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BAHEHFS
OF JM.O.SCOW
j AMERICAN SEASON UNDERTHE DIRECTION OF F.Rw COMSTOCK &MORRIS GEST
I VEUUT^ I k.*VC II
Presented to the
LIBRARY of the
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
from
the estate of
ROBERT KENNY
KS^a;
~
SKETCH BY SOUDEIKINE FOR RUBINSTEIN'S "TREPAK"
F. RAY COMSTOCK and MORRIS GEST
Have the Honor to Present
* BALIEFF'S *
CHAUVE-SOURIS
BAT THEATRE, MOSCOW
"Direct from a T^eturn Engagement at the Femina Theatre
in 'Paris and a Year and Five -^Months in ^(ew TorJ(
The Strange Story of BALIEFF'S CHAUVE-SOURIS
By OLIVER M. SAYLER
Author of "The Russian Theatre" "Our American Theatre" etc.
F I were to tell you a story of a boy
who wouldn't study his lessons, who
spent his time getting up theatricals
among his fellow students, whose way-
ward and stage-struck habits caused his father
to send him first abroad to school, then to work
in his head office at home and finally to the seclu-
sion of a provincial branch all in the vain hope
that he could be weaned away from the lure of
the footlights you would say that I had been
re-reading "Letters from a Self-Made Merchant
to His Son."
If I were to follow the trail of that same young
man into the army, to the guard house where he
was lodged for joining a light opera company
in a concentration camp and across a continent
homeward bound by hook or crook, you might
suspect me of having browsed in almost any
novel about war except "Three Soldiers."
MORRIS GEST
New York owes the Chauve-Souris to Morris Gest. He
saw it a dozen times in Paris and then, having been called
" ^workaday country on business, invited the whole
him, probably for no shrewder reason than
uld nbXface the intolerable prospect of not seeing
it fifty times mo)*, ALEXANDER WOOLLCOTT in The Ne<w
t-noto ueiphi NIKITA BALIEFF
FOUNDER AND ARTISTIC DIRECTOR OF THE CHAUVE-SOURIS
And finally, if I were to persist after these
rebuffs, and recount how our hero one day bore
money from an anonymous donor to the needy
coffers of the world's foremost theatre; how in
gratitude that theatre made him an under-sec-
retary but steadfastly refused to let him fulfil
his ambition to act; how, after storing up his
suppressed desires in that direction until even
his ample frame could find no corner to take up
the overflow, he went out and founded a theatre
of his own and made a huge success of it, not only
at home but half way round the world you
would be within your rights in charging me with
having taken an overdose of "success" stories in
the popular magazines.
The truth is that the truth about Nikita Balieff
and his unique theatre, the Chauve-Souris, is
stranger than fiction, for the romance I have just
sketched is the unvarnished history of this droll
artist-clown and his antic and fascinating little
playhouse.
From an exclusive Moscow cellarette by way
of Paris and London, this pugnacious Russian
and his carefree band of singers, dancers and
"THE WOODEN SOLDIERS"
Sketch by Remisoff after Narbout
comedians have come to America to dispel the mistaken notion that Russians never laugh. The
tradition of Muscovite solemnity was firmly grounded with us. Until Balieff came we knew
the land of the samovar, the muzhik and the ruble through the introspective neurasthenia of
Dostoievsky, the self-righteousness of Tolstoy, the sad and pompous dirges of Tchaikovsky and
the strange mysticism of Roerich's paintings. Russia to us meant sadness and despondency and
torment of soul, with an occasional gleam of beauty like
that of the Ballet Russe to lighten prevailing gloom.
All that tradition, however, had to be discarded, or at
least greatly revised, on that memorable evening of Feb-
ruary 3, 1922, when the Chauve-Souris opened its first
New York engagement before a brilliant invited audience
at the Forty-ninth Street Theatre. And every audience
since then has left the theatre convinced that an unsus-
pected strain of gaiety in the Russian temperament has
lain too long in neglect.
Balieff is the bad boy of the Russian stage. Wherever
he has set up his scenery and poked his moon face and his
pudgy body through the curtains to announce his wares
since his flight from his underground theatre in Moscow,
he has been likened to the great clowns familiar to his
spectators. In England, they said he was Grimaldi and
Crock and Pelissier rolled into one, with something added
which was all his own. Here he has been compared not
only to Jolson, but to Raymond Hitchcock, Ed Wynn,
Will Rogers, Fred Stone, and Frank Tinney.
After all, though, neither Balieff nor his theatre can be
pigeon-holed. Neither can they be copied or imitated,
although numerous people both inside Russia and out
have tried to profit by so doing. It is difficult even to
define or explain the fascination of this unique comedian
and the charm of his entertainment. Many have been
content with calling Balieff and his Chauve-Souris "dif- F RAY COMSTOCK
SKETCH BY N. REMISOFF FOR THE SETTING OF "BABI"
ferent," and that is high praise in a world where the premium on originality is great. Ex-
tended acquaintance, however, has made it possible to determine just wherein the "difference"
consists.
Balieff, first of all, is a comedian with taste and imagination, a comedian who makes an
art of his comedy. More important than that, his executive genius in the art of the theatre
has enabled him to gather around himself a group of artists, players, singers and dancers, all
impelled and united by sympathies and imaginations in common with his own. Stage-auto-
crat of the Chauve-Souris, he calls himself; and rightly so, for every member of his company,
every number on his program, is a further embodiment of his own personality. Whoever and
whatever he touches he makes his own to an extent that is seldom realized in the conglomerate
art of the theatre. The result is at once a unity and a diversity of impression which com-
mand and hold a fascinated attention.
The Chauve-Souris, therefore, is Russian and at the same time it is universal. It is amusing
and at the same time it is charming and exhilarating. Its purely Russian numbers run the
range from the quaintly sentimental ballades of Glinka and the aristocratic restraint of the
Ballet Russe to the wild Romany abandon of Gipsy melodies and the richly-flavored folk tunes
and tales of the muzhik. Its borrowings from the musical and artistic treasure houses of other
lands all presented through a Russian prism vary enough to include an exquisite Louis
Quinze interpretation of "Sur le Pont d'Avignon," a hilarious burlesque on Italian grand
opera, and a very up-to-date travesty on "Mon Homme," not to mention numerous other
appropriations from history and literature and music, ancient and modern, occidental and
oriental. Even though the source be as familiar as that of "The Parade of the Wooden Sol-
diers," the material is treated with an originality and a perfection which make it novel and
irresistible.
With the droll countenance of the born clown and the mock dignity of the clown as artist,
as I have told in the Century Magazine, Nikita Balieff promptly banishes from the playhouse
illusion, cold reserve, and all the other bodyguards of the traditional theatre. In their place
he puts warmth, cordiality, zest, alert expectancy, and the spirit of play. The orchestra has
finished the overture. There is no darkening of the auditorium, no sound of bell or gong to
put the creative faculty of the spectator to sleep. Instead, the house lights are left burning.
There is a moment of tiptoe silence. Cautiously, the pudgy form of the proprietor of the
Chauve-Souris slips through the curtains. Leisurely, silently, with a complacence that com-
mands the same expectant silence on the part of his guests, he surveys them, from the bald-
headed row to the highest god in the gallery. When the chuckles have died away until a
rustling program can be heard all over the house, when he has every one in the theatre agog
with eager attention, he speaks :
"Goot efening, leddies and gentlemen. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Balieff, director
and conferencier of the Chauve-Souris. It was the tuty of my manager, Mr. Morris Gest,
THE MOSCOW FIANCEES
Water Color by Sotidtikine
ALEXEI ARCHANGELSKY
COMPOSER OF THE CHAUVE-SOURIS
who brought me to iftis Country, to introduce
me. But he is so af ret of the stetch, and he spiks
so bat Eenglish, therefore I introduce myself.
