FRANCE'S GREATEST ACTRESSES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 13021, 11 November 1905, Page 6 (Supplement)

FRANCE'S GREATEST ACTRESSES.

♦WHAT THEY THINK OF BRITISH : ' . GIRLS.; ' A|> ,<>;-.. In the Lady's Realm still further additions arc made to the charming series of compliments which , have been so busily passing between England and France. .

| Five of France's most famous actresses gave their impressions flattering ones they are— the English girl. / Mme. Sarah Bernhardt believes her to be, when beautiful, the most .perfect. type on earth: — ■ '/

■■ " She is the very incarnation of the Greek ideal in features and in deportment. And, strange to say, that perfection and that nobility of expression- are remarkable alike in all classes in England. I have often admired the. faultless, dignified beauty of many a grande dame of Mayfair, and have often stood in mute contemplation /before ~: the grave, admirably chiselled features of a Lon-* don workgirl or a barmaid." .' ■ .;/

Mme. ' Gabrielle Rejane maintains that there can certainly be no two opinions' on the point of the English girl's beauty/—/v . "Young girls especially have an ideally soft and fresh complexion in this country. Their, whole being pulsates, as it were, with health, vigour, "and the joy/of living. I admire-also in them the . earnestness, the unswerving patience with which- they, fulfil whatever task that may be set them."

Mme. Rejane finds, too, that they are always ready to learn arid to interest themselves; in 'any branch of p:.'aH, /especially French art; This view is shared by ■ Mme. Jeanne Granier: — . ~.'' /', :

"An , English feminine ; audience-.has a quicker, perception of the comic element in a French play and its esprit, r however, subtle, than' the average audience Jin /Paris. I also find that the English 'girl is superior to the French girl because she is more selfreliant and independent."

- Mme. Simoue Le Bargy, who has so cleverly been playing in English at the St. James' Theatre, is charmed with the intellectual culture of Englishwomen, and she. too, shares the universal appreciation of their artistic sense: — •

" "A beautiful Englishwoman is to ','; my mind the most- admirable specimen of creation it is given any artist to behold, for in her we see not only purity of line and features, but also gracefulness and suavity of expression." / ' r '.. " '