The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, November 3, 1901, Page 11

% % ] BV AL ~ NAY BUCKLEY LHNMA NEVADA, = ZY Pro70 By BUSENEL —— EOPE FOR THE STAGE-STRUCK GIRLS OF CALI- SEE WHAT YOUR FAIR SISTERS HAVE ACCOMPLISHED BELOW IS NOW SO IDENTI- ' THAT THE WORD “CALIFOR- HERE IS FORNIA, BEFORE YOU MANY WAME RECORD! FIED WITH THE WORD “STAR NIA” HAS BEEN OVERLOOKED. STILL ALL THESE STAGE FAVORITES MET THEIR FIRST JCCESSES EERE. hard,” zed she uld com says g with that thoroughness her work was assi ack and Blanche oman Mr vier work.” the wel sol ed h N Theater in Den- the box stage. ed away r ser- 1 d too out eading man was given the El ed Bates at the Co- jot as lead- the X3 ew York the of s when he a hard-work- Baldv Ba company. It him a good atitude in hi wrote sever last found at the 1€ ely known of ower He ) do f theater-folk, New York he met Mrs. Bates and and proposed that Mrs. e him the opportunity te ssessed His fame ad spread far and Belasco is not an easy task but in his new pupil he met abi'- Butterfly it was d him to lej her g2 once more after illed for hours together. She spent more hours a day as Madame Butterfly than she did as her She grew to love the part, and when she took off he last time the little Japanese costume she had worn in it, she kissed she g g it up and declared that no ! ver wear it but herself. Her versatility is shown in her success as Cigarette in “Under Two Flags’—a would -a greater contrast to Cho-Cho-San of But- terfly fame, and again to Hedda Gabler, cannot be conceived. Maude Adams made her first tiny ap- pearance at the old Bush-street Theater in a child’s part. It happened in this way. The manager suddenly foumd that he wanted a child and asked Mark Thail if he knew of any one who would an- swer. He thought he did. He went down back of the Mint where Maude Adams’ family lived and brought the little girl back with him. She made her first ap- pearance with J. K. Emmet. She was Jucky from the start. Her mother was an actress and she breathed easily the atmosphere of the stage. She next went to the Alcazar and opened in “The Midnight Bell.” Sinc» then her progress upward has been steady.. When an actress holds her 1di- PHOTO ence in Bernhardt's roles she has gone what h the little chiid- treet Theater has n in New York. ss dear to the hearts r goer was little far, and this is actress of the B been doing for a se Another child actr of the old-time the Minnie Maddern, no Fiske of “Becky § She was between seven and eight years old when the “‘wonder fond of dolis just as hundreds of he was house sirls are. One night during Ler first engagement Minnie was playing with a rag doll in the wings just before spoken and she was so ab- childish pleasure that she :sed to go on unless she could ta with her. Consternaticn reigned as time for her appearance drew pear T matter was finally com- sreement on the part of give her the finest ed in San Fran- promis cisco. K irs. Fiske kept this doll finally sold it in a charity bazaar in York for $125, Long before she wore long dresses oft age she wore them in young-lady parts end oceasionally took an old wo- man’s part. At the age of 13 she scored a hit in the role of Widow Melnotte n “The Lady of Lyons.” At 16 she was a full fledged star. Long as Mrs, Fiske has been on the L , she has 1 er been able to over- stage fright. She rehearses her long and frequently. When she has ines letter perfect she still trembles the hour fer her appearance ar- . Neill, who was with her for a year, story about her chronic stage “We rehearsed a one-act play of hers for three months. It came to be a joke among us, the pains we took with that Fitle play. We almost knew it backward. When at last the night arrived Mrs. Fiske said to us. “Really, I don’t think we are readv to give that piece.’ She was frighitened to death. “We laughed at her, we teased her, we joltied her, but it was only with the greatest difficulty that we persuaded her to Zo on.” Sybil Sanderson was born in Sacramen- to, where her father was for many years Chief Justice. She went abroad to study and made her debut in the Opera Co- mique, Paris, in 1889. She was renowned for her “Eiffel Tower note,” in a compo- sition which Jules Massenet composed es- pecially to uit her remarkably high reg- ister. Jules Massenet continues to.write all his'music adapted to her voice. During the past season she appeared at the Winter Garden of Berlin, and from HNNVIE JZADDERN FISAE THE SUNDAY CALL, — BY SARONY there went to St. Petersburg and Mos?™ cow. Everywhere her beauty of voice and feature has won her new laurels, for Sybil's day is not yet past. Alice Neilsen started as a chorus girl at the Tivoli. Later she took small parts and finally leading roles. She was a great worker and had a wonderful memory. Once she was given the title role in “Lu- cia di Lammernoor.” In four days she knew it perfectly. When the Bostonians were here Barna- bee went to the Tivoll, heard her and de- termined to secure her. She became their soprano. 