Ariane, do you want to go to your father or stay with me?” I will look into her beautiful eyes and try to put all my heart into mine so that she can see all the misery and the aching of it. And if she says the terrible words that I dread, 1 will hide my sorrow and simply reveal to her that she cannot, under the law, be Ariane Muratore and a stepdaughter of Lina Cavalieri, opera singer, but that she is and must remain, no matter where she lives, the daughter of Marceline Rouvier, prima ballerina. Let me tell you my story from the be- Ariane when she was a very small girl and her mother N ginning. I was seven years old when 1 became a pupil of the Opera Ballet. I rose to stardom in due course of time, and when I was twenty I met Lucien Muratore, tenor at the Opera Comique, and fell passionately in love with him. He was then married to Madame Be- riza, also of the Opera Comique, but they were very unhappy together and had decided to divorce. That was ‘in 1905. About two years later, in Janu- ary, 1908, my little girl, Ariané, was born. This was exactly ten months be- fore the Muratore-Beriza divorce finally was granted by the French courts, Lucien and I had been ideal lovers and immediately he was set free we started our happy little menage together at 8 rue Anatole de la Forge. As the months and years passed we were known omly as Monsieur and Madame Muratore. Lucien was the happiest father and best husband imaginable. 1 say “hus- band,” because we both expected to have our\union legalized as soon as Lucien Muratore was firmly established as a grand opera singer with an interna- tional reputation. Social conventions do not count for much in the lives of sing- ers and dancers, you see. Then, one day, the beautiful Italian prima donna, Lina Cavalieri, came to our cozy little flat and stayed for dinner. She had great jewels which she had brought from Russia where the wealthy Prince Dolgourouki had be¢n among her admirers, and her stories of travels and successes were most fascinating. At that time Lina lived in a magnifi- ceént chatean at Vallan Goujard, near Paris, which also was a gift from Prince Delgourouki. She invited us to come and live with her a month, and when Lucien insisted that it would be an af- front to refuse, we went there with our baby, the servants, baggage and all. It was only a short trip from Paris and we could motor to our work in an hour. End of the Desperate Struggle Between Lucien Muratore’s Present Wife and His Former Sweet- heart for the Possession of His Unusually ~Lovely Daughter The chateas was very beauti- -ful, but soon I noticed that Lu- cien and Lina " Cavalieri loved one another. They did not make a se- cret of it, and I went back to my mother, crushed and unable to fight for my rights, which were only those of a mother and sweetheart. Lucien Mura- tore frankly said he was through with me. I was miserable beyond expression, but my baby and my work in the opera ballet saved me when I thought of sui- cide. One night I danced my solo num- ber in the Faust ballet. Lucien sang Faust and Lina Cavalieri occupied my personal seat in the orchestra stalls. All through my dance, with the forty corgphees around me, the hot tears were streaming down my face, but I smiled right through, smiled as if this were the happiest: day of my life, smiled even when I curtsied before the great Faust, whose eyes watched me indifferently. Such is the lot of the dancer. Upon the outbreak of the war it be- came necessary for Muratore to join his regiment at Marseilles, his home city. Thence he was moved to Saint Dier, near the front, which was unfortunate for him, in view of the fact that he had just been signed with Lina Cavalieri for a tour in America. He did not remain long with the colors, however, for the business of war did not agree with his voice. Something went wrong with his vocal chords and he came back to Paris. It developed that Lina Cavalieri had obtained for him the permission to go and sing in New York, Boston, Philadel- phia and other American cities. The papers said he could win more hearts in America by singing the Marseillaise than by fighting in the trenches of the Somme. This was quite true. When he reached New York, his voice was better than ever and his successes were reported in all the Paris papers. 