Pauline Frederick : on and off the stage (1940)

Chapter Thirteen Elizabeth o F ALL the roles which Pauline played, the one she loved the most was that of " Elizabeth of England." The character of this great Queen had a fascination for her and if the role had been but a few lines in a play she would have wanted to play it. When portraying an historical character, Pauline was thoroughness itself. She cared nothing that the part might disguise her own beauty. She strove in every way to appear as a reproduction of that personage and when she played the role of Queen Elizabeth for the first time in Maxwell Anderson's great play, on the Pacific Coast, she purchased and read every book written about Elizabeth. More than that, she studied every detail of the costume and even had handkerchiefs made which were exact copies of those used by Elizabeth. Also, the ring which Elizabeth gives Essex as an assurance of forgiveness was a replica of the real one and a fan which she used was a duplicate copied from the original. Pauline studied the way Elizabeth walked and talked and particularly the unusual way the English Queen had of holding her hands. It will be remembered that Elizabeth was very proud of her hands, considering them her finest feature, and because of this, she held them in a most conspicuous position with the fingers together and stretched straight out. 167