3 Emma Nevada is a third daughter of the West who is favored with a voice, a real voice. She was born in Nevada and in honor of her birthplace adopted Ne- vada as her stage name. She was edu- cated at Mills Seminary, Oakland. Mrs. John W. Mackay sent her to Paris, whers she studied with the famous Madame Marchesi.. She made her debut at Her Majesty’s Theater, London. In 185 she made a grand tour of the United States and in San Francisco she received an enthusiastic ovation. She is now the wife of Dr. Raymond Palmer and she has a beautiful home in Paris. “La Belle Francisca” sang three years ago at the opera-house at Monte Carlo witn Patti. She was better received than Patti, and the critice referred to her as “the new star that was coming in” and to Patti as “the old star that was going out.”” This is praise extraordinary, for N\ BY JoUsHAN aNDi Patti has hitherto held the undisputea throne of song. “La Belle Francisca” is known as Fanny Michelsen in everyday life. Her stage name was taken in honor of her native ci Helen Modjeska, queen of the Polish stage, bade farewell to her native land and thought to spend her days on her idy"Mc California farm. But Edwin Booth pe! ded her to study for the English- speaking stage. She made her debut in the California Theater. Mary Anderson, a native Sacramentan, won the fame of two continents. She worked too hard. Her health failed and she withdrew permanently from the stage. She is now Mrs. Antonio de Na- varro and lives in England. Nance O'Neil is an Ouakland girl. She used to haunt the old Bush Street Thea- ter for a chance to go on. Finally she got on as supernumerary. Now she often taunts the managers who turned her away in old days with: “Didn't I tell you? I knew I had it in me even then. All T needed was a chance.” Miss Eleanor Calhoun enjoys the dis- tinction of having been praised by Coque- lin and Sardou. She is said to be great in Shakespearean roles. Eleanor Rohson, one of the youngest actresses on the stage to-day, and one of whom much is expected in the future, first faced the footlights at the California Theater. She came here straight from the convent in Montreal in 1887 and joined the Frawley company. ‘ mfi‘ &\‘ it 4 i ol "‘\.\“\' h \\}x‘ NV 2 A\ '\\\ ifl 1.”.“',‘&‘ LAY \\\\\ W \ \ N N 0N Phoebe Davies made her first appear- ance privately before David Balasco when he was manager of the Baldwin He booked her to appear at the n Baldwin production, but _iiln p vented and it was wfth the California Stock Company that she afterward made her debut. A San Franclsco manager offered to take her East and star her, but she re- fused, for just about that time Cupid was 2iming his arrows at her heart. Instead of going East she married Joseph R. Grismer, who was then leading man and stage manager at the Baldwin. Joseph R. Grismer is best known for his vay Down East.” [t was production for Phoebe to hit the flint which struck the fire of general recognition for her. Amelia Bingham, although net strictly a Californian, had her first stage exp ence here with McKee Rankin, w whom she made a tour of the Pacific Coast. + The history of this actress is interest- ing. She is one of the foremost woman managers of America to-day, but she had to fight for every inch of the way. Artistic heritage or encouragement was not to her lot. She came of a family of Methodists, who never went to the thea- ter. When she declared her intention of go- ing on the stage her neighbors turned against her and her best girl friends passed her on the street. Her Sunday school teacher, on bidding TR WY MR BLANCHF BATES Proro By 7ABER \\ \ NN AR N\ N NN her goed-by, said: *“Amelia, I hear there are some good men and women on the stage. pe so for y : She ved to be a le a B five years or quit the She kept her resolu- she went abroad she managers were suc- in mind. In P ound Sarah Bern- hardt the mo: uous figure in the ranks of wom agers. America and formed great believer in the he play’s the thing.” manager, who combines business acumen, says reater compliment to on leaving the thea- “Fine company, that Amelia Bingham compar than to hear them speak of Amelia Bingham alone. For this same reason she hgs great dif- ficulty in getting a play to suit. Clyde Fitch wrote a play for her. She refused it was a star piece, an¢ what ed was a stock plece which would the different members of her com- a chance and produce an artistic Amelia return She is a that it is a much hear the peopie tes pany whole. maxine Elliot was formerly Jessie Me- Dermott of Oakland. At first she was merely conside an artistic plece of bric-a-brac. Her acting was ignored. Her beauty praised and proved to a stumbling block on her road to success. Self-consciousness seemed to overshadow her emotional talent. Finally she learned through the doctrine of work to grow artistically. She now _essays Shakes- pearean roles. ISABEL FRASER.