Show Ith If hV HI R rl The u ute n a J g. g 1 a 0 to s sf f n nY 1 I t f Y e t s o i j r rr rA a A r 0 1 JJ N y l 4 A favorite photo photo- photograph photograph graph of 0 Isadora Duncan as she appeared ap ap- appeared appeared a few weeks before he her tragic end in Paris ISADORA SADORA DUNCAN world famous ex- ex exponent S I B of the thc Greek dance whose 1 diaphanous draperies and bare pink toes outraged Broadway twenty years ago whose renown as a Red Iced in Russia L was at one time lime as international as her hert life that Terpsichorean t abilities lived a was never all music and gayety and joy jO The path she trod was one lined with more thorns than Ulan roses If she laughed merrily during the years cars that she was appearing on the best stages of the world she wept tragically more more often Poverty lived with her for a long lon lonI longtime I time lime and when financial success came at last heart break in love lo followed in its wake She was married only once to a ayoung ayoung young oung Russian poet who held a vodka bottle in his hand with a Y fV f a great deal more fervor fenor than he held his poetical pen Inevitably a di divorce di- di divorce divorce vorce cut Isadora's matrimonial 1 ends few A-few A few weeks wee ago at ego at the age of X fo forty ty three three three-no no longer the slim ty i j i ilithe lithe loving dance-loving Isadora the Isadra-the the woman womans who who- set the tongues of many nations wagging reached out 8 once onte more fora for a happiness happ nesa which it had so many times eluded her W Her lIer engagement to Robert nobert Win Win- Winthrop Winthrop t s Chanler noted New York rt 4 artist former husband of Lina s 4 Cavalieri grand opera star and as s 's i colorful color ul a t figure g re in the thc art circles I of two hemisphere hemispheres as Isadora her her- herself herself t self was announced Isadora was seeking once more for hearts heart's ease A and happiness if v But ut it was not to be Fate had u another cruel blow the blow the last one one one- i ifor for Cor Isadora in her keeping y yI t tI f I am afraid that some quick accident might happen Isadora J said in Nice Italy the day after the announcement of her bel engagement Those were ph words For Isadora Isa Isa- Isadora Isadora dora Duncan is dead She never reached the comer corner around which she thought happiness might be waiting after a lifetime life liCe time of disappointment Her death was as tragic as most of her life liCe had been Less than eight tort hours after the public was informed that she and Bob nab to go to the altar together the famous dancer died under the wheels of an automobile she was planning to purchase And it was one of the tho immense silk scara which she was in the habit of wearing that hurled her to her death The dancer had entered the automo automo- automobile automobile automobile bile and neither she nor the chauffeur noticed that one of the ends of the scarf fell outside over the edge of the car and was caught in one of the rear wheels When Wh n the automobile was started d Isadora was pulled from floom the car and crashed on the street str et One of 01 the wheels passed over her body before the car could be stopped Isadora Duncan was picked up dead dead- her neck and broken w How Isadora a Duncan the tIle bYry Famous Classic Dancer Went r hr f. f R to an all Unexpected and Horrible r Death J Just When She SIle 4 k 4 4 L kb i sr 2 Seemed About to Find Peace a and Contentment t s L j V ifo 14 f y i I Isadora and Serge the wayward young Russian poet she marri married d in in a vain vain attempt to find happiness f b burden of supporting s the entire en tire the family amily rested on the slight ht shoulders of oC the little girl who was scheduled in later years rears to astound the world s New York did not at once t recognized that hee he e was a dancer far more gifted than thanN N the the- others with whom she shared ensemble honors F But Dut Isadora her her- herself hert x t z self knew that she was more grace grace- graceful graceful p ful ul more v it Y rY r te in her s l than her sisters of I the She the stage s e. e i ys decided to go to tf j q 4 roe It was wa k after aHer months of R 4 t saving that at tf 14 ty 1 last a ticket on at a t s' s cattle-boat cattle w was wa's a's as asp r s 3 purchased p pur u r c h a sed and an Isadora with her hr family said good- good goodby goodby gooda a r by to these shores sholes c y and set sail for fOI q London 44 The English En g lis h 4 r Robert Chanler C h a n l I e r the metropolis acclaimed her wealthy w e a l I thy t h y New NewYork York Y ork Paris later too worshipped artist whose who w h o s e engage engage- engagement at her feet And when Isa Isa- Isadora sa- sa J ment to Isadora Duncan was dora finally returned to rumored only a few days before be be- New York she was welcomed wel wel- fore she was killed corned with open arms But nut New v York gasped the first few v times it saw Isa Isa- scarf tight about her throat The last cruel cr el blow had been dealt Isadora's life was a bizarre and gaudy one A searcher after beauty she en en- encountered encountered encountered countered many hardships on the jour jour- journe ney ne The public prints used thousands of columns to chronicle the thc doings of the light-footed light dancer who when she first appeared in Manhattan was ws hooted as an upstart i because she preferred to whirl upon bare toes and who later be be- became became came camo toe the thing hing For several se years everybody e who was anybody went to see Isadora sad ra dane Dancing Dancin was an obsession with her She lived in Chicago a child and in her early girlhood attracted the tho attention of Augustin tin Daly long foremost among the dramatic managerial figures in in- inthis this country who encouraged her to come to New York Those were lean days those first months in Manhattan So little money was there there then in the Duncan purse that she walked to rehearsals and went without with with- without without out luncheons Her Iler mother and two brothers accompanied her here and the dora walk down in feet wearing a pink gown of classical lines a poke bonnet tied under the chin with long ribbons and sandals of Greek fashion Crowds followed her everywhere i When she appeared on the stage without with with- without without out tights audiences were thunder thunder- struck But ut she v so radiant so grace grace- graceful graceful graceful ful that they forgave her after a while