NOBILITY AND THE STAGE.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3129, 7 August 1922, Page 2

NOBILITY AND THE STAGE.

PEERESSES AS PLAYERS. Every rank of the British peerage from duke to baron is now represented tn tbs? surge—in most cases by same fair member of a. peer’s family and in iseverai cases by the noble chief himself. \V but is the meaning of this rush ul titled women, reared more or less in tile lap of luxury, to the difficult, dangerous, not overpaid, formerly despised life cl the looH.ghts ? TTieie is no doubt that the principal motive that impels these titled women as the desire to show that they can he just as attractive, if necessary just as recK.esis, as the women of the class usually trained lor the stage. There are indeed many motives which have had their intliieiice in different oases--changed social conditions, poverty in high life, desire vor excitement —but the one just mentioned is by far the leading forces. Many young English noblewomen have said it. They have been angered by the sight of the richest and most eligible men of their set marrying pretty chorus girfe of plebeian birth, and they are determined to- show that they can exercise quite as much fascination over the general public xh-inscfv€is. , “Wc have heard quite too much about the irresistible charm oi some very ordinary actresses and chorus girls,” said an English duke’s daughter recently. “We are told that our men cannot resist them because they are not only beautiful but so witty and such delightful companions. the fact is that a very moderate amount of beauty seen through the glamour of the footlights turns the head ot the ordinary man. Faces art- idealised and limbs arc perfected by the footlights. Wit has nothing to do with it. Our girls of Inrth and breeding have more beauty and more brains as a rule than the actresses of the older type We are proving it. There are no more graceful women m the world than the long-limbed girls of the English upper classes, who have grown up with hunting and all kinds of field sports.” Constance, former Duchess of Westminister, is perhaps the most highly placed Englishwoman who has made her appearance on the stage. The Duchess, who was one ot the most beautiful and dashing women in English society, recently obtained a divorce from the Duke, who is quite noted as the richest English peer and the owner of Belgravia and Gro-avenor Square, two choice parts of London, where many Americans live and others hope to. Her mother was Mrs Cornwallis West, who was considered by King Edward the most charming hostess in the “old Marlborough House set.” Some years ago when the. young Duchess was busy quarrelling with her husband, she acted at a house party, where he was not present, in a gay little sketch called “Scara-raoucho ” She played most of the time' in knickerbockers and hopped merrily over tiie furniture in them. Several persons remarked at the time that there was not a girl at the Gaiety who could show better understandings than the Duchess, and the suggestion sank into her mind. After her recent divorce she married a young man of no great importance, who had been an actor for a time. Now sho is playing comedies in the British provinces with a company of professionals, is making quite a success and enjoying herself very much. It is It is true that the ,Duchess announces that she is giving her services for charity, but the dividing line between herself and a professional is almost imperceptible. Incidentally it is rumored that her successor in the affections of the Duke, the present Duchess and former Airs Rowley, is seriously considering lending herself to the screen. It is now i'eme years since Lady Constance Stewart Richardson became a public entertainer. She is the daughter of the Earl of Ooma.iti-e. the granddangbter of a former Duke of Sutherland and the widow of an English baronet. She has iua.de a. specialty of interpretative dances, with bare limbs. While there have been various opinions about her art. it is generally admitted that -she has a very graceful figure. Recently she has appeared in a sketch called “The .Maid of the Mountain” in London and has l won -a- notable success. Her dancing i® said to have improved greatly. Lady Constance now gives her entire life to the stage and shuns society altogether. » Another noble actress is Lady Constance Mallisou, who is an Annesley by birth and a daughter of the Earl of Annesley. head of an ancient and historic Irish family, 1.-ad'y Constance has wen a decided success in the distinctly artistic and literary drama-. She- is known as an interpreter of the plays of Lord Dnnsany, John Synge, Arnold Bennett, and other interesting playwrights. The much discussed Lady Diana Manners is, of course, another woman of title who has become a professional. She is the daughter of the Duke of Rutland, a peer of an Elizabethan family. Lady Diana is now to be seen I in that elaborate film “The Great Adventure,' 1 and her beauty undoubtedly makes her performance pleasing. As a matter of fact. Lady Diana is only one of an army of titled Englishwomen who are acting for the screen. Lady Stapleton, wife of Sir Miles Stapleton a baronet of large estates, lias been acting for the movies with marked success for a considerable time. A great many upper class Englishwomen possess the beauty of the face and figure which arc so desirable in movie work and at the same time show consklern"]v more dramatic art than Lady Diana. Lord Howard do Walden, who inherited a large slice of London from the eccentric underground Duke ol Portland, is directing a British film company. The Hon. Helen Montague, daughter of Izard Montague of Beaulieu, recently made her appearance as a showgirl in New York, rnd is cow pin-suing the same career elsewhere. This is especially interesting, because the Hon. Helen belongs to the same family as the Duke of Bncelench, one of the proudest peers in England and a representative of the royal Stuarts “by the left hand.” The Hon. Helen Montague is a handsome girl and acquitted herself creditM-Jv among the skirt waviri£C ranks. Slio explniiied tlint hfon society was insufferably dull to h f -T. that she wanted some excitement, and bad found it. , , , , ■ . Jt is not 0 11 1 v in England that society women are going on the Huge. I l> ( ’ same tendency is net'ce-d-l" all ovei the world - -in the United S» a I os. Germany. France, and other countries. In America '--ocietv women arc no generally in linam-inJ distress o r otherwise disturbed by the war. but Hnn show a d'snos;tio’’ as usual to lollo’the example of Britain’s ainstor-raci . High French society i- more mcined lo resist the attraction of tlm stage I ban any other, but even tlicrc the tendency is seen. Poverty is perhaps the civet reason that has turned the princesses of warwrecked Germane. Au-dria. and Russia to the stage. Several women ol Hie exiled Kaiser’s family, im-Ind’iur Hi" Princess August Wilhelm of Prussia, arc trying to win applause on tlm vaudeville stage. Charming primvsses of mined Russia are seeking a living a-

public artists in nearly every country of the world, usually practicing the singer’s or the dancer’s art. They will apparently win a permanent place among artists of the hist rank. Princess Ouroussova of Russia, has become a leading operatic singer in London. In New York people are entertained by Russian princesses in a dozen places every evening.