1 forgot to say that Muratore and CavalierfPwere duly married before they Marceline Rouvier as she appears as prima bal- lerina at the left Paris. . At that time Muratore legally recognized Cavalieri’s son, Alex- ander Cavalieri, as his own. Alexander is now thirty-five years old and an officer in the Italian flying corps. It is to him they want to marry my Aiiane, Muratore’s real daughter, who was six years old when he and Cavalieri went to America. All through the war Muratore never communicated with his little daughter. * When Muratore and Cavalieri re- turned to Paris after the war I brought suit for the support of my child, and re- ceived a decree granting me 300 francs (about $26) a month. This sum was paid me regularly and was raised by Muratore himself to 500 monthly when I allowed him to take Ariane out three times a week. . This went on until 1924, when Mura- tore suddenly decided to legally recog- nize his daughter. More and more my little , girl, who was then sixteen and doing well in her music and studies, came under the influence of the Mura. tore charm. No woman could ever resist him, In self-defense I obtained the annul- ment of his legal recognition. I wanted my girl to remain my girl. I refused to be considered as nothing better than the child’s wet nurse, and when I read in the social columns cf the papers that “Mademoiselle Muratore” was being en- tertained by wealthy American friends of hér father, I decided that Made. moiselle Muratore, for whom 1 had slaved and suf- fered, should remain Made- moiselle Rou- vierand MINE. But even then I made the mistake of my life. When Ariane begged me to let her travel with Cavalieri to Italy I consented, hoping tuat my girl’s heart would never give me up. Ireceived no word from her in nine- teen days and the few letters she wrote later were cold and distant in tone. When she returned to me Ariane was a changed girl. She thought of nothing but amusement. Her music and paint- ing were forgotten. She was completely under the spell of the wealth of Lina Cavalieri and the charm of her father. Still I held onto her. The life she was leading in the company of her step- mother had completely transformed her from a home-loving girl who enjoyed her studies into a night-moth who could not resist the fascination of jazz palaces and the champagne dens of Montmartre. I wanted Ariane to make use of her wonderful talents and become an artist well able to support herself, but the at- traction of pleasure was too much for her. Last June she slept for the last time in my house. Her father’s persuasive charm and the constant display of the Cavalieri jewels weaned Ariane from her mother’s love and lured her to Italy. Ah, how 1 remembered the impassion- ate appeal in Muratore’s eyes when he first won my heart, and how I now realized the power he could wield over the heart of my child. She went with Cavalieri to Rome, and Muratore nofified me in a casual way that he had decided to marry Ariane to Captain Alexander Cavalieri Muratore of the Italian Flying Corps. In this manner he expected to rein- state Ariane to the position she should occupy as his daughter, he said, and give her the name of Muratore, which was rightfully hers. Lucien Muratore photographed 7 in a yoom of the Paris love-nest which he was sharing with Marceline Rouvier when he first met Cavalieri This may seem like a logical solution to some people, but I, the child’s mother, do not think so. Judge Bacquart, who is in charge of the case, said that my complaint of abduction was well justi- fied and that he could have the girl legally constrained to return to her ma- ternal domicile, but I gm tired of fight- ing this terrible battle of hearts. I have tried my best. No loving mother could have done more for her child. So I will not let the judge use compulsion. I have fought for eighteen years and I am all used up. When my little girl comes back from Italy with Lina Cavalieri, I shall go to the Gare de Lyon to meet them. Muratore will be there, too, I suppose. Perhaps I won’t have a chance to ask Ariane if she wants to go with her father instead of coming home with me. She may not notice me when her father takes her into his arms and carries her off to his waiting limousine. It is such a terrible question to ask a child. I think my voice would fail me, It would be so awful to hear her say: “No, mother, I'must go with my father.,” And yet it must be done, even if my heart breaks under this last cruel blow of destiny. Ariane may decide to turn her back upon me, but she will never be a Mura- tore with my consent. - Until she mar ries, with my consent, she will remain Ariane Rouvier, daughter of Mademoi- selle Marceline Rouvier, prima ballerina at the Opel:l‘ But it now begins to appear that my mother love has triumphed in the heart of Ariane as well as in the courts, While I was writing these last few lines a tele- gram arrived from ber. It reads: “Life of pleasure is meaningless with. out you. Am coming home. Proud to be a Rouvier.” That message makes me the happiest woman in the world. Heaven be Ppraised, my beloved Ariane is all mine again,