The return of the diva, Sarah B.

A bunch of eggheads are digitizing music that's on the verge of being lost. Academics at the University of California - Santa Barbara have digitized some 6,000 wax and plastic cylinders that were made between 1880 and 1925 or so, when records became the new "it" technology and replaced the bulky cylinders. The copyright has finally expired on these things.

We're talkin' Vaudeville, rags, and pop tunes. German comic skits, early black American music, speeches by the likes of the infamously bisexual actress, Sarah Bernhardt. A treasure trove! Check it all out here.

(Thanks to Future Tense for the pointer.)


NOTES ON Sarah Berhardt: "Although she practiced Christianity, she always remained connected to her Jewish roots, through many of the roles she played, through her public stance against anti-Semitism, and through critics' constant harping on the size of her nose....

"Fans loved her quirky behavior, and stories soon spread about the coffin she napped in before performances and the outlandish men's clothes she wore to paint in.... Bernhardt enjoyed shocking the public. In 1864 she had an illegitimate son. In 1882, she married (briefly) Greek actor Jacques Damala [he died suddenly], but she had many love affairs both before and after her marriage. Her lovers included Victor Hugo and Albert Edward, the Prince of Wales.

"Bernhardt was more discreet about her lesbian affairs, and less is known about them. She also had a close twenty-year friendship with gay British playwright Oscar Wilde. At her request, he wrote his play Salome for her in 1892.

"In 1905, Bernhardt injured her right knee. The injury continued to trouble her, and in 1915 her leg was amputated. She continued to perform from a chair until her death from kidney failure in 1923."