Florence Kahn (actress)
Encyclopedia
Florence Kahn (born 3 March 1878 in Memphis
, Tennessee
– died 13 January 1951 in Rapallo
, Italy
) was a Jewish American
actress and the first wife of caricaturist
and parodist
Sir Max Beerbohm
.
who married Pauline Freiberg, a member of a prominent Cincinatti family. He founded the dry goods
firm of Kahn & Freiberg in Memphis
in 1860 and was also an amateur Shakespeare
scholar. Florence's brother Samuel Kahn became an editor of The Commercial Appeal
in Memphis. She attended the Clara Conway Institute, a private school in Memphis, and had dancing lessons before going to a 'finishing school', which she left in June 1894. In 1895 she studied drama at Miss Grace Llewellyn's studio in Memphis. She also attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts
in New York.
Florence Kahn appeared in the first American performance of Maeterlink
's Intérieur in February 1896. On graduating in April 1897 she joined a touring company as the female lead in The Girl I Left Behind Me. In Spring 1898 she played Lady de Winter in The Musketeers with Paul Gilmore in New York, and later on tour.
Kahn appeared in New York in El Gran Galeoto by José Echegaray
at the Carnegie Lyceum New York
in 1899, and went on to become a well-known Broadway
actress noted for her roles in the plays of Ibsen
. She played Hilda in the first performance of When We Dead Awaken
in America which took place at the Carnegie Lyceum on January 16 1900. She also appeared in The Master Builder
(1900) as Hilda Wangel.
Of her performance in the latter The New York Times
wrote:
Kahn also appeared with the actor Richard Mansfield
, as Chorus in Shakespeare
's Henry V
in 1900. She appeared in Don Caesar's Return by Victor Mapes at Wallack's Theatre
in New York in 1901. In March 1904 Kahn appeared as Rebecca West in Ibsen
's Rosmersholm
, but the production was not a success and closed quickly, with Kahn receiving much of the blame:
After the failure of Rosmersholm in New York, in 1904 she travelled to Great Britain
with a letter of introduction to Max Beerbohm
. Beerbohm became infatuated with Kahn and called on her regularly, taking her to meet his family. On her return to America in 1907 Kahn appeared in Ibsen
's Hedda Gabler
and Rosmersholm
in New York
's Lyric Theatre
.
In February 1908 Kahn returned to Britain where she appeared as Rebecca West in Ibsen's Rosmersholm
, opening at Terry's Theatre
. She then toured Britain presenting a series of readings, on one occasion appearing before King Edward VII
. It was during this tour that she was courted by Beerbohm and they became engaged in 1908.
in Italy
where they remained for the rest of their lives apart from when they returned to the United Kingdom
during World War I
and World War II
. From the start of the marriage, Beerbohm's friends did not like Kahn, thinking the couple ill-matched. They thought Kahn to be "nervous, shy, timid, retiring, humourless, moralizing, idealizing, prudish, frequently sad and depressed and anti-social", in fact the very opposite of Beerbohm.
In 1931 the Beerbohms returned to Britain so that Kahn could act in Luigi Pirandello
's play La Vita che ti Diedi (The Life I Gave You) with a small repertory
company in Huddersfield. She returned again in 1935 to play Ase in Peer Gynt
at the Old Vic
, and in February 1936 she played the Duchess of Gloucester
in the Oxford Union
Dramatic Society's production of Richard II
, directed by John Gielgud
. In 1936 Kahn appeared with Gielgud as Mrs Caypor in Alfred Hitchcock
's film Secret Agent. At that time not only had she never made a film before but she had never seen one either.
She became Lady Beerbohm when her husband was knight
ed in 1939.
Florence Kahn died at Rapallo
in Italy in 1951 aged 72. She was cremated in Genoa
and her ashes scattered from a boat in the Bay of Tigullio. In 1956 her widow
er Max Beerbohm
married his companion and secretary Elisabeth Jungmann
on his death bed.
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
– died 13 January 1951 in Rapallo
Rapallo
Rapallo is a municipality in the province of Genoa, in Liguria, northern Italy. As of 2007 it counts approximately 34,000 inhabitants, it is part of the Tigullio Gulf and is located in between Portofino and Chiavari....
