Tall as a white church-candle, her hair a decorous oval flame, a great lady stood on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera House, Manhattan. To the simpering music of Massenet she postured and sang, while a lovelorn monk pursued her. What should a monk have to do with so great, so good a lady? Ah, he was trying to save her soul from hellfire, for in the play she was not good at all. She was Maria Jeritza (Baroness Von Popper) pretending to be Thais (famed harlot) at the season's first performance of...
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