The most successful Polish actress of all time has to be Helena Modrzejewska (1840 – 1909), known in the US as Madame Modjeska, or Countess Bozenta. In 1877, only a year after coming to the US at the age of 36, and with very little knowledge of English, Helena debuted in San Francisco, and then went on her first American tour (August – December, California and Nevada) which brought her instant success.
Madame Modjeska never shed her Polish accent, but this did not get in the way of her becoming the best Shakespearian actress of her time. In the years 1877-1907 she completed 26 American tours, most of them very strenuous, traversing the US and parts of Canada, from the West to the East and vice versa, often playing two or three different leading roles, and sometimes more than one show a day. In Michigan she played not only in the Detroit Opera House, but also in smaller venues in Adrian, Ann Arbor, Battle Creek, Bay City, Benton Harbor, Calumet, Dowagiac, East Saginaw, Flint, Grand Rapids, Hancock, Ishpeming, Jackson, Kalamazoo, Lansing, Marquette, Muskegon, Saginaw and Ypsilanti.
The above list of cities comes from the excellent interactive websites, made available in 2022 (the sites addresses are below this post), where all of Modjeska’s tours are mapped. The sites allow you to follow Modjeska’s extraordinary travels, providing the places, dates, and titles of the plays in which she performed. Over the years Modjeska modified the routes, added new cities and new plays as well. When she did not tour America, she performed in Europe.
Twenty-six American tours in the span of 30 years! If we compare this accomplishment with those of our contemporary mega stars, who tour (usually) promoting their new records, Modjeska comes in sixth, on equal footing with Prince, while the first three spots on the list of the best travelled artists go to the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and Elton John, with 51, 47 and 44 tours.
Modjeska, however, travelled by train, steamboat and carriage; we could only imagine what she could have done if planes were available to her!
One cannot help but be in awe of Madame Modjeska exceptional talent, energy, ambition, and stamina. To stay fit – which allowed her to play Juliet in “Romeo and Juliet” when she was well into her 50s – every morning she bathed in ice-cold water and rode horses. People came to her performances to applaud her famed renditions of the Shakesperean heroines, but also to admire, envy and imitate her extraordinary costumes, which she often designed herself and which cost her a fortune. Her aristocratic husband, Count Karol Bożenta Chłapowski, was also a part of her carefully maintained image.
When Modjeska came to Calumet (Upper Peninsula) for the first time in December of 1900, she was already on her tour number 23. What drew her to this remote location, was a brand-new opera theater which opened on March 20 the same year. You might wonder how a village of 4,000 (that was the population of Calumet at the time) could afford such an extravagant project. The answer is “copper”: the riches of Calumet came from mining this metal; it drew people to the surrounding areas as well, hence the potential audience. This first performance given on December 6, 1900, was “Macbeth”. Modjeska came two more times to Calumet, in 1902, during her tour number 24 (she played in “Henry VIII”, on March 6) and in 1905, during tour number 25, when on November 22, she played “Mary Stuart”.
Although the last copper mines closed for good in 1970, the Calumet Theatre is still operating, and in 1971 was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Madam Modjeska is not forgotten there either. The Theatre’s website showcases her and even claims that … the ghost of the great actress resides there. As we read on the website:
“On July 22, 1958, actress Addyse Lane was performing as Kate in Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew. During her soliloquy in Act V, Scene 2, she lost a line. While ad-libbing, Lane saw a bright light from the balcony come toward her. Madame Modjeska’s hand reached out to Lane’s hand and the missing word was spoken to her. After the show, Ms. Lane swore that Madame Helena Modjeska appeared to her, helping her recover from the miscue of her speech. Since then strange and inexplicable occurrences have been reported at the Calumet Theatre.
Modjeska’s apparition has been seen throughout the Theatre many times over the last five decades.”
When we visited the Calumet Theatre in 2021, no ghost made our acquaintance, but you, dear reader, might have more luck when you visit …
Text and photos of the Calumet Theatre: Alina Klin
The list of the best travelled artists:
Interactive maps with the North American tours Helena Modjeska did in the years 1877-1907: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/385c21595f534869ad9a64a1349c0c0d
https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/32f03c66eeee47379a619e7064ac7702
https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/b01125c66e954cd5ad57e95fd12a8f54
https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/8fd83daa81844f088d557877b8a7fb2c
Photos:
By Napoleon Sarony – Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=136401790
By Walery Rzewuski – This file comes from Polona Digital Library and is available under the URL: https://polona2.pl/item/helena-modrzejewska-jako-maria-stuart-w-spektaklu-maria-stuart-friedricha-schillera,OTYxNjcwNzQ/, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=153916605
By Tadeusz Ajdukiewicz – This file comes from The National Museum in Kraków Digital Collection and is available under the digital ID 274367, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=98841457
By Walery Rzewuski – This file comes from Polona Digital Library and is available under the URL: https://polona2.pl/item/helena-modrzejewska-jako-adam-kazanowski-w-spektaklu-dwor-krolewicza-wladyslawa-jozefa,OTYxNjcwNzM/, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=153916323
