An absolute icon of French theater, Sarah Bernhardt has encountered difficulties because of her character and her extravagance.
In this new episode of the Europe 1 Studio podcast "At the heart of History", Jean des Cars tells you about the colorful journey of the famous actress with an international career.
After dismissal from the Comédie-Française due to scandal, Sarah Bernhardt was recalled nine years later… In this new episode of the Europe 1 Studio podcast "At the heart of history", Jean des Cars continues the story of the eventful journey of actress Sarah Bernhardt.
Obviously, Sarah cannot refuse the Comédie-Française.
The poet Théodore de Banville will then have this word: “It is poetry that enters the house of dramatic art and in short, the wolf in the sheepfold”.
His new beginnings are a bit of a failure.
She has the role of a naïve ingenuous in “Mademoiselle de Belle-Ile”, by Dumas.
She is 28 years old.
Too old for the character, she is disappointing.
She will console herself by finding the actor Mounet-Sully whom she had met nine years previously.
She finds him very handsome and falls into his arms.
A new lover for Sarah Bernhardt.
In “The Sphinx”, a play by Octave Feuillet, the star is stolen from him by Mme Croizette.
She then wants to be the Camille in “We don't play with love”.
Here again, the role is reserved for Ms. Croizette!
Annoyed, Sarah consoles herself with Mounet-Sully and decides to become a sculptor.
She had a sculptor's costume made for herself, white silk trousers, a blouse adorned with a ruffle and lace cuffs.
She rents a workshop on Boulevard de Clichy where all of Paris comes to visit her while she works.
His works are rather mediocre but no one seems to notice it.
But in the fall of 1874, Sarah worked less often on Boulevard de Clichy.
In her new address in the rue de Rome, her younger sister Regina, who lives with her, is dying of tuberculosis.
She left him her bed and sleeps at home… in her coffin!
Yes, Sarah has already had a coffin made!
It is in ebony, padded with white satin.
She stretches out there in all simplicity, to learn her roles or to be complacently photographed, dressed in a shroud and strewn with flowers!
She stages her death!
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But for now, it's Regina who is passing away ... After her death, Sarah fled to Brittany with her little boy, Maurice, her butler and her maid.
Despite the terrible weather, they picnic every day on the sand of the Baie des Trépassés and go around the Pointe du Raz several times.
The actress / sculptor loves storms, literally and figuratively.
Every day, she goes away dreaming, sitting on a notch of rock that is still known today as the “Sarah Bernhardt armchair”, on which thousands of tourists have come to sit since 1874.
“Phèdre”, the role of his life
Shortly after his return to Paris, Perrin, the administrator of the Comédie-Française, offered him the role of “Phèdre”.
She is afraid of not being up to the task.
All of Paris remembers Rachel's “Phaedra”.
Sarah succeeds in making her forget.
His interpretation sends shivers through the room.
This is the role of his life.
He will remain so… forty years!
With her triumph, she was promoted to member of the Comédie-Française in January 1875. January is the month of the Salon.
She succeeds in exhibiting the bust of her dead sister there.
The jury can not refuse the great Sarah nothing… On the other hand, when Rodin visits the Salon and sees the bust, he explodes: “This bust is filthy and the public is stupid to look at it!”
Spending his nights in the rue de Rome and his days in the boulevard de Clichy is hardly convenient.
Sarah then decides to have a private mansion built at the corner of rue Fortuny and avenue de Villiers.
It will, of course, include a workshop.
One wonders where the money comes from for such expenses: private mansion, servants, horses, carriages, a veritable menagerie, an open table.
Her enemies claim that she is maintained by a cohort of lovers.
She speaks of an inheritance.
Anyway, the tragic actress begins to accumulate debts.
A triumphant tour of London
In the spring of 1879, the Comédie-Française went on tour to London.
Fifteen days before her departure, she received a visit from an American named Jarret.
He's an impresario.
At first, he offers Sarah, during her London tour, to introduce her to the salons so that she can play there.
Thus, she would earn a lot of money.
In addition to the official theater, there is a very private theater.
She accepts, she needs the money.
On his arrival in Folkestone, a crowd awaits him and throws flowers shouting “Long live Sarah Bernhardt!”.
A tall young man with bright eyes yells: “Hip Hip Hooray for Sarah Bernhardt!”
It's Oscar Wilde.
The first performance of the act of “Phèdre” that she plays, inserted between two pieces by Molière, transports the London audience.
This is delirium!
The Morning Post critic compares her to ... a panther!
It is well thought, she loves wild animals.
In her hotel on rue Fortuny, she has only four dogs, a monkey and a parrot.
She is therefore driven to the Liverpool Zoo and asks the owner Mr. Cross to sell her ... two lions!
He presents her with two superb felines but Sarah realizes that it will be difficult for her to take the train back to London with two roaring beasts!
