Bertha Kalich
Encyclopedia
Bertha Kalich, (May 17, 1874 – April 18, 1939) was a Jewish actress, born in Lemberg, Galicia (now Lviv
, Ukraine
). Though she was well-established as an entertainer in her native Poland, she is best remembered as one of the several "larger-than-life" figures that dominated New York stages during the "Golden Age" of American Yiddish Theatre
during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.
.
While still barely a teen, Kalich sang in the chorus for La Traviata
in the Lviv Polish Theatre Opera. A fellow actor, Max Gimpel then offered her a job at his pioneering Yiddish-language theater group, Yankev Ber Gimpel. During this period of her life, Kalich had been performing in Polish, Russian, and German, but when Gimpel's leading lady left for America, Kalich became his prima donna
, winning the title role in Avrom Goldfaden’s operetta
Shulamis. After a series of whilwindd performances in Budapest, Goldfaden offered her a permanent position with his company, and Kalich left later that year for Romania. She was able to pick up Romanian in a matter of months, and was subsequently able to appear in major roles there with the state theater. According to historian David Soyer, "she was such a success that anti-Semitic theatergoers, who had come with the intention of pelting her with onions, threw flowers instead."
Kalich married Leopold Spachner in 1890 at the age of 16. They had two children, a son Arthur (who died young) and a daughter Lilian.
during her the Shulamis tour, he introduced her to Joseph Edelstein of the People's Theatre who offered to sponsor her to New York. His newly founded Thalia Theater was looking for fresh talent, and there Kalich appeared in Di Vilde Kenigin (The wild queen) and a Yiddish production of La Belle Hélène (Beautiful Helen). She also took reprised former roles of Shulamis, Juliette, and Desdemona in a number of Yiddish-language productions.
In her new home, Kalich set out to emphasize her dramatic skills over her musical talents, working hard as a proponent of the Yiddish theater movement, hoping to help the theatres gain credibility in addition to notoriety. Anti-semitism in America had initially led audiences to believe that Jewism immigrants were incapable of producing anything more than low-brow, minstrel entertainment, but Thalia had made a name for itself with is revolutionary Yiddish-language translations of Shakespeare. Kalich played a number of roles in these landmark works, even beating out the other male stars for a chance to play the coveted role of Hamlet. According to Yiddish theatre scholar Joel Berkowitx, Shakespeare's plays served "as both sources and symbols" in helping Jewish immigrants "cross the bridge
from Yiddish to American culture."
It also didn't hurt that fans compared Kalich to another famous female Hamlet of the era, Sarah Bernhardt
, and in fact many newspapers would go on to call her the "Jewish Berhardt" in the years to come
In addition to her work with Shakespeare, Kalich’s performance in Leon Kobrin’s The East Side Ghetto won enormous critical praise and increased Kalich's fanbase outside of the Jewish community. This production in combination with her performances in playwright Jacob Gordin's, didactic plays brought unprecedented attention to the Yiddish stage. In 1900, she starred as Freydenyu in the premiere of Gordin’s God, Man and the Devil, and that prompted Gordin to write the role of Etty in The Kreutzer Sonata and the title role in his Sappho and Phaon especially for Kalich. These productions made it out of the Yiddish playhouses, going all the way to Broadway
, and establishing Kalich as a household name.
Along with her male counterpart, Boris Thomashefksy (1868–1939) Kalich became a darling of the press, admired by her fans and critics alike. According to theatre historian Henry Bial, monorities in American had not yet seen such accolades:
Her roles tended to be "women of the world," such as the title characters she played in Pierre Berton and Charles Simon's play Zaza
, Victorien Sardou's
Fédora (1905), Sappho and Phaon, and Magda in Hermann Sudermann's
Heimat.
Under the tutelage of Harrison Grey Fiske
, she gained in reputation, eventually going on to star in plays such as Maeterlinck's
Monna Vanna [Adler, 1999, 361 (commentary)]. She picked up English easily, however, her accent was slow to fade. She worked with Minnie Maddern Fiske for months to correct her speech, but was never completely successful. Kalich acted in a number of plays for Fiske, both original works and adaptations of roles that she had created in Yiddish. By 1910, though, "she was having trouble finding suitable roles in the light American theater for her more emotional and tragic style. Though she would go on to work with heavy-hitters like producers, Lee Shubert
and Arthur Hopkins, her Broadway career had already begun to fade.
