Great-Grandmother

Last week in Manhattan a homely, dumpy, indomitable old lady marched on the stage in S. L. ("Roxy") Rothafel's huge cinema theatre, grinned a wide grin, then sang in a voice which was still great "Danny Boy," Arditi's "Bolero" and Brahms' "Cradle Song." The old lady was 69 and a great-grandmother but she repeated her vaudeville turn four times a day on seven successive days with an added appearance on Saturday and Sunday. She was, of course, Contralto Ernestine Schumann-Heink who for four years past has been saying farewell to her public. Her vaudeville debut last week accompanied the showing of Mamba, scenario of which was written by her son Ferdinand. Her recipe for endurance : "I know how to sing now. I don't shout as I did when I was young." Mme Schumann-Heink's 69th birthday speech: "Some day, of course, I shall die. Out on the stage I would sing the last note of a song. I wouldn't want to die before the audience and create a disturbance. But after that last note I would go off the stage and then, out of sight, I would die. That would be the most beautiful way to die."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.