Evening Star Newspaper, March 27, 1923, Page 4

ro Bernhardt, Still b Was World’s Power of Emotion | Surpassed All of B Her Rivals. : Three Generations Have Worshiped Parisian’s Art. Mme. Sarah Bernhard:, whose death eccurred in Paris yesterday, at sev- enty years of age. seemed still a g was known to every land as “the world's greatest actress.” What ere might have been to this and however far her de- ventyred in their attempts to her'right to that dlstinction, umberless admirers of the “Di- vine Sarah” remained convinced that never before had the stage produced an actress capable of soaring to such helghts the realm of emotional drama. The work of Mme. Bernhardt was beet where a theme afforded the greateat opportunity for a display of her powerful emotions. At ~the nhelght of her career thig form of act- ing, based principally on love. hate and jealousy., held the predominant place now ded ed to character ¢ and Bernhardt never was her critics say, in this chool. Hundreds of parts rewrote or created to suit om being content to act preted by others. Thrilled Three Generations. Three have praisel and _even the art of Bornhardt, and hundreds upon thou- sands of people around the world have thronged to see and marvel at her acting witho understandin; the French language. which’ she in variably emploved n the oOn; in_ Rio de called before the curtain more %00 times by a wildly enthusiastic audience, and many times, in parts of the world, 8he was obliged to an rtain calls at a sing in generations worshiped almost legendary. = Clogely woven with dramatic Incident, off as well as on the stage. It was scf down by her- elf in a lengthy volume published ny vears ago, and, as one of her crities “has “thro he pages the beok nee of woman, a lttie tired. wearv of her own reputation blessed with the vanities d others have summed up here h, the stroy n the flames ne in Paris, was com- pted as October 22, 1845. ther was Dutch and Jewish natural father a French much me with reiatives in Paris age of twelve was Sent to Champ Convent, Ver- where she made her debut in miracle la given b the ‘en. Even = £ early age the pale and sickly child is sald to displayed the fits of temper were characteristic of her v ear or two at the convent on bacome a nun. To this her mother recorded ungqual d’ opposition and suggested a theatrical career instead “She's too thin to be an actres: said her godfather. “Let her nun.” “l won't be an actress,” little Sarah categorically exclaimed. “Rachel is an actr . She came to the convent and walked around the garden, then she had to sit down because she couldn’t get her breath. They fetched her something to bring her around. but she was so palé, oh, so pale. I was very sorry for her, and the nuns fold me that what she was doing was killing her, for she was an_actress, and so I won’t be an actress, I won't."” ‘Was War Nurse. But fate had determined otherwise, and at the age of fourteen Bernhardt was sent to a conservatory. At the end of the first year she won second vrize for tragedv. A subscription among the players at the Comedic be Francaise enabled her to spend an- | other year at the conservatory upon the completion of this s ied off second prize for comedy, 3 appearance was at the Comedie Francaise in August, 186 he t60k a minor part without any rked success. i Five vears later she emerged from laboriows obscurity with her first def- nite success as Cordelia in a French nslation of “King Lea t the . then as Queen in Victor Hugo s Blas,” and above all as Zanzet Francais Coppee’s “Le Passant, 'T] ch she played in 1869, hen camie the Franco-Prussi war. Bernhardt increased her popu. jarity by becoming a war nurse. . In 1871 he was made life member and car Her Washington— Home of the TRADE STACY-ADAMS SI’IOGS fOr They estab- lish the stand- ard for High- Gradenefis in MCD.S FOO(' wear. A, 707, 7, 7 7777707 Izzzzz77zm Edmonston 2 1334 % other | 4 s The long lite story of Bernhardt is | o yrd | te desire to | The designs are originatcd with a full knowledge of what will appeal to men of taste and discrimination. The lasts are modeled to assure per- fect fit and comfort, together with the service that contributes to value. SOLE AGENTS IN WASHINGTON ANDREW BETZ, Mgr. Advisers and Authorities on All Foot Troubles a Girl at 70, Greatest Actress SARAH BERNHARDT In the role of Camille, from a photo- graph taken during her last appea: ance in the United States in 1918, -_— of the Comedle Francaise. She clashed repeatedly with M. Perrin, the man- ager, over the roles she should take, and once, in a fit of pique, fled from the theater and decfded to give up the stage. She plunged Into sculpture. | Her first plece, “After the Storm"— finished yvears later—won a_place in alon. She returned to M. Perrin to break with him again. in- curring a forfelt of 4,000 pounds, which she paid She invaded England, nendous ovation, then toured | Denmark and Russia. Next she came to America, where her success was in- antancous. She toured the United States and Canada eight times in some thirty-five vears, and appeared {several times in the larger cities of uth America. Breaking