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THE AMERIC AN-SC ANDIN A VI AN REVIEW 
of the young orphaned girl in The Somnambulist, just because of its 
mimic possibilities, and the way in which she played it indicated the 
direction her future life work was to take. Both her masters taught 
her infinite respect for art, faithfulness to duty, perfect masteiy ovei 
conception and execution. However, Professor Hoedt s instruction 
brought her into closer contact with actual life than did the romanti¬ 
cism of the ballet. Every word in her parts was painstakingly re¬ 
hearsed, no syllable must be lost, the lines spoken to her fellow play¬ 
ers, not to the audience. 
On December 13, 1870, she made her public appearance as Agnes 
in Moliere’s comedy, L’Ecole de Femmes, an innocent child, charm¬ 
ing in her appealing simplicity. “The debut was a great success, le- 
lates the theatrical critic and politician, Edvard Brandes*, it levealed 
both the innate talents of Betty Schnell and did her master the great¬ 
est credit. The young artist astonished one with her diction, which 
was natural and full of feeling, and with her mosaic-like treatment of 
the lines. Each word lived its own individual life, and each scene was 
played in its own particular shade and tone.” The entire press was 
unanimous in praising her rendering of the famous speech on a wife’s 
marital duties, and experienced and widely traveled critics went so far 
as to say that in artistic skill she even excelled her contemporary, Mile. 
Betty Hennings as Nora in “A Doll’s 
House” 
Reichenberg of the Theatre Fran¬ 
cis, in the same part. By right of 
conquest in a single moment, all the 
young girl parts that were light and 
dreamy or roguish and jesting, but 
untouched by passionate love, be¬ 
came Betty Schnell’s artistic posses¬ 
sion. Her portrayal of Shylock’s 
daughter, the young J ewess in 
Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice, 
showed, however, the limits of her 
powers. Her temperament was ener¬ 
getic, but not passionate; she was un¬ 
able to express the fire of the senses. 
But all the child-like, would-be-wise 
young girls who treated their suitors 
in a sisterly or motherly fashion, all 
those blonde souls who divide their 
movements between tears and smiles, 
she made into flesh and blood. From 
being a master in the portrayal of 
innocence and that dawn in a 
woman’s soul when love is born, 
Betty Schnell developed the power 
, the young Jewess in 