I, too, spik bat Eenglish, but I gif you my wort,
in ten or twenty or forty years I will spik better
Eenglish as you spik Russian. And now eef you^
haf nothing against, the pairformance will begin."
Then with the distended lungs of the barker
in the circus, "The first number on the program
." A further moment of ruminative and amus-
ingly awkward silence, and the director retires in
favor of his artists.
What Balieff accomplishes in these quaint and
unconventional introductory remarks amounts
simply to saying, "Let's pretend!" He does it a
little less baldly and more provocatively. But
he has established an intimacy with his audience
that could not be heartier or more friendly if he
had called from midstream in leafy August,
"Come on in; the water's fine." The mood of
reserve is broken. The spirit of challenge is
forestalled. The chip on our shoulder is for-
gotten. The circle of entertainers has been ex-
tended to include the entertained. We have
shaken imaginative hands with the captain, and
his game is ours. He has made us participants,
willing and morally responsible participants.
The program proceeds. It might be any one
of many kinds of program. With Balieff it is a
disconnected succession of episodic numbers in song and dance and pantomime, now exquisite,
now grotesque ; naive, sentimental, sophisticated, by turns. There is a solemnly satiric "Parade
of Wooden Soldiers," as perfectly impersonal as
Punch and Judy; a polka of the 1860's, "Katinka,"
blood-brother of the barn-dance of today in vocal
and physical abandon; a masterpiece in mock
heroics, "The Sudden Death of a Horse or the
Greatness of the Russian Soul," a hilarious travesty
on the conventional elopement by a dramatist we
are accustomed to consider grave and sombre, An-
ton Tchekhoff; a wild and sensuous burst of Ro-
many harmonies when the Gipsies entertain the
diners at Yard's restaurant in Moscow, 1840; a
Tartar dance in solo borrowed from the "Ballet
Russe" ; and odds and ends of song, both grave and
gay, each delivered against a snatch of characteris-
tic background, from the courtly ballades of Glinka
to the roistering tunes of the muzhik.
All this, of course, sounds like a gala bill of
vaudeville, or, as some one has put it, a glorified
Sunday-school entertainment. And in skeleton it
is just that. In two respects, though, the Chauve-
Souris differs so widely from the ordinary or even
the extraordinary variety program that the classi-
fication is misleading. For one thing, each of the
numbers is so freshly conceived, so expertly and
deftly worked out, and so shrewdly combined with
ELIE ZLATIN ^ e rest mto an unobtrusively effective ensemble
CHEF D'ORCHESTRE OF BANFF'S CHAUVE-SOURIS that the result would amount to an original form
"THE CHORUS OF THE BROTHERS ZAITZEFF"
"THE KING ORDERS THE DRUMS TO BE BEATEN"
Photo Delphi
Costumes by Remisoff
SKETCH BY REMISOFF FOR COUNT ALEXEI TOLSTOY'S "BY THE GATES OF JUDGMENT."
Music BY ILYA SATS AND ALEXEI ARCHANGELSKY
of theatric art even if there were no other distinguishing feature. But there is another distin-
guishing feature, the fundamental feature of the Chauve-Souris, far more important than its
sheer technical excellence. And that feature is the note of intimacy which knits entertainer and
entertained into a mutually exhilarating and exciting unity.
Balieff, you must understand, is not content with his initial mental handclasp. Like a Puck
in evening dress, he parts the curtains before each act and comes out to shake hands all over
again. He resembles nothing so much as a breezy and garrulous guide in a picture-gallery.
As he moves from one exhibit to the next, he shouts with ever-increasing rapidity and with a
ludicrous impression of boredom : "The next number on the program is ." He ridicules his
own wares; he praises them with unabashed extravagance. He announces the "Quartet of
Merry Artists" "over which the two biggest theatres in Russia disputed. The Theatre of Pet-
rograd wished them to sing in Moscow, and the Theatre of Moscow wished them to sing in
Petrograd."
"Stage-autocrat," Balieff calls himself, and he might as well add, "audience-autocrat," too.
But he is a benevolent despot. He permits, nay, he even encourages, his guests to talk back
at him. And when they have done so, he is never at a loss for the last word. It is a game of
give-and-take with a pacemaker who makes you wonder sometimes at the possibilities of your
own nimbleness when you are pressed to it. Balieff is startlingly autocratic, too, in the shame-
less way that he patronizes his guests. When they applaud, as they do more spontaneously and
less self-consciously than they have ever done in a theatre, he remarks blandly: "Very good
audience. Audience that understands a-art. 'S no compliment. 'S no flattery. From the
heart." And he is never more autocratic than when he dispenses and withholds encores. Quiet-
ing the storm-tossed auditorium after the "phooden" soldiers have paraded, it is he who shouts
"Encore!" just as if his guests had never dreamed of such a proceeding. "The human voice is
a thing very fragile," he explains in his effort to save the Gipsy singers from exhaustion. "The
human voice is a thing very fragile," he repeats with sober solemnity in -denying a repetition
of some beguiling dance. His murderous assaults on the English language are an excruci-
atingly funny addition to the entire affair, but they are not really essential to his method; as
he proved in Moscow, where he treated his native tongue with suave respect.
Water Color by Soudeikitie
"THE FOUNTAIN OF BAKHCHI-SARAI"
A drama of the jealous passions of the harem and the Orient dramatized from Alexander Pushkin, Russia's greatest poet.
SKETCH BY REMISOFF FOR "THE NIGHT IDYL"
The role this droll Russian really plays in his Chauve-Souris, then, is that of mentor, inter-
preter, liaison officer between his players and his patrons as cooperative participants in a game
of make-believe. "Let's pretend," he says in effect, "that these assistants of mine are soldiers,
Gipsies, peasants. I know they really aren't, and so do you. Their voices are very fragile,
especially those of my women when they sing. When they speak, that's not so fragile. But
see what a lark it will be if we take them at their word when they pretend to be soldiers,
Gipsies, peasants."
And just as the Chauve-Souris is something more than a super-vaudeville, so, too, it is some-
thing more than a holiday for a clever monologist. Those who suppose that Nikita Balieff is
the whole of the Chauve-Souris and that nothing else matters much, would find a vital factor
missing if he were to discard his performers and mount the lecture platform alone. There are
three collaborating elements in this strange theatre: the entertainers who provide the stimulus,
who toss the ball in the air; the entertained who stand ready and expectant to receive the
stimulus, to catch the ball and toss it back; and the coach on the side-lines who directs the play
and keeps the excitement at fever pitch.
Reluctantly, I pass over BaliefFs early escapades in his efforts to reach the stage. If his father
could do nothing to forestall dramatic ambitions, consider the plight of his superior officer (and
incidentally imagine the bulbous Balieff as a flesh and blood, not a "phooden" soldier!) when
he found the young rookie disporting himself in his uniform as a member of a light opera
company in Harbin where his company was stationed in reserve during the Russo-Japanese
war.
Returning from the war, young Balieff tarried only briefly in the troubled Moscow of the
1905 revolution and proceeded to Berlin. He and a wealthy friend were still there the fol-
lowing year, when the Moscow Art Theatre company arrived on its single foreign excursion
in full force, prior to its visits to America last season and this. Knowing that the company
needed funds and that his friend was willing to provide them, anonymously, he went to the busi-
ness manager, Nemirovitch-Dantchenko, and told his story. Every one laughed at him, but
10
Kt
Designed by Soitdeikine
"THE SNUFF BOXES OF THE GRAND RUSSIAN
SEIGNEURS" THE SHAH OF PERSIA
the ridicule changed into something else next day,
when he turned up with the cash in hand, a sum
in excess of $16,000.
