Jacques Damala
Encyclopedia
Aristides Damalas known in France by the stage name Jacques Damala, (15 January 1855 – 18 August 1889), was a Greek
military officer-turned-actor, who is mostly remembered as being husband to Sarah Bernhardt
for a number of years. Damala's characterization by modern researchers is far from positive. His handsomeness was as notable as his insolence and Don Juan
quality. Writer Fredy Germanos describes him as an opportunistic and hedonistic person, whose marriage to the great diva would inevitably intensify and maximize his vices, namely, his vanity and obsession with women, alcohol, and drugs.
, Greece on 15 January 1855 to an aristocratic family. He was the second of three children to Ambrosios (Ambrouzis) Damalas (2 June 1808 – 29 July 1869), a wealthy shipping
magnate
, who later served as mayor
of Ermoupoli
and Piraeus and his wife, Calliope Ralli (6 June 1829 – 14 February 1891), whose father, Loukas Rallis, had also once served as mayor of Piraeus and Ermoupolis, Syros (he had also came up with the name "Ermoupoli") and was a member of the Executive Committee which attempted the liberation of Chios
in 1827, during the Greek War of Independence
. The other two children of Ambrouzis and Calliope were a son, Paul (Pavlos) Damalas (17 July 1853 – 25 December 1925) and a daughter, Eirini (ca 1857 – ?). The family later moved to Marseille
, France, where they spent several years, until they relocated to Ermoupoli, Syros
, after Ambrosios was appointed mayor there. The family later returned to Marseille and eventually to Piraeus.
After finishing school in Piraeus, Damala spent four years abroad, mainly in England and France, where he pursued diplomatic studies. During his time abroad, he became acquainted with representatives of high society, as well as representatives of the theatre world, since he had the dream of excelling as an actor one day. He returned to Greece in 1878 and recruited in the army. He was later trained in the Page Corps
in Russia but eventually decided to drop his studies there and return to Paris.
By the early 1880s, he had earned a post as a military attaché
to the Greek Diplomatic Corps
. He quickly acquired a reputation of being "the handsomest man in Europe", as well as the nickname "Diplomat Apollo" by his friends and the assumption of being the most dangerous man in Paris, among the several husbands who feared their wives would fall victim to his charms and be seduced by the young diplomat
. Damala was indeed considered as the epitome of handsomeness of his time, and many women of the high society of Paris were infatuated with him. He rapidly earned the reputation of being a merciless heartbreaker and womanizer of the high circles. Besides his passion for women, he was also said to enjoy the company of young men, as well. His affair with the wife of a Parisian banker, Paul Meisonnier, had ruined the woman's reputation to the extent of forcing her to leave France. It was also rumoured that he had driven two women to divorce and one to suicide
. One of his documented affairs was with the young daughter of a Vaucluse
magistrate
who had left her parents and home to follow Damala to Paris, where he deserted her when their illegitimate child was born. The young girl was never heard from again; she is presumed to have committed suicide. Following these scandals, Damala was reassigned to Russia.
by her half-sister, Jeanne, shortly before the summer of 1881. Damala and Jeanne belonged to a circle of well-known morphine-takers who were associated with the stage world. Damala had begun playing small parts as an amateur actor with the stage name of "Daria", and used to frequent the green room
s of theatres, along with fellow actors who shared a similar passion for morphine. He also frequented these places out of his desire to socialize with people from the theatre world and thus promoting his ambitions of becoming a great actor. Jeanne spoke to Bernhardt of Damala, and Bernhardt felt simultaneously repelled and fascinated by the perspective of meeting the most notorious man in Paris. Their meeting was a highly anticipated one from both parties. Madame Pierre Berton, who wrote a biography for Sarah Bernhardt, remarks the following:
"It was inevitable that Bernhardt, the famous actress, and Damala, the equally notorious bon-viveur, should eventually meet. Each knew the reputation of the other and their reputation was only the more whetted thereby (...) Bernhardt prided on her ability to conquer men, to reduce them to the level of slaves; Damala vaunted his ability as a hunter and a spoiler of women (...) Their two natures were inevitably attracted towards each other (...) Damala boasted to his friends that, as soon as he looked at her, the great Sarah Bernhardt would be counted in his long list of victims; and Bernhardt was no less certain that she had only to command for Damala to succumb".
The two soon met. Even though Bernhardt was appalled by Damala's insolence towards her, she was nevertheless strongly attracted to him and soon fell madly in love with the Greek. During that period, Bernhardt was about to begin her world tour; knowing that Damala was transferred in Saint Petersburg
and interested in meeting him again, she decided to arrange a six month stay in Russia, despite the fact she had previously – repeatedly – rejected offers of making appearances there. Indeed, she resided in Saint Petersburg for a few months, as an official guest of Emperor
Alexander III of Russia
, during which her romance with Damala flourished. The openness of their affair scandalized the social circles of the city and proved a common topic of discussion.
