Maria Pospischil (born Marie Terezie Vondřichová; 23 January 1862 – 28 May 1943), was one of the great stage actresses of the 19th century, active on German and Czech stage. She was also a writer and theatre director with several appearances in the German silent films in 1918.
Early life and career
She was born in Karlín, at that time a working class suburb of Prague. She had two sisters but not much is known about their lives (one also became an actress, another got married and lived in Mladá BoleslavOlga Spalová, Sága rodu Budilova, p. 188.).
Pospischil's career began at the age of fourteen in Prague's summer vaudeville theatres, which mostly presented undemanding trivial farces. She got no formal theatre education. In 1878, she became a member of František Pokorný's touring theatre company, one of the most respected Czech touring companies, where she achieved her first significant success in the role of Gretchen in Goethe's Faust. Pokorný was the first one to mould her talent and her cast her in her fist major role. Here she met her stage mother Terezie (surname unknown),František Pokorný, Vzpomínky a upomínky. p. 111. an old, experienced actress whose name has been forgotten. At this time in her career, Pospischil had a brief love affair with her colleague, the young actor Eduard Vojan. Both of them became major theatre stars in their later career.Eva Šormová a.i., Česká činohra 19. a začátku 20. století: Osobnosti; II. Part: N-Ž. p. 765.
In 1879 Pokorný recommended her to the Czech Provisional Theatre. There was a vacancy in the "character type" ("emploi" in French, "Fach" in German, similar to a "stock character") of a young romantic lead after the actress Ludovika Rottová left (she ended her theatre career after getting married).
There, her talent was soon recognized by the director Antonín Pulda. He, a very intelligent and experienced teacher, brought out the performing skills of Pospischil in surprising depths. The first role he coated her in was the role of Louisa in Friedrich Schiller's drama Intrigue and Love and she rose to become one of the leading actresses of the Provisional Theatre. What was particularly praised was her sonorous voice. Pulda continued guiding her artistically for many years, they became lovers and eventually partnersVáclav Štech, Džungle literární a divadelní. p. 35. and Pulda left his wife and son in Prague to accompany her during her engagements abroad as her impresario. It is surmised he was also her lover. Her whole career, she spoke of him as her mentor, and she even went so far as to pay for his grave when he died in 1894.
Pospischil also won many admirers and patrons, including Bohemian Governor Alfred Kraus, who gifted her a three-story house in the centre of Prague in admiration of her talent (when she sold the house in 1896, it was worth 46,000 guilders - i.e. eight times her annual income in 1896). Being supported by rich patrons was a common practice in German theater,Paul Schlenther, Der Frauenberuf im Theater. p. 53. less common in Czech society. This earned Pospischil a dubious reputation.
In 1881, she became a member of the newly opened National Theatre in Prague (National Theatre was a successor of the Provisional Theatre). Acting at that time was divided into "characters" ("emploi" in French, "Fach" in German, similar to a "stock character"), i.e. sets of roles requiring similar physical appearance, voice, temperament, sensitivity, and similar characteristics, and actors were hired and cast according to their character type. Pospischil started as a young romantic female lead but from the very beginning, she strove for a position of tragic heroine, occupied by Otilie Sklenářová-Malá and Marie Bittnerová at that time. Both held their jobs tightly, and Pospischil was kept in the field of naive lovers.
Her greatest opportunities were the role of courtesan Marion in Victor Hugo's drama Marion de Lorme and her originating of the role of Queen Elizabeth of Pomerania in Jaroslav Vrchlický's comedy A Night at Karlstein, a role that later became iconic in Czech culture, especially due to the film version. Shakespeare's Beatrice and Emma Králíčková, the female lead of Czech comedy The Eleventh Commandment are worth noting.
Although she was accused of "devouring" all the female leads of the repertoire, the rest of her thirty roles at the National Theatre were mainly supporting parts and breeches roles, as e.g. Oberon in A Midsummer Night's Dream, and still she impressed both the audience and the critics. Also, many of the shows did not stay in the repertoire for long. Julius Zeyer's Sulamit, where Pospischil played Lilith, was performed only twice, Josef Jiří Kolár's historical drama Smiřičtí (Smirziczky family), where she played a minor role of Salomena Smirziczky, also twice.
However, her talent was widely recognized. When visiting Prague, Ludwig Chronegk, theatre director and head of the Meiningen Ensemble advised her to pursue career in Germany. Viennese comedian Alexander Girardi offered her tutoring in the rank of operetta soubrette if she decided to move to Vienna.
Conflict with the National Theatre director
According to many accounts, Pospischil was very stubborn, self-centered and difficult to work with. She often had the impression that she was entitled to more significant roles. The dramaturge of the theatre Ladislav Stroupežnický, who kept notes on the actors of the ensemble, noted about Pospischil: "Mercury, passion, spoiled child."
Both Pospischil and Pulda were not content with the authoritative leadership of the National Theatre director František Šubert who often prioritized his own protege, actress Marie Bittnerová over Pospischil.
