Talk:Sarah Bernhardt

Connection to Edward VII of the United Kingdom

It appears that Bernhardt was a mistress of Edward VII of the United Kingdom for a while. Neither article mentions this, so if someone would like to do the research it would be worth adding. -- Solipsist 09:10, 3 Oct 2004 (UTC)

If you're going to put someone in the 'gay, lesbian and bisexual people' category, I need some evidence from the article. I have no evidence whatsoever that Sarah Bernhardt isn't a heterosexual. Can someone please put that information in the article? Scott Gall 08:52, 24 Jan 2005 (UTC)

I've honestly never read much that suggests that Bernhardt was much of a courtesan, except possibly at the very beginning of her acting career, when she had an affair with Henri de Ligne (have seen it spelled several different ways), the father of her son Maurice. Most of her money throughout her life was made through her work. I've never seen any real confirmation of any supposed affair with Edward, except that she was friendly with at least one of his known mistresses. I don't think she was bursting with the conventional sexual virtue of the period, but overstating her role as courtesan overshadows her excellent business acumen and the fact that she herself tended to support her lovers.

Her career actually began at the French national theater, but legend has it that she was dismissed because she behaved disrespectfully to an established older actress. The story is that Sarah's younger sister Regine was hanging around with her backstage, and during a procession, stood on the train of the gown of an established actress, Madame Nathalie. Nathalie either shoved or slapped Regine, and Sarah slapped Nathalie. Another version of this story has Sarah doing the accidental-standing-on-the-train and being shoved, and Nathalie being slapped. I'm not sure which is more likely, but Regine was very delicate (eventually died quite young), and Sarah was known to have been very motherly towards her, so if someone had behaved violently towards Regine, it seems more likely that Sarah would have risked her career over that than over a personal insult.

4.225.129.36 07:45, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Gay Icon Project

In my effort to merge the now-deleted list from the article Gay icon to the Gay icons category, I have added this page to the category. I engaged in this effort as a "human script", adding everyone from the list to the category, bypassing the fact-checking stage. That is what I am relying on you to do. Please check the article Gay icon and make a judgment as to whether this person or group fits the category. By distributing this task from the regular editors of one article to the regular editors of several articles, I believe that the task of fact-checking this information can be expedited. Thank you very much. Philwelch 20:11, 24 Mar 2005 (UTC)

• Sandra Bernhard = gay icon, Sarah Bernhardt, not so much. Recury 02:00, 5 October 2005 (UTC)

Jewish 素性

• Is she Judaist(Judaism)? |--Sheynhertz-Unbayg 8 July 2005 18:57 (UTC)

She was of Jewish ancestry but Catholic by religion; she pointedly decried anti-Semitism in the Dreyfus Affair.

Operas from Bernhardt Plays

Someone claimed that Tosca, La Traviata, Fedora and La Gioconda, "to name a few" were all operas based on plays written for Bernhardt. I noticed that this certainly is not the case for La Traviata, which was written by Verdi in 1848. Since Bernhardt was only born in 1844, it seemed rather unlikely that she would be playing Violetta, the consumptive courtesan, before the age of 4. Someone should check up on the others too, just to make sure. A possible candidate for replacement here is Salome, which I believe Bernhardt performed before Strauss wrote his opera, though I cannot say if Wilde wrote the play specifically "for" her. Someone should check this up too. Also, I changed the operas to links, while before they were only in caps for some reason. eeesh 15:02, 8 May 2006

Wilde wrote "Salome" specifically for Bernhardt; any good biography of her will say so. I'm not sure whether or not he wrote it with her input. But they were friendly with each other.

Tosca was indeed written as a play for her (by Victorien Sardou, IIRC, a dramatist with whom she was closely associated, but the Tosca article should have that info).

The confusion about La Traviata is understandable. First of all, that name - and the name of "Violetta" for the heroine - is peculiar to the opera. The story originated as a novel by Alexandre Dumas fils (the younger), called La Dame Aux Camelias. In the story, the courtesan's name is Marguerite; camelias are her favorite flower, hence "the lady of the camelias." It was much adapted, including into La Traviata" (which means "the woman who strayed"). The version which Bernhardt was known for was dramatized by Dumas fils himself in 1853. I don't know whether he dramatized it for her or not; I don't think he did, but ICBW. It's probably just a case of them having the same source material. Verdi did not write La Traviata as early as 1848: it was produced just after Dumas fils dramatized his own story. So I think the 1848 date might be the publication of the original novel.

I don't know anything about La Gioconda (though I have a poster for it - I'm not sure about its plot and how it compares to the opera) and I'm not certain I was even aware that there was an opera based on Fedora (was the writer perhaps thinking of Theodora?) At any rate, those are minor and would probably be better replaced with Salome - so long as Strauss's version is based on Wilde's text.

4.225.129.36 07:38, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Sarah Bernhardt in Popular Culture

I didn't know about Sarah Bernhardt till I heard the song "Practice makes Perfect" by 70s british post-punk band Wire, this is how the lyrics go:

"Practice makes perfect, yes I can prove it Business or pleasure, the more that you do it

Please dress in your best things, this course was unplanned 'Cos you see up in my bedroom I've got Sarah Bernhardt's hand

Practice makes perfect, I've done this before Never for money, always for love

Please dress in your best things, and don't make a fuss 'Cos you see up in my bedroom Sarah's waiting for us"

I don't know if this is so important as to add it on the page but there it is for your judgement.

Date of birth

Most sources seem to give October 22, not October 23. By the way, "Not to be confused with comedienne Sandra Bernhard" as it says at the top of the page. That's ridiculous -- like saying George V shouldn't be confused with George Burns. It shouldn't be assumed that our readers are complete idiots. Alpheus 08:32, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

----Sarony----

I am the biographer of Sarony and am compiling a list of known poses of Bernhardt for Sarony. I can b contacted at broadwayhistory@msn.com