Theodora during the tour. Instead, she sent Sardou the telegram: "I am going to die and my greatest regret is not having created your play. Adieu." A few hours later, Sardou received a second message by Bernhardt which simply stated: "I am not dead, I am married". When asked later by Sardou why she had wed, she somewhat naïvely responded that it was the only thing she had never done. Her impulsive decision to marry was probably at her own initiative, as Damala sarcastically admitted to friends that it was she who had proposed to him. The wedding took place on 4 April 1882 on London, a city that proved a convenient choice for marriage, since religious differences would have been a hindrance for a possible marriage in Paris: Bernhardt was a Roman Catholic and Damala an Greek Orthodox. Bernhardt's son, Maurice, was hostile to Damala and contrary to this marriage.
Even though Bernhardt presented Damala to reporters with the phrase "This ancient Greek god is the man of my dreams", the marriage became the object of criticism and even satire for press. Caricatures of Bernhardt and Damala virtually flooded newspapers for months. A review of Les Mères Ennemies featured Bernhardt holding Damala like a puppet, manipulating his limbs.
Damala's marriage to Bernhardt made him even more unfaithful. Three weeks after the wedding, he had a fight with Bernhardt when he insisted she should change her stage name to "Sarah Damala", to honour him. Following her refusal, he left the house. He was missing for a few days, much to Bernhardt's anxiety, and during this time was seen in the company of a young Norwegian girl. Upon his return, Sarah accepted his excuses. The tour went on to Ostend
. At their last night there, Damala fled again and was heard from two days later in Brussels
, where he was accompanied by a Belgian woman. Bernhardt forgave him again when he returned. Despite the humiliations she endured, giving money to Damala so as to pay his mistresses and debts to prostitutes, and the fact her husband's infidelity had been a common topic for gossip, the lovelorn Benrhardt tolerated all of these. Following their return to Paris, Damala, compelled by the perspective of becoming a theatre star, decided to pursue a career an acting career. Some time later, Bernhardt bought a theatre, the Théâtre del'Ambigu, and made the unfortunate decision of appointing Maurice as the manager and Damala as the leading man.
Bernhardt's friends could not understand what she saw in him. Her contemporaries were puzzled by her decision to discard professional actors so as to perform next to a rank amateur. Bernhardt seems to have been blinded by emotion: Damala has been described as exceptionally untalented, lacking of any acting qualifications, technique, or timing, and possessing an unintelligible Greek accent. Bernhardt was oblivious of all these shortcomings, and on the basis of her attraction for him, considered him appropriate and casted him as Armand Duval in La Dame aux Camélias (The Lady with the Camelias). Bernhardt is cited as telling a (rather shocked) Alexandre Dumas
about Damala: "Won't he make an excellent Armand? Only by looking at him, you understand why Marguerite Gautier dies in the way she does!".
The couple returned to Paris and performed La Dame aux Camélias. Sarah's performance was exalted; Damala's, on the other hand, had received less than enthusiastic reviews. Damala was furious and blamed Bernhardt.
's Fédora
and again received excellent reviews. Sardou had written the play specifically for her, but had refused to allow Damala to act in it. Bernhardt appointed her husband manager of her theatrical company on tour ("Head of the Tour"), a decision that proved disastrous, given Damala's lack of skills in managing. Bernhardt was eventually forced to remove him from his post and reduce him to Prince Consort. This development, combined with Damala's frustration over the way his career developed provoked him to continue the habit of humiliating Bernhardt in front of her friends and openly criticizing her. His increasingly deeper addiction to drug
s, particularly morphine
, created even greater problems in their marriage. Damala's drug-influenced behaviour became frequently scandalous. On one occasion, while on stage with Bernhardt, a drug-induced Damala tore down her dress and exposed her bare buttocks to the audience. On 12 December 1882, Bernhardt lashed out against Damala, refusing to cover his expenses on women and drugs anymore, to which Damala responded equally explosively with his own accusations. The next morning Damala left, without notice, for North Africa
. Realizing he would never be seen as something more than "Mr Sarah Bernhardt", he decided to enlist for service in the spahi
troops in Algeria
. Bernhardt was left behind to settle for his debts arising from Damala's debts (owing to his addiction to drugs and prostitutes), as well as her son's gambling debts.
In early 1883, she went to a tour in Scandinavia along with her lover, playwright Jean Richepin
. Upon her return to Paris, she found that Damala was again living in her house. Bernhardt left Richepin and the couple reunited for a while; soon, however, the marriage deteriorated even further, due to Damala's extreme drug addiction and the final separation was to come. Allegedly, Bernhardt became so distraught over her husband while performing Ophelia
on stage, in Italy, that she finished her part earlier, came off stage and said: "That's it". Soon after, she moved him out of the house and put him to a clinic. Six months later, he returned to her house again, much to the dismay of Richepin. Bernhardt tried to prevent the pharmacists from providing him with drugs and then put him again to a clinic and later to a hotel, in the outskirts of Paris. However, the two were not divorced and the marriage legally endured until Damala's death in 1889. Since Bernhardt was very strict with her Catholic views, she only opted for a semi-legal separation, which also settled that, in return for certain sums she sent to him on a monthly basis, he would never re-enter her life.
in the stage adaptation of Georges Ohnet
's novel
, Maître de Forges (Ironmaster). The play was a great success and ran through the entire year in the Théâtre du Gymnase, in Marseille.
