The Denver Jewish news., 1919-06-25
BERTHA kALICH-TEE RIDDLE
WOMAN.

No Jewish actress, since the days Of
The immortal Rachel, has made such an
intensely profound impression upon the
world as did Nine. Bertha Kalich. Nine.
Bertha Kalich began her career A.; a
Roumanian actress at the Royal The
alter of Bucharest, continued as Polish
actress in Lemberg. then played both in
German and Yiddish and now is one of
the fnrmost actresses on the American
stage. Her polygIot career as an act
ress would indicate that she is nos
sessed of an extraordinary gift. of adap-
tation to different and peculiar condi.
tionS and that she is capable of adjust
ing herself TO every situation in life.
For 1t is difficult to attain fame in the
art of acting in one language, but it is
indescribably more difficult to acdn're
fame in the mimic art in many. Ian
guagcs as did Nine Kalicli. =
Versatile as she undoubtedly is as an
actress with regard to languages. she
is no less, versatile in The different
phases of her histrionic art and in her
entire artistic disposition The actress
who can play in five different idioms
without betraying the fact that the Ian
suase she speaks on the stage is not
her native tongue but only acquired is
also Sufficiently gifted to sing and pro
duce the sweetest tunes, to appropriate
ly paint dninty landscapes and to per-
feet characterized makeup. Nine.
Kalich is such an actress but more i'm
portant still is her vast versatility as
an actress. She is by her very nature
first cf all, a tragedienne of the great
old classical school 1t Is indeed a
great disappointment of her sife that
she may not display her genius as a
traecdienne because the American stage
no longer cultivates tragedy. The pre-
vailing realism i'm the art of acting here
has forced Nine. Kalich into n path.
where if she had been given the full
liberty of choosing. she would not have
trodden at all. But while playing mod
ern realistic drama she !as succeeded
in keeping up an cnviable height, and
connOisseurs of the art who have scei,
her play inrtlle realistic drama and have
been pleased by il would never. s,ls-
pccf that primarily She belongs to the
.grcat school of classical scting.
kalich, the classic trascdicnnc who
Is accustomed to rccite har lincs more
than to perform. to sing more than to
speak. fo display soleinnity and n grave
and cdifying dignity on the stage. turns
into II live wire. fnll of action. full of
motion, when she appears in u part of
Il modern drama. Such isN,aed rs the
ACKNOWLEDGMENT se Mmc.s k KnIicil
and criticss have often akserted about
her that there are two Bertha Kaliches
the classical actress ami the realistic
one, But the latter statement does not
in fact explain the. wonderful vcrsatih
ity of this great actress. nor. does il
bring us step nearer to an understand
ing of her wonderful personality. For
that matter we might assert that there
were two Goethes-the poet Goethc-sund
the scientist. But there was only tne
GOc'hc. whose mind embraced. the TWO
realms. the realm of imagery and that
of ideas. There is likewise hut one
Bertlin Kalich. whose mind embraces
both realms of the mimic nrt = the
classic and the realistic. I'he secret of
BertI;a Kalich's rersatilit. is that she
is one hundred per cent the actress.
She can so imbue herself with the cliar-
actcr she plays that She becomes so to
speak incarnfte with the character. no
matter whether her role IL that of .lie
classical tragetlienne or of the modern
realistic sort. This piesumes. of course.
a certnin quality of the so,l-a softness
and Elasticity. and Nine Kalich' un-