The Divine Sarah

THE FABULOUS LIFE OF SARAH BERNHARDT --Louis Verneuil--Harper ($3.50).

People might detest it. Others might not be able to explain its peculiar fascination. But people agreed that the acting of Sarah Bernhardt had a touch of genius about it, and this genius was a special kind that we loosely call the genius of France.

Louis Verneuil's book is the first fully documented biography of Sarah Bernhardt in English. It is a little too reverential, but gives a vivid, intimate report of the legendary Sarah. Biographer Verneuil is La Bernhardt's grandson-in-law who, like all her household, except her son Maurice, always addressed Actress Bernhardt simply as "Great." Verneuil is also a French playwright who is known in the U.S. for his Broadway plays (Oh, Mama, Matrimony Preferred) and movies (True Confession, My Life with Caroline).

Sarah Bernhardt was brought up in the salon of her mother, Julie Van Hard, who was maintained by a succession of lovers. When Mother Van Hard decided to be rid of her homely, cranky daughter who was an annual index to her mother's age, the Due de Morny, the lover of the hour, suggested that Sarah go on the stage. Her debut was unsensational, but de Moray's influence kept Sarah in theatrical circulation.

In an age of stylish stouts, Sarah's extreme leanness seemed undesirable. Said a wag: "An empty carriage stopped, and Sarah Bernhardt got out." Suddenly Sarah found herself; she began to recite poetry-- "as the nightingale sings, as the wind sighs, as water murmurs." At 35 Sarah became European Actress No. 1, and "the divine Sarah."

But fame increased Sarah's expenses faster than her income. She decided to recoup her debts in the U.S. Americans received her with open arms: "Some half-dozen Bernhardts claimed to be her father, one in Philadelphia being particularly insistent." (Mother Julie's carelessness in such matters had left some doubt about Sarah's paternity.)

But the Bernhardt repertoire, which was on the risque side, gave her a reputation somewhat like that of Gypsy Rose Lee, caused an outburst against the "perverted Parisienne, the European courtesan, who has come to ruin the morals of the American people."

Asked what she thought of the sermon of an outraged parson, Sarah said: "Everybody knows that, having no religious convictions, this man is a comedian. Therefore I consider that he is acting toward me like a disloyal colleague!"

The tour was a success. There were Sarah Bernhardt cigars, soap, gloves, handkerchiefs, stockings. Sarah usually played to standing room only. Leading citizens of Montreal fought for the privilege of dragging her sleigh through the snow. Edison recorded her voice. She made $194,000.

In France she enjoyed even greater triumphs. She specialized in death scenes; after 1882 she "died in at least three plays out of four." King Alfonso XII of Spain gave her a diamond brooch; Emperor

Franz Josef a necklace of cameos; King Umberto of Italy a fan. Wrote Victor Hugo after Sarah's performance in his play, Hernani: "I wept. That tear ... is yours." He enclosed a tear-shaped diamond.

In 1915 she had to have her leg amputated because of an infection, the result of a fall while playing La Tosca ten years before. But she continued to act until 1922. At first she revived her celebrated dying-scenes, then acted in plays written around a stationary Sarah, making a late appearance so as not to bore the audience with her immobility. She was 78 when she made her last appearance.

The City of Paris conducted her funeral when she died in 1923. For three hours Frenchmen marched in ranks of seven behind her coffin.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.