1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:04,279 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:13,400 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,400 --> 00:00:16,880 Speaker 1: I'm Holly Fry and I'm Tracy V. Wilson. So this 4 00:00:16,960 --> 00:00:19,919 Speaker 1: is part two of Isadora Duncan's story. And in the 5 00:00:19,960 --> 00:00:22,480 Speaker 1: first part of this two parter we talked about Isadora 6 00:00:22,560 --> 00:00:25,919 Speaker 1: Duncan's early life in San Francisco and her drive to 7 00:00:25,960 --> 00:00:28,600 Speaker 1: make a life for herself, her mother, and her siblings 8 00:00:28,640 --> 00:00:32,680 Speaker 1: that was less defined by financial instability, and she sort 9 00:00:32,720 --> 00:00:35,559 Speaker 1: of succeeded money would remain a problem for her for 10 00:00:35,600 --> 00:00:38,839 Speaker 1: the rest of her life. This second episode picks up 11 00:00:38,960 --> 00:00:43,080 Speaker 1: right after Isadora's triumphant engagement in Budapest, where she sold 12 00:00:43,080 --> 00:00:46,200 Speaker 1: out a month's worth of shows and had finally found 13 00:00:46,200 --> 00:00:50,279 Speaker 1: fame because Europe really embraced her. But the comforts afforded 14 00:00:50,320 --> 00:00:53,360 Speaker 1: by these things was forever clouded by an ongoing series 15 00:00:53,440 --> 00:00:57,160 Speaker 1: of tragedies, and this episode will feature those more unhappy 16 00:00:57,200 --> 00:01:00,080 Speaker 1: times and the affairs that dominated the last decade of 17 00:01:00,120 --> 00:01:02,280 Speaker 1: her life. And yes, we will of course cover the 18 00:01:02,360 --> 00:01:05,120 Speaker 1: famous and tragic end of her life, but we're going 19 00:01:05,200 --> 00:01:07,360 Speaker 1: to pick up while she is still in Europe enjoying 20 00:01:07,360 --> 00:01:10,279 Speaker 1: her acclaim and her new fortune, and turning her sights 21 00:01:10,319 --> 00:01:13,360 Speaker 1: on the country that she had long revered and imagined. 22 00:01:14,200 --> 00:01:17,560 Speaker 1: It is really no surprise that a woman who founded 23 00:01:17,600 --> 00:01:21,039 Speaker 1: her entire style of dance on the ideas she had 24 00:01:21,080 --> 00:01:24,280 Speaker 1: read as a young girl about the esthetics of ancient 25 00:01:24,360 --> 00:01:27,920 Speaker 1: Greece would want to make her way to those ideas birthplace. 26 00:01:28,720 --> 00:01:31,800 Speaker 1: Her siblings once again joined her and Dora as they 27 00:01:31,840 --> 00:01:35,080 Speaker 1: made their way to Greece. She describes them all as 28 00:01:35,160 --> 00:01:38,880 Speaker 1: being quote half mad with joy when they arrived there. 29 00:01:39,319 --> 00:01:42,760 Speaker 1: Quote we asked ourselves why we should ever leave Greece, 30 00:01:42,880 --> 00:01:47,520 Speaker 1: since we found in Athens everything which satisfied our esthetics sense. 31 00:01:48,440 --> 00:01:50,960 Speaker 1: When is it? Or's brother Augustine missed his wife and 32 00:01:51,040 --> 00:01:53,280 Speaker 1: daughter is a Dora, who at this point was in 33 00:01:53,320 --> 00:01:55,960 Speaker 1: a much better place financially thanks to her success in 34 00:01:56,040 --> 00:01:59,520 Speaker 1: Hungary and Germany, arranged for them to join the rest 35 00:01:59,520 --> 00:02:01,720 Speaker 1: of the family. Yeah. She's so matter of fact when 36 00:02:01,760 --> 00:02:03,200 Speaker 1: she writes about it, She's like, oh, yes, of course, 37 00:02:03,240 --> 00:02:07,280 Speaker 1: I just sent for them. She just threw money at 38 00:02:07,320 --> 00:02:11,920 Speaker 1: problems um. The family also took to wearing clothes in 39 00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:14,760 Speaker 1: the style of the ancient Greeks quote, much to the 40 00:02:14,800 --> 00:02:18,440 Speaker 1: astonishment of the modern Greeks themselves. That's according to Duncan. 41 00:02:19,080 --> 00:02:21,600 Speaker 1: The family also fell in love with a tract of 42 00:02:21,680 --> 00:02:24,160 Speaker 1: land atop a hill which afforded them a view of 43 00:02:24,160 --> 00:02:27,160 Speaker 1: the Acropolis, and they arranged to purchase it at a 44 00:02:27,200 --> 00:02:29,920 Speaker 1: fairly steep price from the five families who all had 45 00:02:29,960 --> 00:02:33,160 Speaker 1: a stake in this property. Like their properties, all met 46 00:02:33,240 --> 00:02:35,680 Speaker 1: kind of on top of this hill. And the plan 47 00:02:35,840 --> 00:02:37,960 Speaker 1: was that the Duncans were going to build a home there, 48 00:02:38,080 --> 00:02:43,960 Speaker 1: which Raymond designed despite having no architectural help. Uh. And 49 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:48,079 Speaker 1: it was based on the Palace of Agamemnon. So this 50 00:02:48,240 --> 