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
) was a Jewish American
People of the United States
The people of the United States, also known as simply Americans or American people, are the inhabitants or citizens of the United States. The United States is a multi-ethnic nation, home to people of different ethnic and national backgrounds...
actress and the first wife of caricaturist
Caricature
A caricature is a portrait that exaggerates or distorts the essence of a person or thing to create an easily identifiable visual likeness. In literature, a caricature is a description of a person using exaggeration of some characteristics and oversimplification of others.Caricatures can be...
and parodist
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
Sir Max Beerbohm
Max Beerbohm
Sir Henry Maximilian "Max" Beerbohm was an English essayist, parodist and caricaturist best known today for his 1911 novel Zuleika Dobson.-Early life:...
.
Acting career
Her father Louis Kahn was a German-Jewish immigrant from BadenBaden
Baden is a historical state on the east bank of the Rhine in the southwest of Germany, now the western part of the Baden-Württemberg of Germany....
who married Pauline Freiberg, a member of a prominent Cincinatti family. He founded the dry goods
Dry goods
Dry goods are products such as textiles, ready-to-wear clothing, and sundries. In U.S. retailing, a dry goods store carries consumer goods that are distinct from those carried by hardware stores and grocery stores, though "dry goods" as a term for textiles has been dated back to 1742 in England or...
firm of Kahn & Freiberg in Memphis
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
in 1860 and was also an amateur Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
scholar. Florence's brother Samuel Kahn became an editor of The Commercial Appeal
The Commercial Appeal
The Commercial Appeal is the predominant daily newspaper of Memphis, Tennessee, and its surrounding metropolitan area. It is owned by The E. W. Scripps Company, a major North American media company. Scripps also owned the former afternoon paper, the Memphis Press-Scimitar, which it folded in...
in Memphis. She attended the Clara Conway Institute, a private school in Memphis, and had dancing lessons before going to a 'finishing school', which she left in June 1894. In 1895 she studied drama at Miss Grace Llewellyn's studio in Memphis. She also attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts
American Academy of Dramatic Arts
The American Academy of Dramatic Arts is a fully accredited two-year conservatory with facilities located in Manhattan, New York City – at 120 Madison Avenue, in a landmark building designed by noted architect Stanford White as the original Colony Club – and in Hollywood, California...
in New York.
Florence Kahn appeared in the first American performance of Maeterlink
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...
's Intérieur in February 1896. On graduating in April 1897 she joined a touring company as the female lead in The Girl I Left Behind Me. In Spring 1898 she played Lady de Winter in The Musketeers with Paul Gilmore in New York, and later on tour.
Kahn appeared in New York in El Gran Galeoto by José Echegaray
José Echegaray
José Echegaray y Eizaguirre was a Spanish civil engineer, mathematician, statesman, and one of the leading Spanish dramatists of the last quarter of the 19th century....
at the Carnegie Lyceum New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
in 1899, and went on to become a well-known Broadway
Broadway (New York City)
Broadway is a prominent avenue in New York City, United States, which runs through the full length of the borough of Manhattan and continues northward through the Bronx borough before terminating in Westchester County, New York. It is the oldest north–south main thoroughfare in the city, dating to...
actress noted for her roles in the plays of Ibsen
Henrik Ibsen
Henrik Ibsen was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of prose drama" and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre...
. She played Hilda in the first performance of When We Dead Awaken
When We Dead Awaken
When We Dead Awaken is the last play written by Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen. Published in December 1899, Ibsen wrote the play between February and November of that year. The first performance was at the Haymarket Theatre in London, a day or two before publication.-Plot summary:The first act...
in America which took place at the Carnegie Lyceum on January 16 1900. She also appeared in The Master Builder
The Master Builder
The Master Builder is a play by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It was first published in December 1892 and is regarded as one of Ibsen's most significant and revealing works.-Performance:...
(1900) as Hilda Wangel.
Of her performance in the latter The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
wrote:
"The only notable feature of the performance was the acting of Miss Florence Kahn as the strange girl, Hilda Wangel, a healthy buoyant creature from the mountains, who still has a touch of the neurotic in her composition, and is united to the unhappy architect by a mystic bond: who invades his househoold as one answering a spiritual call, awakens the better side of his nature to a mood of self-revelation, and inspires him to a symbolical feat which causes his death.
Miss Kahn's portrayal could scarcely be called either coherent or consistent. It was full of crudity. But it possessed a certain poetical quality, was full of youthful spirit, and was not always overwrought or artificial..."
