“But Mme. Modjeska did not play only in English in America. She gave
two consecutive performances in Chicago in Polish for charitable
purposes, supported by a company of amateur workingmen. One was a
comic part in a popular peasant comedy, the other a tragic queen in
a historical drama. Twice also she played in French: once in 1884 in
London in a graceful proverb of Augier entitled _The Post-scriptum_;
she was supported by the above-named Pierre Berton. The second time
she acted in French in Los Angeles in 1907 for the ‘French Alliance’
in that beautiful one-act drama _Le Pater_. As I mentioned her several
charity performances, I may be allowed to remark that Mme. Modjeska
rarely omitted an occasion to appear for charitable objects. In
January, 1909, about ten weeks before her end, already then very weak
and ill, she took part in a great benefit performance for the victims
of the Messina earthquake, in Los Angeles, giving the sleepwalking
scene of _Macbeth_.
“I will add that outside of the twelve Shakespearean plays mentioned by
you, and the two named above by me, Madame Modjeska acted in Poland in
two more--_Richard III_ and _The Taming of the Shrew_. Her repertoire
on the Polish stage known to me consisted of more than one hundred and
ten parts.”
[65] William Winter in the New York _Tribune_.
[66] _Memories and Impressions._
[67] The others being Clara Morris, Georgia Cayvan, and Julia Marlowe.
[68] This prohibition did not apply to Austrian or Prussian Poland, of
course, and she afterwards acted more than once in Cracow, Lemberg, and
Posen.
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