00:02:51,600 Speaker 1: already sounds a little dicey in the manner of tourists 51 00:02:51,800 --> 00:02:54,839 Speaker 1: taking on a culture like play acting, and that kind 52 00:02:54,880 --> 00:02:58,920 Speaker 1: of cringe worthy aspect, as echoed in Duncan's own writing 53 00:02:59,560 --> 00:03:03,160 Speaker 1: about the family temple that they were building in their 54 00:03:03,200 --> 00:03:07,320 Speaker 1: relationship with the country, quote, we were completely self sufficient 55 00:03:07,360 --> 00:03:10,040 Speaker 1: in our clan. We did not mingle at all with 56 00:03:10,120 --> 00:03:13,320 Speaker 1: the inhabitants of Athens. Even when we heard one day 57 00:03:13,360 --> 00:03:16,160 Speaker 1: from the peasants that the King of Greece had ridden 58 00:03:16,240 --> 00:03:20,079 Speaker 1: out to see our temple, we remained unimpressed, for we 59 00:03:20,080 --> 00:03:25,600 Speaker 1: were living under the reign of other kings. Agamemnon, Menelais 60 00:03:25,720 --> 00:03:30,440 Speaker 1: and Priam. Soon they realized that they had started building 61 00:03:30,440 --> 00:03:33,040 Speaker 1: their home. They're sort of Temple of the Arts on 62 00:03:33,160 --> 00:03:37,160 Speaker 1: land that had no water. So in spite of that, 63 00:03:37,200 --> 00:03:39,400 Speaker 1: the family did spend a whole year in Greece before 64 00:03:39,400 --> 00:03:43,520 Speaker 1: they headed back to Vienna. They just love slash hate. 65 00:03:43,720 --> 00:03:48,560 Speaker 1: But it's entertaining to me, like just the hubris of 66 00:03:48,600 --> 00:03:50,880 Speaker 1: like we're gonna go buy this land and we're going 67 00:03:50,920 --> 00:03:53,960 Speaker 1: to create ancient Greece. We don't want to talk to locals. 68 00:03:54,160 --> 00:03:56,200 Speaker 1: We just want to wear our togas and dance around 69 00:03:56,200 --> 00:03:59,680 Speaker 1: in this house. Also, we didn't check whether there was 70 00:03:59,720 --> 00:04:04,720 Speaker 1: water now, and they did try to see if they 71 00:04:04,760 --> 00:04:07,920 Speaker 1: could dig wells, but the land was just super dry. 72 00:04:08,320 --> 00:04:10,800 Speaker 1: I have to wonder if the locals were snickering off 73 00:04:10,800 --> 00:04:13,080 Speaker 1: somewhere else, like, yeah, we drove up the price on 74 00:04:13,120 --> 00:04:16,880 Speaker 1: that land and they bought it, and now they can't 75 00:04:16,880 --> 00:04:22,000 Speaker 1: even live there. Um. However, in nineteen o five, is 76 00:04:22,080 --> 00:04:25,720 Speaker 1: Adora decided to open her first true dance school. This 77 00:04:25,800 --> 00:04:28,560 Speaker 1: was a far cry from the crumbling castle mansion that 78 00:04:28,600 --> 00:04:31,120 Speaker 1: we mentioned in part one, and she opened the school 79 00:04:31,120 --> 00:04:33,960 Speaker 1: in Berlin. This was the first of many schools she 80 00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:37,600 Speaker 1: would have, and her students were nicknamed the is Adorables 81 00:04:37,600 --> 00:04:40,640 Speaker 1: by the press. That name persists even to this day. 82 00:04:41,400 --> 00:04:44,359 Speaker 1: She started the school initially with a co educational model, 83 00:04:44,440 --> 00:04:47,760 Speaker 1: with both boys and girls enrolled, but over time and 84 00:04:47,839 --> 00:04:51,240 Speaker 1: due to minimal interest, she started taking only female students. 85 00:04:51,839 --> 00:04:56,040 Speaker 1: Also in five Isaora met a man named Gordon Craig 86 00:04:56,080 --> 00:04:59,680 Speaker 1: while she was performing in Berlin. Craig was essentially in 87 00:05:00,040 --> 00:05:03,760 Speaker 1: is Theater Royalty. He was the son of Dame Ellen Terry, 88 00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:07,800 Speaker 1: who was one of England's most famous stage actresses. He 89 00:05:07,880 --> 00:05:11,560 Speaker 1: had become a theatrical designer and Isadora felt deeply in 90 00:05:11,680 --> 00:05:14,560 Speaker 1: love with him from the night she met him. She 91 00:05:14,640 --> 00:05:17,880 Speaker 1: stayed with him for two weeks. Her mother actually thought 92 00:05:17,960 --> 00:05:21,480 Speaker 1: she had gone missing. Duncan described Craig as quote one 93 00:05:21,480 --> 00:05:25,560 Speaker 1: of the most extraordinary geniuses of our epoch, A creature 94 00:05:25,680 --> 00:05:29,880 Speaker 1: like Shelley, made of fire and lightning. Yeah. He's often 95 00:05:29,920 --> 00:05:33,200 Speaker 1: described as like the great love of her life. Craig 96 00:05:33,200 --> 00:05:35,560 Speaker 1: and Duncan had a daughter together in nineteen o six, 97 00:05:35,640 --> 00:05:38,320 Speaker 1: named Dear Drew Beatrice, and they had not gotten married. 