Damala starred in few memorable productions in the following years. He played the leading man (as Jean Gaussin) in the comedy
Sapho, Alphonse Daudet
's stage adaptation of his own novel, Sapho, mœurs parisiennes, again with Hading as his partner. The play opened in the Gymnase in Paris, on 18 December 1885. Damala also participated in the stage adaptation of another Ohnet novel, La Comtesse Sarah, in 1887.
Despite these few prolific plays, Damala was quickly forgotten or even deliberately ignored by the Parisian society, following his separation from the great diva. In March 1889, Bernhardt returned to Paris after a year-long European tour and receive a message from Damala who informed her that he was dying in Marseille and begged her to forgive him and take him back. The fact she had never stopped loving and caring for her husband was proved that very moment: she abandoned her performances in Paris, rushed to him and nursed Damala, whose health was wasted as a result of his longtime addiction. She took him in her house and after he recuperated, she cast him as her leading man in La Dame aux Camélias. Damala promised to stop taking morphine and embarked on a European tour with Bernhardt (which also included Egypt
). In truth, Damala's addiction to drugs became progressively worse. He continued using the drug and occasionally ridiculed himself, his clarity severely reduced from the morphine. On one occasion, he almost got arrested for exhibiting himself naked in the Hotel de Ville in Milan
. Damala reprised his role as Armand but after a six-week run he collapsed and was carried in the hospital. Shortly before his death, he was offered another role by Bernhardt, in the play Lena, at the Théâtre des Variêtés. Just after the second performance, he was considered incapable of playing the part, due to his now permanent lack of clarity and continuous influence from alcohol and drugs.
. Bernhardt's servants attempted to notify Damala of his child, however, he was unable to contemplate the situation, due to severely reduced clarity (a result of his deep addiction). Thankfully, his daughter's life was saved by a friend of both Bernhardt and Damala, gun dealer and future tycoon Sir Basil Zaharoff
, who proposed to take the child so that he could find a surrogate family for her. Eventually, the girl was baptised Teresa (1889–1967) and was raised in Adrianople, in Easter Thrace
.
The adventures of Damala's daughter (who had brief affairs with Ernest Hemingway
and Gabriele D'Annunzio
and posed as a model for Picasso
in the early 1920s) were documented by Fredy Germanos in his historical novel Teresa (Greek: Tερέζα, pronounced Tereza), published in 1997. The book also makes reference to Damala's Parisian life and mentions that Bernhardt remained in love with him until the end of her life. In fact, Bernhardt and Teresa Damala also met each other, years later.
Bernhardt wore mourning for a year after Damala's death. She had legally adopted his surname (i.e. Sarah Bernhardt-Damala) but never renounced it, even after her husband's death, though this was not widely known. She kept "Damala" as her legal name until she died, though her decision caused her some troubles during World War I
, when an officer in a consular office at Bordeaux
refused to grant her a visa to her passport, due to the fact the latter was Greek (King Constantine of Greece was thought to support the German side during the war and the French state refused to grant visas to Greek passports). It took the intervention of the Minister of Interior for Bernhardt to have her visa granted.
in the film The Incredible Sarah (opposite Glenda Jackson
) on 1976, by Canadian actor Jean LeClerc
in the TV movie Sarah (also 1976) and by Gonzalo Vega in the Mexican TV series La Divina Sarah (1980).
His younger sister, Eirene (ca 1857–?) had a brief affair with notorious American author and journalist Frank Harris
, as recounted by the latter in his scandalous autobiography My Life and Loves
. Harris had met the Damala family in the summer of 1880, when they were all residents at the Hotel d'Athènes, in Athens
. Harris and Eirene Damala (referred to in the book as "Mme M.") had a brief romantic/sexual affair, which Harris describes very graphically in his book. Eirene was estranged from her Scottish
husband, who had left her and returned to England. Harris also befriended Aristides Damala and the two became even closer friends when they met again in Paris, some time later. Harris also recounts an incident, in Trieste
, when Bernhardt publicly lashed out against her husband for his infidelities, to which Damala responded "Madame, you will never again have the opportunity of calling me names". He then returned to Paris. A disconsolate Bernhardt broke off the tour and also returned to the French capital and begged Harris to intervene so as for the reconciliation to come. Damala is cited as telling Harris of Bernhardt: "A great talent, but a small nature and a foul tongue".
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
military officer-turned-actor, who is mostly remembered as being husband to Sarah Bernhardt
Sarah Bernhardt
Sarah Bernhardt was a French stage and early film actress, and has been referred to as "the most famous actress the world has ever known". Bernhardt made her fame on the stages of France in the 1870s, and was soon in demand in Europe and the Americas...
for a number of years. Damala's characterization by modern researchers is far from positive. His handsomeness was as notable as his insolence and Don Juan
Don Juan
Don Juan is a legendary, fictional libertine whose story has been told many times by many authors. El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra by Tirso de Molina is a play set in the fourteenth century that was published in Spain around 1630...
quality. Writer Fredy Germanos describes him as an opportunistic and hedonistic person, whose marriage to the great diva would inevitably intensify and maximize his vices, namely, his vanity and obsession with women, alcohol, and drugs.