She falls back on a cheetah of more modest size and a rather terrifying wolfdog!
Mr. Cross gives her, as a bonus, six dwarf chameleons and a saurian, a prehistoric animal that changes from soft green to black green, sometimes swells and becomes stocky like a toad… She is delighted!
She buys him a necklace and a gold chain and places the big lizard on his shoulder!
Back in Paris, the roars of the cheetah, the howls of dogs and the cries of a parrot cause confusion in the neighborhood.
The newspapers seize the affair, Sarah is decidedly impossible!
The Comédie-Française is moved.
She disturbs.
During a new tour in London, claiming to be in pain, she refused to appear on stage.
She takes advantage of her visit to exhibit some of her works as a painter and sculptor.
In Paris, a wind of revolt rumbles around her at the French Theater.
The administrator asks him not to appear at the ceremony in memory of Molière's death.
He fears a cabal.
But nothing scares him!
She arrives, holding the crown intended to surround the bust of the great man.
Instead of greeting the audience as is customary, she stands in the middle of the stage, facing the hall.
After a few minutes of heavy silence, the spectators burst into applause.
Sarah would later say: “It was one of the greatest triumphs of my career!”
But nothing goes between the prestigious theater and the actress!
He is forced to play a very bad play “L'Aventurière” by Emile Augier.
She feels bad and hasn't had enough reps.
The reviews are very harsh.
She cries while reading them.
Mad with rage, she sends her letter of resignation from the Comédie-Française.
The newspapers are unleashed.
After a stay by the ocean, Sarah says: “It's over.
I learned to sculpt and paint.
I sell for 30,000 Francs per year.
I will do painting and sculpture… it will give me a second life, much more peaceful and fruitful than the first. ”
Unfortunately, his defection gives rise to a lawsuit.
She is ordered to pay 100,000 francs in compensation to the Comédie-Française.
Sarah Bernhardt's tour of America
Fortunately, the American impresario Jarret is there.
He offers Sarah the provocative, the rebellious, a tour of the United States on incredible conditions: 5,000 Francs per performance, half of the receipts above 15,000 Francs.
She will choose her repertoire and her actors.
For her rail journeys, she will have a special Pullman car with a bedroom, a living room with a piano, four beds for her staff and two cooks to prepare her meals.
She signs without hesitation!
While Jarret is preparing for the tour, she leaves for London to test some of the pieces she will perform in the United States: “Hernani”, “Phèdre” and “Le Sphinx”.
There will also be two creations “Adrienne Lecouvreur” and “Frou-Frou”.
In London, the success of these two new plays is phenomenal.
French critics, who have come, recognize this.
The tide is turning in his favor again.
He was offered a return to the Comédie-Française.
But no !
Despite her sadness at no longer playing with the handsome Mounet-Sully, she refuses to go back.
On October 15, 1880, with great pain, she separated from her 16-year-old son Maurice.
She embarks aboard the liner “America”.
The tour takes her to New York where all seats are sold in advance.
This triumph then led her to Boston, Chicago, then Saint-Louis and Cincinnati.
Back in Paris, she is there to celebrate July 14 which has just been declared National Day.
Thanks to a small plot, she manages to get the actress who was to declaim La Marseillaise to leave Paris.
It is she who will take care of it, to everyone's surprise.
She returned to Paris and wants to let people know.
His return is spectacular!
Tears roll down the cheeks of the spectators.
At the last line, a clamor breaks out, applause crackles.
In the front row, Gambetta howls with joy while President Jules Grévy continues to applaud.
The next day, all of Paris speaks only of Sarah Bernhardt's admirable “Marseillaise”…
It was then that an astonishing character, Jacques Damala, entered his life.
He's a Greek, a former cavalry officer.
He is handsome, muscular.
A real Casanova who chained the conquests to the point that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs asked the Greek Legation to dismiss him.
He was appointed to St. Petersburg.
Before leaving, he expresses his admiration to Sarah.
If she wants to see him again, there is only one solution: take a tour of the Russian capital!
The lover goes there and wins a new triumph.
She is presented to Tsar Alexander III and finds Jacques Damala there.
They become lovers, he resigns from his post and joins the actress's troupe.
He's a terrible actor.
Her Greek accent is incompatible with the character of Hernani or that of Armand Duval in “La Dame aux Camélias”, Sarah's new success.
What does it matter!
She finds it perfect!
They married in London on April 2, 1882. From now on, this husband will be a cross for her!
Not only is he a bad actor, he also takes drugs.
She tries to impose it.
It's a disaster.
Of course, it will end badly.
He leaves her, then comes back more and more drugged.
She files for divorce.
A bad patch for her ...
Sarah rises from the ashes
After the failures caused by her lamentable husband, she found immense success with “Théodora”, a play by Victorien Sardou.