What could they do to reward the youngster?
Manifestly, he couldn't join the company as an
actor, although that was his life's ambition. So
he was retained as under-secretary to Nemiro-
vitch-Dantchenko for the rest of the tour through
Germany, Austria and Poland, and even after
the return to Moscow.
Immediately began on BaliefFs part a long
siege to obtain an acting part, and with each
refusal the suppressed desire for this form of
expression stored up wrath to come. Finally he
received a single line in the casting of Griboye-
doff's "Gore ot Uma." But at the 167th rehears-
al this was taken away and a walk-on role was
substituted. At dress rehearsal he lost even this crumb, for his make-up was so grotesque that it
stopped the performance. He did obtain a small role in Ibsen's "Brand" and made a hit as Bread
in "The Blue Bird." But the last straw was his choice by the directors for the part of Cousin
Theodore in Knut Hamsun's "In the Claws of Life," another role without a spoken word,
though an important one in the play, being that of an extremely talkative gentleman whom every
one silences just as he starts to open his mouth.
It was too much! Holding the lid on the volatile Balieff all these years was bound to start
something startling. Who knows? If the Moscow Art Theatre had given him an opportunity
to play-act to his heart's content, there might be no Chauve-Souris to-day. But he didn't have
the opportunity, and in 1908 he founded the super-cabaret, Letutchaya Muish, or Chauve-
Souris, just to let off steam unhindered on his own stage! And he has been letting it off ever
since, to the delight of a public that has at last reached half way round the world.
The original idea of the Bat Theatre of Moscow was Balieff's and his alone. We .have heard
how the chief artists of the Moscow theatres gathered in a club room after the final curtain
and made merry until morning entertaining one another just for the fun of it. But this impromptu
WATER COLOR BY SOUDEIKINE FOR THE COSTUMES OF "B 'VBI" (THE RUSSIAN PEASANT)
11
LA MARSEILLAISE
Scenery by N. Remisoff
Tableau specially staged by Balieff and his Russian players of the Chauve-Souris Company for the gala performance given in honor
of Marechal Joffre by the American Committee for Devastated France, of which Miss Anne Morgan is Chairman, Wednesday eve-
ning, April 26, 1922, at the Forty-ninth Street Theatre.
"ROMANCES OF GLINKA"
12
Designed by Soudeikme
circle, brilliant as it was, would have gone the way of all other such fads if the impelling
personality of Balieff hadn't been behind it.
Down in a cellar by the Moscow River, under the protection of the domes of the great Church
of the Redeemer just outside the walls of the Kremlin, the Chauve-Souris began. Informally.
Space for forty celebrants. A performance once a month or so after the premiere of an im-
portant new production at the Moscow Art Theatre or at some other theatre in the Kremlin City.
Only artists admitted and only the greatest of these. Tragedians become comedians; comedians,
tragedians. Singers dance, dancers sing.
For the first two years, or until the fall of 1910, Balieff retained his post and performed his
duties as a member of the Moscow Art Theatre Company. The Bat and its revels were
"on the side." Then in 1910 another cellar was found, a large one over near the Telephone
Building, to meet the problem of overcrowding. This second cellar held eighty people,
grouped around tables, cabaret fashion, in front of the stage. The margin of expansion,
though, couldn't begin to take care of those who clamored for admittance. The theatre now
had regular programs and regular performances. Balieff gave up his association at the
Art Theatre to devote all his time to the growing Bat. The artists themselves still made up
the bulk of attendance, but if you were an ordinary human and were fortunate enough to be
the chum of twelve different and separate artists among the elect, you might persuade those twelve
to sign their names to a formidable petition which would get you past the doorman.
But the Moscow night lifers and they were numerous and gay before the war got tired of
carrying a petition around, like a committee eager for a new fire station or lower gas rates,
as the only passport to Balieff's hidden pleasures.
Another move, therefore, in 1913, to the spacious cellar beneath Moscow's largest apartment
house, just off the city's Fifth Avenue, the Tverskaya. Performances now at 10 P.M., with the
public admitted and the restaurant tables shunted off into an adjoining room. That is, the pub-
lic was admitted if it had the price. And the price was the highest of any theatre in Moscow,
not even excepting the Opera and the Ballet 12 rubles for single admission, $6 in gold, for the
ruble was at par then. More than the Chauve-Souris has ever charged in Paris, London or
New York. And yet Americans have been astonished to see Balieff coax $5 bills out of our
prosperous purses.
This, the third home of The Bat, served Balieff until he departed for less chaotic climes in
1919. On through the early years of war and revolution he kept up his nightly revel to take
the minds of the populace momentarily off their increasing troubles. Even after his departure
for Constantinople and Paris, The Bat was kept open and running with the old repertory and
new pieces under the direction of Balieff's dearest and life-long friend, Alexei Archangelsky,
the composer of the Chauve-Souris, until the latter resumed his old post with the company in
New York.
Fleeing to the Caucasus, Balieff made his way eventually to Constantinople and to Paris where
he arrived in 1920, without company, scenery or prospects. Little by little he recruited some
of the best members of his original company, such as Mme. Tamara Deykarhanova, who had
been with him since he began in 1908, and Mme. Fechner. Mme. Karabanova joined him from
the Kamerny Theatre of Moscow. Famous young Russian painters, exiles in Paris, readily
agreed to join Balieff's staff and design his scenery and costumes. Numerous other players and
dancers not only from his old staff but from many of the best of the theatres of Moscow and Pet-
rograd were added to the list, and finally in December, 1920, The Bat was revived under a
French title, the Chauve-Souris, at the Theatre Femina in Paris.
There was the briefest moment of uncertainty, and then the French capital took Balieff and
his Russians securely to its heart. "A magnificent lesson in the theatre," said the famous
French manager, Lugne-Poe in L'Eclair. "Delicate, distinguished, sedulously perfect," said
Pierre Seize in Le Bonsoir. "The most precious the most original spectacle extant," said the
great Antoine, and again, "A night of surprises and enthusiasm." In Comoedia, Galipaux "can
recall nothing in the past, nor indicate anything in the present to compare with Le Theatre de
la Chauve-Souris." "Varied, exquisitely new, of a ravishing bonhommie," wrote Andre Beaunier
in L'Echo de Paris. Lucien Descaves in L'Intransigeant declared it a miracle that artists employ-
ing an unintelligible language should, by their alternate immobility and plasticity, their mimetic
skill, with the aid of superbly sympathetic mise-en-scene, express themselves to such perfection.
George Sorbet in LTllustration confessed that 'eye and ear were engaged by the perfect expres-
siveness of character and gesture or blended color, of sound and subtle lighting."
J
13
8 s *
SKETCH BY SOUDEIKINE FOR THE SCENE AND COSTUMES OF "THE MUSICAL SNUFF BOX"
London bestowed upon the Chauve-Souris a still heartier welcome than Paris, if possible,
after the company was transferred from the unwieldy Pavilion Theatre to the intimate Apollo,
where all the values of Balieff's cordial give-and-take between stage and audience could be made
most effective. "Balieff is a tremendous comic personality," said the critic of The Daily Chron-
icle, summing up the Chauve-Souris: "Altogether it was a rich and riotous evening far fun-
nier than could have been imagined, with many touches none the less of true and tender art."
"A jumble of exquisite delight," The Daily Sketch commented, "astounding in its variety, color,
impish humor, and strange to say its simplicity. No pause, no boredom, no hesitation, no
false note and everything
new, new, new. Here is a
form of art at present with-
out a label, if one can ex-
cept the label of success."
"Balieff as rotund and bland
as a butler. His staring sto-
lidity and his sudden expan-
sive smiles are priceless,"
said The Star. "Balieff's
forceful geniality was the
chief factor in an instant
triumph," said The Eve-
ning News.
