Rensselaer Republican, Volume 19, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 September 1886 — Ways of Prima Donnas. [ARTICLE]

Ways of Prima Donnas.

Pauline Lucca, Baroness von Wallhofen, is the wife of the very man whom, during the greater part of her tour in America, she kept hidden in the hotels which she occupied, at the expense of her manager. When once asked by me, in a very polite way, who that mysterious person was whose hotel expenses figured in her bills, she answered, “That is part of my baggage. Are you not bound by our contract to pay for the transportation and care of my baggage?” Another German prima donna, Mme. Lichtmay, who sang here in German and Italian, was married to a Baron Garay, whose regular daily hotel bill included two bottles of Chateau Lafitte, one of Chateau d’Yquem, and several of Veuve Cliquot. He actually drank away his poor, hard-work-ing wife’s earnings. As a matter of course, he attributed to.his own merit all the success of his lady, and never spoke otherwise of her than as “we.” His usual phrases in conversation were, “we sang splendidly yesterday,” “we can not accept that part in the new opera,” “we will be sick to-morrow and unable to sing, therefore do not put us on the programme.”— Max Maretzek, in Freund’s Music and Drama.