By the late 1920s, Kalich’s eyesight was failing, and she gradually became blind. Though she officially retired in 1931, she continued to appear onstage occasionally, especially at evenings mounted in her honor that served to elevate her legacy in the Yiddish theatre community.
Late in her life, she recorded scenes from Goldfaden’s historical plays for "The Forward Hour" on radio station WEVD, but her poor health meant that she needed to rehearse long, grueling hours even for short parts. Her last public appearance came on February 23, 1939, at a benefit for her at the Jolson Theater, where she recited the final scene of Louis Untermeyer’s poem “Heine’s Death.”
Bertha Kalich died on April 18, 1939 and the age of 64 from undisclosed causes, and her remains were interred at Mount Hebron Cemetery in Flushing, Queens, New York. Fifteen hundred people attended her funeral, considered a disappointing turnout, considering her status in the Jewish community. She had come to be seen as "a relic of the theatrical past, with a manner too romantic and grand even for the Yiddish stage" Soyer notes. "But, nevertheless, in the prime of her career at the beginning of the twentieth century, Kalich played an important role in efforts to improve the artistic standards of the Yiddish theater, whose status she also helped to raise with her success with English-speaking audiences."
Lviv
Lviv is a city in western Ukraine. The city is regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine and historically has also been a major Polish and Jewish cultural center, as Poles and Jews were the two main ethnicities of the city until the outbreak of World War II and the following...
, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
). Though she was well-established as an entertainer in her native Poland, she is best remembered as one of the several "larger-than-life" figures that dominated New York stages during the "Golden Age" of American Yiddish Theatre
Yiddish theatre
Yiddish theatre consists of plays written and performed primarily by Jews in Yiddish, the language of the Central European Ashkenazi Jewish community. The range of Yiddish theatre is broad: operetta, musical comedy, and satiric or nostalgic revues; melodrama; naturalist drama; expressionist and...
during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.
Early life
Kalich was born Beylke Kalakh in what was then Austria-Hungary, the only child of Solomon Kalakh, a poor brush manufacturer and amateur violinist. Her mother was Babette Halber Kalakh, a seamstress who often made costumes for local theaters. Babette was an active opera fan and her devotion inspired a love for the stage in her daughter. They often attended performances together and when young Bertha came of age, her parents scraped together their meager funds to send her to private music and drama schools. At age thirteen, she joined the chorus of the local Polish theater and later attended the prestigious Lemberg ConservatoryLviv Conservatory
The Lviv National Musical Academy, M. Lysenko is a state conservatory of Ukraine based in Lviv.-History:...
.
While still barely a teen, Kalich sang in the chorus for La Traviata
La traviata
La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La dame aux Camélias , a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The title La traviata means literally The Fallen Woman, or perhaps more figuratively, The Woman...
in the Lviv Polish Theatre Opera. A fellow actor, Max Gimpel then offered her a job at his pioneering Yiddish-language theater group, Yankev Ber Gimpel. During this period of her life, Kalich had been performing in Polish, Russian, and German, but when Gimpel's leading lady left for America, Kalich became his prima donna
Prima donna
Originally used in opera or Commedia dell'arte companies, "prima donna" is Italian for "first lady." The term was used to designate the leading female singer in the opera company, the person to whom the prime roles would be given. The prima donna was normally, but not necessarily, a soprano...
, winning the title role in Avrom Goldfaden’s operetta
Operetta
Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre.-Origins:...
Shulamis. After a series of whilwindd performances in Budapest, Goldfaden offered her a permanent position with his company, and Kalich left later that year for Romania. She was able to pick up Romanian in a matter of months, and was subsequently able to appear in major roles there with the state theater. According to historian David Soyer, "she was such a success that anti-Semitic theatergoers, who had come with the intention of pelting her with onions, threw flowers instead."
Kalich married Leopold Spachner in 1890 at the age of 16. They had two children, a son Arthur (who died young) and a daughter Lilian.