The story of the Ameri-
can triumph of Balieff and
the Chauve-Souris has been
told in every magazine and
newspaper in the United "QUARTET OF MERRY ARTISTS" wtn color t y N.
14
\
States. This remarkable
group of artists was lured
across a stormy winter
ocean, away from its proved
European friends to a
strange American audience,
solely through the persist-
ence of Morris Gest. Mr.
Gest, a native of Russia,
had long known Balieff and
his company by reputation,
and on meeting him in Paris
in June, 1921, became a
nightly attendant at the
Theatre Femina where the
Chauve-Souris was playing.
His enthusiasm for Russian
art, proved by his bringing
the Russian Ballet for the
first time to our shores over
a decade ago and by his en-
gagement of Michel Fokine,
greatest of the directors of
the Ballet Russe, for the
productions of "Aphrodite"
and "Mecca," was an in-
ducement to Balieff to ac-
SKETCH BY SOUDEIKINE FOR THE SCENE AND COSTUMES OF THE "TRIO" BY MOZART
SKETCH BY REMISOFF FOR "ZARIA-ZARIANITZA" (THF MIRACLE OF THE HOLY VIRGIN)
AN AGED BLIND MAN SINGS TO THE SISTERS A SACRED LEGEND, IN WHICH THEY JOIN IN CHORUS
15
FIRST ROW from left to right
AL JOLSON
JOHN EMERSON
ANITA LOOS
IRVING BERLIN
DAVID BELASCO
LENORE ULRIC
JOHN BARRYMORE
MICHAEL STRANGE
SECOND ROW from left to right
ANNA PAVLOWA
JOSEF HOFMAN
REINA BELASCO GEST
JOHN DREW
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
MARIE JERITZA
GIULIO GATTI-CASAZZA
GERALDINE FARRAR
MARY GARDEN
THIRD ROW from left to right
ELSIE DE WOLFE
ARTHUR BRISBANE
MRS. WM. RANDOLPH HEARST
HENRY BLACKMAN SELL
CONDE NAST
IRENE CASTLE
FRANK CROWINSHIELD
MRS. H. PAYNE WHITNEY
KENNETH MACGOWAN
ALAN DALE
RAY LONG
FOURTH ROW from left to right
SAM BERNARD
MARILYN MILLER
ED WYNN
MRS. J. BORDEN HARRIMAN
CHARLES DANA GIBSON
ALEXANDER WOOLLCOTT
MRS. LYDIG HOYT
FRANKLIN P. ADAMS
NEYSA McMEIN
HEYWOOD BROUN
DORIS KEANE
PERCY HAMMOND
FIFTH ROW from left to right
MORANZONI
ANN MORGAN
BURNS MANTLE
MRS. W. K. VANDERBILT
WILLARD HUNTINGTON WRIGHT
S. JAY KAUFMAN
HERBERT SWOPE
WALTER CATLETT
SOPHIE BRASLAU
DOROTHY GISH
DAVID W. GRIFFITH
LILLIAN GISH
ELIZABETH MARBURY
LEON ERROL
ZOE AKINS
LOWER RIGHT BOX from left to right
FYODOR CHALIAPIN
LUCREZIA BORI
MADAME ALDA
LEFT UPPER BOX from left to right
MAUDE ADAMS
JOHN McCORMACK
CHARLES CHAPLIN
MARECHAL JOFFRE
RIGHT UPPER BOX from left to right
LAURETTE TAYLOR
FRANCES STARR
CLARE SHERIDAN
HARTLEY MANNERS
THE CURTAIN BETWEEN THE ACTS AT
FOYER S. R. O. from left to right
A. D. LASKER
SAMUEL L. ROTHAPFEL
NICHOLAS MURRAY BUTLER
RALPH BARTON
JESSE LASKY
EDWARD ZIEGLER
WILLIAM GUARD
LOUIS UNTERMEYER
J. J. SHUBERT
LEE SHUBERT
F. RAY COMSTOCK
MORRIS GEST
OLIVER M. SAYLER
BORIS ANISFELD
ROBERT EDMOND JONES
RING LARDNER
STEPHEN RATHBUN
ARMAND VECSZY
ANDREAS DE SEGUROLA
PAPI
RAYMOND HITCHCOCK
SIXTH ROW from left to right
ADOLF ZUKOR
ROBERT G. WELSH
FAY BAINTER
LAWRENCE REAMER
GERTRUDE HOFFMAN
WALTER DAMROSCH
MARY NASH
WILHELM MENGELBERG
CHARLES DARNTON
OTTO H. KAHN
FRANK A. MUNSEY
FLO ZIEGFELD
ARTURO BODANZKY
ADOLPH OCHS
JOHN RUMSEY
SEVENTH ROW from left to right
LUDWIG LEWISOHN
GEORGE S. KAUFMAN
LYNN FONTANNE
MARC CONNELLY
GEO. M. COHAN
JOHN MacMAHON
HENRY KREHBIEL
MRS. ENRICO CARUSO
BEN-AMI
DOROTHY DA1.TON
DAVID WARFIELD
ROBERT C. BENCHLEY
EIGHTH ROW from left to right
KARL KITCHEN
ANTONIO SCOTTI
FANNY HURST
HUGO RIESENFELD
VERA FOKINA
MICHEL FOKINE
AVERY HOPWOOD
CONSTANCE TALMADGE
ANNA FITZIU
REGINALD VANDERBILT
DR. FRANK CRANE
YASHA HEIFETZ
NINTH ROW from left to right
EUGENE O'NEILL
PROF. ROERICH
JOSEPH URBAN
ARTHUR HORNBLOW, Jr.
PAUL MEYER
ELSIE JANIS
PAUL BLOCK
JOHN FARRAR
SERGEI RACHMANINOFF
HERBERT HOOVER
JOHN GOLDEN
WINCHELL SMITH
JAY GOULD
EFF'S CHAUVE-SOURIS BY RALPH BARTON
SKETCH BY SOUDEIKINE FOR "PORCELAIN OF CHINA"
cept his direction for an American engagement. European contracts, however, intervened.
A lengthy correspondence followed and finally, in the face of the most difficult and dis-
couraging season the American theatre has ever known, Mr. Gest persisted, and risk-
ing everything, brought the whole company over on the chance of winning a popular
triumph a triumph which has amply justified his fondest hopes and proved the artistic saga-
city of the American public.
Although using an alien tongue, the Chauve-Souris, announced for five weeks, ran an un-
broken 65. The first bill ran to a total of one hundred and fifty-three performances and was
withdrawn at the height of its success only to permit the Russians to have the variety in their
daily work vouchsafed back home by their repertory system. On June 5, 1922, therefore, coin-
cident with removal to the Century Roof, redecorated throughout in Russian style, the second
bill was presented. This program ran a total of seventeen weeks, one more than the first, and
it in turn gave way to the third before the line at the box-office began to dwindle, and for the
same reason of placating the restless Balieff. Still flying counter to established Broadway pre-
cedent, Gest and Balieff withdrew the third bill in its heydey, and presented the fourth on the
evening of January 4 to celebrate the 400th performance of Chauve-Souris in New York,
and to do honor to the arriving artists of the Moscow Art Theatre who attended in a body as
guests. Finally, for the last weeks of its phenomenal engagement, the system of repertory in
vogue on its home stage in Moscow was revived by Balieff and Gest with the result of bringing
back to mind the most cherished numbers of the earlier bills. And by the night of au revoir,
Saturday, May 5, 1923, a total of 551 performances had been given.
