Jelisaveta Dobrinovic

Jelisaveta Dobrinović

Jelisaveta Dobrinović also Jelisaveta Jeca Dobrinović (Serbian Cyrillic: Јелисавета Јеца Добриновић; Vranjevo, Principality of Serbia 26 May 1841 - Osijek, Austria-Hungary, 2 February 1898) was a Serbian drama actress. She spent her entire acting career at the Serbian National Theater in Novi Sad. She is also remembered for the fact that she preferred to and did play the roles of older women. Her maiden name was Popović, and she was a member of the famed Popović acting dynasty.

Childhood and family

Jelisaveta Jeca Popović was born in Vranjevo as the fourth child of the priest Luka Popović and his wife Milica, a housewife. She taught elementary school in Sremski Karlovci and Ovsenica (formerly Austria-Hungary, now Romania) and expanded upon knowledge acquired in homeschool.

A large family of this priest gave the Serbian theater seven famous names, five daughters and two sons named Ljubica Kolarović , Katica Popović, Draginja Ružić, Jelisaveta Dobrinovic, Sofija Popović, Laza Popović, and Paja Popović who dedicated their lives to the theater. They served as an example and a model to everyone. They were welcomed to the Serbian theater, particularly in a difficult period, the period of its creative development. Together with daughters-in-law and sons-in-law, among whom were Dimitrije Ruzić, Pera Dobrinović, Dimitrije Kolarović and Laza's wife Maria Adelsheim-Popovic, This "artistic dynasty" once made up almost half of the troupe of the Serbian National Theater in Novi Sad and represented a powerful and very influential family circle, not only in the acting troupe but also in the bodies of the Association for the Serbian National Theater. The acting tradition was continued by the grandchildren of Prote Luka: Zorka Todosić, Emilija Popović, Milka Marković, Luka Popović, and his sisters Zorka Popović — Premović and Danica Popović. The last offspring of this dynasty were the great-grandchildren of Uncle Luka, Dimitrija Mitica Marković, and Ljubica Todosić, a talented actress who died very young.

Acting career

Jelisaveta became an actress at the age of 27. She first appeared on the stage of the Serbian National Theater on 4 November 1868 as Ana in the play Carp by Jovan Jovanović Zmaj. By then, her three sisters, Draginja Ružić, Ljubica Kolarović, and Sofija Maksimović, and one brother, Laza Popović, had already performed on the stage of this theater, where they were all known as capable and well-known theater "experts". She entered the stage at the urging of the then manager, Antonije Hadžić, but under one condition - to play only the roles of older women as often as possible. Her wish was accepted, and she would interpret such roles until the last day of her career. The desire of hers is just one of the riddles that surrounded her. She celebrated the jubilee, the 25th anniversary of her artistic work, belatedly, on 20 April 1895, as Pelagija Ivanovna Rogoškina, in the play The Joking Rabbit by Ivan Ilyich Mjasnicki. At the General Assembly of the Society for the Serbian National Theater, held on 5 November 1897, a decision was made on Jelisaveta's retirement, but the Board of Directors could not manage to implement that decision due to her sudden death.

Jelisaveta Jeca Dobrinović was, even at a more mature age, an actress with a nicely tailored figure, lithe and agile with a very striking character. She had an extraordinary power of transformation and from the stage, regardless of whether she interpreted positive or negative heroines, she radiated true charm. She was a conscientious and disciplined worker, very hardworking, and never caused the slightest problems to the theater management, unlike her sisters - Ljubica, Sofia, and especially Draginja, who even organized protests in the theater and temporarily left it. Through three decades of acting, Jeca behaved with dignity, modestly, one could even say in the background, not exposing herself to reproaches and not envying anyone. It was known in advance what belonged to her in the repertoire. she knew her job, so there could be no misunderstanding.

There was never an exaggeration in her plays. Although she was one of the audience's biggest favorites, she did not follow her or make concessions to her. Occasionally, in certain roles, she sang with success. She paid equal attention to each of her roles regardless of their size, and tried to work it out to the smallest detail. Tihomir Ostojić (1865–1921), a literary and theater critic, wrote the following about her role as Krezuba baba in Ferdinand Rajmund's play Raspikuća:

.... "and this is because the interpreter of that role can serve as a model of conscientiousness and virtue to any actor who has the ambition to be a true artist and a priest at Talia's temple. I mean Mrs. Dobrinović here. It is worth seeing with what fidelity and truthfulness she disguised herself and dressed for her small role. It is worth seeing with what study and consequence she played one of her grandmothers on this occasion as well, and perhaps the most insignificant grandmother. This dedication to her skill and study down to the smallest detail also distinguishes a true artist. "