Diplomatic career and notorious social life
Damala was born at PiraeusPiraeus
Piraeus is a city in the region of Attica, Greece. Piraeus is located within the Athens Urban Area, 12 km southwest from its city center , and lies along the east coast of the Saronic Gulf....
, Greece on 15 January 1855 to an aristocratic family. He was the second of three children to Ambrosios (Ambrouzis) Damalas (2 June 1808 – 29 July 1869), a wealthy shipping
Shipping
Shipping has multiple meanings. It can be a physical process of transporting commodities and merchandise goods and cargo, by land, air, and sea. It also can describe the movement of objects by ship.Land or "ground" shipping can be by train or by truck...
magnate
Magnate
Magnate, from the Late Latin magnas, a great man, itself from Latin magnus 'great', designates a noble or other man in a high social position, by birth, wealth or other qualities...
, who later served as mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
of Ermoupoli
Ermoupoli
Ermoupoli , also known by the formal older name Ermoupolis or Hermoupolis , is a town and former municipality on the island of Syros, in the Cyclades, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Syros-Ermoupoli, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit...
and Piraeus and his wife, Calliope Ralli (6 June 1829 – 14 February 1891), whose father, Loukas Rallis, had also once served as mayor of Piraeus and Ermoupolis, Syros (he had also came up with the name "Ermoupoli") and was a member of the Executive Committee which attempted the liberation of Chios
Chios
Chios is the fifth largest of the Greek islands, situated in the Aegean Sea, seven kilometres off the Asia Minor coast. The island is separated from Turkey by the Chios Strait. The island is noted for its strong merchant shipping community, its unique mastic gum and its medieval villages...
in 1827, during the Greek War of Independence
Greek War of Independence
The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution was a successful war of independence waged by the Greek revolutionaries between...
. The other two children of Ambrouzis and Calliope were a son, Paul (Pavlos) Damalas (17 July 1853 – 25 December 1925) and a daughter, Eirini (ca 1857 – ?). The family later moved to Marseille
Marseille
Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...
, France, where they spent several years, until they relocated to Ermoupoli, Syros
Syros
Syros , or Siros or Syra is a Greek island in the Cyclades, in the Aegean Sea. It is located south-east of Athens. The area of the island is . The largest towns are Ermoupoli, Ano Syros, and Vari. Ermoupoli is the capital of the island and the Cyclades...
, after Ambrosios was appointed mayor there. The family later returned to Marseille and eventually to Piraeus.
After finishing school in Piraeus, Damala spent four years abroad, mainly in England and France, where he pursued diplomatic studies. During his time abroad, he became acquainted with representatives of high society, as well as representatives of the theatre world, since he had the dream of excelling as an actor one day. He returned to Greece in 1878 and recruited in the army. He was later trained in the Page Corps
Page Corps
Page Corps was a military academy in Imperial Russia, which prepared sons of the nobility and of senior officers for military service....
in Russia but eventually decided to drop his studies there and return to Paris.
By the early 1880s, he had earned a post as a military attaché
Military attaché
A military attaché is a military expert who is attached to a diplomatic mission . This post is normally filled by a high-ranking military officer who retains the commission while serving in an embassy...
to the Greek Diplomatic Corps
Diplomatic corps
The diplomatic corps or corps diplomatique is the collective body of foreign diplomats accredited to a particular country or body.The diplomatic corps may, in certain contexts, refer to the collection of accredited heads of mission who represent their countries in another state or country...
. He quickly acquired a reputation of being "the handsomest man in Europe", as well as the nickname "Diplomat Apollo" by his friends and the assumption of being the most dangerous man in Paris, among the several husbands who feared their wives would fall victim to his charms and be seduced by the young diplomat
Diplomat
A diplomat is a person appointed by a state to conduct diplomacy with another state or international organization. The main functions of diplomats revolve around the representation and protection of the interests and nationals of the sending state, as well as the promotion of information and...
. Damala was indeed considered as the epitome of handsomeness of his time, and many women of the high society of Paris were infatuated with him. He rapidly earned the reputation of being a merciless heartbreaker and womanizer of the high circles. Besides his passion for women, he was also said to enjoy the company of young men, as well. His affair with the wife of a Parisian banker, Paul Meisonnier, had ruined the woman's reputation to the extent of forcing her to leave France. It was also rumoured that he had driven two women to divorce and one to suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
. One of his documented affairs was with the young daughter of a Vaucluse
Vaucluse
The Vaucluse is a department in the southeast of France, named after the famous spring, the Fontaine-de-Vaucluse.- History :Vaucluse was created on 12 August 1793 out of parts of the departments of Bouches-du-Rhône, Drôme, and Basses-Alpes...
magistrate
Magistrate
A magistrate is an officer of the state; in modern usage the term usually refers to a judge or prosecutor. This was not always the case; in ancient Rome, a magistratus was one of the highest government officers and possessed both judicial and executive powers. Today, in common law systems, a...
who had left her parents and home to follow Damala to Paris, where he deserted her when their illegitimate child was born. The young girl was never heard from again; she is presumed to have committed suicide. Following these scandals, Damala was reassigned to Russia.
