Show r V I r t Yf l lis f is isMar Mar Lewis Shook Her Pretty Head to All the Frivolities r r e Dissipations E Girls Girl's Life and Now She's g 5 d a Gram Opera Stir eE m mf f i d r ri i r ar LL a 44 r s r s st shY t hY a ar arc r rc Y r tv WM C Ct t r i i is e s G 3 fl i e rL o MW ly 2 N k ks s y M r z I tL I I 1 2 t ti ti l p wf n X k a r t w 3 la a F F rn t The chorus 1 s nt girl loner m a w d s game of eta 2 a i e 3 1 u f tw wY Of one golf many IIIi conventional diversions for which c DY t Mary had no time 1 t N NEW Marguerite stood before A the curtain of the National Opera House in ID Vienna the other night and smiling her acknowledgment of the enthusiastic applause that filled the great auditorium Bravo I Greater than were J the cries ales she heard repeated agam again and agaIn above the din dm of clapping hands and thumping feet And they brought to this pretty little American girl who stood there with modest blushes on her dimpled cheeks checks the realization that In m her first appearance m in Faust she sho had scored ored a triumph that conies comes to few oung opera open singers The girl who heard herself acclaimed greater creater than Jena In m Jeritza's own cats aty was Mary Mar a Lewis Lewis a girl aho VI ho until a feW months ago was known to fame iame only as one of the beauties who had been gathered from here here there and every everywhere where to make male New Yorks York's musical com corn comedy comedy edy stage a thing of real charm But how did it happen happ n that a lIttle known chorus girl suddenly burst into what many critics think will prove a memorable career carer m In grand opera T That is an interesting story stor and one oue whIch would bet best bf boo written written-if written if they had the talent or the inclination to turn tarn now nov novelIst nov novelist chat or biographer t biographer by y same some of the other beautIes who 00 flitted before ore the footlights WIth Mary Lewis They know probably better than any aIlY anyone one eno else docs does how haw different Mary was from the ret of the merry merI crowd with she danced and sang aang And now they see that there thero was a very VCr compel compelling hag reason for her refusal to give lve her her- herself her herself self to the tho frivolities that are supposed to be the tho chief reward of the thorns chorus girls girl's existence During Daring Dunn her brief car carper fr on Mary Mar Lewis was famous S among her associates as the girl who never had any in fon Now her has i realize why it was that she d so BO many of the pia pl ASUre which arc are 6 supposed to tobe tobe tobe be inseparable from the stage life and what a II great r reward has hu come cometo comoto to her from that than self lell Mary Lewis was no prude or kill oy toy JOY Probably she would woold have enJoyed all the fun fan inn o of midnight suppers and millionaire mends as well veil as any aDY oth other r girl But she sho had no time oroa for tor that sort of fun Iun To her th t tho e lIfe ofa of a stage ge beauty with its ria opportunities op for far nung m oc oceans of If hung ns champagne and win win- winning win WID- winning ning some spendthrift m millionaire for lor II a husband husband was only the stepping r tone stone to toB toa a 11 more enduring triumph than perhaps the heroines of ot strip golf golf games gamo g and attempted suicides and runaway mar marriages rages llever will w ever WIn win Certain it is a th that Mary Lewis was very ver different from the ordinary run of o f thorns chorus girl gal Wb whose se escapades and rite l ten n spectacular romans w MI always g so 50 much newspaper spoon space V J she abe had not no t been she would not now be r recalling g th the a of her recent triumph in m Yi V Yina Vien Vienna m na and looking forward to a career tha t think will well w l outdo those many of tOO the a- a amous a amous a and tho the Ame American bor American born a Geraldine Farrar It would take Horatio a Alger AIger or a an n Olner Oh Opt Optic those a-those famous glorifiers e of American an boyhood to boyhood to glor glorify y fittingly P 1 5 Jf r- r ber ct 1 1 r atS at'S S 0 V r h Vi A 1 When Mary went to the bead bathing and not to pose ilk lik eager the triumph of this alluringly pretty but very sensible and bous amb-bous American girl who has MS scorned all the petty and mercenary triumphs that might have been hers as a chorus girl in order to become a 8 prima donna of grand opera Perhaps they would have called their story stor From the Village Choir to Grand Opera or What a Girl Gal Won by Not Having Any Arry Fun Pun That would not be bean bean bean an unfitting title for the story of Mary MaryLeWIS'S MaryLewis's LeWISS LeWIS'S career up to tG date With Mary Lewis it was a long struggle struggle struggle gle beginning back home m In Little Rod Rock Ark Ark where she strove to sing her best bestin bestin bestin in the church choir char all the time she was in high school After that