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 601 North Morton Street Bloomington, Indiana 47404- 3797 USA iupress.indiana.edu Telephone orders 800- 842- 6796 Fax orders 812- 855- 7931 © 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