Aristides Damalas (also spelled Aristidis or Aristide; ; 15 January 1855 – 18 August 1889), known in France by the stage name Jacques Damala, was a Greek military officer-turned-actor, and husband of Sarah Bernhardt in his last years. Damala's characterisation by modern researchers is far from positive. His handsomeness was as notable as his insolence and Don Juan quality. Writer Fredy Germanos describes him as an opportunistic and hedonistic person, whose marriage to the great diva would inevitably intensify and maximise his vices, namely, his vanity and obsession with women, alcohol, and drugs.
Diplomatic career and notorious social life Damala was born at Piraeus, Greece on 15 January 1855Genealogy of Damala to the noble Damalas family. He was the second of three children of Ambrosios Damalas (2 June 1808 – 29 July 1869), a wealthy shipping magnate, who later served as mayor of Ermoupoli and Piraeus and his wife, Calliope Ralli (6 June 1829 – 14 February 1891), whose father, Loukas Rallis, had served as mayor of Piraeus and Ermoupolis, Syros (he had also devised the name "Ermoupoli") and was a member of the Executive Committee which attempted the liberation of Chios in 1827, during the Greek War of Independence.
The other children of Ambrouzis and Calliope were two sons, Ioannis (1845 – 1916) and Pavlos Damalas (17 July 1853 – 25 December 1925), and a daughter, Eirini (c. 1857 – ?). The family later moved to Marseille, France, where they spent several years until they moved to Ermoupoli, Syros after Ambrosios was appointed mayor there. The family later returned to Marseille and eventually to Piraeus.
After finishing school in Piraeus, Damala spent four years abroad, mainly in England and France, where he pursued diplomatic studies. He became acquainted with representatives of high society, as well as the theatre world, since he had the dream of excelling as an actor one day. He returned to Greece in 1878 and joined the army. He later trained in the Page Corps in Russia but eventually quit his studies there and returned to Paris.My Life and Loves, p. 923
By the early 1880s, he had earned a post as a military attaché to the Greek Diplomatic Corps. He quickly acquired a reputation as "the handsomest man in Europe", as well as the nickname "Diplomat Apollo" by his friends and attribution as the most dangerous man in Paris among husbands who feared their wives would fall victim to his charms and be seduced by the young diplomat.The Real Sarah Bernhardt Whom Her Audiences Never Knew, p. 280 Damala was considered the epitome of handsomeness, and many women of high society in Paris were infatuated with him. He quickly earned the reputation of being a merciless heartbreaker and womaniser of the high circles. Besides his passion for women, he was also said to enjoy the company of young men. His affair with the wife of a Parisian banker, Paul Meisonnier, ruined the woman's reputation to the extent of forcing her to leave France.The Real Sarah Bernhardt Whom Her Audiences Never Knew, p. 280-281 It was rumoured that he had driven two women to divorce and one to suicide.The Divine Trilogy of Sarah Bernhardt One of his documented affairs was with the young daughter of a Vaucluse magistrate who had left her parents and home to follow Damala to Paris, where he deserted her when their illegitimate child was born. The young girl was never heard from again; she is presumed to have committed suicide.The Real Sarah Bernhardt Whom Her Audiences Never Knew, p. 281 Following these scandals, Damala was reassigned to Russia.
Meeting with Bernhardt and stay in Saint Petersburg
Before his transfer, he was introduced to Sarah Bernhardt by her half-sister Jeanne shortly before the summer of 1881. Damala and Jeanne belonged to a circle of well-known morphine-takers who were associated with the stage world. Damala had begun playing small parts as an amateur actor with the stage name of "Daria", and used to frequent the green rooms of theatres, along with fellow actors who shared a similar passion for morphine. He also frequented these places out of his desire to socialise with people from the theatre world and thus promoting his ambitions of becoming a great actor. Jeanne spoke to Bernhardt of Damala, and Bernhardt felt simultaneously repelled and fascinated by the prospect of meeting the most notorious man in Paris. Their meeting was a highly anticipated one from both parties. Madame Pierre Berton, who wrote a biography for Sarah Bernhardt, remarks the following:
"It was inevitable that Bernhardt, the famous actress, and Damala, the equally notorious bon-viveur, should eventually meet. Each knew the reputation of the other and their reputation was only the more whetted thereby...Bernhardt prided on her ability to conquer men, to reduce them to the level of slaves; Damala vaunted his ability as a hunter and a spoiler of women...Their two natures were inevitably attracted towards each other...Damala boasted to his friends that, as soon as he looked at her, the great Sarah Bernhardt would be counted in his long list of victims; and Bernhardt was no less certain that she had only to command for Damala to succumb".The Real Sarah Bernhardt Whom Her Audiences Never Knew, p. 281-282
The two soon met. Although Bernhardt was appalled by Damala's insolence toward her, she was strongly attracted to him and soon fell madly in love. During that period, Bernhardt was about to begin her world tour; knowing that Damala was transferred in Saint Petersburg and interested in meeting him again, she decided to arrange a six-month stay in Russia despite the fact she had previously and repeatedly rejected offers of making appearances there. Indeed, she resided in Saint Petersburg for a few months, as an official guest of Emperor Alexander III of Russia, during which her romance with Damala flourished. The openness of their affair scandalised the social circles of the city and proved a common topic of discussion.Sarah Bernhardt: The Perfume That Ascended to the European Palaces Translated from Spanish in: The Real Sarah Bernhardt Whom Her Audiences Never Knew, p. 302
Marriage and new career
The match was far from being blissful. Damala developed the habit of openly criticising and mocking Bernhardt in front of her friends. Bernhardt, in return, called him "Gypsy Greek" in an equal attempt to degrade him.The Real Sarah Bernhardt Whom Her Audiences Never Knew, p. 309 However, in most cases, Bernhardt was so overwhelmed by her infatuation for him that she tolerated his insults and even begged him for forgiveness, behaviour which reaffirmed that Damala had the upper hand in the relationship. After Bernhardt left Russia to extend her tour to other European countries, Damala resigned from the Diplomatic Corps and followed Sarah's theatre circle. While in London, completing the final part of her tour, Bernhardt had yet another fight with Damala. Bernhardt was supposed to have created the role of playwright Victorien Sardou Theodora during the tour. Instead, she sent Sardou the telegram: "I am going to die and my greatest regret is not having created your play. Adieu."