there was an ordinary job in a store in a nearby town But Bat Mary Mar deeded decided that the contralto voice which her friends admixed admired so much was something she ought to capitalize Determined to get there with bet ber vein voke which she thought surely a eon eon- con contralto of no mean fiber Mary Mar LeWIS signed up witha with a vaudeville company out West and began the weary two and three a day It wasn wash t t what she want want- wanted wanted wanted ed but she thought it brought her nearer and aud nearer to her goal Then she went into the tc 0 s movies as aI a comedienne but the th lure Jure of singing brought her to tn an engagement as a caba caba- cabaret cabaret ret singer Pox for a while she scintillated In the hazy smoke filled restaurants of the West By way of a change e she he ang on In Sundays in m ch church cheh eh choirs All AU this tool took five years and they were a very hard five yes ye yei s for an innocent InnO and pret pret- pretty pretty pretty ty little high school girl One day M made a break for far New Nw NewYork NewYork Y York orIc and the grea great t city so cruel to many nt ambitious bbous girls recognized her ber a as asa asa a welcome addition to its ranks of beau bean beauties beauties ties Eat Mary did not want to be morn mere merely cre- cre ly Iy a singer and dancing beauty of of the 1 comedy stage She had her ambition am- am ambition am ambition set on something higher Not long after ater Mary reached New NewYork NewYork NewYork York she heard of a sinking teacher who had done marvelous rigs th-rigs for other girls In a few months be had trans trans- transformed transformed transformed formed fleas Ponsella Pon from a s vaudeville singes to one ouo of the tho most famous grand opera donnas and Ivonne dArle also a cabaret singer had bad reached readied fame by way of his m studio lo So Mary Lewis went one ODe day a after ur the rehearsal to see William Wilham Thorner Thomer I I have a good contralto voice Mr Thorner sue ne explained and and it has served me zoo well wen in m the way of earning a lIVIng hang Just now I am in Fol lic Fol-lic Les but Iam I am anxious to tn do something bI big Will Wai you tell me it if it is worth DIY my wh while e studying to bea be a great singer Or whether I should settle Bottle down and ma make the best of the life Me of a Follies beauty Mr Thorner sat down to the flit piano pane r E L iwas it was JUS just jest tf for forAr or Ar t tt t 4 M Mt t t e th this f fJUS for or the tho hiS hers ers Helen L Lee Leef Lee rf i f Worthing u r t h i x Who r L li i u g r a w whose ose career caree as a chorus gu girl I led her t to 0 an any r y att empt at IW- IW sui suicide ads cide ad e instead of to the brilli brilliant dant ant antLe aa f future u t u reM Mary ary MaryLewis Le Lewis faces ta 4 k kt t MV and asked ft Nary Louis Lewis Le IS to Sin sing s i n g gs E fir tl 5 something o 0 in anything an anything N o would some do-some do some N a r ri i simple 11 little t t I e K popular song bon s ong I if fe iH ti v v 1 sill she I liked 1 I cd And Uti i iI I yc 10 M Ma n a r y sangi sang l i ira yr re t tv S in m a n good rich y hS- hS v 9 voice e y That That was as the the t beginning Th The e eth E r V List last t Ote scene ne of o ss th the e eS stor story of Mary Diary 1 ary ja F t Le Leval s was the tho thee theM th 0 M y w t c night of 01 her lice d dc dc- dc e- e 1 e fy of A but Ln in F Faust z g gand and andon on th that t nIght it there f pew j tt ever Vel was a girl 1 wo who was glad glads z s she e had mISsed 4 a lo lot of fun tun for or a ayes afew I yes 4 few years it was Mary Lewis Lems Her success L f fw w- w was instantaneous ous GUs ous says nays Mr Thorner I went abroad at the same imo tuno tUDe that she did and I IU- IU introduced in introduced her to Raoul Ginsburg of the Monte Mont Carlo Opera She sari sarg selections from La Boheme and she hid bid no nc sooner onner fim finish 1 d ail d than Mr Guisburg Ginsburg said he would have havn the tho seasons season's program changed so that he could falser La Li Boheme with Miss Mus Lewis TIe lie also remarked that he be had bad never engaged a singer go so qUickly m in all his hL career After that I took tOk her to Baron Fats Fata manager of the opera house m Palermo lie He congratulated Miss Lewis Lewia immediate immediate- immediately ly Iy and said that it made him blush for forthe forthe forthe the Italians to hear a little American gIrl who had studied opera a short year singing like this the music I Italian han sing sing- singers singers ers grew up with The last thing I heard was that MISS Lewis is a to sing Juliet with t Ts it y I I I 1 1 f t t I t n s v jr vi f s q a kt d a As A's k 4 Mary Lewis the working hard ambitious little Arkansas beauty who made Plade her career as al ala asa a chorus girl the stepping stone to fame in in grand opera i and and just think of it she told mo me moshe meshe mashe she had worked In Ina ina ina