Starring Madame Modjeska: On Tour in Poland and America

428 Pages·2011·5.34 MB·English

by  Beth Holmgren

starring
Madame
Modjeska
ii Starring Madame Modjeska
starring
Madame
Modjeska
on tour in Poland and America
(
Beth holmgren
Indiana University Press
Bloomington & Indianapolis
starring
Madame
Modjeska
on tour in Poland and America
(
Beth holmgren
Indiana University Press
Bloomington & Indianapolis
Publication of this book is made possible in part with the assistance of a Challenge
Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, a federal agency that
supports research, education, and public programming in the humanities. Any
views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication
do not necessarily reflect those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
This book is a publication of
Indiana University Press
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Bloomington, Indiana 47404- 3797 USA
iupress.indiana.edu
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© 2012 by Beth Holmgren
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any
information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publisher. The Association of Ameri can University Presses’ Resolution on
Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition.
> The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
the Ameri can National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of
Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48- 1992.
Manufactured in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Holmgren, Beth, [date]
Starring Madame Modjeska : on tour in Poland and America / Beth Holmgren.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-253-35664-2 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Modjeska, Helena, 1840–1909.
2. Actors—Poland—Biography. 3. Actors—United States—Biography.
4. Shakespearean actors and actresses—United States—Biography. I. Title.
PN2859.P66M6255 2012
792.02′8092—dc23
[B]
2011022597
1 2 3 4 5 17 16 15 14 13 12
For my stars, Jess and Mark

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Timeline of Modjeska’s Life and Career xiii
1
Debut 1
2
The Making of a Polish Actress 18
3
Warsaw’s State of the Stars 64
4
A Colonial Party and the California Dream 116
5
On the Ameri can Road 149
6
The Roles of Madame Modjeska 207
7
The Polish Modjeska 253
8
Farewell Tour 298
Epilogue: Finding Modjeska Today 309
Notes 329
Bibliography 385
Index 399

ACknowledgments
As I grew more involved with Helena Mo dje ska’s life and work, I regretted the
fact that I could not interview her or spend an hour or two in her presence.
But researching and writing this book introduced me to so many other Mo-
dje ska enthusiasts and experts that I feel I have been reveling in Mo dje ska’s
circle for years. Mo dje ska has made my life rich in friendships as well as the
knowledge of her fascinating life in context.
I am grateful to Anna Frajlich- Zając and the Kościuszko Foundation for
sponsoring my first forays into this book’s topic. I thank Bożena Shallcross
and David Ransel for recommending me to Indiana University’s Institute for
Advanced Studies; that fellowship equipped me with the time, resources, and
impetus to begin serious research. I thank the UNC- Duke Center for Slavic,
Eurasian, and East European Studies for a travel grant to Poland in summer
2004, where I took up the Modrzejewska trail.
The very generous leave time I received from Duke University’s Dean of
Arts and Sciences literally enabled me to review years of research work and
draft the manuscript; the research funds that the university awarded me paid
for further work in Poland and subsidized purchase of book illustrations.
Other colleagues and the venues they offered have helped me to test out
my main hypotheses along the way: Bill Johnston and Indiana University’s
Polish Studies Center; Halina Stephan, Irene Masing- Delić, Yana Hasha mova
and the Midwest Slavic Conference sponsored by The Ohio State University
Center for Slavic and East European Studies; Donna Buchanan and the Uni-
versity of Illinois’s Russian and East European Studies Center; Margarita
Naf pak titis and the University of Virginia’s Department of Slavic Languages
and Literatures; Carey Baughman and Marshall Duell and the Old Court-
house Museum in Orange County, California; Linda Plochocki, Krystyna
Stamper, and Yvonne Boehm of the Mo dje ska Foundation; and Agata Grenda
and the Polish Cultural Institute in New York. I thank them and the audiences
at these talks for their generosity and constructive feedback. I am indebted