A few hours later, Sardou received a second message by Bernhardt which simply stated: "I am not dead, I am married".Ladies of the Footlights, p. 80 When asked later by Sardou why she had wed, she somewhat naïvely responded that it was the only thing she had never done. Her impulsive decision to marry was probably at her own initiative, as Damala sarcastically admitted to friends that it was she who had proposed to him. The wedding took place on 4 April 1882 in London, a city that proved a convenient choice for marriage, since religious differences would have been a hindrance for a possible marriage in Paris: Bernhardt was a Roman Catholic and Damala Greek Orthodox. Bernhardt's son, Maurice, was hostile to Damala and against this marriage.A Theatrical Feast in Paris: From Molière to Deneuve, p. 49
Even though Bernhardt presented Damala to reporters with the phrase "This ancient Greek god is the man of my dreams",Teresa, p. 58 the marriage became the object of criticism and even satire for press. Caricatures of Bernhardt and Damala virtually flooded newspapers for months. A review of Les Mères Ennemies featured Bernhardt holding Damala like a puppet, manipulating his limbs.Disruptive Acts: The New Woman in Fin-de-Siecle France, p. 181
Damala's marriage to Bernhardt made him even more unfaithful. Three weeks after the wedding, he had a fight with Bernhardt when he insisted she should change her stage name to Sarah Damala to honour him. Following her refusal, he left the house. He was missing for a few days, much to Bernhardt's anxiety, and during this time was seen in the company of a young Norwegian girl. Upon his return, Sarah accepted his excuses. The tour went to Ostend. At their last night there, Damala fled again and was heard from two days later in Brussels, where he was accompanied by a Belgian woman. Bernhardt forgave him again when he returned.
Despite the humiliations she endured, giving money to Damala so as to pay his mistresses and debts to prostitutes, and the fact her husband's infidelity had been a common topic for gossip, the lovelorn Benrhardt tolerated all of these. Following their return to Paris, Damala, compelled by the perspective of becoming a theatre star, decided to pursue an acting career. Some time later, Bernhardt bought a theatre, the Théâtre de l'Ambigu, and made the unfortunate decision of appointing Maurice as the manager and Damala as the leading man.
Bernhardt's friends could not understand what she saw in him. Her contemporaries were puzzled by her decision to discard professional actors so as to perform next to a rank amateur. Bernhardt seems to have been blinded by emotion: Damala has been described as exceptionally untalented, lacking any acting qualifications, technique, or timing, and possessing an unintelligible Greek accent. Bernhardt was oblivious of all these shortcomings, and on the basis of her attraction for him, considered him appropriate and cast him as Armand Duval in La Dame aux Camélias (The Lady with the Camelias). Bernhardt is cited as telling a (rather shocked) Alexandre Dumas about Damala: "Won't he make an excellent Armand? Only by looking at him, you understand why Marguerite Gautier dies in the way she does!".
The couple returned to Paris and performed La Dame aux Camélias. Sarah's performance was exalted; Damala's, on the other hand, received less than enthusiastic reviews. Damala was furious and blamed Bernhardt.
Separation In December 1882, Bernhardt opened in Victorien Sardou's Fédora and again received excellent reviews. Sardou had written the play specifically for her, but had refused to allow Damala to act in it.A Theatrical Feast in Paris: From Molière to Deneuve, p. 50 Bernhardt appointed her husband manager of her theatrical company on tour ("Head of the Tour"), a decision that proved disastrous, given Damala's lack of skills in managing. Bernhardt was eventually forced to remove him from his post and reduce him to Prince Consort. This development, combined with Damala's frustration over the way his career developed provoked him to continue the habit of humiliating Bernhardt in front of her friends and openly criticising her. His increasingly deeper addiction to drugs, particularly morphine, created even greater problems in their marriage.