Coming to America
Even at this tender age Kalich already had a major career in at least three countries and four languages. Her success prompted jealousies, however and in 1894 there was rumored to be an assassination plot in the works by some of her rivals. Having met Joseph RumshinskyJoseph Rumshinsky
Joseph Rumshinsky , Jewish composer born near Vilna in Lithuania . Rumshinsky - with Sholom Secunda, Alexander Olshanetsky, and Abraham Ellstein - is considered one of the "big four" of American Yiddish theater....
during her the Shulamis tour, he introduced her to Joseph Edelstein of the People's Theatre who offered to sponsor her to New York. His newly founded Thalia Theater was looking for fresh talent, and there Kalich appeared in Di Vilde Kenigin (The wild queen) and a Yiddish production of La Belle Hélène (Beautiful Helen). She also took reprised former roles of Shulamis, Juliette, and Desdemona in a number of Yiddish-language productions.
In her new home, Kalich set out to emphasize her dramatic skills over her musical talents, working hard as a proponent of the Yiddish theater movement, hoping to help the theatres gain credibility in addition to notoriety. Anti-semitism in America had initially led audiences to believe that Jewism immigrants were incapable of producing anything more than low-brow, minstrel entertainment, but Thalia had made a name for itself with is revolutionary Yiddish-language translations of Shakespeare. Kalich played a number of roles in these landmark works, even beating out the other male stars for a chance to play the coveted role of Hamlet. According to Yiddish theatre scholar Joel Berkowitx, Shakespeare's plays served "as both sources and symbols" in helping Jewish immigrants "cross the bridge
from Yiddish to American culture."
It also didn't hurt that fans compared Kalich to another famous female Hamlet of the era, Sarah Bernhardt
Sarah Bernhardt
Sarah Bernhardt was a French stage and early film actress, and has been referred to as "the most famous actress the world has ever known". Bernhardt made her fame on the stages of France in the 1870s, and was soon in demand in Europe and the Americas...
, and in fact many newspapers would go on to call her the "Jewish Berhardt" in the years to come
In addition to her work with Shakespeare, Kalich’s performance in Leon Kobrin’s The East Side Ghetto won enormous critical praise and increased Kalich's fanbase outside of the Jewish community. This production in combination with her performances in playwright Jacob Gordin's, didactic plays brought unprecedented attention to the Yiddish stage. In 1900, she starred as Freydenyu in the premiere of Gordin’s God, Man and the Devil, and that prompted Gordin to write the role of Etty in The Kreutzer Sonata and the title role in his Sappho and Phaon especially for Kalich. These productions made it out of the Yiddish playhouses, going all the way to Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
, and establishing Kalich as a household name.
Along with her male counterpart, Boris Thomashefksy (1868–1939) Kalich became a darling of the press, admired by her fans and critics alike. According to theatre historian Henry Bial, monorities in American had not yet seen such accolades:
Her roles tended to be "women of the world," such as the title characters she played in Pierre Berton and Charles Simon's play Zaza
Zaza
Zaza may refer to:* The Zaza people, an ethnic group in eastern Anatolia * The Zazaki language, spoken by the Zaza, also called Dimili, Dımılki, Dimli, Kirmancki-People:* Karim Zaza, a Moroccan goalkeeper* Neil Zaza, a guitar player...
, Victorien Sardou's
Victorien Sardou
Victorien Sardou was a French dramatist. He is best remembered today for his development, along with Eugène Scribe, of the well-made play...
Fédora (1905), Sappho and Phaon, and Magda in Hermann Sudermann's
Hermann Sudermann
Hermann Sudermann was a German dramatist and novelist.- Early career :He was born at Matzicken, a village just to the east of Heydekrug in the Province of Prussia , close to the Russian frontier...
Heimat.
Under the tutelage of Harrison Grey Fiske
Harrison Grey Fiske
Harrison Grey Fiske was an American journalist, playwright and Broadway producer who fought against the "Theatrical Syndicate" that formed around the turn of the twentieth century.-Early Life:...
, she gained in reputation, eventually going on to star in plays such as Maeterlinck's
Maurice Maeterlinck
Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck, also called Comte Maeterlinck from 1932, was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who wrote in French. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911. The main themes in his work are death and the meaning of life...
Monna Vanna [Adler, 1999, 361 (commentary)]. She picked up English easily, however, her accent was slow to fade. She worked with Minnie Maddern Fiske for months to correct her speech, but was never completely successful. Kalich acted in a number of plays for Fiske, both original works and adaptations of roles that she had created in Yiddish. By 1910, though, "she was having trouble finding suitable roles in the light American theater for her more emotional and tragic style. Though she would go on to work with heavy-hitters like producers, Lee Shubert
Lee Shubert
Levi "Lee" Shubert was a Polish-born American theatre owner/operator and producer and the oldest of seven siblings of the theatrical Shubert family....
and Arthur Hopkins, her Broadway career had already begun to fade.