though she was twenty years ears ahead of her time New York did not know then that a few years ears afterward the little girls who dance in rows behind the footlights would all be When Isadora returned to Europe again to gain new triumphs she opened schools of dancing in England France Italy Even the late King Edward showed show d da a deep interest in her work She was constantly becoming more successful No one knew of the heart-break heart that was Isadora's at that time No one even knew that she had been in love until the death of her two children Deidre five years old and Patrick four was an an- The fhe children went to their deaths i ithe it iJ the River Seine in April 1913 when s a limousine driven by Isadora's chauffeur toppled over the bridge The children and their governess were drowned like lik like cats in a bag bas before aid ai could be given them The dancer would not tell who was the thi father of Deidre and Patrick For a long longtime longtime time she devoted herself to the care o of the sick and announced ced that she would woul no longer dance But the call of th the footlights was too strong and trying t to forget her tragedy Isadora more radiant than ever reappeared on the stage in th the dances which made her more famous than ever Then the dancer lancer began to interest her her- herself herself herself self in Russia and the Soviet She visited Lenine in Moscow and was offered s a palace in which to start a dancing school for the children of the commissars Her studio in the Russian city was fa fa- famous famous fa- fa famous for informal parties To fo one of them came one night blonde boyish- boyish looking Serge the poet daure daure- ate of Soviet So Russia and of Lenin Love Lo has come to me at last Isa Isa- Isadora Isadora Isadora dora is quoted as saying saying-at that time And so Isadora and the champagne- champagne drinking vodka-loving vodka poet were married in May Mar 1922 when she sho was thirty- thirty seven and her husband ten years ears her junior Serge graced her parties patties He lie recited poetry for Isadora's guests and drank a great gleat deal More than was good for him and more than was good for the comfort of the guests Invariably he started an old-fashioned old room bar brawl brawls and soon fewer and fewer of the dancers dancer's dancers dancer's dancers dancer's ers er's admirers came to her lavishly la fur fur- furnished furnished furnished studio The dancing school in iii Moscow was not paying very ery well either It was vas hud hard to get tuition fees from the commissars commissar So Isadora decided to come back to America and garner a few good Ameri Ameri- American can dollars In October 1922 she and Serge arrived in New York They were held up in port for the Russian ideas of the dancer had be be- become become become come known here Finally Finall the author author- authorities authorities authorities permitted Isadora dora to enter the coun coun- country try but try but her troubles had only begun In a New York hotel Serge threw what hat Isadora called an epileptic fit He hurled empty gin bottles out of the lie win window dow cow smashed the furniture and ran lan screaming down the corridors in the mid mid- middle middle middle dle of the tile night At a party in the Bronx Dron it is said Serge got gloriously drunk and gave gae his dancing wife two black eyes When Isadora went to Boston Doston soon after her arrival to fulfill an engage engage- ment the themay t h e a f mayor may 0 r of oft y t that h a t c city i t y barred the Red R d dancer dancer from the e stage Mis Mis- Misfortune k s fortune Ay dogged her ti Steps And Serge kept right rig h t on raising s' s Cain In Chicago Chica Chica- Chicago k go Isadora y empty e m p t y of purse and heart- heart heartbroken heartbroken heartbroken broken because because be be- because cause of the th e n t 3 she had re- re rec rec c e ei i v e d in inA inA A m mer c r ica lea A A. photograph of decided deci ed t o ogo Isadora Duncan go home home taken t a ken k e n at the again gain vow vow- height h e i g h t of 0 f her herIn heri i In ng n g that hat t world-wide world fame never ne more as an exponent of would she the classic Greek set foot up- up dance o on n these shores hores On borrowed money she purchased asEd passage and took her Serge back to Russia Serge after his divorce in February 1924 1934 married a granddaughter grand grand- granddaughter daughter daught r of Tolstoy the great Plus Rus- tf sian writer and finally committed suicide by cutting his wrists and hanging himself in Leningrad in Decem Decem- December December December ber 1925 19 5 Previously he had been kicked out of France by the authorities for his up cutting and the only thing that saved Isadora Tandem from bing b ing deported with him was because she owned property in France at the time Of Isadora little was vas heard until 1926 when she was rumored engaged to the Due Duc de Chartres French It will be funny if I 1 marry him said Isa Isa- Isa Isa- Isa dora Iota But nut she never took the comical step Isadora last appeared in the newspapers pers in January when she was rescued from the sea at Nice by a n young British army officer Press dispatches stated d she had tried to drown herself because she was despondent over her poverty Last November No her beautiful home at Neuilly had hall been sold to pay her h r debts although her friends tried to save save- it in order to establish an Isadora Duncan t as y yv f S f s b y 0 y Y R b s r ka s 0 b 1 i Memorial School of Dancing to be con con- continued continued continued after her death Up lip and up down up and down thus down thus rose ose and fell the fortunes of The Dun Dun- can And she never really found the happiness she sought up to the moment of her horrible death It s emed as if luck ill-luck had tired of or haunting her that day when her engage engage- engagement engagement engagement ment was announced Friends of the dancer whose eyes always had a stricken look said Now V O she will be happy at last For had she lived Jived to marry mUT Bob Dob have Chanler Isadora's Isadore's poor day would been over o oe e r. r She might have come conic to of or theartist's the theartist's theartist's America once more to be mistress artists artist's luxuriously furnished apartment in Gramercy Park section of New York She might have traveled in the best cir cir- circles cir cir- cirdes des cles of or Manhattan society She might mi ht have lived happily ever after with Bob Chanler |