The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1916-12-26
THE DIVINE SARAH
COMING NEW YEARS
VIII he Rfchmord's List Opportunity,
Beyond Doubt. to See Worlds
Most Famous Actress.

1t Is now six and thirty years since,
In the morning of glorious summer
day. Sarah Bernhard set sail for the
! first time. from Havre. bound for New
York.
| or her companions on that journey
| most are dead But she still lives and
acts and works and charms as ever,
When Nine. Bernhard appears here,
| oe New Years night at the Academy,
she Will have as her leading man, M.
Jean Angelo. a son of the long popu-
| lar actor who supported her in 1880.
He has come over here on furlough,
from the trenches He will soon be
on his way back to the French front.
As for Nine. Bernhardt. though her
shadow has grown less--for has she
not been through the anguish of los
/ ing one OF her neither limbs her en-
ergy, her art. her voice. her genius
| have, according to many who have
seen her lately. lost nothing by the
unhalting flight OF time At the age
of seventy-one she has broadened her
repertory by the addition of about
ten short new plays. She who TIL re-
Gently, rejected realism as an offense
to drama, has to a small extent at
least confessed that realistic art. like
tragic and romantic art. should have
q hraiihs' Az cNiuenCe OF tntS new
tolerance. she will impersonate an un-
happy victim of the opium habit. in
! study OF strange and moving kind
! entitled "Cendres d'Opium"
But now as ever. Nine. Bernhardt
pins her faith chiefly to romanticism
Her gods are Shakespeare, Rostand
and Victor Hugo. In Rostand above
all French modern writer's, she has
unbounded faith. Corneille. she would
tell you. may have been his dramatic
ancestor. But he has put new life and
sr!endor into stage art by concetvins
tFrano, La Princesse Lointalne"
L Aiglon," and Les Ronanesoues,
There are very human reasons for
her preference In the case of Rostand
| Did he not years ago save her from
drowning off the coast Of Brittany
The world at large admires him for
that deed. no less than for the art
which helped him to write "LAiglon,"
A year ago NJ Rostand paid new
tribute To the grande tragedienne by
inventing a sonnet. simply and touch
/ ingly addressed ITO Sarah" The in
| spiration for this poem was the ordeal
OF which all read at the time--the
pitiful and heroic private tragedy OF
| That amputation of Nine. Bernhard
! leg.
/ The great actress herself now treats
| that distressing episode with playful
philosophy. If she no longer walks
about with the old freedom, the fact
/ does not prevent her being eloquent
| She can still express emotions with
her voice. Her hands. her marvellous
| hands, still tell stories. When she
stands before her judges as Jeanne
dare or dies gloriously as Queen
| Cleopatra, those who have seen her
| lately say you forget her accident
And as the gallant dying soldier on
the field OF honor" she need not
walk.
At times Nine. Bernhard talks OF
| that operation almost with levity. II
fate hoped to daunt her by diminish
ing her physically. fate was baffled
| 1t is easy to understand why Mrs
| Fiske referred to her the other day
as the very spirit and soul of France
with her dauntlessness and hel
| beauty" For Nine. Bernhard hardly
knows what fear means.
| She has braved death by land and
sea. she has sat in the trenches, and
she has smiled at submarines.
! A daughter OF her son. Mile. Lysiane
Bernhardt. wrote one OF the plays ir
| which you may see her here TIL,
grandmother may interpret work
| OF her grandchild. The daughter OF
that granddaughter some day may in
vent other plays and find her great,
| granddaughter still strong enough Il
appear in them.
| The title OF one OF Victor Hugo.
! works Ats Bernhard. She is "Toutt
la Tyre" She plays comedy or trag.
edy with equal ease. and passes. al
| most without effort. from the role o.
Shylock. an old man. to that of tn.
| "Eaglet" cL'Algion"). a mere youth
and from the character Of the matur,
Queen of Egypt to that OF Juliet.
The great Bernhard will be seen a
the Academy New Years night
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