On the decline
Kalich left New York for Hollywood in 1914, where she appeared in a few noteable films, including a reprise of her hit Broadway role in Marta of the Lowlands. Success was short-lived, howver, and by 1915, Kalich was frequently returning to Yiddish roles to supplement her income. Her mainstream success in the American theatrical world enhanced her prestige there, and she began to receive top billing at the Second Avenue Theatre alongside stars like David Kessler.By the late 1920s, Kalich’s eyesight was failing, and she gradually became blind. Though she officially retired in 1931, she continued to appear onstage occasionally, especially at evenings mounted in her honor that served to elevate her legacy in the Yiddish theatre community.
Late in her life, she recorded scenes from Goldfaden’s historical plays for "The Forward Hour" on radio station WEVD, but her poor health meant that she needed to rehearse long, grueling hours even for short parts. Her last public appearance came on February 23, 1939, at a benefit for her at the Jolson Theater, where she recited the final scene of Louis Untermeyer’s poem “Heine’s Death.”
Bertha Kalich died on April 18, 1939 and the age of 64 from undisclosed causes, and her remains were interred at Mount Hebron Cemetery in Flushing, Queens, New York. Fifteen hundred people attended her funeral, considered a disappointing turnout, considering her status in the Jewish community. She had come to be seen as "a relic of the theatrical past, with a manner too romantic and grand even for the Yiddish stage" Soyer notes. "But, nevertheless, in the prime of her career at the beginning of the twentieth century, Kalich played an important role in efforts to improve the artistic standards of the Yiddish theater, whose status she also helped to raise with her success with English-speaking audiences."
Theatre
- Fedora [Revival] by Victorien Sardou. Prod. George Fawcett. American Theatre, New York. 22 May 1905 - May 1905.
- Monna Vanna by Maurice MaeterlinckMaurice MaeterlinckMaurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck, also called Comte Maeterlinck from 1932, was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who wrote in French. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911. The main themes in his work are death and the meaning of life...
, Trans. John Severance. Prod. Harrison Grey FiskeHarrison Grey FiskeHarrison Grey Fiske was an American journalist, playwright and Broadway producer who fought against the "Theatrical Syndicate" that formed around the turn of the twentieth century.-Early Life:...
. Manhattan Theatre, New York. 23 Oct 1905 - Dec 1905. [Giovanna] - The Kreutzer SonataThe Kreutzer SonataThe Kreutzer Sonata is a novella by Leo Tolstoy, published in 1889 and promptly censored by the Russian authorities. The work is an argument for the ideal of sexual abstinence and an in-depth first-person description of jealous rage...
[Revival] adapted from the Yiddish play written by Jacob Gordin by Langdon Mitchell, based on a story by Leo TolstoyLeo TolstoyLev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist...
. Dir. Harrison Grey FiskeHarrison Grey FiskeHarrison Grey Fiske was an American journalist, playwright and Broadway producer who fought against the "Theatrical Syndicate" that formed around the turn of the twentieth century.-Early Life:...
. Lyric Theatre, New York. 10 Sep 1906 - Sep 1906. [Miriam Friedlander] - Sappho and Phaon by Percy MacKaye, music by A. A. Stanley. Des. Frank E. Gates, E. A. Morange, and Percy Anderson. Prod. Harrison Grey FiskeHarrison Grey FiskeHarrison Grey Fiske was an American journalist, playwright and Broadway producer who fought against the "Theatrical Syndicate" that formed around the turn of the twentieth century.-Early Life:...
. Lyric Theatre, New York. 21 Oct 1907 - Oct 1907. - Marta of the LowlandsTerra baixaTerra baixa is a Catalan-language play written by Àngel Guimerà in 1896. The drama is considered his most popular work, having become an international sensation after its premiere. It served as the basis for an opera, Tiefland, by Eugen d'Albert, which in turn served as the basis for two films,...
by Àngel GuimeràÀngel GuimeràÀngel Guimerà i Jorge was a Spanish Canarian writer, born in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, to a Catalan father and a Canary islander mother...
. Des. Frank E. Gates and E. A. Morange. Prod. Harrison Grey FiskeHarrison Grey FiskeHarrison Grey Fiske was an American journalist, playwright and Broadway producer who fought against the "Theatrical Syndicate" that formed around the turn of the twentieth century.-Early Life:...