Meeting with Bernhardt and stay in Saint Petersburg
Prior to his transfer, he was introduced to Sarah BernhardtSarah Bernhardt
Sarah Bernhardt was a French stage and early film actress, and has been referred to as "the most famous actress the world has ever known". Bernhardt made her fame on the stages of France in the 1870s, and was soon in demand in Europe and the Americas...
by her half-sister, Jeanne, shortly before the summer of 1881. Damala and Jeanne belonged to a circle of well-known morphine-takers who were associated with the stage world. Damala had begun playing small parts as an amateur actor with the stage name of "Daria", and used to frequent the green room
Green room
In British English and American English show business lexicon, the green room is that space in a theatre, a studio, or a similar venue, which accommodates performers or speakers not yet required on stage...
s of theatres, along with fellow actors who shared a similar passion for morphine. He also frequented these places out of his desire to socialize with people from the theatre world and thus promoting his ambitions of becoming a great actor. Jeanne spoke to Bernhardt of Damala, and Bernhardt felt simultaneously repelled and fascinated by the perspective of meeting the most notorious man in Paris. Their meeting was a highly anticipated one from both parties. Madame Pierre Berton, who wrote a biography for Sarah Bernhardt, remarks the following:
"It was inevitable that Bernhardt, the famous actress, and Damala, the equally notorious bon-viveur, should eventually meet. Each knew the reputation of the other and their reputation was only the more whetted thereby (...) Bernhardt prided on her ability to conquer men, to reduce them to the level of slaves; Damala vaunted his ability as a hunter and a spoiler of women (...) Their two natures were inevitably attracted towards each other (...) Damala boasted to his friends that, as soon as he looked at her, the great Sarah Bernhardt would be counted in his long list of victims; and Bernhardt was no less certain that she had only to command for Damala to succumb".
The two soon met. Even though Bernhardt was appalled by Damala's insolence towards her, she was nevertheless strongly attracted to him and soon fell madly in love with the Greek. During that period, Bernhardt was about to begin her world tour; knowing that Damala was transferred in Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
and interested in meeting him again, she decided to arrange a six month stay in Russia, despite the fact she had previously – repeatedly – rejected offers of making appearances there. Indeed, she resided in Saint Petersburg for a few months, as an official guest of Emperor
Emperor
An emperor is a monarch, usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife or a woman who rules in her own right...
Alexander III of Russia
Alexander III of Russia
Alexander Alexandrovich Romanov , historically remembered as Alexander III or Alexander the Peacemaker reigned as Emperor of Russia from until his death on .-Disposition:...
, during which her romance with Damala flourished. The openness of their affair scandalized the social circles of the city and proved a common topic of discussion.
Marriage and new career
The match was far from being blissful. Damala developed the habit of openly criticizing and mocking Bernhardt in front of her friends. Bernhardt, in return, called him "Gypsy Greek" in an equal attempt to degrade him. However, in most cases, Bernhardt was so overwhelmed by her infatuation for him that she tolerated his insults and even begged him for forgiveness, a behaviour which reaffirmed that Damala had the upper hand in the relationship. After Bernhardt left Russia to extend her tour to other European countries, Damala resigned from the Diplomatic Corps and followed Sarah's theatre circle. While in London, completing the final part of her tour, Bernhardt had yet another fight with Damala. Bernhardt was supposed to have created the role of playwright Victorien SardouVictorien Sardou
Victorien Sardou was a French dramatist. He is best remembered today for his development, along with Eugène Scribe, of the well-made play...
Theodora during the tour. Instead, she sent Sardou the telegram: "I am going to die and my greatest regret is not having created your play. Adieu." A few hours later, Sardou received a second message by Bernhardt which simply stated: "I am not dead, I am married". When asked later by Sardou why she had wed, she somewhat naïvely responded that it was the only thing she had never done. Her impulsive decision to marry was probably at her own initiative, as Damala sarcastically admitted to friends that it was she who had proposed to him. The wedding took place on 4 April 1882 on London, a city that proved a convenient choice for marriage, since religious differences would have been a hindrance for a possible marriage in Paris: Bernhardt was a Roman Catholic and Damala an Greek Orthodox. Bernhardt's son, Maurice, was hostile to Damala and contrary to this marriage.
Even though Bernhardt presented Damala to reporters with the phrase "This ancient Greek god is the man of my dreams", the marriage became the object of criticism and even satire for press. Caricatures of Bernhardt and Damala virtually flooded newspapers for months. A review of Les Mères Ennemies featured Bernhardt holding Damala like a puppet, manipulating his limbs.
Damala's marriage to Bernhardt made him even more unfaithful. Three weeks after the wedding, he had a fight with Bernhardt when he insisted she should change her stage name to "Sarah Damala", to honour him. Following her refusal, he left the house. He was missing for a few days, much to Bernhardt's anxiety, and during this time was seen in the company of a young Norwegian girl. Upon his return, Sarah accepted his excuses. The tour went on to Ostend
Ostend
Ostend is a Belgian city and municipality located in the Flemish province of West Flanders. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerke , Stene and Zandvoorde, and the city of Ostend proper – the largest on the Belgian coast....