As a matter of fact, Balieff's Chauve-Souris could have stayed on through a second summer
in New York. Thinking that the company had earned a rest, though, Balieff and Gest deter-
mined to let them play both recreationally and professionally through a summer holiday in
Paris. Sailing on the Mauretania, May 8, Balieff bowed once more to a French audience on
May 24, 1923, at the selfsame Theatre Femina where his theatre had been reborn. Only this
SKETCH BY REMISOFF FOR THE SCENE AND COSTUMES OF "SOUVENIRS OF OTHER DAYS"
SKETCH BY REMISOFF FOR "UNDER THE EYES OF OUR ANCESTORS," ANCIENT GAVOTTE
1
"THE THREE HUNTSMEN"
Sketch by S. Soudcikine
time, it was the Americans in the audience who were most faithful, most enthusiastic. "Ba-
lieff? Why, we made him!" they seemed to say, and Balieff and his company repaid the com-
pliment by straightway becoming homesick for America. The outcome was that a summer
holiday became a most profitable business excursion the first time in the history of the
French theatre that a foreign production ever made a financial success.
From the earliest days the distinguished visitors to the Chauve-Souris have been numerous.
When Balieff gave a special performance in honor of Marechal Joffre, under the auspices of
the American Committee for Devastated France at the Forty-ninth Street Theatre in April, 1922,
he was right in his element. He had given gala performances in Moscow at one time and another
in honor of many celebrities; among them H. G. Wells, Emile Verhaeren, the Belgian poet and
playwright; Paul Fort, the French poet; and Gordon Craig, master theorist of the modern
theatre.
One of these gala performances in particular that Balieff recalls with joy is that which he
gave in honor of Craig. The son of Ellen Terry had gone to Moscow to design the settings for
the famous "Hamlet" of the Moscow Art Theatre. And so in his program in Craig's honor
he included a burlesque parody on "Hamlet" in which the King was dressed to represent a Rus-
sian samovar.
Another of the gala performances which Balieff likes to remember is the one given for the
purpose of starting the Moscow Art Theatre's fund for sick and disabled artists of the company.
This performance was given in the Art Theatre itself. Stanislavsky thought the best seats
ought to be sold for $5, but Balieff insisted on $25 for the top of the scale. And he got it, for
the great theatre was packed, netting $12,000 for the evening, a sum considerably in excess even of
the phenomenal proceeds from his benefit performance here in April, 1922, for starving Russian
artists, arranged by Morris Gest under the auspices of the American Relief Administration.
Many of the most famous stars on the American stage participated in that benefit, putting
aside their dignity and serving as house staff to Balieff and his artists. Ed Wynn, star of "The
Perfect Fool," served as chief porter and carriage man. Al Jolson, star of "Bombo," was head
door-keeper. Sam Bernard was coat room boy. Lillian and Dorothy Gish, stars of "Orphans
20
of the Storm," were program girls. Doris Keane, star of "The Czarina"; Laurette Taylor, star
of "The National Anthem," and Lenore Ulric, star of "Kiki," were the ushers. Marilyn Miller,
star of "Sally," was flower girl. Leon Errol and Walter Catlett, stars of "Sally," were water
boys. And Sam H. Harris and John Golden acted as property boys back stage.
Another hint of old times was the trip of Balieff and the entire company of the Chauve-Souris
to Southampton, L. I., on the night of September 3, 1922, at the suggestion of Clarence Mackay
and the invitation of Samuel L. Parrish, to give an out-of-door performance in the gardens of the
Parrish Art Museum for the benefit of the Rogers Memorial Library before an impressive
audience of society's summer capital. Balieff says this excursion reminded him of nothing so
much as his journeys of old to Tsarskoe Selo near Petrograd to entertain the Emperor
Nicholas II.
The Chauve-Souris, coming as unpretentious troubadours from a foreign land, have remained
to conquer American friendship for far away and troubled Russia. Probably more than any
other single element, these singers and dancers and artists are responsible for the returning wave
of sympathy for the Russian people which is sweeping over this country today and which is tak-
ing the form of all kinds of benefits and funds to aid the starving millions and to back up the
splendid work which Herbert Hoover and the American Relief Administration are doing.
America has a natural kinship with Russia. Both countries and both peoples are extremely
democratic.
Today the bond of sympathy and understanding between America and Russia is being knit
firmly together again. There is a Russian fad in dressing. There is a widespread interest in
Russian art, in Russian music, in Russian operas, in Russian literature. From one end of
America to the other, the influence of this unpretentious little Russian company is evident.
Not a revue has escaped the contagion. All those signs point to renewed sympathy and
understanding. And the Chauve-Souris should receive much of the credit for this change
of heart. The Chauve-Souris discloses the human, light-hearted Russia, the Russia that can
laugh, the courageous Russia that can laugh even while loved ones at home are in distress, with
the assurance that their laughter is not only coining money to relieve those loved ones but
building higher the pyramid of sympathy for their sufferings.
The most important outgrowth of Balieff's Chauve-Souris, of course, has been the trium-
phant visit to America of the Moscow Art Theatre, likewise under the sponsorship of F. Ray
THE CENTURY ROOF THEATRE AS REDECORATED IN RUSSIAN STYLE BY BALIEFF'S ARTISTS FOR THE NEW YORK HOME OF THE CHAUVE-SOURIS
21
SKETCH BY SOUDEIKINE FOR. THE SCENE AND COSTUMES OF "THE SCALES OF DESTINY"
Comstock and Morris Gest. I have said that Balieff carried away the most cordial feelings
from the stage of his novitiate. The best proof of mutual high regard, however, was displayed
during the months while negotiations were proceeding for the first American engagement of
the Moscow Art Theatre. Morris Gest took Balieff's word for the Art Theatre. The Art Thea-
tre took Balieff's word for Morris Gest. Here was a case of the child becoming for the
moment, at least father to the man.
To give the slightest hint of the profound emotional reactions to be experienced in the pres-
ence of this foremost dramatic company on the European continent is impossible in a few para-
graphs. Its fascinating story I have recounted at length in my new book, "The Russian Theatre,"
with new chapters on the most recent developments on the stages of Moscow and Petrograd and
a comprehensive survey of the Russian theatre in America.
From the Moscow Art Theatre stems every important development of the modern Russian
stage. From the day its doors were opened back in 1898, it has been a tremendous stimulus to
dramatic art in both of the Muscovite capitals. In some cases, this stimulus led to emulation
of its methods by rival theatres, both older and younger than itself. In other instances, it led
just as positively to the founding of new theatres in opposition to its methods. Balieff's Chauve-
Souris, therefore, is only one of its fecund offspring. But if I had a free hand to choose the one
which would most cannily serve us as forerunner to the world's first theatre, I could not improve
on the choice fate has given us.
22
SKETCH BY SOUDEIKINE FOR "TREPAK," RUSSIAN BALLET DANCE "CASSE-NOISETTE," BY TCHAIKOVSKY
"THE DEATH OF A HOKSE"
Wnter Color by N. Remisof
23
Is,
Photo Delph,
"PRETTY DRUMMER" SCENE AND COSTUMES BY REMISOFF
"THE BLACK HUSSARS" SCENE AND COSTUMES BY REMISOFF. FOR THE EXECUTION OF OLD SONGS OF HUSSARS
Photo Delphi
24
r
"SENTIMENTAL RUSSIAN BALLADS"
Prominent artists who acted as house attaches at the benefit performance of Balieff's Chauve-Souris given for destitute Russian
artists of Petrograd, Moscow and Odessa. Reading from left to right are: Balieff, Sam Bernard, Leon Errol, Marilyn Miller,
Walter Catlett, Laurette Taylor, Al Jolson, Doris Keane, Lenore Ulric, Dorothy Gish, Lillian Gish and Morris Gest.
25
SKETCH BV SOUDEIKIVE FOR THE SCENE AND COSTUMES OF "LA GRANDE OPERA ITALIANA."
