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| Mrs Patrick Campbell (1865-1940) |
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In Press and Literature |
(Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, 9th March, 1903)
MRS. CAMPBELL OFF THE STAGE
The personality of a prominent actor or actress, off the stage, is of special interest to those who have never seen them, save with the intervening row of blazing footlights. There, is always a halo of mystery surrounding a famous professional, which acquaintance sometimes dispels and again accentuates. The writer called the other afternoon on Mrs. Patrick Campbell and conversed at short range with the lady who has now made herself famous in two continents. All who have witnessed Mrs. Campbell's public work are aware that she trends toward the heavy, emotional type; the problem play or the tragically poetic. The lighter vein seems to have no place in her ambitions, and the most natural inference would be that her temperament in private life would partake of the same somber line.
The lady is a strange combination, as far as parentage is concerned. Her mother was an Italian, and her father an Irishman, and she has all the nervous excitability of the Latin race, combined with the self-control, and not a little of the inherent wit of the Celt. She is very tall, of the willowy type of figure; hands slightly forward, as is customary with women, especially of English training, who form the habit of approaching nearer to people of less stature than themselves, and gives one the impression of never resting, either mentally or physically while awake. Her face is very dark and surmounted by a mass of wavy, jet black hair, and her features are a perfect study in their ever changing phases. She speaks with a strong British accent, and her voice has a minor key running through it that gives her a soft musical cadence.
Like all educated Britons, who have traveled beyond the confine of their own island, Mrs. Campbell is very observing and eager for information. Very little transpires about her of which she does not take the keenest cognizance, and were she to give for publication all the ideas she has acquired during her two visits to this country it would prove very interesting reading. Then again, she has a quick sense, amounting almost to suspicion, that possibly people are making game of her inexperience in a forein country, and many a flash of the eye and raising of the brows indicate a doubt when the interviewer utters any remark she does not quite comprehend. She is a studious, thoughtful woman, who has "sounded all the shoals and depths of honor," and there is scarcely a subject in any way pertaining to her profession on which she cannot discourse most fluently!
Although the writer came for information, the questioning was for the most part done by the lady herself, and yet there was much gleaned by drawing her into argument, for she apparently enjoys being slightly opposed. Mrs. Campbell expressed a number of views on America and the Americans which demoustrated how closely she has watched both us and our customs. And then Mrs. Campbell went on to speak of the nature of her hopes and aspirations and desires, in which the American stage formed her principal battlefield. After a few minutes conversation with Mrs. Campbell one can readily understand her hold on the public. She has a strong individuality, an earnestness in her calling, and a knowledge of the world — all of which traits equip her most advantageously for her professional life.