a department store out West a few years ago But teat t is not a new there story there have been working girls before who w ho reached grand opera in the same way vay and for that matter there thero are arc to be more very ery soon Just now I have havo two t girls studying with h me who will t be a m i heard from In Ingrand ingrand ingrand grand opera and who only a shirt tune une ago were living in the tho most obscure way I shall never forget that night when MISS Lewis made her debut in 10 Faust FaustI I was as there behind the scenes and they nearly took tool the roof down And the most interesting thing about it t to me is the fact that she is 13 an American girl As a matter of fact fact I believe e that that i it they only knew It it more American girls gira could have success in grand opera Without studying abroad They have more mOTe brains braini greater greater intellectual than development development any other race of women and when they have talent there is is nothing In m the way of their being as successful as Mary MaryLeWIS MaryLewis MaryLewis LeWIS C except the fact that they do not know their powers We import stars staTS to the tha Metropolitan every ever year wh while e our own talented sing singers ers era are going to waste-or waste neglecting their iI careers because they cant can't afford to lo go abroad to study If they only knew new t it there arc are hundreds of girls erN neglecting their thelI voices who could be as grist gnat as out American Farrar or Florence Easton raston The true story o of what hat Mary lary LeWIS won by never hann having any fun is a very good match for any of f the far famous fiction stories in which poor boys s bo a and girls reach rench success with WIlli taking breath spud as a result of f patience industry andall and all the other virtues But it is s een e en more remarkable because lx u in 1 th these e Im- Im Imaginary imaginary im imaginary adventures tho the hero or heroine has only two roads to choose from rom v while Mary stood facing a bew bewildering rumber of possible piths She might remain on the Hie musical com com- comedy comedy comedy edy stage and try to rise to stardom t there e as so SJ many other chorus girls gals have done She might ean concentrate her energies on winning the heart of some gome millionaire who vho ho would take le her out of the chorus sad set her down in a nest of luxury She Sho might abandon her herself to the nu- nu numerous nu numerous morons JOYS loys which an admiring world puts in the tho way of a stage beauty and then when her youth and good looks faded resign herself to sinking into one or another of the unhappy fates that overtake thousands ds of girls every year There were many other possible roads open which Mary Lewis might have bave cho chosen en some more and some less alluring alluring m ing than thau any of these but all apparently easy to her feet She chose chose however the long hard road but the one which of f she aho could travel it successfully would woud lead her her to to the tho triumph she sho wanted ItIS It was IS not an nn easy choice and when once the choice was dS made it was no I easy matter for her to turn her back on so many of the things thing's which form th the I Ivery j very breath of life he to tl U c e average chorus girl But Mar l Nary Leu Louis 13 had the strength th I or of character ter tomay to may ly ay that there were to tobe tobe be no parties no fn and aad dissipations for her and when she sha had made that promise pro to herself she had the he will will- willpower willpower will power power to keep it She was as determined to use the musical 1 comedy stage as a stepping stone to toI I something infinitely better and to let the fun and the millionaire admirers go to some one else I Ii IThe i iThe i The men about Clot tov town n who Mho ho make nake a busi busI- busIness business ness of or initiating newcomers comers to the chorus into the gay mysteries of Broad Broad- Broadt Broadway way Broad t way life he noted with enthusiasm the ar- ar arI arrival ar arrival I i rival of cf Miss Mis Mary Lewis But when they tried to get lCt a closer view of her charms than could be obtained from a box or an orchestra scat at they suffered a shock of surprise Yes here was actual actual- actually actually actually ly a charming stage stags beauty who had no notime notime notime time for the midnight suppers sappers and the lowers flowers and jewels and the oth other r pretty things they would gladly have lavIshed on her A girl of this sort was something new to these worldly wise heroes of Broad Broad- Broadway Broadway way Broad way and so she was also to her fellow girls of the chorus They could not un- un understand understand un understand why Mary was wa so different different- different why she never had time for any of tho dressing room gossip and why she was forever hurrying home homo straight after re- re re rehearsal or show But Bot now they know t |