Šubert resented her diva-like attitude and demanded discipline and obedience. Pospischil defied the authority of the director, who was known, among other things, for demanding sexual favors from actresses in exchange for casting opportunities or a salary increase.Anna Lauermannová-Mikschová, Diaries. Literary heritage in the archive of Památník národního písemnictví. Whether Bittnerová was Šubert's lover is questionable, but not impossibleBohumil Benoni, Nová kniha vzpomínek a dojmů II. p. 57. (her husband, actor Jiří Bittner, drafted the memoirs, which after his death Šubert collected from his literary estate and destroyed). Since scandals of this kind rarely appeared in the media of that day, Prague theatre circles were amused by the information, true or fake, about Pospischil slapping Šubert.
Bittnerová was also said to be self-centered and ambitious as Pospischil, and she vilified her younger colleagues, left the troupe twice when her expectations had not been met, and Šubert excused her exclusive demands: "Mrs. Bittner was given the opportunity by the National Theater to achieve great artistic goals, but it was not possible to satisfy her claim that she would be the only one for all the first roles as she expected."Ladislav Novák, Stará garda Národního divadla. P. 21
In the winter of 1884, Pospischil had fierce disputes with the director over his casting decisions in the highly expected new French melodrama, Ohnet's The Ironmaster. Šubert assigned the role of Claire, the female lead to Bittnerová. Pospischil, who also wanted the role of Claire, refused to submit to him any longer and published her critical opinion on conditions at the theatre: "The systematic killing of my talent and my health by the director of the National Theatre, Mr. František Šubert, pushed me to resign immediately. I will explain the details of the behind-the-scenes intrigues and love affairs of which I am the victim to my beloved audience later, when I am of a cooler mind. God knows I hate to say goodbye to an audience that has always treated me so kindly and dearly, and I assure here on my honor that I would serve this national institution until my last breath if it were led by a man who values the sacred purpose of the National Theatre more highly than his appetites." This quote was both published in newspapers and handed out in the National Theatre on the day of Bittnerová's performance. Pospischil, who refused to submit to Šubert's demands, was the first and only one to speak publicly about Šubert's sexual relationships with actresses. Some newspapers hinted at his sexual misconduct, e.g. that "theatre directors are trying their luck in love, but they hit Miss Pospíšil's heart hard."Besídka In. Paleček. Sešit 1, p.22. Several newspapers mentioned "mysterious incidents behind the curtain making the return of previously very obedient and respected Pospischil hardly possible."Josef Kuffner Rozhledy. In. Květy. No 2, p.22. Most of the newspapers were silent about the incident. Some accused Pospischil of a calculated move, having planned to start a career on the German stage and looking for an excuse.Plzeňské listy. Jan 10 1895, p. 1. Most newspaper articles passed over the reasons for her departure and the protest in silence.
Both, she and Pulda, were dismissed. They tried to reconcile with Šubert, but in vain. Šubert did not accept their apology and he never forgave Pospischil for her media insult. A number of Czech politicians tried to soften the director's harshness and lobbied for Pospischil, but in vain as well. Pospischil, although later she was repeatedly asked about the reasons for her actions and choice of words, never commented on this topic.
Discussions about her possible return were going on for more than ten years. In 1890, for example, František Ladislav Rieger said: "Miss Pospischil left the National Theatre in a disgraceful way that can never be forgiven."Družstvo Národního divadla v Praze In. Čech. Oct. 20 1890 p. 3. Later, however, he reduced his sentence and left the decision on her return to the management of the theatre.
Polish tour and Prague German Theatre
After being dismissed, Pospischil appeared as a guest star on Polish stages from January to May 1885. Unemployed actress took the opportunity (most likely suggested by writer and journalist František Hovorka, who was well acquainted with Polish culture life).
Pospischil performed in Czech, which was found a nice gesture of Pan-Slavism and easy to understand due to the proximity of both languages. Her repertoire was very wide, and she performed a number of new roles in Poland, probably boosted by her very enthusiastic reception. Her Polish audience could not fully understand her, so she was forced to focus on the physical means of acting (voice work, gestures and body work).
She toured Warsaw, Poznań, Lublin and Kraków and presented Gretchen in Goethe's Faust and Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro from her older repertoire, but the status of a freelance artist gave her the opportunity to choose her own Rollenfach and roles. She started to work on her French repertoire and played Marcelina de Targy in Octave Feuillet's Parisian Romance, Ciprienne in Divorçons by Victorien Sardou and Émile de Najac, Frou-Frou by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy or Victorien Sardou's Fédora.Jan Michalik, Marie Pospíšilová w Krakowie. In. Wielogłos. 2007/1 P. 85. These were popular show-off roles - a part of the regular repertoire of all the most outstanding actresses of salon comedies in Europe. Usually impressive, but also dangerous because it gave opportunities for comparison. The Polish audience was aware of work of Sarah Bernhard and the famous countrywoman Helena Modjeska. To honor the Polish hosts, she also staged the comedy Fat Fish (Grube ryby) by Michał Bałucki.
Her success was all the more astonishing because she played many of these roles for the first time. In addition, the acquisition of more than a dozen expensive period costumes, including several months without work, required a large financial and time investment that she (and Pulda) could afford.