“Such Friends”: 100 Years Ago, March 29, 1923, through the streets of Paris

Renowned stage and film actress Sarah Bernhardt, 78, had not been well.

Last year she collapsed while rehearsing for a movie and had to take a few months off from work to recuperate.

Sarah Bernhardt as Hamlet

This month she had been rehearsing for another film—and being paid 10,000Fr per day—in her home where the producers have set up a whole film studio because she can no longer travel.

A bit over a week ago, Bernhardt collapsed again and died five days later from uremia.

Yesterday a funeral mass was held for her at the Church of Saint-Francois -de-Sales.

And today, 30,000 people attended her funeral, most of them filling the streets of Paris, accompanying her funeral coach from the church to Pere Lachaise Cemetery.

Sarah Bernhardt’s funeral procession

Bernhardt is being buried in a 19^th century rosewood coffin with a mauve satin lining. Which she has occasionally slept in, over the past 30 years, in preparation for this day.

Sarah Bernhardt napping

You can see video of Bernhardt’s funeral procession here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEj5kc5Ds7U

“Such Friends”:  100 Years Ago… is the basis for the series, “Such Friends”:  The Literary 1920s. Volumes I through III, covering 1920 through 1922 are available as signed copies at Riverstone Books in Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh, PA. They are also on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk in print and e-book formats. For more information, email me at kaydee@gypsyteacher.com.

This summer I will be talking about F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway in the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Carnegie-Mellon University.

Manager as Muse, about Scribner’s editor Maxwell Perkins’ relationships with Fitzgerald, Hemingway and Thomas Wolfe, is also available on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk in both print and e-book versions.

If you want to walk with me through Bloomsbury, you can download my audio walking tour, “Such Friends”:  Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury Group.

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