. At their last night there, Damala fled again and was heard from two days later in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, where he was accompanied by a Belgian woman. Bernhardt forgave him again when he returned. Despite the humiliations she endured, giving money to Damala so as to pay his mistresses and debts to prostitutes, and the fact her husband's infidelity had been a common topic for gossip, the lovelorn Benrhardt tolerated all of these. Following their return to Paris, Damala, compelled by the perspective of becoming a theatre star, decided to pursue a career an acting career. Some time later, Bernhardt bought a theatre, the Théâtre del'Ambigu, and made the unfortunate decision of appointing Maurice as the manager and Damala as the leading man.
Bernhardt's friends could not understand what she saw in him. Her contemporaries were puzzled by her decision to discard professional actors so as to perform next to a rank amateur. Bernhardt seems to have been blinded by emotion: Damala has been described as exceptionally untalented, lacking of any acting qualifications, technique, or timing, and possessing an unintelligible Greek accent. Bernhardt was oblivious of all these shortcomings, and on the basis of her attraction for him, considered him appropriate and casted him as Armand Duval in La Dame aux Camélias (The Lady with the Camelias). Bernhardt is cited as telling a (rather shocked) Alexandre Dumas
Alexandre Dumas, fils
Alexandre Dumas, fils was a French author and dramatist. He was the son of Alexandre Dumas, père, also a writer and playwright.-Biography:...
about Damala: "Won't he make an excellent Armand? Only by looking at him, you understand why Marguerite Gautier dies in the way she does!".
The couple returned to Paris and performed La Dame aux Camélias. Sarah's performance was exalted; Damala's, on the other hand, had received less than enthusiastic reviews. Damala was furious and blamed Bernhardt.
Separation
In December 1882, Bernhardt opened in Victorien SardouVictorien Sardou
Victorien Sardou was a French dramatist. He is best remembered today for his development, along with Eugène Scribe, of the well-made play...
's Fédora
Fédora (play)
Fédora is a play by the French author Victorien Sardou. The first production in 1882 starred Sarah Bernhardt in the title role of Princess Fédora Romanoff. She wore a soft felt hat in that role which was soon a popular fashion for women; the hat became known as a Fedora....
and again received excellent reviews. Sardou had written the play specifically for her, but had refused to allow Damala to act in it. Bernhardt appointed her husband manager of her theatrical company on tour ("Head of the Tour"), a decision that proved disastrous, given Damala's lack of skills in managing. Bernhardt was eventually forced to remove him from his post and reduce him to Prince Consort. This development, combined with Damala's frustration over the way his career developed provoked him to continue the habit of humiliating Bernhardt in front of her friends and openly criticizing her. His increasingly deeper addiction to drug
Drug
A drug, broadly speaking, is any substance that, when absorbed into the body of a living organism, alters normal bodily function. There is no single, precise definition, as there are different meanings in drug control law, government regulations, medicine, and colloquial usage.In pharmacology, a...
s, particularly morphine
Morphine
Morphine is a potent opiate analgesic medication and is considered to be the prototypical opioid. It was first isolated in 1804 by Friedrich Sertürner, first distributed by same in 1817, and first commercially sold by Merck in 1827, which at the time was a single small chemists' shop. It was more...
, created even greater problems in their marriage. Damala's drug-influenced behaviour became frequently scandalous. On one occasion, while on stage with Bernhardt, a drug-induced Damala tore down her dress and exposed her bare buttocks to the audience. On 12 December 1882, Bernhardt lashed out against Damala, refusing to cover his expenses on women and drugs anymore, to which Damala responded equally explosively with his own accusations. The next morning Damala left, without notice, for North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
. Realizing he would never be seen as something more than "Mr Sarah Bernhardt", he decided to enlist for service in the spahi
Spahi
Spahis were light cavalry regiments of the French army recruited primarily from the indigenous populations of Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco. The modern French Army retains one regiment of Spahis as an armoured unit, with personnel now recruited in mainland France...
troops in Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
. Bernhardt was left behind to settle for his debts arising from Damala's debts (owing to his addiction to drugs and prostitutes), as well as her son's gambling debts.
In early 1883, she went to a tour in Scandinavia along with her lover, playwright Jean Richepin
Jean Richepin
Jean Richepin , French poet, novelist and dramatist, the son of an army doctor, was born at Médéa, French Algeria.At school and at the École Normale Supérieure he gave evidence of brilliant, if somewhat undisciplined, powers, for which he found physical vent in different directions—first as a...
