[Photo Credit: Coquelin_aine, Unknown. Scanned by Jebulon, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons]
Julia and her friends occasionally went to the theater in Paris, where she saw great actors perform their signature roles, including Sarah Bernhardt playing Hamlet and Constant Coquelin playing Cyrano. After watching Edmond Rostand’s recently premiered Cyrano de Bergerac, Julia wrote to her New York cousins on 27 February 1898: “You remember you advised going to Coquelin’s new play at the Porte Saint Martin? – We did Friday evening – on inspiration, therefore found the place crowded and had very bad places indeed – But truly it’s a most charming play – the most enjoyed of any since [attending] Henry IV with you. . . .” Rostand wrote the role of Cyrano for the renowned comedian Coquelin, who played it over 400 times in Paris, to rapturous acclaim.
[Julia Morgan Papers, Special Collections and Archives, California
Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo,CA, 010-2-D-17-12]
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