CHAPTER XV
Sarah communicated to Francisque Sarcey her desire to return to the Comédie Française. Not that she was unhappy at the Odéon! On the contrary, she had been gloriously happy there and owed everything to the staff of that theatre. It was simply that in those days, unless one had become the great star of the Comédie Française, one was not the great star of France. It was the criterion by which a dramatic career succeeded or failed—a sort of Royal Academy of the stage. And Sarah’s engagement at the Comédie as a star would be a double triumph, since it would mean that those who disliked her and were embittered against her by personal quarrels had been forced to engage her because her genius would not let them do otherwise.
It was not an unheard-of thing for an actress to be taken from another theatre to the Comédie and starred; but it was rare. Generally, the stars of the Comédie were sociétaires—actresses who had entered the institution as apprentices, and had remained there throughout their careers. It is so even now. For an actress to be invited from another theatre meant a signal honour and a public acknowledgment that she was pre-eminent in her art.
Sarah a constant victim to writ-servers.
Exhibited at the Exposition des Incohérents, 1880.
Sarah and Sarcey.
By Caran d’Ache, 1880.
The Manifold Vocations of Sarah.
By Moloch, in La Silhouette, 1880.
Sarah and Damala in Les Mères Ennemies,
by Grimm, 1882.
Sarah Bernhardt in Caricature.
It is likely that Sarcey did not have to use much persuasion with the directors of the Comédie. His influence was unlimited there, and the mere fact that the great Sarcey had changed his opinion of Sarah—even though a majority of Paris suspected the cause—was enough to stamp her with the precious hall-mark of genius.