with the theatrical syndi- cates which denied her the use of their theaters when she refused to leome to their terms, she was com- I pelied to appear on one of her Amer- an tours in tents, convention hi jand armories. She vowed never to {appear in a theater again, but on sub- quent visits she came to terms with | the synaicates. | The great actress was a grand- I mother when she last appeared in America, and had suffered amputation of her right leg. Upon her arrival in | New York, October, 1916, it was evi- dent to the group of friends and ad- mirers who gathered to welcome her that she walked with extreme diffi- receiving a e playing in ew he cted s se e C pted her to take a trip south for health. A few weeks later she | underwent an operation for infection of the kidney, and, although more than seventy vears of age, she en- {Joved complete recovery, and re- mained in America for several months. gland cold, wh Horsewhipped Author. ‘The injury to her knee, which com- pelled the amputation of her leg in 1915, was attributed to many dif- ferent causes. For years before the amputation the plays in which she appeared were altered to hide the fact that she was able to walk only wtthy { great dimculty. The operation was performed in Parls, and upon her re- cover: he reappeared on the stage to receive the greatest ovatlon of her career. Her manager announced that henceforth she would interpret only motionless roles, During the world made several trips tront and gave a number of per- formances for the soldiers. This, she | declared. was the “incomparable event” of her life The memoirs of Bernhardt sedulous- 1y avold any mention of her marital experience, 2nd only in the middle of the bulky volume does she mention casually the existence of a som. One of her critics declared that “she never seemed to find the man who could master her.” “There was in her.” he continued, “the making of a superwoman, and although she met Victor Hugo and the greatest intellectual potentates of her time, the superman, who alone |could hold her, never entered her life.” Years ago a jealous rival of her ical career published a satire a4 “The Story of Sarah Bar- in which the love affairs of the actress, real and alleged, were shame- lessly iaid bare. Bernhardt resorted to the horse whip to punish the au- thor. In 1882 the actress was married to Jacques Damala, a handsome Greek, {who had made a name in the the- atrical world through his work in “The Ironmaster.” He later took & minor part in cne of her plays, bu |after a_year on“tour they separated Later she took him back to her home and nursed him through a fatal slege of_tuberculosis. Mme. rnhardt's natural son, Mau- rice ed no inclination to follow to the French Famous Stacy- Adams & Co. Shoes V22 7227 MARK, D, Gentlemen- 2 N We sell and rec- ommend them ungqualifiedly. Priced from $12.50to $14.50 All leathcrs—Hig}l and Low & Co., Inc. % war Bernhardt | THE EVENING the profession of his mother, and aft- &r spending a short time in the French army, he married a Russian prince: She ‘dled after bearing him a daugh- ter, and Maurice Bernhardt took a Parisienne as his second wife. Many stories have been' told of the fabulous sums accruing to the famous actress, especlally In Americd, authenticated -figures show that the &ross receipts of each tour were in the neighborhood of $500,000, of which she usually received 50 per cent. A large part of her earnings was reinvested in theatrical enter- prises, and at one time she owned or controlled half a dozen playhouses in Parls, Played 200 Parts. Of the more than 200 parts Bern- hardt essayed during her long stage career, perhaps the boldest experi- ment of all was the title role in a French production of “Hamlet,” which met with such unmistakable success that she was prompted to appear again as a man in “L’Alglon.” Her repertory, In addition to the plays mentioned, included “Joan of Are.” “Fedora,” ‘“Adrienne Lecouvreur,” “Sappho,” “Theodora” and “Hermant.” Her greatest successes, however, scemed to center in the Hugo and Sardou dramas, both tragedies and comedie: Many of these plays were written around her and “fitted llke a glove." A physical description of Bernhardt is difficult. In her youth she un- doubtedly was what might be_called beautifui, although from the French standpoint her slimness was against her. The greatest interest in the actress, aslde from her art, was the tenacity ith which she clung to her girlish appearance. At seventy-five she might have passed for a woman of thirty, so well had the features of her younger days been preserved. Bernhardt seems to have had no disillusions about her personal ap- pearance. By themselves her fea- tures—high cheek bones, aqulline nose and lips parted above an al- most masculine chin—were not pleas- ing, but, taken together, they com- prised the harmony of expresslon which_gave her the title of “the dli- vine Sarah” She admitted on one oocasion that the effect of her lon white face emerging from a long black sheath wi pleasant. “In this an_aunt,” she sald. Bernhardt was the most famous for her death scenes, but it is doubtful if her