Cyrena van Gordon Claims Verdict of Newspaper Critics Means Nothing to Artists--Scores Companionate Marriage

"The verdict of a newspaper critic means nothing to an artist, Nevertheless, a critic ought to be a capable man who knows his field, which he should regard as primarily, constructive, not as an excuse for tearing apart everything the artist does. Above all, however, the public should not take the decision of one individual as a final standard: people should remember that this one man is influenced not only by his digestion, but by the weather, the surroundings he lives in and thousands of other circumstances."

Cyrena van Gordon, noted American contralto of the Chicago Civic Opera Company who sang a leading part in Wagner's "Lohengrin", said this in her suite in the Hotel Ritz Carlton yesterday afternoon. Miss van Gordon pointed out that after all, an artist was a human being. She was especially prejudiced against men who carp at traces of individuality in the work of operatic artists.

Asked what she thought of companionate marriage. Miss Gordon answered that it was a repulsive idea to her. "It is merely a step for encouraging promiscuous sensuality," she said, "and I do not believe in it because it puts the idea into a man's head that he can at will get out of all family responsibilities. Men are very much like children and they should not be allowed too much legal leeway."

After this vigorous comment, Miss Gordon diverted her conversation to the subject of sex on the operatic stage.

"Exciting dramatic situations are nearly always based on sex conflicts," she asserted, "and this is especially true of the opera. Love is the medium that is used to introduce our most beautiful arias in fact, the action of the opera might be considered more informal than that of the regular drama, and because of that, it is, in my opinion more human, and also more modern. Since the way you know, even Americans are becoming informal."