And especially the manager took pride in the capillary artifices of
his establishment, and employed an "artist in hair," who held almost
arrogant views of his professional acquirements. "My claim to the
grateful remembrance of posterity," this superb _coiffeur_ was wont to
observe, "will consist in the fact that I made the wig in which
Monsieur Talma performed his great part of Sylla!" The triumphs of the
scene are necessarily short-lived; they exist only in the recollection
of actual spectators, and these gradually dwindle and depart as Time
goes and Death comes. Nevertheless something of this wig-maker's fame
still survives, although Talma has been dead nearly half a century.
As Sylla, Talma was "made up" to resemble the first Napoleon. Macready
writes in his "Journal" of Talma's appearance as Sylla: "The toga sat
upon him as if it had been his daily costume. His _coiffure_ might
have been taken from an antique bust; but was in strict resemblance of
Napoleon's. It was reported that several passages had been struck out
of the text by the censor, under the apprehension of their application
by the Parisians to the exiled Emperor; and an order was said to have
been sent from the police forbidding Talma to cross his hands behind
him, the ordinary habit of Napoleon.
Pages:
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446