Figure 1.-- Bernhardt liked to bill her many Ameriacan appearances as 'The last visit to America'. 'Phaedra' was one of the most popular plays she staged. |
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Sarah had a special place in her hear for America. We suspect it was the same impulse that sent the dtztue of liberty to America. The Frenbch intelegencia wa becoming disfainful of America's success and growing wealth. No Sarah. She had a love ffair with America and did not hide it. The French press dubbed her 'the great American actress'. Her first America tour was conducted during a lull in her French creer. She and her troupe departed from Le Havre (October 1880). The first performance was in New York. She performed in French, but even though few in the audienmce understood her--she was a gret success, presumably the result of her stage presence. Theater-goers loved her, but se was ignored by pridih New York high society as a result of her personal life. [Skinner, p. 163.] This first American tour involved 157 performances in 51 cities, including some in Canada. She traveled on her own a special train with a luxurious palace car, which carried her two maids, two cooks, a waiter, her maitre d'hôtel, and her personal assistant, Madame Guérard who had help raise Maurice. There was also accomodation for Édouard Angelo, whom she personally selected to serve as her leading man and most sources suggest much more.
There was even special trip to Menlo Park, where she met Thomas Edison. He made a recording of a recitaion, but it is now lost. She had an innate sence of publicity. Even posing for photos on the back of a dead whale near Moston. Religious leaders in America and Canada codemned her as imporal in sermons wjich of course pfobably increased ticket sales. Her performnces were dominated by ' La Dame Aux Camélias'. When theaters wanted too much of the take, she peformed in tents. She retuned to France with $194,000 in gold coins (over $5 million in 2020 dollars, some sorces say $9 million, much more of the increase in gold prices is computed). Sarah describe the tour. "I crossed the oceans, carrying my dream of art in myself, and the genius of my nation triumphed. I planted the French verb in the heart of a foreign literature, and it is that of which I am most proud." [Tierchant, 174.] There would be other American tours. Bernhardt became famous for her famous 'farewell tours' that she made (1880 - 1918. She wound up making nine tours She loved America, but one has to suspect a financial was a major motivation. It was at this time that America emerged as the worl's greatest industrial power and ruchest naion in the world.
Skinner, Cornelia Otis. Madame Sarah (New York: Houghton-Mifflin, 1967).
Tierchant, Tierchant, Hélène (2009). Sarah Bernhardt: Madame "quand même.( Paris: Éditions Télémaque. 2009).
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