. Upon her return to Paris, she found that Damala was again living in her house. Bernhardt left Richepin and the couple reunited for a while; soon, however, the marriage deteriorated even further, due to Damala's extreme drug addiction and the final separation was to come. Allegedly, Bernhardt became so distraught over her husband while performing Ophelia
Ophelia
Ophelia is a fictional character in the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare. She is a young noblewoman of Denmark, the daughter of Polonius, sister of Laertes, and potential wife of Prince Hamlet.-Plot:...
on stage, in Italy, that she finished her part earlier, came off stage and said: "That's it". Soon after, she moved him out of the house and put him to a clinic. Six months later, he returned to her house again, much to the dismay of Richepin. Bernhardt tried to prevent the pharmacists from providing him with drugs and then put him again to a clinic and later to a hotel, in the outskirts of Paris. However, the two were not divorced and the marriage legally endured until Damala's death in 1889. Since Bernhardt was very strict with her Catholic views, she only opted for a semi-legal separation, which also settled that, in return for certain sums she sent to him on a monthly basis, he would never re-enter her life.
Life after separation and health deterioration
Following his separation from Bernhardt, Damala attempted returning to the diplomatic world. His re-entrance in the diplomatic profession proved very hard for him, though, and he remained in the acting profession. That same year, in 1883, he performed the most memorable role of his career (save for Armand) as Philippe Berlay opposite Jane HadingJane Hading
Jane Hading was a French actress. Her real name was Jeanne Alfredine Trefouret.She was born at Marseille, where her father was an actor at the Gymnase....
in the stage adaptation of Georges Ohnet
Georges Ohnet
Georges Ohnet was a French novelist and man of letters.After the Franco-Prussian War he became editor of the Pays and the Constitutionnel in succession. In collaboration with the engineer and dramatist Louis Denayrouze Georges Ohnet (3 April 1848 in Paris – 1918) was a French novelist and man of...
's novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
, Maître de Forges (Ironmaster). The play was a great success and ran through the entire year in the Théâtre du Gymnase, in Marseille.
Damala starred in few memorable productions in the following years. He played the leading man (as Jean Gaussin) in the comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
Sapho, Alphonse Daudet
Alphonse Daudet
Alphonse Daudet was a French novelist. He was the father of Léon Daudet and Lucien Daudet.- Early life :Alphonse Daudet was born in Nîmes, France. His family, on both sides, belonged to the bourgeoisie. The father, Vincent Daudet, was a silk manufacturer — a man dogged through life by misfortune...
's stage adaptation of his own novel, Sapho, mœurs parisiennes, again with Hading as his partner. The play opened in the Gymnase in Paris, on 18 December 1885. Damala also participated in the stage adaptation of another Ohnet novel, La Comtesse Sarah, in 1887.
Despite these few prolific plays, Damala was quickly forgotten or even deliberately ignored by the Parisian society, following his separation from the great diva. In March 1889, Bernhardt returned to Paris after a year-long European tour and receive a message from Damala who informed her that he was dying in Marseille and begged her to forgive him and take him back. The fact she had never stopped loving and caring for her husband was proved that very moment: she abandoned her performances in Paris, rushed to him and nursed Damala, whose health was wasted as a result of his longtime addiction. She took him in her house and after he recuperated, she cast him as her leading man in La Dame aux Camélias. Damala promised to stop taking morphine and embarked on a European tour with Bernhardt (which also included Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
). In truth, Damala's addiction to drugs became progressively worse. He continued using the drug and occasionally ridiculed himself, his clarity severely reduced from the morphine. On one occasion, he almost got arrested for exhibiting himself naked in the Hotel de Ville in Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
. Damala reprised his role as Armand but after a six-week run he collapsed and was carried in the hospital. Shortly before his death, he was offered another role by Bernhardt, in the play Lena, at the Théâtre des Variêtés. Just after the second performance, he was considered incapable of playing the part, due to his now permanent lack of clarity and continuous influence from alcohol and drugs.
Illegitimate daughter
On early 1889, Damala had also fathered a child with one of his mistresses, a theatre extra, who used to inject him with heroin, during intermissions. After his mistress gave birth to a baby girl, she placed the baby, in a basket, on Bernhardt's doorstep, together with a note. Bernhardt was furious to discover that Damala's illegitimate daughter was placed in her care and contemplated having the infant drowned on the river SeineSeine
The Seine is a -long river and an important commercial waterway within the Paris Basin in the north of France. It rises at Saint-Seine near Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plateau, flowing through Paris and into the English Channel at Le Havre . It is navigable by ocean-going vessels...
. Bernhardt's servants attempted to notify Damala of his child, however, he was unable to contemplate the situation, due to severely reduced clarity (a result of his deep addiction). Thankfully, his daughter's life was saved by a friend of both Bernhardt and Damala, gun dealer and future tycoon Sir Basil Zaharoff
Basil Zaharoff
Basil Zaharoff, GCB, GBE , born Zacharias Basileios Zacharoff, was an arms dealer and financier...
, who proposed to take the child so that he could find a surrogate family for her. Eventually, the girl was baptised Teresa (1889–1967) and was raised in Adrianople, in Easter Thrace
Thrace
Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. As a geographical concept, Thrace designates a region bounded by the Balkan Mountains on the north, Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea on the south, and by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara on the east...
.