Kahn also appeared with the actor Richard Mansfield
Richard Mansfield
Richard Mansfield was an English actor-manager best known for his performances in Shakespeare plays, Gilbert and Sullivan operas and for his portrayal of the dual title roles in Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde....
, as Chorus in Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
's Henry V
Henry V (play)
Henry V is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to be written in approximately 1599. Its full titles are The Cronicle History of Henry the Fifth and The Life of Henry the Fifth...
in 1900. She appeared in Don Caesar's Return by Victor Mapes at Wallack's Theatre
Wallack's Theatre
Wallack’s Theatre , located on 254 West 42nd Street in New York, United States, was opened on December 5, 1904 by Oscar Hammerstein I. Wallack’s was Hammerstein’s 8th production theatre and was originally known as the "Lew Fields'", a name that Hammerstein gave it in recognition of his favourite...
in New York in 1901. In March 1904 Kahn appeared as Rebecca West in Ibsen
Henrik Ibsen
Henrik Ibsen was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of prose drama" and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre...
's Rosmersholm
Rosmersholm
Rosmersholm is a play written in 1886 by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. In the estimation of many critics the piece is Ibsen's masterwork, only equalled by The Wild Duck of 1884...
, but the production was not a success and closed quickly, with Kahn receiving much of the blame:
"She 'acted' always, not for a moment was she a live woman, least of all an Ibsen heroine. She waved across the stage and coiled upon the furniture, and when the crisis of passion ran highest she looked foolish and bleated.
After the failure of Rosmersholm in New York, in 1904 she travelled to Great Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
with a letter of introduction to Max Beerbohm
Max Beerbohm
Sir Henry Maximilian "Max" Beerbohm was an English essayist, parodist and caricaturist best known today for his 1911 novel Zuleika Dobson.-Early life:...
. Beerbohm became infatuated with Kahn and called on her regularly, taking her to meet his family. On her return to America in 1907 Kahn appeared in Ibsen
Henrik Ibsen
Henrik Ibsen was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of prose drama" and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre...
's Hedda Gabler
Hedda Gabler
Hedda Gabler is a play first published in 1890 by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. The play premiered in 1891 in Germany to negative reviews, but has subsequently gained recognition as a classic of realism, nineteenth century theatre, and world drama...
and Rosmersholm
Rosmersholm
Rosmersholm is a play written in 1886 by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. In the estimation of many critics the piece is Ibsen's masterwork, only equalled by The Wild Duck of 1884...
in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
's Lyric Theatre
Lyric Theatre (New York)
The Lyric Theatre was a prominent Broadway theatre built in 1903 in Manhattan, New York City in the 42nd Street Theatre District. It had two entrances, one at 213 West 42nd Street and another at 214-26 West 43rd Street and was one of the few New York houses that had two formal entrances. In 1934,...
.
In February 1908 Kahn returned to Britain where she appeared as Rebecca West in Ibsen's Rosmersholm
Rosmersholm
Rosmersholm is a play written in 1886 by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. In the estimation of many critics the piece is Ibsen's masterwork, only equalled by The Wild Duck of 1884...
, opening at Terry's Theatre
Terry's Theatre
Terry's Theatre was a West End theatre on Strand, in the City of Westminster, London. Built in 1887, it became a cinema in 1910 before being demolished in 1923.-History:...
. She then toured Britain presenting a series of readings, on one occasion appearing before King Edward VII
Edward VII of the United Kingdom
Edward VII was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910...
. It was during this tour that she was courted by Beerbohm and they became engaged in 1908.
Marriage
It has been estimated that during their six year courtship Beerbohm wrote over 1,000 letters to Kahn. When they were apart he wrote everyday, sometimes more than once a day. After their marriage on May 4 1910 at Paddington Register Office the couple moved to the Villino Chiaro in RapalloRapallo
Rapallo is a municipality in the province of Genoa, in Liguria, northern Italy. As of 2007 it counts approximately 34,000 inhabitants, it is part of the Tigullio Gulf and is located in between Portofino and Chiavari....
in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
where they remained for the rest of their lives apart from when they returned to the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. From the start of the marriage, Beerbohm's friends did not like Kahn, thinking the couple ill-matched. They thought Kahn to be "nervous, shy, timid, retiring, humourless, moralizing, idealizing, prudish, frequently sad and depressed and anti-social", in fact the very opposite of Beerbohm.