98 00:05:38,680 --> 00:05:42,280 Speaker 1: Gordon Craig was actually already married. He also already had 99 00:05:42,279 --> 00:05:44,760 Speaker 1: a number of children out of wedlock with other women. 100 00:05:45,440 --> 00:05:48,080 Speaker 1: Uh he would go on to have even more Their 101 00:05:48,200 --> 00:05:50,760 Speaker 1: romance ended after a few years, but the two of 102 00:05:50,800 --> 00:05:55,880 Speaker 1: them stayed lifelong friends. But all of this really significantly 103 00:05:55,920 --> 00:06:00,120 Speaker 1: strained Isadora's relationship to her mother, who had been horrified 104 00:06:00,440 --> 00:06:02,880 Speaker 1: by Craig and called him a lot of bad names 105 00:06:02,920 --> 00:06:08,919 Speaker 1: about being a seducer. And also uh was probably pretty 106 00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:11,760 Speaker 1: horrified that she was with someone who was cheating on 107 00:06:11,880 --> 00:06:15,200 Speaker 1: his wife since that had broken up her marriage and 108 00:06:15,279 --> 00:06:18,080 Speaker 1: the whole having a child out of wedlock really upset her. 109 00:06:18,640 --> 00:06:22,159 Speaker 1: Soon after the affair with Craig ended, Isadora started a 110 00:06:22,200 --> 00:06:26,080 Speaker 1: relationship with Paris Singer, the son of sewing machine mobile 111 00:06:26,200 --> 00:06:29,279 Speaker 1: Isaac Singer, who we have talked about on the show before. 112 00:06:30,080 --> 00:06:33,760 Speaker 1: This was an interesting relationship. Is Adora often found Paris 113 00:06:33,800 --> 00:06:37,440 Speaker 1: to be a spoiled, bullheaded man, and she was often 114 00:06:37,560 --> 00:06:41,080 Speaker 1: frustrated that he seemed to think himself above working people 115 00:06:41,480 --> 00:06:43,960 Speaker 1: who were the very same people who had built his fortune, 116 00:06:44,040 --> 00:06:47,520 Speaker 1: but she still loved him. Duncan and Singer welcomed his 117 00:06:47,640 --> 00:06:52,120 Speaker 1: son into the world in nineteen He was named Patrick. Yeah. 118 00:06:52,200 --> 00:06:56,440 Speaker 1: Their relationship is fascinating to me. Um. While she was 119 00:06:56,640 --> 00:06:59,440 Speaker 1: still pregnant. She toured the United States with German conductor 120 00:07:00,160 --> 00:07:04,480 Speaker 1: Walter Damrosch, and her performance and the very filmy drapes 121 00:07:04,520 --> 00:07:07,240 Speaker 1: of fabric which allowed her body to be seen beneath them, 122 00:07:07,760 --> 00:07:11,360 Speaker 1: was considered a revelation by some and absolutely shocking and 123 00:07:11,440 --> 00:07:14,480 Speaker 1: immoral by others. Remember, she had tossed all of that 124 00:07:14,520 --> 00:07:16,760 Speaker 1: belly convention out of the window. She really was like 125 00:07:17,400 --> 00:07:19,880 Speaker 1: going for the Grecian look, but in these very see 126 00:07:19,880 --> 00:07:24,880 Speaker 1: through filmy outfits. President Theodore Roosevelt eventually offered his take, 127 00:07:25,000 --> 00:07:27,960 Speaker 1: which quelled the detractors a good bit when he said, quote, 128 00:07:28,240 --> 00:07:31,520 Speaker 1: Isadora Duncan seems to me as innocent as a child, 129 00:07:31,600 --> 00:07:34,880 Speaker 1: dancing through the garden in the morning sunshine and picking 130 00:07:34,920 --> 00:07:38,880 Speaker 1: the beautiful flowers of her fantasy. Duncan had an experience 131 00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:42,640 Speaker 1: during a performance in Paris in that really seems to 132 00:07:42,640 --> 00:07:46,840 Speaker 1: have prophesied a great tragedy. She was dancing to Chopin's 133 00:07:46,880 --> 00:07:49,400 Speaker 1: Funeral March at the Trunk and Arrow when she had 134 00:07:49,440 --> 00:07:54,000 Speaker 1: what she described as a sense of foreboding regarding her children, 135 00:07:54,760 --> 00:07:58,840 Speaker 1: and she smelled quote white tuber roses and funeral flowers. 136 00:07:58,880 --> 00:08:01,559 Speaker 1: She later wrote quote, this was the first faint note 137 00:08:01,600 --> 00:08:04,760 Speaker 1: of the prelude of the tragedy, which presently was to 138 00:08:05,000 --> 00:08:08,440 Speaker 1: end all my hopes of any natural, joyous life for 139 00:08:08,480 --> 00:08:13,640 Speaker 1: me forever. After several days later, Isadora parted ways with 140 00:08:13,680 --> 00:08:16,000 Speaker 1: her children and their nanny so that the kids could 141 00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:17,920 Speaker 1: go home to rest after they had had lunch with 142 00:08:17,960 --> 00:08:21,600 Speaker 1: Paris Singer, who she refers to in her writing as Lohengrin. 