. Garden Theatre, New York. 24 Mar 1908 - Apr 1908. - The Witch by Hans Wiers-Jenssen, book adapted by Hermann Hagedorn. Prod. Lee ShubertLee ShubertLevi "Lee" Shubert was a Polish-born American theatre owner/operator and producer and the oldest of seven siblings of the theatrical Shubert family....
and J. J. Shubert. New Theatre, New York. 14 Feb 1910 - Rachel by Carina Jordan. Prod. F. C. Whitney. Knickerbocker Theatre, New York. 1 Dec 1913 - Dec 1913.
- The Riddle: Woman by Charlotte E. Wells and Dorothy Donnelly. Prod. George Mooser. Harris Theatre, New York. 23 Oct 1918 - Mar 1919
- Jitta's Atonement by George Bernad Shaw, adapted from the story by Siegfried Trebitsch. Dir. Lester Lonergan. Prod. Lee ShubertLee ShubertLevi "Lee" Shubert was a Polish-born American theatre owner/operator and producer and the oldest of seven siblings of the theatrical Shubert family....
. Comedy Theatre, New York. 17 Jan 1923 - Feb 1923. [Jitta Lenkheim] - The Kreutzer SonataThe Kreutzer SonataThe Kreutzer Sonata is a novella by Leo Tolstoy, published in 1889 and promptly censored by the Russian authorities. The work is an argument for the ideal of sexual abstinence and an in-depth first-person description of jealous rage...
[Revival] adapted from the Yiddish play Jacob Gordin by Langdon Mitchell, based on a story by Leo TolstoyLeo TolstoyLev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist...
. Prod. Lee ShubertLee ShubertLevi "Lee" Shubert was a Polish-born American theatre owner/operator and producer and the oldest of seven siblings of the theatrical Shubert family....
. Frazee Theatre, New York. 14 May 1924 - Jun 1924. [Miriam Friedlander] - Magda [Revival] by Hermann SudermannHermann SudermannHermann Sudermann was a German dramatist and novelist.- Early career :He was born at Matzicken, a village just to the east of Heydekrug in the Province of Prussia , close to the Russian frontier...
, Trans. Charles Edward Amory Winslow. Dir. Edgar J. MacGregor. 49th Street Theatre, New York. 26 Jan 1926 - Feb 1926. [Magda]
Film
- The Bomb Boy by Bertram Millhauser. Dir. George Fitzmaurice. Manhattan Film Company, 1914.
- Marta of the LowlandsTerra baixaTerra baixa is a Catalan-language play written by Àngel Guimerà in 1896. The drama is considered his most popular work, having become an international sensation after its premiere. It served as the basis for an opera, Tiefland, by Eugen d'Albert, which in turn served as the basis for two films,...
based on the play by Àngel GuimeràÀngel GuimeràÀngel Guimerà i Jorge was a Spanish Canarian writer, born in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, to a Catalan father and a Canary islander mother...
. Dir. J. Searle Dawley. USA, 1914. [Marta] - Slander, by Will S. Davis. Dir. Will S. Davis. with Eugene Ormonde and Mayme KelsoMayme KelsoMayme Kelso , was an American actress of the silent era. She appeared in 79 films between 1911 and 1927.She was born in Columbus, Ohio, and died in South Pasadena, California from a heart attack.-Selected filmography:...
. Fox Film Corp, 1916. [Helene Ayers] - Ambition by Mary Murillo. Dir. James VincentJames VincentJames Vincent was an American actor and film director of the silent era. He appeared in 23 films between 1910 and 1951...
. Fox Film Corp, 1916. [Marian Powers] - Love and Hate by Mary Murillo, based on a story by James R. Garey. Dir. James VincentJames VincentJames Vincent was an American actor and film director of the silent era. He appeared in 23 films between 1910 and 1951...
. Fox Film Corp, 1916. [Helen Sterling]
External links
- Bertha Kalich at Internet Broadway DatabaseInternet Broadway DatabaseThe Internet Broadway Database is an online database of Broadway theatre productions and their personnel. It is operated by the Research Department of The Broadway League, a trade association for the North American commercial theatre community....
- Bertha Kalich portrait gallery at NYP Library
- —,
- Stuber, Irene, Women of achievement and Herstory, May 17, retrieved February 28, 2004.