Mária / Marie Bárkány

Record of birth: LDS 1920775 Item 5: She was born Marie BARKAN

The "Zsido Lexikon" ["Jewish Encyclopedia"], edited by UJVARI Peter in 1929, has a paragraph about Maria BARKANY on page 88. Unfortunately her DOB is given as March 2 1862; otherwise it is a good summary. [Translation from the Hungarian by Andrew Reiner]: "German dramatic actress . Born in Kassa [Kosice] . . . Died in Berlin in 1928. Her parents sent her to Vienna to learn bookbinding, however, she taught herself to become an actor. Laroche and Sonnenfeld discovered her outstanding talent and they invited her to Frankfurt when she was only 15 years old. Here she was a huge success already at her first performance as Adrienne Lecouvrer. She studied with Barnay during the following few years, then in Hamburg, then, in 1880, she was signed on by the Hoftheater in Berlin. During the eighties [ie the 1880s] she often made guest appearances as an actress in Moscow, Riga, Dresden, Budapest, New York and St Petersburg. At the last of these she had a role contemporaneously with Sarah Bernhard, with great success. Her most significant roles were Fedora, Julia, Gretchen, the Virgin of Orleans and Stuart Maria [ie Mary Stuart]."

The "Vasarnapi Ujsag" [Sunday Newspaper"], printed in Budapest, had a longer article - in Hungarian - on February 19 1882: http://epa.oszk.hu/00000/00030/01459/pdf/01459.pdf Several secondary sources, including this one - give her DOB as March 2 1859. The article proudly proclaims her "Magyar" [ie Hungarian] roots, but fails to mention her Jewish roots. It also states that the family spoke Hungarian at home and that she only learned German in a convent in which she was educated for three years.

The Jewish Encyclopedia [%281906%29 http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/2528-barkany-marie ]carries the following entry: "BARKANY, MARIE:

By: Isidore Singer, Edgar Mels

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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