143 00:08:21,800 --> 00:08:25,360 Speaker 1: After the Wagner Opera, Isadora had to go to rehearsal 144 00:08:25,400 --> 00:08:27,320 Speaker 1: for a show that she was contracted for, and the 145 00:08:27,400 --> 00:08:29,680 Speaker 1: nanny thought that the children were too tired to wait 146 00:08:29,680 --> 00:08:33,480 Speaker 1: through rehearsal. On the way home, the car carrying the 147 00:08:33,559 --> 00:08:36,120 Speaker 1: nanny and children stalled, and it was on a slope. 148 00:08:36,160 --> 00:08:39,040 Speaker 1: When the chauffeur got out to crank the engine, the 149 00:08:39,120 --> 00:08:41,960 Speaker 1: car started, but he could not get back in fast enough, 150 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:45,600 Speaker 1: and the vehicle plummeted into the sin All three of 151 00:08:45,640 --> 00:08:49,240 Speaker 1: them died. Duncan described the moment that she heard what 152 00:08:49,360 --> 00:08:53,800 Speaker 1: happened from Paris himself, writing quote, I remember a strange 153 00:08:53,840 --> 00:08:57,360 Speaker 1: stillness came upon me. Only in my throat. I felt 154 00:08:57,360 --> 00:09:00,319 Speaker 1: a burning, as if I had swallowed some live cole rules, 155 00:09:00,720 --> 00:09:04,000 Speaker 1: but I could not understand. So this was a just 156 00:09:04,240 --> 00:09:09,160 Speaker 1: unimaginable loss, and Duncan understandably thought she was never going 157 00:09:09,240 --> 00:09:13,080 Speaker 1: to dance again or do much of anything. But just 158 00:09:13,200 --> 00:09:16,480 Speaker 1: as she always had, she let her emotions fuel her work. 159 00:09:16,920 --> 00:09:21,280 Speaker 1: She choreographed two pieces reflecting her sorrow. They were Mother 160 00:09:21,760 --> 00:09:25,959 Speaker 1: and March Funebra. These were to the piano sonata by 161 00:09:26,080 --> 00:09:29,720 Speaker 1: Chopin of the same name. Yeah, you can actually find 162 00:09:30,240 --> 00:09:32,920 Speaker 1: videos of modern performances of those dances if you want 163 00:09:32,920 --> 00:09:36,080 Speaker 1: to see them. Uh, you just googled. Literally, is a 164 00:09:36,120 --> 00:09:38,800 Speaker 1: Door Duncan Mother? Or is a Door Duncan marsh Funebra 165 00:09:38,920 --> 00:09:41,640 Speaker 1: And they will come right up. Uh. Next, we are 166 00:09:41,640 --> 00:09:44,280 Speaker 1: going to delve into how is it Door tried to 167 00:09:44,360 --> 00:09:47,040 Speaker 1: move on with her life, But before we tackle that, 168 00:09:47,080 --> 00:09:49,040 Speaker 1: we will pause for a word from the sponsors to 169 00:09:49,120 --> 00:09:59,640 Speaker 1: keep stuff you missed in history class going. Paris Singer 170 00:09:59,720 --> 00:10:03,120 Speaker 1: had wanted to marry Isadora Duncan, and he, you know, 171 00:10:03,200 --> 00:10:05,960 Speaker 1: proclaimed this after the deaths of the children, but she 172 00:10:06,080 --> 00:10:08,920 Speaker 1: refused to him. It was like, I can set you up. 173 00:10:08,960 --> 00:10:10,920 Speaker 1: You don't have to dance anymore. If you don't want to, 174 00:10:11,000 --> 00:10:13,720 Speaker 1: I will take care of you. But she really really 175 00:10:13,760 --> 00:10:16,760 Speaker 1: still hated the idea of marriage and as the two 176 00:10:16,840 --> 00:10:19,640 Speaker 1: of them struggled with their grief and their disagreement over 177 00:10:19,679 --> 00:10:22,360 Speaker 1: where their relationship was going. Things kind of fell apart, 178 00:10:23,160 --> 00:10:25,520 Speaker 1: and after feeling that she either had to end her 179 00:10:25,559 --> 00:10:28,960 Speaker 1: life or find some purpose to it, Isadora decided to 180 00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:31,640 Speaker 1: spend some time in Albania, where her brother Raymond was 181 00:10:31,679 --> 00:10:36,160 Speaker 1: working with refugees of the balkanmores Isadora next went to Italy. 182 00:10:36,440 --> 00:10:40,120 Speaker 1: She spent some time with close friend and actress Eleonora Douza, 183 00:10:40,200 --> 00:10:43,160 Speaker 1: who was nursing her own broken heart over the end 184 00:10:43,200 --> 00:10:47,720 Speaker 1: of her relationship with feminist playwright Lena Palletti. There's been 185 00:10:47,760 --> 00:10:51,400 Speaker 1: a lot of speculation about whether Duncan and Dousa ever 186 00:10:51,520 --> 00:10:55,240 Speaker 1: had a romantic relationship, but there's not really anything definitive here. 187 00:10:55,840 --> 00:10:58,600 Speaker 1: There is the possibility that Duncan had an affair with 188 00:10:58,720 --> 00:11:02,000 Speaker 1: Mercedes Dacostas several years later, and possibly with other women 189 00:11:02,040 --> 00:11:05,240 Speaker 1: as well, but it really does seem like Eleonora was 190 00:11:05,280 --> 00:11:07,960 Speaker 1: more of a best friend, and in her autobiography, Duncan 191 00:11:08,000 --> 00:11:10,800 Speaker 1: speaks of the closeness that she felt to Eleonora, and 192 00:11:10,840 --> 00:11:14,839 Speaker 1: specifically how Eleonora did the one thing that no one 193 