breathless, spelibound audiences ever knew that many of them were played while the actress was suf- fering almost unbearadble agonies trom her various physical aflments, of which she never was heard to com- plain Patlence seemed to have been one of Bernhardt's inborn characteristics She would months trying to correct technical faults in some member of her com. pany, and then, if the subject failed to improve, she would explode and have nothing more to do with him either on or off the stage—not even speaking to him under any circum- stances. She always displayw) a keen in- terest in the heart affairs of her troupe, and delighted in holding a “cupid’s court,” in her private car, a which she would require aggrieved swains and the objects of their af- tections to submit their differences —Bernhardt to be the final arbiter. Was Fond of Gambling. Another of her pastimes _was gambling, although she loser. She remained jo vacious as long as the game was run- ning in her favor, but the moment her luck changed she became sullen and sarcastic. Her opponents, once they had lost to her, knew that ft was gone for good, for she would throw down her cards and leave the game at the first sfan of reverses. A _love for strange pets was another of Bernhardt's pecullarities. When she was a little girl she saved her money and bought a goat. ~She learned to love the animal so much that she wanted to become a goat- herd, and cried when her mother ridiculed the idea. During _the Franco-Prussian war she raised geese for the soldlers, but grew to care so € 1 look like ought to & Suss And whether ton men who other! You may have It is a smart smartness—this genuine Knitex, Topcoats F St but | by no means | spend weeks and even| BTAR, WASHINGTON, much for them that she refu: have them killed. Once f she bought a lion-cub, a tiger and two chameleons at an auction sal Another time she bought a baby el phant. but it grew itself out of & ome. She tried for years to find a dwart elephant, but never succeede The conviviality of the dinner tab] {was another of Bernhardt's delight: {8he particularly enjoyed a feast ‘midnight, after a performance, w! the members of her company were present. She drank in moderation and seldom touched anything but champagne. She never was known to_smoke. Two of the treasures of her Paris home invariably excited the interest of visitors. One was the skull given her by Victor Hugo, on which he had written autograph verse to the actress, and the other was the coffin in which she occasionally slept. This strange bed, she explained, was added with “memories of her dead Pie""taded ross leaves and letters vellow with age. She once expressed a wish that this coffin_ be her final resting place, and in 1922 the idea was elaborated upon when she bought for $100 from the French government a_little granite lisland in the Bay of Blscay, not far from her summer home at Belle Ile, where she planned to bulld a mag- .nificent tomb crowned with a marble statue of herself, the arms out- retched as if beckoning to haransed shermen imperiled by the storms. Fascinated by Death. Death had a weird fascination for Bernhardt, and for years she con- templated it with what appeared to be an uncanny humor. The wish she most often expressed was that she might die in the midst of her tri- umphs. “I shall play until death.” she sald, “and the death I hope for is the death Sir Henry Irving died.” Her English cotemporary died on tour, being stricken with apoplexy, after a performance in 1905, Toward the end of 1922 it was thought this desire might shorten !her 1ife considerably, for while she | was dangerously iil in her Paris home ahe pitted her fron will against the physiclans and prepared fo re- |sume her part tn a new play by {Sacha Guitry that she was playing |In when stricken. She felt the end was near, her sickroom attendants sald, and wanted to be acting & lead- 1ing role when death rang down the curtain. ALL PARIS HONOR DEAD BERNHARDT (Continued from First Page.) in death she had “recovered the beauty of her youth.” “Her expression.” he added, “is one of neace.” The visitors’ book at the residence already contains 300 names, including those of personages in official, private, business and theatrical life It was later arranged thut the body should lie {n state at the home begin- ning at 2 o'clock this afternoon. The funeral probably will be held at | the Church of St. Francois de Sales. but inasmuch as this is “the week of the dead” preceding Easter, there can be no high mass. Officlal Offers Condolences. Mme. Bernhardt's most valuable per- sonal effects are being taken out of the house by her son, Maurice, and sent elsewhere for safe keeping. The suggestion of Mme. Bernhardt's friends that she he given a state fu- neral was not taken up by the govern- men at today's cazinet meeting, as it was explained there was no precedent for such a ceremony for any except noted public governmental personages. Official action today took the form of the dispatch by Minister of Arts Berard of an official representative to the Bernhardt home to sign the regis- ter and offer condolences. We Looked Before