gPARA _PAR@ ` ┐TEXT ` ▒Kalich, Bertha1874╨1939actorBorn on May 17, 1874, in Lemberg, capital of the Austrian province of Galicia (earlier and later Lwùw, part of Poland; now Lvov, Ukraine), Bertha Kalich studied music and singing in her childhood and is said to have made her first stage appearance in her native city at thirteen. At fifteen she became the leading singer in the newly established Yiddish theater in Lemberg. Until 1894 she appeared regularly in Yiddish and other theaters in Budapest and Bucharest as well as Lemberg, but the rising tide of anti-Semitism prompted her in that year to emigrate to the United States. She made her New York debut in a Yiddish version of La Belle HÄlÅne at the Thalia Theatre and the next year broke away from singing roles to appear in Abraham Goldfaden╒s The Ironmaster. The rapid development of New York╒s Yiddish theater provided the perfect opportunity for her to develop her remarkable dramatic talent. Her commanding presence and emotional power, together with her expressive voice and face and her physical grace soon made her the reigning actress on the Yiddish stage, known variously as ╥the Yiddish Duse╙ and ╥the Jewish Bernhardt.╙ Performances in The Yiddish King Lear, The East Side Ghetto, The Kreutzer Sonata, God, Man, and the Devil, The Truth, and other such plays gradually attracted the notice of Broadway producers. Kalick made her Broadway debut, and her first appearance in an English-language production, in FÄdora at the American Theatre in May 1905 under the management of Harrison Grey Fiske. Tutored in English by Minnie Maddern Fiske, she subsequently appeared in Monna Vanna, 1905, an English version of The Kreutzer Sonata, 1906, Therese Raquin, 1906, Marta of the Lowlands, 1907, Sappho and Phaon, 1907, The Unbroken Road, 1908, Cora, 1908, The Witch, 1910, A Woman of To-Day, 1910, and The Light of St. Agnes, 1912. The scarcity of vehicles suited to her unique qualities limited her career on Broadway. She starred in Lee Shubert╒s production of Rachel in 1913, The Riddle Woman, 1918, Jitta╒s Atonement, an adaptation from German by George Bernard Shaw, 1923, and Magda, 1926. In 1927 she returned to the Yiddish stage in Midway,which was followed by The Soul of a Woman, 1928, and others. Declining health led to her retirement in 1931, but she subsequently made several benefit and testimonial appearances, the last in February 1939 at the Jolson Theatre. She died in New York City on April 18, 1939. nstyl ` 8 ! ¬ 5¬ 5¬ !I £ !I ½ !I !I ! !I ⌐ !I ╛ !I ┐ !I ╘ !I ╒ !I Θ !I Ω !I !I !I !I \ 5¬ ] !I ╝ !I ┬ !I + !I ▐ ? !I ^ !I i !I ç !I Ü !I í !I ░ !I ╕ !I ═ !I ╘ !I σ !I φ !I ■ !I !I
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