00:11:14,880 --> 00:11:17,280 Speaker 1: else was able to do for her During this time, 194 00:11:17,840 --> 00:11:21,800 Speaker 1: she actually asked Isadora to talk about her children. She 195 00:11:21,840 --> 00:11:25,000 Speaker 1: wrote of her friend, quote, she never said ceased to grieve, 196 00:11:25,120 --> 00:11:27,480 Speaker 1: but she grieved with me. And for the first time 197 00:11:27,520 --> 00:11:30,560 Speaker 1: since their death, I felt I was not alone. For 198 00:11:30,640 --> 00:11:33,800 Speaker 1: Eleonora Douza was a super being. Her heart was so 199 00:11:33,880 --> 00:11:37,000 Speaker 1: great it could receive the tragedy of the world. Her 200 00:11:37,040 --> 00:11:39,439 Speaker 1: spirit the most radiant that has ever shown through the 201 00:11:39,520 --> 00:11:43,240 Speaker 1: dark sorrows of this earth. While in Italy, she met 202 00:11:43,320 --> 00:11:46,360 Speaker 1: Romano Romanelli, who was a sculptor, and even though she 203 00:11:46,440 --> 00:11:49,400 Speaker 1: barely knew him, she said to him, quote, save me, 204 00:11:50,120 --> 00:11:53,800 Speaker 1: save more than my life, my reason, give me a child. 205 00:11:54,840 --> 00:11:58,440 Speaker 1: She told Eleanora that she thought he was the next Michelangelo. 206 00:11:59,160 --> 00:12:02,360 Speaker 1: The two of them to not start a relationship. Romanelli 207 00:12:02,440 --> 00:12:05,520 Speaker 1: was engaged and intended to marry his fiance, and Duccan 208 00:12:05,679 --> 00:12:09,680 Speaker 1: was really bothered by this. Did get pregnant again, and 209 00:12:09,720 --> 00:12:12,360 Speaker 1: according to her quote from this moment, I entered into 210 00:12:12,360 --> 00:12:15,760 Speaker 1: a phase of intense mysticism. I felt that my children's 211 00:12:15,760 --> 00:12:19,560 Speaker 1: spirits hovered near me, that they would return to console 212 00:12:19,640 --> 00:12:22,960 Speaker 1: me on earth. But the hope of new life was 213 00:12:23,000 --> 00:12:26,360 Speaker 1: snuffed out pretty quickly. Her child, who was a son 214 00:12:27,000 --> 00:12:30,160 Speaker 1: died shortly after being born in August of nineteen fourteen. 215 00:12:30,679 --> 00:12:34,200 Speaker 1: As she heard the military mobilization outside yeah World War 216 00:12:34,240 --> 00:12:39,400 Speaker 1: One was starting. She had really believed that either Patrick 217 00:12:39,720 --> 00:12:42,319 Speaker 1: or dear Dre was going to be reincarnated in this 218 00:12:42,440 --> 00:12:47,480 Speaker 1: child that she had had conceived with Romanelli, So there 219 00:12:47,559 --> 00:12:50,920 Speaker 1: was a lot going on. She clearly again was still 220 00:12:50,960 --> 00:12:53,720 Speaker 1: working through a lot of very serious grief. By the 221 00:12:53,760 --> 00:12:56,000 Speaker 1: time she had the baby, she had moved back to Paris. 222 00:12:56,280 --> 00:12:58,840 Speaker 1: That was at the urging of Paris Singer, who was 223 00:12:58,840 --> 00:13:01,560 Speaker 1: still back in her life uh and was bankrolling a 224 00:13:01,559 --> 00:13:04,559 Speaker 1: new school for her in Bellevue, just outside of Paris. 225 00:13:05,080 --> 00:13:08,000 Speaker 1: But as her pregnancy progressed and she grew very, very tired, 226 00:13:08,120 --> 00:13:10,600 Speaker 1: Singer arranged for all of the students to travel to 227 00:13:10,679 --> 00:13:14,160 Speaker 1: England for two months so that Duncan could rest. In 228 00:13:14,200 --> 00:13:17,000 Speaker 1: addition to a depression that seemed to loom in her 229 00:13:17,040 --> 00:13:19,960 Speaker 1: third trimester, the events that had led up to World 230 00:13:19,960 --> 00:13:21,920 Speaker 1: War Two were playing out, and that made her feel 231 00:13:21,960 --> 00:13:24,800 Speaker 1: even more melancholy. She describes this sense of sort of 232 00:13:24,800 --> 00:13:28,600 Speaker 1: hopelessness with the world. Her school was also turned into 233 00:13:28,679 --> 00:13:31,120 Speaker 1: a war hospital during this time, so they basically like 234 00:13:31,200 --> 00:13:33,240 Speaker 1: commandeered it brought in cots and set it up in 235 00:13:33,240 --> 00:13:36,760 Speaker 1: this way. The students that had traveled to England were 236 00:13:36,760 --> 00:13:40,320 Speaker 1: housed in Singers Home in Devonshire to wait out the conflict. 237 00:13:40,920 --> 00:13:44,120 Speaker 1: After the death of her third child, Duncan traveled to 238 00:13:44,240 --> 00:13:48,000 Speaker 1: du Villa with her friend and she continued to be unwell. 