We Leaped O go on record for any par- ticular make of clothes make a store do some “tall” thinking. We cast our lot with Goodman tailored - in - Rochester clothes quite a few years ago. we used good judgment or not, we can refer you to a good many hundred Washing- won’t have any, famous Goodman & Suss Suits for as little as $35. We have a Bedford Cord Top- coat—splendid foreign idea, made so weatherproof that a water rolls off it like quicksilver. glass of box-back Brooks model, silk lined and reasonably priced at $37.50. Talk is IT! about Pler;ty of other Topcoats—irom a delightful airy- fairy, all-wool knitted fabric—to anything else you might want. and Suits Start at $22.50 D. ©, TUESDAY, MARCH 27, 1923. SARAH’S HALF-BROTHER REFUSES TO SHED A TEAR AT DEATH NEWS (Continued from First Page.) than myself. Jeanne was two years older then Sarah. : “Being the oldest, it devolved “upon Jeanne, when mother died, to mother the family. She was kind and good to me, but Sarah, even when I was little, mistreated me. She used to arink up half my milk and fill the bottle with water. Jeanne would scold her, but Sarah was always head- strong. “I was with the Catholic sisters in Paris for a long time after my moth- er dled. Then I came back and lived with the girls until 1 was taken to live with my grandmother in Ger- many. Born in Germany. “Both Plerre Bernhardt's wives were of German descent. All the Bern- hardt children were born In Parls ex- cept Sarah. She was born while her mother and father were on a visit to Germany. T was told that they made every effort to reach French soll be- fore Sarah's birth. “The only time I ever remember seeing my father was when he came to take me to my grandmother.” At six, Bernhardt says, he entered a show, doubling as a boy and a girl Within' a year he was brought to America and in New York turned over to Charles A. Toeffel, who acted a& his_guardian. Toeffel, after a few months, took him to Columbia, Tenn., where Toeffel was a teacher in a girls' school, according to Bernhardt. Took His Plays, He Charges. “After I was older” he continued, “I had the wanderlust and went into the show business. I sketched thirty- fAive plays, some of them I read to Saruh, and she afterward appropriat- ed them “It was in Wheeling, W. Va, that Sarah and I had our big fight. It came near being more than a fight with words. Sarah was just as high- tempered as I am. “Sarah recelved me in her rooms and I told her I thought it was as little as sho could do to send me to school for & year or two. I was in the show business then. I told her that I had not had & chance and that 1 at least wanted a business cour: The way Sarah snapped me off mad me mad and I told her in words, pe: haps too harsh, that I hoped I would never lay my eyes upon her again. Parted in Asger. “We parted in anger and have never had & conversation since that day. I have secen her several times since, but we were both too stubborn to give In and have been strangers sinc Another thing that turned me against Sarah. I asked her about father, and she seemed afrald that I was going to hunt him up and report how she has treated me. She refused to give any information about the family. “A few years ago Sarah sent one of her company here to make overtures, but I told him that if anything w: done Sarah would have to make her ow: overtures. Bernhardt says his sister Jeanne plaved in this country with SBarah and later starred in her own company, after- ward marrying J. C. Smith, a Chicago druggist. Bernhardt'’s wife is dead. She was an_actress. Only one of their three children survives, according to Bern- hardt, Mrs. George Caldwell of Detroit, widow of a circus man who lost his life in the Galveston fiood. BERNHARDT'’S LIFE TRAGIC IN POVERTY Could Not Receive the Legion of Honor Because of Her Bankruptcy. By Cable to The Star and Chicago Daily News. Copyright, 1923 PARIS, March 27—The most sordid tragedy in the life of Sarah Bern- hardt was her perpetual poverty. De- spite her great financial success in the United States, which gave her seasons of prosperity, almost her en- tire career was marked with financial difficulties. Her theater, the scene of great artistic triumphs, was never a business success and about fifteen years ago the tragedienne underwent (Continué rieent] e) Service That's Free and Friendly HAT'S the reason for the steady growth of the Standard family of depositors. The friendly feeling of those already with us is passed along Always Room to Park to their friends. is built on friendly service, most of which costs nobody anything. be glad you joined the Standard fam- ily—whether your account be Savings Our friendly family You'll or Commercial. “Standard—the measure of A. S. Gardiner President Banking Service” Henry C. McCeney Cashier Standard National Bank Ninth Street at N. Y. Ave. Exclusive Berkley tripes For the man who wants char- acter in his clothes, we have" Berkley Stripes for Spring, Their quiet blends of color and pattern make them especially attractive to theman whowants something both distinctive and correct. 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