There are five kinds of actresses: bad actresses, fair actresses, good actresses, great actresses, and Sarah Bernhardt. — Mark Twain
Sarah Bernhardt has been called one of the finest actors of all time, and for one day in 1906 she performed at the Elitch Theater. She had been scheduled to appear in San Francisco, but due to the earthquake, her stop there was canceled and she passed through Denver instead. She did a matinee of La Sorciere and an evening performance of Le Dame aux Camelias.
In her biography, Mary Elitch tells the story of Bernhardt’s visit to the lion’s den where she began to stroke the head of a lioness. While the lioness sat calmly, Bernhardt asked Mary the name of the lion. When Mary said she hadn’t been named yet, Bernhardt turned to the lioness and said, ‘You are Sarah Bernhardt.’
In the 19th and early 20th century, everyone worshiped at the altar of Sarah Bernhardt. She was a stage actress at a time when the theater was the equivalent of a stadium, a global celebrity who ushered in the very concept. The fanaticism surrounding her was comparable to that inspired by the Beatles or Taylor Swift; her devotees made shrines and gathered below her hotel window; reporters tracked her movements like proto-paparazzi….
Known for her over-the-top death scenes, Bernhardt had a flair for melodrama, and in her private life, too, she was eccentric with a taste for the macabre. One of her many hats was adorned with a taxidermized bat and she had a photograph taken of herself in a coffin playing dead.
Loayza, Beatrice “Before Taylor Swift or David Bowie, There Was Sarah Bernhardt.” The New York Times, May 11, 2023.
In her lifetime, Bernhardt was most famous for her role as the beautiful Marguerite in the play La Dame aux Camellias (which she performed at Elitch.) She played the role hundreds, if not thousands, of times throughout her life, well into her old age. It’s reported that almost every time she acted in the part, the whole audience was sobbing by the time she got to Marguerite’s death scene.
On May 24th, 1906, Elitch Gardens was visited by the biggest celebrity to ever appear at the theatre — the legendary Sarah Bernhardt. The news coverage the following day gives some sense of how important this was:
It would be regarded as something of an impertinence to criticize her. She is unquestionably at the very pinnacle of her art. She makes you feel and fully recognize that fact.
And when she spoke her voice was soft and low, singularly sweet and tremulous with the vibrant quality of young womanhood. It was one of the marvels of the night, for, through the whole play, that gentle, musical, velvety vocalism was an exquisite delight. There was not a strident tone from beginning to end, and when we think of the years that have passed for this gifted creature, does not her voice become a physical wonder?
She gave a performance full of intellectual power, brilliant coloring and quiet eloquence.
The assimilation of the intellectual and emotional was strikingly exemplified in last evening’s performance. It is this quality that has always elevated Bernhardt’s acting from mere imitation to the actual representation of life and its passions.
Denver Post, May 25, 1906
J
Seasons at the Theatre
- 1906 (May 24th)
Productions/Roles:
- La Sorciere
- Le Dame aux Camelias
Notable Roles, Awards, and Other Work:
- In 1906–1907, the French government finally awarded Bernhardt the Legion d’Honneur, but only in her role as a theatre director, not as an actress. However, the award at that time required a review of the recipients’ moral standards, and Bernhardt’s behavior was still considered scandalous. Bernhardt ignored the snub and continued to play both inoffensive and controversial characters.