239 00:13:48,400 --> 00:13:51,000 Speaker 1: She had a brief affair with her doctor, but soon 240 00:13:51,080 --> 00:13:53,400 Speaker 1: she left for New York and the hope of getting 241 00:13:53,400 --> 00:13:57,079 Speaker 1: a truly fresh start away from all of these memories 242 00:13:57,160 --> 00:14:00,960 Speaker 1: and sorrows. That affair with that doctor is very strange 243 00:14:01,280 --> 00:14:04,760 Speaker 1: and also full of coincidence, where allegedly he was also 244 00:14:04,840 --> 00:14:07,280 Speaker 1: the doctor that tried to save her children after they 245 00:14:07,280 --> 00:14:10,480 Speaker 1: had been brought into the hospital um after they had 246 00:14:10,559 --> 00:14:13,959 Speaker 1: their car had gone into the sin and so there 247 00:14:14,040 --> 00:14:17,600 Speaker 1: was just a weird dynamic at play between the two 248 00:14:17,640 --> 00:14:22,720 Speaker 1: of them. So she restarted her school anew after reuniting 249 00:14:22,760 --> 00:14:25,880 Speaker 1: with her siblings Augustine and Elizabeth in New York, and 250 00:14:25,920 --> 00:14:28,840 Speaker 1: she started performing again and at the end of a 251 00:14:28,880 --> 00:14:31,720 Speaker 1: performance she gave it the met. She improvised a dance 252 00:14:31,720 --> 00:14:34,440 Speaker 1: to the Marcies while wearing a red shawl to honor 253 00:14:34,480 --> 00:14:37,160 Speaker 1: the French troops, in the hopes that it would rouse 254 00:14:37,200 --> 00:14:40,360 Speaker 1: her u S audience. She had found the United States 255 00:14:40,480 --> 00:14:43,480 Speaker 1: to be shockingly indifferent to what was going on in Europe. 256 00:14:43,800 --> 00:14:46,720 Speaker 1: She wanted to try to inspire them to take action, 257 00:14:47,400 --> 00:14:49,560 Speaker 1: and the audience cheered as she finished, but it wasn't 258 00:14:49,600 --> 00:14:52,720 Speaker 1: really what she was hoping for. She also booked the 259 00:14:52,760 --> 00:14:55,920 Speaker 1: Century Theater for a new production, but she wanted to 260 00:14:55,960 --> 00:15:00,080 Speaker 1: transform it into a Greek theater for the performances. A 261 00:15:00,120 --> 00:15:03,960 Speaker 1: production of Oedipus, which her brother Augustine started, was playing 262 00:15:03,960 --> 00:15:07,040 Speaker 1: to a theater where blue curtains had been hung over 263 00:15:07,040 --> 00:15:10,560 Speaker 1: the boxes and the orchestra seating had been pulled out 264 00:15:10,600 --> 00:15:14,040 Speaker 1: and replaced just with a blue carpet. The show was 265 00:15:14,080 --> 00:15:18,240 Speaker 1: a critical success, but Duncan went bankrupt staging it. She 266 00:15:18,320 --> 00:15:22,800 Speaker 1: had also grown completely disillusioned with American audiences. She was 267 00:15:22,920 --> 00:15:25,800 Speaker 1: horrified that they wanted just to have a good time 268 00:15:25,840 --> 00:15:29,800 Speaker 1: while so many people were dying overseas. Thanks to the 269 00:15:29,840 --> 00:15:32,960 Speaker 1: generosity of a benefactor, she was able to book passage 270 00:15:33,000 --> 00:15:36,920 Speaker 1: on a ship back to Europe, specifically to Italy. Once again, 271 00:15:37,000 --> 00:15:40,000 Speaker 1: she met up with many of her students there. After 272 00:15:40,080 --> 00:15:42,760 Speaker 1: regrouping in Naples, they headed for Zurich and for the 273 00:15:42,840 --> 00:15:47,280 Speaker 1: relative safety of neutral Switzerland, but keeping this school running 274 00:15:47,360 --> 00:15:50,360 Speaker 1: in its nomadic state, having to rent new spaces all 275 00:15:50,400 --> 00:15:53,520 Speaker 1: the time was getting costly, so when a contract to 276 00:15:53,560 --> 00:15:56,280 Speaker 1: perform in South America was offered, Duncan took it to 277 00:15:56,360 --> 00:15:59,440 Speaker 1: keep the school going. Her boat made a stop in 278 00:15:59,480 --> 00:16:01,920 Speaker 1: New York en route to Buenos Aires, and her brother 279 00:16:01,960 --> 00:16:04,160 Speaker 1: Augustine joined her so that he could keep an eye 280 00:16:04,160 --> 00:16:07,360 Speaker 1: on her while she was in Argentina. On her first 281 00:16:07,480 --> 00:16:11,160 Speaker 1: night there, she was persuaded to tango with some local students, 282 00:16:11,360 --> 00:16:13,600 Speaker 1: and it turned out this was a problem because it 283 00:16:13,640 --> 00:16:16,440 Speaker 1: was technically a breach of her contract, as it was 284 00:16:16,440 --> 00:16:18,760 Speaker 1: written up in the papers as a performance. This put 285 00:16:18,760 --> 00:16:22,560 Speaker 1: her in violation of an exclusivity clause, so her tour 286 00:16:22,920 --> 00:16:25,840 Speaker 1: was basically over before it started, and she had received 287 00:16:25,880 --> 00:16:28,320 Speaker 1: word in the meantime that the money that she had 288 00:16:28,320 --> 00:16:31,720 Speaker 1: already sent to Switzerland to keep the school going had 289 00:16:31,760 --> 00:16:35,080 Speaker 1: been held up because of the war. She sent Augustine 290 00:16:35,080 --> 00:16:37,920 Speaker 1: ahead to Geneva with what money she had to try 291 