Title	[Postcard of Sarah Bernhardt, "Macbeth]
Date	Undated
Production	Macbeth
Character roles	Sarah Bernhardt (Lady Macbeth)
Artistic roles	Sarah Bernhardt (Actor)
Genre	Shakespeare tragedy
Theme	Women in 19th C. Theatre
Item description	Black and white photographic postcard of French actress Sarah Bernhardt (1844-1923) as Lady Macbeth. The postcard was produced by B. J. C. Paris and has a divided back containing instructions for use in French. There is a stamp and postmark on the lower right corner of the picture side of the card. The card was never addressed and contains a short message on the picture side of the card.
Object narrative	Sarah Bernhardt (1844-1923) was born in France and over the course of her lifetime became the first truly international celebrity actor. Born to a courtesan in Paris, Bernhardt was virtually ignored by her mother for much of her childhood, being raised by a nanny and educated in a convent. This treatment, it is believed, led to her particularly sensitive, nervous and dramatic temperament the rest of her life, and her life motto, Quand mme, which means In spite of all, or No matter what. Not happy with Sarahs decision to become a nun, one of her mothers clients arranged for Sarah to enter the Conservatoire, the training school for the Comdie Franaise, in 1860. After finishing her training and an unimpressive debut at the Comdie, she left that company after having an impetuous argument with one of the older actresses. Brief appearances at smaller theatres and an absence during which she had a child led to her resurfacing at the Odon theatre in 1866, where she began her rise to notoriety with such plays as Le Passant and Victor Hugos Ruy Blas. By 1872, she had become quite popular and the Comdie wanted her back. Paying a fine for leaving her contract at the Odon was acceptable to the shrewd Bernhardt, who was only interested in advancing her career. She signed a twenty year contract with the Comdie and began making hits in plays such as Phdre and Hernani. Her celebrity rose even higher as her eccentric behavior became known in the press. She was known for sleeping in a coffin at the foot of her bed and having a human skeleton in her bedroom, as well as having a rather exotic collection of pets, including a tortoise and an alligator. She had a fascination with death and believed she would die young, rehearsing for the event by playing as many heroines with death scenes as she could. Her acting style was highly melodramatic, relying on facial expressions, planned gestures, and her rich voice to create passionate and tortured characters. In 1880 she continued her tradition of breaking her contracts and left the Comdie Franaise for more extensive fame. Over the next forty years she would tour to virtually every habitable continent of the world and make millions of dollars, earning herself the title, 'The Divine Sarah.' This photographic postcard depicts Mme. Bernhardt in the role of Lady Macbeth, which she opened with in 1884 to a translation of the Shakespeare by Jean Richepin. There is a stamp and postmark on the picture side of the card dated 1904, but no correspondence or addressee written on the back. A series of Lady Macbeth photos were taken by Paul Nadar circa 1884, one of which this postcard may be a reproduction of. A handwritten note on the picture side of the card says gracieuse bonjour Marthe or gracious hello Martha.
Type	Image
Original format	Correspondence
Original publisher	[Place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified]
Language	en
Contributing institution	Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, UNCG University Libraries
Source collection	MSS255 Robert C. Hansen Performing Arts Collection
Series/grouping	10.1.1: Photographs, Cards, Caricatures/Satire and Other Pictoral Materials -- Photographs -- People
Box	91
Finding aid link	http://library.uncg.edu/info/depts/scua/collections/manuscripts/ead/mss255.xml
Preferred citation	[Identification of item], Robert C. Hansen Performing Arts Collection, 1753-2006 (MSS255), Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives and Manuscripts, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, NC, USA.
Rights statement	http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/
Additional rights information	NO COPYRIGHT - UNITED STATES. This item has been determined to be free of copyright restrictions in the United States. The user is responsible for determing actual copyright status for any reuse of the material.
Object ID	MSS255.091.016
Digital publisher	The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, University Libraries, PO Box 26170, Greensboro NC 27402-6170, 336.334.5304
OCLC number	872280718

[Postcard of Sarah Bernhardt, "Macbeth"]

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