[61] He became an American citizen and dropped his title of nobility. Because of the difficulty in pronouncing Chlapowski, he was known in America by his second name, and was called Mr. Bozenta.
[62] “Hill was a worthy man and a good actor ... but there will always be something ludicrous in the thought of Barton Hill sitting in judgment on Helena Modjeska. ‘He was very kind—Meester Hill,’ said the actress; ‘but he was ne-ervous and fussy, and he patronized me as though I were a leetle child. “Now,” he said, “I shall be very critical—ve-ery severe.” I could be patient no longer: “Be as critical and severe as you like,” I burst out, “only do, please, be quiet, and let us begin!” He was so surprised he could not speak, and I began at once a scene from Adrienne. I played it through and then turned to him. He had his handkerchief in his hand and was crying. He came and shook hands with me and tried to seem quite calm. “Well,” I asked, “may I have the evening that I want?” “I’ll give you a week, and more, if I can,” he answered.’”—William Winter, The Wallet of Time.
[63] It was John McCullough who at this time suggested the modification of her name. Her professional name in Poland had always remained Modrzejewska. When confronted with this, McCullough said: “Who on earth could read that, I wonder? I fear you will be compelled to change your name, Madame.” She suggested Modgeska, which he smilingly said would remind people of Madagascar. The “g” was changed to “j.” “Now,” McCullough said, “it is quite easy to read, and sounds pretty, I think.”
[64] Her first appearance in New York was in Adrienne Lecouvreur. The other plays of that season and the one following were Romeo and Juliet; Camille; Frou-Frou; Peg Woffington (in which she failed); and East Lynne (which she heartily disliked).
Adrienne Lecouvreur, Romeo and Juliet and Camille were for many years retained in her repertoire. Her appearances in other plays were as follows: Heartsease (adaptation of Camille), London, 1880; Marie Stuart, London, 1880; Juana, (a failure, by W. G. Wills), London, 1881; A Doll’s House, Warsaw, 1882; Odette, London, 1882; As You Like It and Twelfth Night, New York, 1882; Nadjezda (by Maurice Barrymore), 1884; Two Gentlemen of Verona, Cymbeline, and Prince Zillah, season of 1885–6; Les Chouans, Measure for Measure, Dona Diana, and Daniela, 1886; with Edwin Booth, Hamlet, Much Ado about Nothing, Macbeth, Merchant of Venice, and Richelieu, 1889; Countess Roudine (by Paul Kester and Minnie Maddern Fiske), and Henry VIII, 1892; The Tragic Mask, 1893; Magda, 1894; Mistress Betty Singleton (by Clyde Fitch), 1895; Antony and Cleopatra, 1898; The Ladies’ Battle, 1900; Marie Antoinette (by Clinton Stuart) and King John, 1900. In a letter furnishing some of the above dates, Modjeska’s husband, who died in Cracow, in March, 1914, wrote from Rzegocin, Posen, July 10, 1913:
“The Tragic Mask was written by Mr. E. Reynolds. It was an original play, somewhat deficient in construction; but the dialogue was very clever. Daniela was a translation from a German play by Phillippi. The translators were Hamilton Bell and Moritz von Sachs. As to Les Chouans: This was an adaptation of Balzac’s novel of the same title, made in French by the well-known actor and dramatist, Pierre Berton, and translated by Paul Potter.
“In addition to the abovesaid repertoire it must be mentioned that Madame Modjeska played A Doll’s House not only in Poland, but also in America, in Louisville, in the season of 1883–1884. This was, to my knowledge, the first production of Ibsen on an English-speaking stage. Though the part of Nora was considered in Poland, I think rightly, one of Modjeska’s best ones, A Doll’s House did not appeal then to the American public. According to local critics, and especially to Henry Watterson, the audiences were not yet ripe for Ibsen.
“Besides the plays you enumerated, Mme. Modjeska appeared yet in a few others on special occasions. Thus, in the spring of 1884, in Cincinnati at a dramatic festival, she played Desdemona to Tom Keene’s Othello. In 1905 in Los Angeles, she took part in a charitable performance and played Hermione in The Winter’s Tale, and in the summer of 1907 appeared equally for charity in a little French comedy entitled The Spark. To be complete, I must yet mention a short proverb by Hamilton Aide, produced in London in a reception for the Prince of Wales in 1883, the name of which has escaped my memory.
“But Mme. Modjeska did not play only in English in America. She gave two consecutive performances in Chicago in Polish for charitable purposes, supported by a company of amateur workingmen. One was a comic part in a popular peasant comedy, the other a tragic queen in a historical drama. Twice also she played in French: once in 1884 in London in a graceful proverb of Augier entitled The Post-scriptum; she was supported by the above-named Pierre Berton. The second time she acted in French in Los Angeles in 1907 for the ‘French Alliance’ in that beautiful one-act drama Le Pater. As I mentioned her several charity performances, I may be allowed to remark that Mme. Modjeska rarely omitted an occasion to appear for charitable objects. In January, 1909, about ten weeks before her end, already then very weak and ill, she took part in a great benefit performance for the victims of the Messina earthquake, in Los Angeles, giving the sleepwalking scene of Macbeth.
“I will add that outside of the twelve Shakespearean plays mentioned by you, and the two named above by me, Madame Modjeska acted in Poland in two more—Richard III and The Taming of the Shrew. Her repertoire on the Polish stage known to me consisted of more than one hundred and ten parts.”