00:16:37,960 --> 00:16:41,440 Speaker 1: to save the students from eviction, while she and her 292 00:16:41,480 --> 00:16:44,640 Speaker 1: pianist tried to drum up some additional money by booking gigs. 293 00:16:45,160 --> 00:16:48,120 Speaker 1: She did not enjoy any of this when they moved 294 00:16:48,200 --> 00:16:51,800 Speaker 1: on to Montevideo. They had greater success, and then in Rio, 295 00:16:52,080 --> 00:16:56,640 Speaker 1: her pianist was so popular that he decided to stay 296 00:16:56,760 --> 00:16:59,680 Speaker 1: when Duncan decided to head to New York. Yeah, he 297 00:16:59,760 --> 00:17:03,120 Speaker 1: was like South America loves me and stick around. UM. 298 00:17:03,160 --> 00:17:05,159 Speaker 1: I think he was probably also reluctant to return to 299 00:17:05,200 --> 00:17:06,840 Speaker 1: Europe because it was in the middle of a war. 300 00:17:07,920 --> 00:17:11,800 Speaker 1: By complete coincidence, Paris Singer was also in New York 301 00:17:11,920 --> 00:17:14,520 Speaker 1: and when he heard that Isadora was at the docks 302 00:17:14,600 --> 00:17:17,480 Speaker 1: by herself, with no money, he immediately went to help her. 303 00:17:18,359 --> 00:17:20,879 Speaker 1: She described him at this time as being in quote, 304 00:17:20,880 --> 00:17:24,000 Speaker 1: one of his kindest and most generous moods. And they 305 00:17:24,040 --> 00:17:26,480 Speaker 1: first went to Lynch with a friend and they drank champagne. 306 00:17:26,480 --> 00:17:29,959 Speaker 1: And after that Singer booked the Metropolitan Opera House, and 307 00:17:29,960 --> 00:17:32,040 Speaker 1: he arranged for all of their friends in the art 308 00:17:32,040 --> 00:17:34,920 Speaker 1: community of New York to attend a free gallup performance 309 00:17:34,960 --> 00:17:39,439 Speaker 1: by Isadora that night. Singer also wired money to Switzerland 310 00:17:39,480 --> 00:17:41,760 Speaker 1: for Duncan students, but at that point they had all 311 00:17:41,840 --> 00:17:45,200 Speaker 1: left and gone home. Their parents had come to collect them. 312 00:17:45,240 --> 00:17:47,760 Speaker 1: Her school was over, at least for the time being. 313 00:17:48,720 --> 00:17:53,800 Speaker 1: We really cannot overstate her attachment to this school. She 314 00:17:53,920 --> 00:17:57,119 Speaker 1: really considered her students to be her daughters, and a 315 00:17:57,240 --> 00:17:59,760 Speaker 1: lot of them even took the last name Duncan and 316 00:18:00,080 --> 00:18:02,720 Speaker 1: used it for the rest of their lives. She had 317 00:18:02,760 --> 00:18:05,639 Speaker 1: students that stayed with her for decades and then taught 318 00:18:05,680 --> 00:18:08,480 Speaker 1: the younger students. So it was a school, but it 319 00:18:08,520 --> 00:18:11,400 Speaker 1: was also more than that, and to lose the school 320 00:18:11,560 --> 00:18:15,840 Speaker 1: after losing Deirdre and Patrick, was just one more heartache. 321 00:18:16,359 --> 00:18:20,320 Speaker 1: Once again, with Singer's generosity, Isidora rented a studio and 322 00:18:20,440 --> 00:18:23,600 Speaker 1: she in Paris and Augustine and Augustine's children spent the 323 00:18:23,680 --> 00:18:27,159 Speaker 1: days together. She would later write quote in fact, for 324 00:18:27,200 --> 00:18:30,480 Speaker 1: the time being, life became wonderful through the magic power 325 00:18:30,560 --> 00:18:34,120 Speaker 1: of money. Soon as her health faltered in the face 326 00:18:34,160 --> 00:18:36,480 Speaker 1: of the New York winter, Singer arranged for her to 327 00:18:36,480 --> 00:18:40,159 Speaker 1: travel to Cuba with his secretary as her escort. The 328 00:18:40,200 --> 00:18:42,760 Speaker 1: time in Havannah really did her good, and from there 329 00:18:42,840 --> 00:18:45,400 Speaker 1: she traveled to Palm Beach, Florida, where Singer met her, 330 00:18:46,280 --> 00:18:50,040 Speaker 1: but she was still grieving, really heavily through all of this. 331 00:18:50,760 --> 00:18:53,320 Speaker 1: To outsiders, she seemed to have regained at least some 332 00:18:53,480 --> 00:18:56,080 Speaker 1: of the spirit that she had lost when her children died, 333 00:18:56,119 --> 00:19:00,280 Speaker 1: but she wrote a feeling extraordinary pain anytime time she 334 00:19:00,320 --> 00:19:03,399 Speaker 1: saw a child with its mother, and how this disparity 335 00:19:03,520 --> 00:19:07,640 Speaker 1: between her continuing grief versus people believing she was over 336 00:19:07,720 --> 00:19:11,560 Speaker 1: it like that was its own kind of pain. Simultaneously, 337 00:19:11,680 --> 00:19:15,040 Speaker 1: things were once again turning sour between her and Paris Singer. 