Robert Gottlieb: "Sarah"
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2010-09-21/robert-gottlieb-sarah
19th century actress Sarah Bernhardt had a flair for the dramatic -- both on and off the stage. A new biography separates fact from the many fictions about her life. Diane and author Robert Gottlieb explore Bernhardt's improbable rise to stardom and why audiences adored her.
Guests
Robert Gottlieb
former Editor-in-Chief of Knopf Publishers and The New Yorker
Comments
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My mother was born in 1909, so was old enough to have known about Sarah Bernhardt during her lifetime. When I was a child & teenager, in the '50s & '60s, any time she was exasperated with my histrionics she would laugh and call me "Sarah Heartburn."
Our daughter, Marie, was a bit of a drama queen even as a 4 year old. I used to refer to her, in one of her dramas, as "Sarah". As she grew up and became a teen I called her "Sarah Heartburn" - just a little frivolity for your guest. I am enjoying his participation immensely.
While appreciating Sarah's artistic contribution to the world, I also think it's important to teach our youth that her personal life was a tragedy. According to the interview w/Mr Gottlieb it is apparent that Sarah did not value her virtue, which must have been a source of great pain for her and her son. I heard no mention in the interview about the emotional pain that always follows sexual activity outside the bonds of matrimony, and therefore must have haunted Sarah in her private moments. She was obviously a beautiful and talented woman, I wish she knew to value herself enough to have lived a chaste life.