COMPLETE REPERTORY OF BALIEFF'S CHAUVE-SOURIS
AS STAGED IN AMERICA
ALAVERDI Scenes from Life in the Caucasus
ANUSHKA Russian Popular Song
BABI or AS IN FRONT OF OUR GATES Russian
Peasant Songs and Dances
IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA
THE BLACK HUSSARS
CHASTOUSHKI Russian Workers' Ditties
THE CHINESE BILLIKENS
CHIRURGIE or THE DENTIST A Farce by Anton
Tchekhoff
THE CHORUS OF THE BROTHERS ZAITZEFF
THE CLOWN
El UKHNEM or THE VOLGA BOAT SONG
EVENING BELLS
A FEAST OF THE HUSSARS
THE FOUNTAIN OF BAKHCHI-SARAI A Dramatic
Poem by Pushkin
LA GRANDE OPERA ITALIANA
GRIEF An Etude by Chopin
LE JOLI TAMBOUR or PRETTY DRUMMER An
Old French Song
KATINKA A Russian Polka of the 1860's
KATINKA'S UNEXPECTED ROMANCE
MALBROUGH S'EN VA-T-EN GUERRE or MARL-
BOROUGH GOES TO THE WARS An Old Pop-
ular French Song
MINUET After a Tale by de Maupassant
THE MOSCOW FIANCEES
THE MUSICAL SNUFF-BOX
NAPOLEON'S LOVE
A NIGHT AT YARD'S
THE NIGHT IDYL
THE NIGHTINGALE
THE PARADE OF THE WOODEN SOLDIERS
PORCELAINE DE COPENHAGEN
PORCELAINE DE SEVRES
QUADRO CABALLEROS SIVIGLIANOS
A QUARTET OF MERRY ARTISTS
26
LE ROI FAIT BATTRE LES TAMBOURS or THE
KING ORDERS THE DRUMS TO BE BEATEN
RUSSIAN REAPERS Peasant Songs
SAMURAI An Exotic Japanese Dance
SCENES FROM LIFE IN LITTLE RUSSIA
THE SEE-SAW or PORCELAINE DE MEISSEN
THE SERENADE OF THE DECEIVED PIERROT
SILENCE
SOLDIERS' SONGS
SONGS BY GLINKA
SOUVENIRS OF THE FAR PAST or IT WAS IN THE
MONTH OF MAY
THE SUDDEN DEATH OF A HORSE or THE
GREATNESS OF THE RUSSIAN SOUL A Sketch
by Anton Tchekhoff
THE TARTAR DANCE
THE THREE HUNTSMEN
TOI QUI CONNAIS LES HUSSARDS DE LA GARDE
An Old French Song
TREPAK A Russian Popular Dance
U PRIKAZNIKH VOROT or BY THE GATES OF
JUDGMENT
UNDER THE EYES OF OUR ANCESTORS Gavotte
UNE SOIREE INTIME
ZARIA-ZARIANITZA A Sacred Legend
CURTAIN OF THE CHAUVE-SOURIS THEATRE DESIGNED BY NICOLAS REM1SOFF
step-
27
SKETCH BY REMISOFF FOR "IT WAS IN THE MONTH OF MAY," SENTIMENTAL ourr
"KATINKA"
Ax OLD RUSSIAN POLKA OF THE SIXTIES. COSTUMES AND SURROUNDINGS BY S. SOUDEIKINE
MS*
28
K<2PT
29
ON TO SOUTHAMPTON!
An impression of the open-air performance of Balieff's Chauve-Souris, given in the
garden of the Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, Long Island, for the benefit of
the Rogers Memorial Library, Sunday Evening, September 3, 1922
In Southampton, Long Island, rendezvous of the elite
in American society, a stage was set al fresco in the gar-
den of the Parrish Art Museum. Night and a September
moon. Phantom mannequins puttering here and there as
they assembled stage accouterments. Flowers. Fountains.
Music the murmured cadenza of a cicada chorus. . .
Then Voices, commotion. Light! Spotlights, flood-
lights, Japanese lanterns. Gates swung wide to embrace
an oncoming throng. Patter of feet, rustle of silk ; laugh-
ter, jewels and the adornment of a society fete. . . .
Away with the romance of the night the gates of the
star-doomed theatre were open! Southampton, luxuriant
successor to Newport, was to close in a blaze of midnight
glory! Here within a sylvan amphitheatre was to be
staged the most brilliant, the most spectacular, event of
the year. For their final night in this summer paradise
they had imported an entire theatrical production lifted
it for the night bodily out of the heart of Broadway and
set it down in this improvised coliseum of bewildering out-
door beauty, one hundred miles removed ; that out of this
pageantry a fund for fashionable Southampton's memorial
library might be created.
What though it cost thousands to produce this night
to procure this set-down play! What though the powers
of the theatrical world must be swayed through channels
of influence to grant so unique a concession! What
though a special train must be provided, a theatre built,
the sacred precincts of a classic art gallery invaded to
supply dressing-rooms and rehearsal-halls!
A play night, a soiree de luxe. And the play for this
occasion it must be the piece de resistance of the American
stage at the moment, the sensation of the season. Noth-
ing less than the most talked-of piece in New York and
all America the incomparable Balieff and his Chauve-
Souris! . . .
Comedy par excellence, petite drolleries, whimsical hu-
mor, gesture more articulate than speech, art in its sim-
plest forms raised to its own ecstasy ; laughter unconfined,
joy unhobbled this was the Russia portrayed on South-
ampton's society stage last Sunday night. And this is the
real Russia, the artistic Russia, the Russia of Pushkin and
Turgenieff in literature, of the writers Tchekhoff and
Gorky, of the musicians Glinka and Glazunoff.
CHARLES W. DUKE in The Philadelphia Public Ledger.
THE PATRONS AND PATRONESSES OF THIS UNIQUE EVENT WERE:
MRS. THOMAS H. BARBER, Chairman
MR. SAMUEL L. PARRISH, Treasurer
Mrs. Thomas H. Barber
Mrs. James L. Barclay
Mrs. Charles T. Barney
Mrs. Archibald M. Brown
Mrs. Frederic H. Belts
Mrs. James L. Breese
Mr. Eben M. Byers
Mrs. J. Frederick Byers
Miss Juliana Cutting
Mrs. Henry E. Coe
Mr. G. Warrington Curtis
Mrs. George G. de Witt
Mrs. Arthur B. Claflin
Mrs. Edward de Rose
Mrs. Henry F. du Pont
Mr. John Drew
Mrs. Joseph R. Dilworth
Mrs. Herman Dierks
Mrs. W. Butler Duncan
Mrs. Frederick M. Davies
Mrs. James P. Donohue
Mrs. Marshall J. Dodge
Dr. George A. Dixon
Miss Zella de Milhau
Mrs. J. Clifton Edgar
Mrs. Duncan S. Ellsworth
Mrs. George B. French
Mrs. Lyttleton Fox
Mrs. Reginald Fincke
Mrs. Albert Herter
Mrs. Charles R. Henderson
Mrs. Russell H. Hoadley
Mrs. William W. Hoppin, Jr.
Mrs. E. M. Home
Mrs. Outerbridge Horsey
Mrs. William M. Grinnell
Mrs. Riley Miles Gilbert
Mrs. Eugene G. Grace
Mrs. Ellery James
Mrs. Edward L. Keyes
Mrs. de Lancey Kountze
Mrs. Goodhue Livingston
Mrs. James Parrish Lee
Mrs. Adrian H. Larkin
Mrs. George Leary
Mrs. Goodhue Livingston, Jr.