The adventures of Damala's daughter (who had brief affairs with Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economic and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the...
and Gabriele D'Annunzio
Gabriele D'Annunzio
Gabriele D'Annunzio or d'Annunzio was an Italian poet, journalist, novelist, and dramatist...
and posed as a model for Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
in the early 1920s) were documented by Fredy Germanos in his historical novel Teresa (Greek: Tερέζα, pronounced Tereza), published in 1997. The book also makes reference to Damala's Parisian life and mentions that Bernhardt remained in love with him until the end of her life. In fact, Bernhardt and Teresa Damala also met each other, years later.
Death
Damala was found dead in Paris in 18 August 1889, in a hotel room, from an overdose of morphine and cocaine. The news of his death were concealed from Bernhardt until the time she had finished her performance. When she found out, she is cited as saying – presumably out of mercy for his condition – : "Well, so much the better...".Bernhardt wore mourning for a year after Damala's death. She had legally adopted his surname (i.e. Sarah Bernhardt-Damala) but never renounced it, even after her husband's death, though this was not widely known. She kept "Damala" as her legal name until she died, though her decision caused her some troubles 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...
, when an officer in a consular office at Bordeaux
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...
refused to grant her a visa to her passport, due to the fact the latter was Greek (King Constantine of Greece was thought to support the German side during the war and the French state refused to grant visas to Greek passports). It took the intervention of the Minister of Interior for Bernhardt to have her visa granted.
Legacy
He has been portrayed by three actors in film and television biopics of Sarah Bernhardt. He was portrayed by John CastleJohn Castle
John Castle is an English actor. Castle has acted in theatre, film and television. He is well known for his role as Postumus in the 1976 BBC television adaptation of I, Claudius and for playing Geoffrey in the 1968 film, The Lion in Winter. He also played Dr...
in the film The Incredible Sarah (opposite Glenda Jackson
Glenda Jackson
Glenda May Jackson, CBE is a British Labour Party politician and former actress. She has been a Member of Parliament since 1992, and currently represents Hampstead and Kilburn. She previously served as MP for Hampstead and Highgate...
) on 1976, by Canadian actor Jean LeClerc
Jean LeClerc (actor)
Jean LeClerc is a Québécois actor. In the original French, his name is spelled Jean Leclerc. He is best known for his work in the United States as Jeremy Hunter on the American daytime soap operas All My Children and Loving in the 1980s and 1990s.LeClerc first started his career in Quebec on the...
in the TV movie Sarah (also 1976) and by Gonzalo Vega in the Mexican TV series La Divina Sarah (1980).
His younger sister, Eirene (ca 1857–?) had a brief affair with notorious American author and journalist Frank Harris
Frank Harris
Frank Harris was a Irish-born, naturalized-American author, editor, journalist and publisher, who was friendly with many well-known figures of his day...
, as recounted by the latter in his scandalous autobiography My Life and Loves
My Life and Loves
My Life and Loves is the autobiography of the Ireland-born, naturalized-American writer and editor Frank Harris . As published privately by Harris between 1922 and 1927, and by Jack Kahane's Obelisk Press in 1931, the work consisted of four volumes, illustrated with many drawings and photographs of...
. Harris had met the Damala family in the summer of 1880, when they were all residents at the Hotel d'Athènes, in Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
. Harris and Eirene Damala (referred to in the book as "Mme M.") had a brief romantic/sexual affair, which Harris describes very graphically in his book. Eirene was estranged from her Scottish
Scottish people
The Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...
husband, who had left her and returned to England. Harris also befriended Aristides Damala and the two became even closer friends when they met again in Paris, some time later. Harris also recounts an incident, in Trieste
Trieste
Trieste is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south and east of the city...
, when Bernhardt publicly lashed out against her husband for his infidelities, to which Damala responded "Madame, you will never again have the opportunity of calling me names". He then returned to Paris. A disconsolate Bernhardt broke off the tour and also returned to the French capital and begged Harris to intervene so as for the reconciliation to come. Damala is cited as telling Harris of Bernhardt: "A great talent, but a small nature and a foul tongue".
Memorable stage credits
- 1882 Alexandre DumasAlexandre Dumas, filsAlexandre Dumas, fils was a French author and dramatist. He was the son of Alexandre Dumas, père, also a writer and playwright.-Biography:...
La Dame aux Camélias (as Armand) - 1883 Georges OhnetGeorges OhnetGeorges Ohnet was a French novelist and man of letters.After the Franco-Prussian War he became editor of the Pays and the Constitutionnel in succession. In collaboration with the engineer and dramatist Louis Denayrouze Georges Ohnet (3 April 1848 in Paris – 1918) was a French novelist and man of...
's Maître de Forges (as Philippe Berlay) - 1885 Alphonse DaudetAlphonse DaudetAlphonse Daudet was a French novelist. He was the father of Léon Daudet and Lucien Daudet.- Early life :Alphonse Daudet was born in Nîmes, France. His family, on both sides, belonged to the bourgeoisie. The father, Vincent Daudet, was a silk manufacturer — a man dogged through life by misfortune...
's Sapho (as Jean Gaussin) - 1887 Ohnet's La Comtesse Sarah
- 1889 Dumas' La Dame aux Camélias (as Armand)