Evening star., 1932-10-09
Alias Good Earth

TO ALA Nazimova the role of O-lan
in The Good Earth" in which
she will appear next week at the Ma
tional Theater, means return. emo
tionally. at least, to something Tor
which she has been searching sub
consciously ever since she left her home
in Russia and turned to the stage Tor
q career.
That something" is a feeling for
the earth.
For Nine. Nadmova believes that she
Is at heart peasant. True enough,
she was born in city-Yalta. in the
Crimea-and her father was a chemist,
but all of her forbears had been close to
the soil AS child. first in Switzer-
land, where her father went to pursue
his studies. and later back again IN
Russia, she herself lived as close to the
earth as she could. For her Summer
vacations she chose her uncles farm
in Bessarabia, where she gathered
fruit. pressed vine. MIXED COWS and
helped with the harvest.
But because her fathers life was that
OF the intellectual and she was not al
lowed to give full play to this longing
for the earth there developed in her an
unrest. 1t was to the stage that she
turned for an outlet She went to
Moscow, to the Philharmonic Dra-
matte School When that institution
founder. Nimirovitch- -Danchenko. pooled
interests with Stanislavsky to found the
Moscow Art Theater she continued her
dramatic education in that cradle OF
the arts. Then came stock. all engage
ment in St Petersburg-it Is Lenlngrad
now-and finally America.
The Russian censors we're responsible
for her coming to this country. They
had banned play called The CHOSEN
People" and Paul Orlenef, in whose
company she was appearing determined
that the play should be given. II not IN
Russia. then in Berlin and London ana
New York. 1t was given In each OF
these three cities 1t wss frs given
in New York at the Herald Square The
ater and later played the foreign-lan-
guage theaters of the East Side.
But Orleneff liked to lock upon the
c,lp when it was red. He had promised
Nine. Nalmova that if she could come
to America with the company he would
olit drinking. He did quit for three
months, even appointing bodyguard
to watch over him. And then one night
. both he and the bodyguard came to the
3 Stheater slightly the worse for wear
!. Nine. Nazimova threw shawl over ner
costume and walked out. She rode the
. elevated all night and there wasn't any
performance.
She returned to Russia. but cables
from Orleneff begged her to return: He
said wealthy Americans were BUILDING
a theater for his company. she re-
turned but discovered that the the
ater' was just room over an East
Side saloon. But she was here and
she played-played until the "hterati
discovered her and limousines rolled up
to the door Of the saloon each night
in f1ocks.
shortly afterward Lee Shubert sought
her for appearances in English. She
was to learn the language IN SIX
months. She learned it in three. She
appeared in "Hedda Gabler," and "A
Dolls House" A theater was built for
her and named for her. Later she ap.
peared in American plays, too, and
finally the movies won her away from
the legitimate stage.
In Hollywood she was given hoy
denish roles to play and they did not
appeal greatly to her. Eventually al
the end of her contract she decided to
produce films of her own, the sort oil
plays she wanted to do. She poured
the money she had earned into "A
Dolls House" and oscar Wildes "Sa-
lone" which we're artistic triumphs but
iar ahead Of box-o1dce standards.