She toured South America which earned her 800,000 francs.
She then left rue Fortuny for a private mansion on boulevard Pereire.
It's a huge caravanserai, filled with all his travel memories, his favorite animals and his gigantic wardrobe.
She has several secretaries who go through her ministerial mail.
Every morning, she receives pell-mell the authors, the actors and the suppliers.
His whole life is theatrical.
In summer, to rest from her hectic life, she moved to Belle-Ile, first bought a small house and then a very large destiny, initially, to be a hotel.
She will return there every year and the rhythm of her day will always be the same: after lunch, Sarah and her little courtyard go to the “Sarahtorium”: a corner planted with tamarisk trees where everyone takes a nap.
His traveling zoo causes some picturesque incidents.
In South America, she had bought a gigantic boa.
He was not to wake up for several months!
Abundantly gorged on food, he fell asleep.
She had bought it so that she could put her feet on it after dinner!
But shortly after arriving in Belle-Ile, while playing dominoes with her friends, the boa wakes up and swallows the cushions of the sofa!
She claims she only had time to grab her gun, aim and kill the odious snake!
She had also brought back a little crocodile from Rio.
He was also assured that he would sleep for three months!
Well packaged, the reptile arrives at Belle-Ile.
She undoes the package.
One of her little dogs starts barking.
The crocodile opens its mouth and swallows it in a second!
Sarah climbs on the piano.
His secretary kills the crocodile with a gun.
We stuff it.
The incident traumatized her.
Every time she walks past the stuffed crocodile, she whispers: “My dog's grave” ...
In 1893, dressed as a man, she played “Lorenzaccio”.
She also covers “La Dame aux camélias”, and “Cyrano de Bergerac”.
On March 15, 1900, she was 56 years old and played on stage the Duke of Reichstadt, who was supposed to be 20 years old.
It is for her that Edmond Rostand wrote “L'Aiglon”.
Another triumph!
This does not prevent him from taking up, once again, “Phèdre”, the role of his life.
One less leg, one untouched talent
In 1905, during a tour of Brazil, she played the stage version of “Tosca”.
In the last act, she steps over the parapet of the Castel Sant'Angelo before committing suicide.
She misses a step and seriously injures her knee.
She does not treat herself, suffers a lot but ignores the problem.
On the eve of her 70th birthday, she falls in love with a young actor, Lou Tellegen, who had served as a model for Rodin for “The Eternal Spring”.
Sarah never disarms!
In 1910, she played, for the cinema, Queen Elizabeth 1st of England in a film produced by Adolphe Zukor.
It is obviously Lou who plays Essex, the sovereign's lover.
But the actress suffers more and more.
At the beginning of 1915, in the Landes, she summons her son Maurice.
She tells him that she is in too much pain.
She must choose: either she kills herself or her leg is cut off!
The second option is chosen.
The operation is successful.
After a long recovery, she reappears on stage.
Everyone is wondering: will she have a wooden leg?
As we strike the three knocks, Tristan Bernard exclaims, maliciously: “Here she is!” ...
In fact, she couldn't support her hinged leg.
She will never work again.
She will be transported in a sort of Louis XV armchair transformed into a sedan chair: she needs two valets to move.
Another spectacle ... During the war, it was in this crew that she visited the wounded on the front lines.
She made a final tour of the United States in 1917 when they entered the war.
When she appears on stage, Americans shout “Vive la France!”
She is going to play again a little piece written for her by Sacha Guitry “Comment on Writes History”.
At Christmas 1921, in Brussels, she took over “Athalie”.
At the end of October 1922, she went on tour again in the south of France and in Italy.
It was then that she had a uremic attack.
We bring her back urgently to Paris.
She is recovering.
She says she is so happy to be working again.
But on March 21, 1925, she was too tired.
On March 23 she went to bed.
She won't get up.
The one who died so well on stage, hundreds of times, died out for good on the morning of March 26.
After his coffin, 30,000 people parade in front of his coffin, the one that had been in his room for years.
The first to pay homage to him is Marshal Foch, I told you.
The funeral is grandiose.
On his grave, at Père Lachaise, there is only written “Bernhardt”.
A rare discretion in a sacred monster for more than fifty years, undoubtedly the longest and most tormented career in the history of the theater.
Bibliographic resources:
André Castelot, Bewitching Sarah Bernhardt (Perrin, 1972)
Maurice Rostand, Sarah Bernhardt (Calmann-Lévy, 1950)
Henry Gidel, Sarah Bernhardt (Flammarion, 2006)
“At the heart of History” is a Europe 1 Studio podcast
Author and presentation: Jean des Cars
Production: Timothée Magot
Director: Jean-François Bussière / Matthieu Blaise (in function)
Distribution and edition: Clémence Olivier / Salomé Journo (in function)
Graphic design: Karelle Villais