Mrs. J. Couper Lord
Mrs. Charles B. Macdonald
Mr. Clarence H. Mackay
Mrs. Charles E. Mitchell
Mrs. Henry May
Mrs. Edward P. Mellon
Mrs. P. Francis Murphy
Mrs. Francis Newton
Mrs. Morgan J. O'Brien
Mrs. Clarkson Potter
Miss Parrish
Mrs. John H. Prentice
Mrs. George S. Patterson
Mrs. Howard Page
Mrs. Rufus L. Patterson
Mrs. Robert S. Peabody
Mr. Samuel L. Parrish
Mrs. Henry R. Rea
Mrs. Elihu Root, Jr.
Mrs. Henry A. Robbins
Mrs. Eli K. Robinson
Mrs. Harry P. Robbins
Princess Rospigliosi
Mrs. Charles H. Sabin
Mrs. Henry W. Sage
Mrs. Alfred E. Schermerhorn
Mrs. J. Denison Sawyer
Mrs. Fredrick A. Snow
Miss Eleanor Swayne
Mrs. Robert M. Thompson
Mrs. Philips B. Thompson
Mrs. Newell W. Tilton
Mrs. Frederick Townsend
Mrs. Walter R. Tuckerman
Mrs. Edward S. Twining
Mrs. Lucien H. Tyng
Mrs. Valentine
Mrs. Robert Waller
Mrs. Williard Walsh
Mrs. W. W. Willock
Mrs. Peter B. Wyckoff
30
S WELCOME TO BALIEFF'S
CHAUVE-SOUT(IS
"Out of Russia by devious ways has come to us a jaunty
and delightful entertainment." ALEXANDER WOOLLCOTT in The
New York Times.
"The thing that makes the Chauve-Souris so ultimately de-
lightful is the flavor of it the sharp and ruddy glow of an old
folk-tale through it all. It is Holy Russia, barbarian Russia,
the place where the last peasant meets the first artist. . . .
An extraordinary mixture of fun and beauty and imagination
perfectly blended. Incomparable and unique entertainment. 1 '
KENNETH MACCOWAN in The New fork Globe.
"An exhilarating performance and one to be attended.
. . . In an experience of twenty-five years of professional
theatre-going I have never seen an audience so thoroughly in-
the spirit of a show. . . An honest, simple and daring
gesture Mr. Gest's salute from Moscow, via Paris, to New
York." PERCY HAMMOND in The New York Tribune.
"Go to the Chauve-Souris and you will again experience
that rare delight the Ballet Russe afforded at its best. . . .
There is nothing like it on our stage. The most diverse show
ever presented here. . . . It is all so strange and novel that
New York is likely to marvel at it for a long time." ROBERT G.
WELSH in The Evening Telegram.
"A bizarre and delightful medley of music, dancing and
humor, vividly set off by fantastic colors. There is charm in it
all, from delicate, exquisite bits that are like Russian minia-
tures, to riotous fun, reeling with drunken posters. Though
the changes are violent, they have the harmony of picturesque-
ness, in which the richly toned costumes play a large part.
. . . Morris Gest is to be thanked for bringing the town's
greatest novelty, such choice entertainment that it offers noth-
ing less than a Muscovite treat." CHARLES DARNTON in The
Evening World.
"Here is a new Chauve-Souris that will set your heart a-flut-
ter with its color and its life an entertainment no one who
loves to see and hear beautiful things can afford to miss."
QUINN MARTIN in The New York World.
"The Chauve-Souris resembles in form nothing so completely
as the cabaret raised to the nth degree. Its variety in aim
makes it the sublimated cabaret of a kind never seen here be-
fore, nor indeed, in its aim to amuse, to charm and to interest,
never dreamed of." LAWRENCE REAMER in The New York
Herald.
"A fine natural comedian, Mr. Balieff makes all the announce-
ments in English with a Russian accent that is joyously different
from any you ever heard. Round in face and figure, jovial and
friendly, he established hearty, hand-shaking acquaintance with
his audience two seconds after he appeared." BURNS MANTLE
in The Evening Mail.
"It is the most artistic and soul-refreshing theatrical perform-
ance that I have seen in many a year. It is pure play. Amer-
icans cannot play like that, with such perfect abandon, with
such uncensored self-expression, and yet with such consummate
art. DR. FRANK CRANE in The New York Globe.
"The performance is so extraordinary and so bizarre that
a special name should be given this kind of entertainment. No
ordinary word could possibly describe it. ... These Rus-
sian players are all artists. They play with a nicety of detail
and with a wholeheartedness that is very charming. And
Mr. Balieff is a whole show in himself. Morris Gest has given
New Yorkers a treat by bringing over the Chauve-Souris. Don't
fail to go to this Bat Theatre of Moscow. It furnishes rare
entertainment." STEPHEN RATHBUN in The Sun.
"The Chauve-Souris has caught on, and it has caught on in
that irresistibly fascinating manner which makes of certain
entertainments a 'fad.' It is the thing to see the Chauve-
Souris. You are allowed to talk about it at dinner parties.
You can't look blase and indifferent and superior as you say
indifferently: 'I've never seen the Chauve-Souris. What is
it?'" ALAN DALE in The New York American.
|'Took New York by storm.
"So good and so novel that the company could easily play
here for a decade and still be favorites." The Evening Journal.
"If you delight in the satirical fairyland of the marching
wooden soldiers and the stiff-skirted apple-cheeked Katinka,
if you hear the soft, sad beauty in the gipsy songs and feel
the magnificence of the Tartar dance, you will haunt Balieff's
theater." HENRIETTA MALKIEL in The New York Call
"Naive and sophisticated, roguish and serious, cosmopolitan
and parochial, redolent at once of the gutter, the field, the
restaurant, the theater and the salon. It has many flavors, all
of which mingle perfectly. . . . This Bat Theater combines
talent, taste, inspiration, skill, and sophistication. It is a delight.
Balieff and his company are the Playboys of Russia. Here
for the first time Americans have art for fun's sake." ARTHUR
POLLOCK in The Brooklyn Daily Eagle.
"A few critics have tried to pass off the success of the
Chauve-Souris as a fad for foreign things. These critics are
quite hopeless since there is no case on record of this kind of a
success against the obstacles of a wholly unknown language.
The audiences have gone because they could have a better time
at the Chauve-Souris. Many in the audiences could not ex-
plain why this variety show is far above our own, but an
audience can feel what it cannot analyze." NORMAN HAPGOOD
in Hearst's International.
"Here is the most interesting group of human beings the sea-
son has brought to the New York stage. These men and
women are artists to their finger tips, all masters of their tech-
nique, thoroughly equipped by training and experience to strike
all the notes on the emotional keyboard. And back of it all
is that force of forces PERSONALITY ! . . M. Balieff
and his fellow artists really are doing more than provide New
York with the season's most delectable diversion. They are
the happiest sort of Ambassadors, bringing to life a new feel-
ing for Russia.'' FREDERICK AND FANNY HATTON in Harper's
Bazar.
"A blending of the sophisticated and the simple, of things
up-to-the-minute with things immemorial, the result being some-
thing charming, a little bizarre, haunting, yet evanescent."
LUDWIG LEWISOHN in The Nation.
"Of course, all smart New York has seen the Chauve-
Souris, but if by chance you have not seen it, go at once,
otherwise you will be forced to pretend at lunch and dinner
that you have seen it; because no one would dare admit he
has not if he wishes to appear up on things." Vanity Fair.
"Balieff is an extraordinary comedian, Balieff is an uncom-
promising regisseur, and Balieff brings us the ruddy, rejuvenat-
ing warmth of the peasant where he is most the peasant. Ba-
lieff's entertainment is varied enough for anyone's taste ; his
mise-en-scene, all is simple, is pungent and gay, while the
players who appear against the bright little backgrounds of
Remisoff and Soudeikine move with a brilliantly exact tech-
nique." KENNETH MACGOWAN in Theater Arts Magazine.
