BARKANY, MARIE:

Austrian actress; born at Kaschau, Hungary, March 2, 1862. She was one of the six daughters of a merchant at Kaschau, and was sent to Vienna to learn bookkeeping. Instead, she occupied her time studying for the stage, taking Charlotte Walter as her ideal. Laroche and Sonnenthal became interested in her and obtained an engagement for her at Frankfort, where, at the age of fifteen, she made her début as Adrienne Lecouvreur. The next two years were profitably employed in study under Barnay. In 1880 Miss Barkany went to the Thalia Theater, Hamburg, and then to the Hoftheater, Berlin. Soon after she visited Moscow, Riga, Hanover, Dresden, Leipsic, Budapest, New York (1892), and St. Petersburg, where she met with enthusiastic receptions. At the last place Miss Barkany appeared simultaneously with Sarah Bernhardt, playing the same rôles as the French actress, deliberately challenging comparison. That she survived the ordeal without loss of artistic prestige is a good indication of her standing in the profession.

She is at her best in Fedora, Juliet, Gretchen, and the title-rôles in "Die Jungfrau von Orleans," "Maria Stuart," and "Jane Eyre."

Bibliography:
  • New York Times, Jan. 5, 1892, p. 4, col. 6;
  • Flüggen, Bühnen Lexikon, p. 12;
  • Das Geistige Berlin, pp. 10, 11 (autobiographical sketch).
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