New-York tribune., 1918-02-24
Theodore Kosloff
Not Really Wild
Aztec He Appears
He Shouus Himself To Be
Delicate Artist in
All Things
By Harriette Underhill

the Asian plalNS into NuSSfa ana the
Slav lands. He daubs himself with the
same yellows, ochres and reds that the
men of the horsehair tents painted on
themselves before going into battle.
He is half the wild, untamed warrior.
sacker Of cities, wrecker of civilization,
and half dreamy, wistful, romantic.
"The low skies and far horizons OF
Russia make men dream even more
than the soft mists and rugged hills Of
Ireland. The Celt and the Slav alkc
dream out their lives in visions of the
Never Never Land and the glamorous
regions east of the sun and west of the
moon But the Slav does create new
art forms. and OF these the ballet, call
ing to its aid all the arts, is the chief
"Borodin, Rimsky- -Korsakotf, Stravin-
sky have set to wild music the bar
tarism of the Tartar and the visions of
the Slav. He dances to these rhythms,
and for his softer moments Of ecstacy
he takes the lyric dreams of Mozart
Chopin or Liszt and interprets them in
flowing line-harmonious movements of
the limbs and body coordnating in
physical expression of all that is lovely
and to be desired. All of the great
Il
which are the soul of the Russian"
Isn't it wonderful? OF course, we
did not write it, but we read it, oh a
long time ago, and we Immediately be-
came imbued with desire to see this
romantic wild man who called upon
Terpsichore to aid him in Interpreting
his dreams.
And then we saw him. 1t was in a
picture first. called "1he Woman God
Forgot" We didn't wonder. We for
got her, 100. after wild Aztec prince
rushed cut on the screen and flourished
his spear We didn't recognize him.
so we consulted our programme and
learned that ne was Theodore Koslotf,
.the noted Russian dancer" But, un-
fortunately, although the picture was
IN New York, Kosloff was in California,
and so for the time we were thwarted
IN our determination to interview him
and find out how he did it. We love
to see the wheels go round.
A few weeks ago, however, he danced
De-, : E..
the doors were opened. He does
dance called an "Aztec poem in which
he appears clad in some colored beads
and pair OF sandals, and drags q beau
tlful Aztec princess around by the hair
oh, to be a beautiful Aztec princess!
And we sat spellbound. Here was the
wild untamed warrior, the sacker OF
cities greedy of basic emotions" We
were afraid he would rush down into
the press box and stab US with his
spear, and then when he didn't we were
disappointed.
After the performance we had our
interview; in fact, we had two of them
with and without his makeup. You
have to be properly presented. and
vouched for and everything to in
terview Koslof. 1t is as difficult to get
at him as President. and his name is
Theodore, too, although we are quite
sure that no one ever called him Teddy,
When at last we found ourself face
to face with our divinity we had stage
fright. We couldn't think of a thing
TO say. We had forgotten to ask Wal
ter Kingsley whether KoslofT spoke
Americana or not, and we knew only
three words of Russian and we weren't
sure what they meant We learned
later, and we were glad that we hadn't
used them. They are noe suitable at
first meeting.
Aud then the Aztec prince said, "Sit
down and we shall talk And we
talked first of motion pictures. "-Ah,"
ne said, for me it is easy. ] know
pantomime, and when | make nv pict
ure with Geraldine Farrar, Cecil De
Mile he say to me: BE careful of vour
SINS. Your sins are big sins.'o This
was bit disconcerting, and we must
have looked blank, for Koslof said.
rather impatiently, "You know my sins
my sins with Miss Farrar?" 1t was
all rlght-he meant his scenes. And
then he started to talk about music. but
we don't really believe that he knows
very much about it, for when we asked
him which he preferred, "When I 70.
turn, my dear, III bring back the
kaiser's ear" or the motif in "Tbc
Long, Long Trail" he never had heard
of either of them.
1t was the same with painting. Kos
LOFT is an artist himself. but we cou1dn,s
interest him at all in the rival merits
of Clarence Underwood and Howard
Chandler Christy.
And then, somehow, We managed to
switch the conversation to epicureanism,
and, taking the bull boldly by the
horns, we asked the great Kosloff if he
liked lobster a la Newburg.
He was more panied than angry, and
he regarded us sadly as he said: 81 do
not care to eat. care only for the
soul"
1t was out at last. koslotf is an
anti-hedonist. He believes in finding
out what you like best in the world to