Try to Be Kind to the Critics
“And now, girls, here is one more point. Remember that critics are Human. They never seem so, of course, when you read their stuff, but my experience has been that they are susceptible to little kindnesses. Martha, my maid,—she has been with me since I left the convent—always asks Izzy Stern—he is my personal press representative—to invite the critics back to my little dressing-room, after every first performance. I have a few bon-bons, or cigarettes, or new stories, or orchids there, which I distribute among them, along with a smile, a laughing word, and—on rare occasions—a little kiss, on the tips of their funny old noses. So, girls, there’s another lesson! Always be kind to the critics.”