{{Short description|Dutch-born actress, singer and violinist}} {{Infobox person | name = Betty Callish | image = BettyCallish1906.jpg | alt = A young white woman with dark hair in an updo, full on the sides, wearing a gown with a high lace neck. | caption = Betty Callish, from a 1906 publication. | birth_name = <!-- only use if different from name --> | birth_date = August 24, 1886 | birth_place = Baarn, Holland | death_date = after 1941 | death_place = | nationality = | other_names = Roxo Betty Weingartner, Betty Calisch, Betty Kalisch, Babette Callish | occupation = actress, singer, violinist | years_active = 1905-1920 | known_for = | notable_works = | spouse = Felix Weingartner (married 1922, divorced by 1931) }}
'''Betty Callish''' (August 24, 1886 – after 1941) was a Dutch-born actress, singer, and violinist who performed in Dutch, English, German, French and Italian.<ref name=1914newspaper/> In 1941, as '''Roxo Betty Weingartner''', she became a postulant of the Third Order Regular CSMV, a cloistered religious community at the Convent of St Thomas the Martyr in Oxford.
== Early life == Babette Calisch was born in Baarn, the daughter of Salomon Oreste Calisch and Aleida Oppenheim.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.openarch.nl/hua:F0870B1C-4337-4D8A-B5CF-28F34B1930C0/en|title=Birth Babette Calisch on August 24, 1886 in Baarn, province Utrecht (Netherlands)|last=Genealogie|first=Coret|website=Open Archives|language=en|access-date=2019-08-04}}</ref> Her parents were Jewish;<ref name=":0" /> her mother was a first cousin to Dutch feminist Aletta Jacobs. She knew Sarah Bernhardt from childhood,<ref name=1914newspaper>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/34524487/betty_callish_1914/|title=Versatility is Synonymous with Miss Betty Callish|date=March 15, 1914|work=Morning Register|access-date=August 3, 2019|page=15|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> and on her advice studied acting, learned to play the violin, and trained as a singer in Berlin.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=de Valdor|first=Joseph|date=October 20, 1916|title=Betty Callish -- Actress, Singer, Violinist|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5HtFAQAAMAAJ&dq=Betty+Callish&pg=RA8-PA3|journal=Music News|volume=8|pages=3}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|date=1906|title=People in the Play|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=41IZAAAAYAAJ&dq=Betty+Callish&pg=PA140|journal=The Play-Pictorial|volume=7|pages=140}}</ref>
== Career == alt=A white woman with dark hair, wearing a jeweled tiara across her forehead.|thumb|Betty Callish, from a 1918 publication. She started acting in London, as a student at Herbert Beerbohm Tree's academy, now known as the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. In England, Callish appeared ''Lady Ben'' (1905)'',''<ref>{{Cite journal|date=April 1, 1905|title='Lady Ben' at the Comedy Theatre|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dO3mmeaerIcC&dq=Betty+Callish&pg=PA370|journal=The Academy|volume=68|pages=369–370}}</ref> ''Leah Kleschna'' (1905),<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/leahkleschnaplay00mcle|page=[https://archive.org/details/leahkleschnaplay00mcle/page/5 5]|quote=Betty Callish.|title=Leah Kleschna: A Play in Five Acts|last=McLellan|first=C. M. S.|date=1920|publisher=S. French|language=en}}</ref> ''The Little Stranger'' (1906),<ref>{{Cite journal|date=May 23, 1906|title=From Mr. Tree's Academy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z4E4AQAAMAAJ&dq=Betty+Callish&pg=PA177|journal=The Sketch|volume=54|pages=177}}</ref> ''A Waltz Dream'' (1911) and ''Orpheus in the Underground'' (1912).<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KMFnAgAAQBAJ&dq=Betty+Callish&pg=PT165|title=The London Stage 1910-1919: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel|last=Wearing|first=J. P.|date=2013-12-19|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=9780810893009|language=en}}</ref> She was also seen in London productions of ''The Laughing Husband'' and ''Sadie Love''; she appeared in both these shows on Broadway, as well, in 1914 and 1915. She starred in ''The Great Lover'' (1916) in Chicago.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite journal|last=C. E. W.|date=October 27, 1916|title=The Great Lover|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5HtFAQAAMAAJ&dq=Betty+Callish&pg=RA6-PA41|journal=Music News|volume=8|pages=41}}</ref> and in ''The King'' (1917-1918)''.''<ref>{{Cite journal|last=White|first=Matthew Jr.|date=February 1918|title=The Stage|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JUZQAQAAMAAJ&dq=Betty+Callish&pg=PA122|journal=Munsey's Magazine|volume=63|pages=122}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|date=January 1918|title=Cohan. 'The King'|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=du45AQAAMAAJ&dq=Betty+Callish&pg=PA22|journal=Theatre Magazine|volume=27|pages=22}}</ref> "She is a pretty soubrette," commented American critic Burns Mantle, "who both sings and plays violin – pleasantly but neither with surpassing skill."<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Mantle|first=Burns|date=April 1914|title=The Harassed Heroine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ctw5AQAAMAAJ&dq=Betty+Callish&pg=PA585|journal=Munsey's Magazine|volume=51|pages=585}}</ref>
In 1941, after a divorce and a time in treatment for alcoholism, Betty Weingartner became a postulant at the Third Order Regular CSMV, a cloistered religious community at the Convent of St Thomas the Martyr in Oxford. There, she was known as "Marica".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://mucknellabbey.org.uk/history/timeline/timeline-1941/|title=1941|website=Mucknell Abbey|language=en-US|access-date=2019-08-03|archive-date=2021-06-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210620183833/https://mucknellabbey.org.uk/history/timeline/timeline-1941/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
== Personal life == Betty Callish married (in 1922) and divorced (by 1931) Austrian conductor Felix Weingartner; she was his fourth wife.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.hberlioz.com/champions/weingartnere.htm|title=Champions: Felix Weingartner|website=The Hector Berlioz Website|access-date=2019-08-03}}</ref> He dedicated a symphony to her during their marriage.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://repertoire-explorer.musikmph.de/en/product/weingartner-felix-19/|title=Weingartner, Felix {{!}} Symphony No. 5 in C minor, op. 71 (1923-24)|website=Repertoire and Opera Explorer|language=en-US|access-date=2019-08-03}}</ref> She was a confidante of Queen Marie of Romania.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Queen Marie of Romania Confessions 1914-1927|last=Critescu|first=Sorin|publisher=Tritonic|year=2018|isbn=9786067492965}}</ref> She died after 1941.
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links == * {{IBDB name}} * {{Playbill person}} * [https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47da-795c-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99 A cigarette card featuring Betty Callish], in the George Arents Collection, New York Public Library
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Callish, Betty}} Category:1886 births Category:Year of death missing Category:People from Baarn Category:Jewish actresses Category:Dutch violinists Category:Dutch women violinists Category:20th-century Dutch women singers Category:Dutch stage actresses Category:20th-century Dutch actresses Category:Musicians from Utrecht (province) Category:Felix Weingartner