rohman's confidence was vindicated. Frohman was undergoing his long and
almost fatal illness at the Knickerbocker Hotel when "The Arcadians" was
being rehearsed. He was so fond of the music that whenever possible the
rehearsals in which Miss Sanderson sang were conducted in his rooms at
the hotel. He always said that he could see the whole performance in
her singing. In rehearsing her he always seemed to well-nigh break her
heart, but it was his way, as he afterward admitted, of provoking her
emotional temperament.

[Illustration: _JULIA SANDERSON_]

He next gave her a strong part in "The Siren," and subsequently made her
a co-star with Donald Brian in "The Sunshine Girl," which brought out to
the fullest advantage, so far, her exquisite and alluring qualities.

* * *

The last star to twinkle into life under the Frohman wand was Ann
Murdock. Here is presented an extraordinary example of the way that
Charles literally "made" stars, for seldom, if ever, before has a young
actress been so quickly raised from obscurity to eminence. Almost
overnight he lifted her into fame.

Miss Murdock, who was born in New York, and had spent her childhood in
Port Washington, Long Island, was not a stage-struck girl. She went on
the stage because she made up her mind that she wanted more nice frocks
than she was having. She rode over to New York one day and went to Henry
B. Harris's office to get a position. As she sat waiting among a score
of applicants, Harris came out. He was so much taken with her striking
Titian beauty and unaffected girlish charm that he immediately asked her
to come in ahead of the rest, and gave her a small part in one of "The
Lion and the Mouse" road companies. When Harris saw her act he took her
out of the cast and put her in a new production that he was making in
New York.

At the end of the season she wanted to get under Charles Frohman's
management, so she went to the Empire Theater to try her luck. There she
met William Gillette, who was making one of his numerous revivals of
"Secret Service." The moment he saw this fresh, appealing young girl he
immediately cast her in his mind for the part of the young Southern
girl. After he had talked with her, however, he said:

"I think it would be best if I wrote a part for you. I am now working on
a play, and I think you had better go in that."

Miss Murdock now appeared in Gillette's new play, "Electricity," in
which Marie Doro was starred. Charles Frohman