"The astute and amusing Balieff was clever enough not to
fire all his best ammunition in his first battle. His second pro-
gram is distinctly superior to his first, both regarded as a series
of single numbers, and regarded, in a sense, as a composition."
Town Topics.
"Mr. Morris Gest's achievement in transporting Nikita Balieff's
troupe to the charming theater on the Century Roof was a veri-
table stroke of genius. There are few playhouses in this
country or Europe comparable in beauty and atmosphere to this
one.'' ROBERT ALLERTON PARKER in Arts and Decoration.
"Somehow, even through the bizarre Russian language, the
wild gayety blazed its way. It was strange, foreign ; but
somehow it was gay. The New York public, always receptive,
always ready to make room for what is new, responded will-
ingly; at first with curiosity, then with real interest, and finally
because 'La Chauve-Souris,' no matter why, honestly gave them
a good time." KENNETH ANDREWS in Our World.
"Everyone that has an eye to see or an ear to hear and a
sense of humor should not miss this opportunity to see Mr
Balieff and his band of clever artists. . . . And best of
all, you need not be ashamed to take your debutante daughter,
your aunt who is a Quakeress, or your brother-in-law who is a
bishop, to see the performance. It is pure, wholesome, artistic
fun, and deserves to be that which it is, the most talked-of
production in New York." Christian Science Monitor.
"In contrast, relief, solace and stimulation, the Chauve-Sourii
leads us spectators into another world. Guide, counsellor and
friend becomes Balieff of the humorous admonitions. He and
his artists have no need to impose their humors upon us by
force and arms ; quickly we catch and share their zest and spon-
taneity. A pleased public discovers in it a new art of sym-
pathy." H. T. PARKER in The Boston Transcript.
31
F. RAY COMSTOCK and MORRIS GEST
Have the honor to announce their flans for
the Theatrical Season 0/1923-1924.
F. RAY COMSTOCK and MORRIS GEST
Announce
THE TRIUMPHANT
TRANS-CONTINENTAL TOUR
(Returning to America after their summer
engagement at the Theatre Femina, Paris)
BALIEFF'S
CHAUVE-SOURIS
(THE BAT THEATRE OF MOSCOW)
Exactly as presented for 1 year and 5 months on
the Century Roof Theatre in New York
F. RAY COMSTOCK and MORRIS GEST
Announce
THE FAREWELL AMERICAN
TOUR OF THE GREAT
ITALIAN TRAGEDIENNE
ELEONORA DUSE
AND HER ENTIRE COMPANY
FROM ROME
In a repertoire including "COSI SIA" by
Gallarati-Scotti; "SPETTRI" ("Ghosts")
by Henrik Ibsen; "LA DONNA DEL
MARE" ("The Lady from the Sea") by
Ibsen ; "LA PORTA CHIUSA" by Marco
Praga; "LA CITTA MORTA" by Ga-
briele d'Annunzio.
ENGAGEMENT POSITIVELY LIMITED
TO 20 PERFORMANCES IN AMERICA
F. RAY COMSTOCK and MORRIS GEST
Announce
THE SECOND AND FAREWELL
SEASON IN AMERICA
of the
MOSCOW
ART THEATRE
Constantin Stanislavsky and
Vladimir Nemirovitch-Dantchenko
(Founders and Directors)
In an entirely new repertoire including six new plays:
"AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE" by Henrik Ibsen;
"IVANOFF" by Anton Tchekhoff; "THE MISTRESS
OF THE INN" ("La Locandiera") by Carlo Gol-
doni; "IN THE CLAWS OF LIFE" by Knut Ham-
sun; "ENOUGH STUPIDITY IN EVERY WISE
MAN" by Alexander Ostrovsky; and the full dramatic
version of "THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOFF" by
Fyodor Dostoievsky. They will also repeat the reper-
toire given last season: "TSAR FYODOR IVANO-
VITCH" by Count Alexei Tolstoy; "THE THREE
SISTERS," "THE CHERRY ORCHARD" by Anton
Tchekhoff; and Gorky's "THE LOWER DEPTHS."
F. RAY COMSTOCK and MORRIS GEST
Announce
AT THE CENTURY THEATRE,
NEW YORK, IN DECEMBER
First American Season of Professor
MAX REINHARDT'S
"THE MIRACLE"
Spectacular Dramatic Pantomime with Music
By DR. KARL VOLLMOELLER
Music by ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK,
composer of "Haensel and Gretel" and
"Koenigskinder."
F. RAY COMSTOCK and MORRIS GEST Announce
The Second Season of the Enormously Successful American Comedy
"POLLY PREFERRED"
By GUY BOLTON Staged by WINCHELL SMITH
One entire season at the Little Theatre, New York
AMERICA'S WELCOME TO BALIEFF AND
THE CHAUVE-SOURIS
DAVID BELASCO
Dear Morris Gest: What a delightful night.
I am glad that someone had the courage and
artistry to bring the Bat Theatre to us.
Since you had the vision to see Chauve-
Souris transplanted to our shores, try to keep
it here for a long time. Every true artist
should study it. I know that every lover of
the theatre will enjoy it. Congratulations!
FYODOR CIIAL1APIN
Famous Russian Basso
Bravo! Bravo! Mr. Gest. You are to be
congratulated for bringing Balieff and his
Chauve-Souris company over to America. It
is wonderful! What splendid artists! What
a new and interesting entertainment!
JASCHA HEIFETZ
I saw the Chauve-Souris. I saw it many
times. How delightful! How thrilling! I
enjoyed every moment of it. Am glad indeed
that you gave the American theatre-goers an
opportunity of seeing Balieff and his splendid
Chauve-Souris company.
GERALDINE FARRAR
Dear Mr. Gest: What a distinct and
charming novelty you have brought to Ameri-
ca! Truly the divertissement offered by Mr.
Balieff s Chauve-Souris is as unique as it is
enjoyable.
WILLEM MENGELBERG
1 enjoyed the performance of Balieff' s
Chauve-Souris immensely. I congratulate
you upon a beautiful production, one that has
great distinction and should be seen by every
art-lover.
D. W. GRIFFITH
My Dear Morris Gest: What a treat!
Every opportunity I have I shall see it. It is
really enchantingly beautiful.
AL JOLSON
I have been to three Tuesday matinees, and
if you give another performance before break-
fast, I shall be there too.
SERGEI RACHMANINOFF
I am going again and again. Simply de-
lightful!
MARIE JERITZA
The most charming evening I have ever
spent in a theatre.
CLARE SHERIDAN
I went to see Chauve-Souris twice, and I
brought my children there once. I am going
again.
ARTHUR BRISBANE
I want to congratulate you on bringing
Balieff and the Chauve-Souris to New York.
There is an education here not only for actors
and actresses, as I understand that dozens of
them go to every matinee, but also for all the
people in this country. These Russian men
and women display power, earnestness and
character, and I wish every person in the
United States over twelve years of age would
see them.
ARTURO BODANZKY
I have seen it five times, and expect to go
again and again. Chauve-Souris gives me
fresh delight every time I see it.
LEOPOLD STOKOWSKI
I saw Chauve-Souris four times in Paris and
twice here. I was fascinated with it.
SOPHIE BRASLAU
My Dear Morris Gest: The world in gen-
eral so rarely considers food for the soul it
seems an unknown and for the most part an
unsought for quantity. But every once in a
while during the material chaos through which
we seem to be whirling food for the soul is
cast to us. And then, many of us realize that
we have been starving others feel a new sen-
sation new food for thought. Out here in
the prairie country singing my way, I still
carry the thrills the Chauve-Souris gave me.
NEW YORK