In 1931 the Beerbohms returned to Britain so that Kahn could act in Luigi Pirandello
Luigi Pirandello
Luigi Pirandello was an Italian dramatist, novelist, and short story writer awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1934, for his "bold and brilliant renovation of the drama and the stage." Pirandello's works include novels, hundreds of short stories, and about 40 plays, some of which are written...
's play La Vita che ti Diedi (The Life I Gave You) with a small repertory
Repertory
Repertory or rep, also called stock in the United States, is a term used in Western theatre and opera.A repertory theatre can be a theatre in which a resident company presents works from a specified repertoire, usually in alternation or rotation...
company in Huddersfield. She returned again in 1935 to play Ase in Peer Gynt
Peer Gynt
Peer Gynt is a five-act play in verse by the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen, loosely based on the fairy tale Per Gynt. It is the most widely performed Norwegian play. According to Klaus Van Den Berg, the "cinematic script blends poetry with social satire and realistic scenes with surreal ones"...
at the Old Vic
Old Vic
The Old Vic is a theatre located just south-east of Waterloo Station in London on the corner of The Cut and Waterloo Road. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, it was taken over by Emma Cons in 1880 when it was known formally as the Royal Victoria Hall. In 1898, a niece of Cons, Lilian...
, and in February 1936 she played the Duchess of Gloucester
Eleanor de Bohun
Eleanor de Bohun was the elder daughter and co-heiress with her sister Mary de Bohun, of their father Humphrey de Bohun, 7th Earl of Hereford. Her mother was Lady Joan Fitzalan, daughter of Richard FitzAlan, 10th Earl of Arundel and his second wife Eleanor of Lancaster.-Marriage:In 1376 she...
in the Oxford Union
Oxford Union
The Oxford Union Society, commonly referred to simply as the Oxford Union, is a debating society in the city of Oxford, Britain, whose membership is drawn primarily but not exclusively from the University of Oxford...
Dramatic Society's production of Richard II
Richard II (play)
King Richard the Second is a history play by William Shakespeare believed to be written in approximately 1595. It is based on the life of King Richard II of England and is the first part of a tetralogy, referred to by some scholars as the Henriad, followed by three plays concerning Richard's...
, directed by John Gielgud
John Gielgud
Sir Arthur John Gielgud, OM, CH was an English actor, director, and producer. A descendant of the renowned Terry acting family, he achieved early international acclaim for his youthful, emotionally expressive Hamlet which broke box office records on Broadway in 1937...
. In 1936 Kahn appeared with Gielgud as Mrs Caypor in Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
's film Secret Agent. At that time not only had she never made a film before but she had never seen one either.
She became Lady Beerbohm when her husband was knight
Knight
A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....
ed in 1939.
Florence Kahn died at Rapallo
Rapallo
Rapallo is a municipality in the province of Genoa, in Liguria, northern Italy. As of 2007 it counts approximately 34,000 inhabitants, it is part of the Tigullio Gulf and is located in between Portofino and Chiavari....
in Italy in 1951 aged 72. She was cremated in Genoa
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
and her ashes scattered from a boat in the Bay of Tigullio. In 1956 her widow
Widow
A widow is a woman whose spouse has died, while a widower is a man whose spouse has died. The state of having lost one's spouse to death is termed widowhood or occasionally viduity. The adjective form is widowed...
er Max Beerbohm
Max Beerbohm
Sir Henry Maximilian "Max" Beerbohm was an English essayist, parodist and caricaturist best known today for his 1911 novel Zuleika Dobson.-Early life:...
married his companion and secretary Elisabeth Jungmann
Elisabeth Jungmann
Elisabeth Jungmann was an interpreter and the secretary, literary executor and second wife of caricaturist and parodist Sir Max Beerbohm....
on his death bed.
External links
- http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0434831/Florence Kahn on the Internet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
] - http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9A0DE4DD1530E233A25751C0A9639C946196D6CFFlorence Kahn to Wed?; Report That Actress Will Become Bride of Max Beerbohm The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
May 2 1910] - http://www.ibdb.com/person.php?id=47411Kahn on the 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....
] - Mary Lago Collection at the University of MissouriUniversity of MissouriThe University of Missouri System is a state university system providing centralized administration for four universities, a health care system, an extension program, five research and technology parks, and a publishing press. More than 64,000 students are currently enrolled at its four campuses...
Libraries - Mrs. Max: Finding Florence Beerbohm