My Double Life

My Double Life, by Sarah
Bernhardt

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Title: My Double Life The Memoirs of Sarah Bernhardt
Author: Sarah Bernhardt

Release Date: October, 2005 [EBook #9100] [Yes, we are more than
one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on September 6,
2003]
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Language: English
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MY DOUBLE LIFE
The Memoirs of Sarah Bernhardt
1907

CONTENTS
Chap. I. CHILDHOOD
II. AT BOARDING SCHOOL
III. CONVENT LIFE
IV. MY DÉBUT
V. THE SOLDIER'S SHAKO
VI. THE FAMILY COUNCIL AND MY FIRST VISIT TO A

THEATRE
VII. MY CAREER--FIRST LESSONS
VIII. THE CONSERVATOIRE
IX. A MARRIAGE PROPOSAL AND EXAMINATIONS--THE
CONSERVATOIRE
X. MY FIRST ENGAGEMENT
XI. MY DÉBUT AT THE HOUSE OF MOLIÈRE, AND MY FIRST
DEPARTURE THEREFROM
XII. AT THE GYMNASE THEATRE--A TRIP TO SPAIN
XIII. FROM THE PORTE ST. MARTIN THEATRE TO THE
ODÉON
XIV. "LE PASSANT"--AT THE TUILERIES--FIRE IN MY FLAT
XV. THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR
XVI. SARAH BERNHARDT'S AMBULANCE AT THE ODÉON
THEATRE
XVII. PARIS BOMBARDED
XVIII. A BOLD JOURNEY THROUGH THE GERMAN LINES
XIX. MY RETURN TO PARIS--THE COMMUNE--AT ST.
GERMAIN-EN-LAYE
XX. VICTOR HUGO
XXI. A MEMORABLE SUPPER
XXII. AT THE COMÉDIE FRANÇAISE AGAIN--SCULPTURE

XXIII. A DESCENT INTO THE ENFER DU PLOGOFF--MY FIRST
APPEARANCE AS PHÈDRE--THE DECORATION OF MY NEW
MANSION
XXIV. ALEXANDRE DUMAS--"L'ETRANGÈRE"--MY
SCULPTURE AT THE SALON
XXV. "HERNANI"--A TRIP IN A BALLOON
XXVI. THE COMÉDIE GOES TO LONDON
XXVII. LONDON LIFE--MY FIRST PERFORMANCE AT THE
GAIETY THEATRE
XXVIII. MY PERFORMANCE IN LONDON--MY
EXHIBITION--MY WILD ANIMALS--TROUBLE WITH THE
COMÉDIE FRANÇAISE
XXIX. THE COMÉDIE FRANÇAISE RETURNS TO
PARIS--SARAH BERNHARDT'S COMMENTS ON ACTORS AND
ACTRESSES OF THE DAY
XXX. MY DEPARTURE FROM THE COMÉDIE
FRANÇAISE--PREPARATIONS FOR MY FIRST AMERICAN
TOUR--ANOTHER VISIT TO LONDON
XXXI. A TOUR IN DENMARK--ROYAL FAMILIES--THE
"TWENTY-EIGHT DAYS" OF SARAH BERNHARDT
XXXII. EXPERIENCES AND REFLECTIONS ON BOARD SHIP
FROM HAVRE TO NEW YORK
XXXIII. ARRIVAL IN NEW YORK--AMERICAN
REPORTERS--THE CUSTOM HOUSE--PERFORMANCES IN NEW
YORK--A VISIT TO EDISON AT MENLO PARK
XXXIV. AT BOSTON--STORY OF THE WHALE
XXXV. MONTREAL'S GRAND RECEPTION--THE POET

FRÉCHETTE--AN ESCAPADE ON THE ST. LAWRENCE RIVER
XXXVI.
SPRINGFIELD--BALTIMORE--PHILADELPHIA--CHICAGO--AD
VENTURES BETWEEN ST. LOUIS AND CINCINNATI--CAPITAL
PUNISHMENT
XXXVII. NEW ORLEANS AND OTHER AMERICAN CITIES--A
VISIT TO THE FALLS OF NIAGARA
XXXVIII. THE RETURN TO FRANCE--THE WELCOME AT
HAVRE
INDEX

I
CHILDHOOD
My mother was fond of travelling: she would go from Spain to England,
from London to Paris, from Paris to Berlin, and from there to
Christiania; then she would come back, embrace me, and set out again
for Holland, her native country. She used to send my nurse clothing for
herself and cakes for me. To one of my aunts she would write: "Look
after little Sarah; I shall return in a month's time." A month later she
would write to another of her sisters: "Go and see the child at her
nurse's; I shall be back in a couple of weeks."
My mother's age was nineteen; I was three years old, and my two aunts
were seventeen and twenty years of age; another aunt was fifteen, and
the eldest was twenty-eight; but the last one lived at Martinique, and
was the mother of six children. My grandmother was blind, my
grandfather dead, and my father had been in China for the last two
years. I have no idea why he had gone there.
My youthful aunts always promised to come to see me, but rarely kept
their word. My nurse hailed from Brittany, and lived near Quimperlé,

in a little white house with a low thatched roof, on which wild
gilly-flowers grew. That was the first flower which charmed my eyes as
a child, and I have loved it ever since. Its leaves are heavy and
sad-looking, and its petals are made of the setting sun.
Brittany is a long