338 00:19:15,920 --> 00:19:18,439 Speaker 1: He started to have jealous outbursts when she spoke with 339 00:19:18,480 --> 00:19:21,960 Speaker 1: other men. She describes this evening in her book where 340 00:19:22,080 --> 00:19:25,080 Speaker 1: she was teaching a much younger man how to tango 341 00:19:25,680 --> 00:19:27,600 Speaker 1: and Singer kind of grabbed her by the arm and 342 00:19:27,640 --> 00:19:29,800 Speaker 1: spun her around and started yelling at her about it. 343 00:19:30,920 --> 00:19:33,600 Speaker 1: So he left her rather abruptly. Um he did not 344 00:19:33,680 --> 00:19:35,880 Speaker 1: give her a warning, and he stopped paying for her 345 00:19:35,880 --> 00:19:38,880 Speaker 1: hotel and her school, and so she soon found herself 346 00:19:38,920 --> 00:19:41,480 Speaker 1: broke in New York with no way to get anywhere. 347 00:19:42,440 --> 00:19:44,520 Speaker 1: She pawned some of the gifts that Singer had given 348 00:19:44,560 --> 00:19:46,359 Speaker 1: her to get by for a while, and then she 349 00:19:46,400 --> 00:19:49,320 Speaker 1: took a contract that brought her back to California for 350 00:19:49,359 --> 00:19:52,760 Speaker 1: the first time in more than two decades. She also 351 00:19:52,840 --> 00:19:55,679 Speaker 1: reunited with her mother, who had moved back to California 352 00:19:55,720 --> 00:19:57,720 Speaker 1: because she did not like staying in Europe and from 353 00:19:57,760 --> 00:20:00,240 Speaker 1: whom she had been somewhat estranged for some time time 354 00:20:00,800 --> 00:20:05,280 Speaker 1: due to her unconventional lifestyle. California had its own surprises 355 00:20:05,440 --> 00:20:08,639 Speaker 1: and its own doses of disillusionment waiting for Duncan we 356 00:20:08,720 --> 00:20:11,400 Speaker 1: will get to that after we take one more sponsor 357 00:20:11,480 --> 00:20:22,240 Speaker 1: break Isadora was welcomed to something of a hometown hero 358 00:20:22,480 --> 00:20:25,280 Speaker 1: in San Francisco on this tour, and that gave her 359 00:20:25,280 --> 00:20:27,760 Speaker 1: the idea that it might be a great place to 360 00:20:27,840 --> 00:20:30,800 Speaker 1: start a school in her hometown. But there was a 361 00:20:30,840 --> 00:20:34,000 Speaker 1: problem because by that point there were already multiple dance 362 00:20:34,040 --> 00:20:37,800 Speaker 1: schools that taught her more modern, less structured style of dance. 363 00:20:37,840 --> 00:20:40,040 Speaker 1: They were kind of copycats of the schools that she 364 00:20:40,080 --> 00:20:42,719 Speaker 1: had set up with her sister years and years before. 365 00:20:43,720 --> 00:20:47,040 Speaker 1: So she once again found disillusionment. She felt that the 366 00:20:47,119 --> 00:20:50,000 Speaker 1: dance that she had envisioned to truly express the American 367 00:20:50,080 --> 00:20:53,760 Speaker 1: spirit had been watered down as it had spread in popularity, 368 00:20:54,040 --> 00:20:57,280 Speaker 1: and to make matters worse, no one was interested in 369 00:20:57,400 --> 00:20:59,639 Speaker 1: backing a school, even if it was run by the 370 00:20:59,680 --> 00:21:03,040 Speaker 1: origin senator of the form. So in nineteen twenty one, 371 00:21:03,119 --> 00:21:06,440 Speaker 1: she set out with a very new purpose. She wanted 372 00:21:06,520 --> 00:21:10,640 Speaker 1: to open a dance school in Moscow, The Russian Revolution 373 00:21:10,680 --> 00:21:14,239 Speaker 1: of nineteen seventeen had captured her imagination, and she was 374 00:21:14,280 --> 00:21:17,880 Speaker 1: convinced that she would fit right in in this newly 375 00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:22,280 Speaker 1: formed Soviet Republic. She envisioned something bigger than she had 376 00:21:22,320 --> 00:21:24,920 Speaker 1: ever been able to put together on her own, with 377 00:21:25,080 --> 00:21:28,679 Speaker 1: thousands of students to teach. According to her memoir, she 378 00:21:28,720 --> 00:21:30,840 Speaker 1: had been sent to telegram in the spring of nineteen 379 00:21:31,200 --> 00:21:34,800 Speaker 1: one which read quote the Russian government alone can understand 380 00:21:34,840 --> 00:21:38,119 Speaker 1: you come to us, we will make your school, and 381 00:21:38,200 --> 00:21:41,160 Speaker 1: she replied that she would indeed teach Russia's children to dance, 382 00:21:41,200 --> 00:21:43,399 Speaker 1: so long as they provided her with a school and 383 00:21:43,520 --> 00:21:46,920 Speaker 1: quote the wherewithal to work. She moved to her new 384 00:21:47,040 --> 00:21:50,560 Speaker 1: job with only one of her students turns teachers, which 385 00:21:50,600 --> 00:21:54,560 Speaker 1: was irma Duncan and is it. Dora did flourish in Moscow. 386 00:21:54,720 --> 00:21:58,920 Speaker 1: She choreographed new works, including The Revolutionary in nineteen two, 387 00:21:59,119 --> 00:22:02,600 Speaker 1: and she did indeed teach. She also met a young 388 00:22:02,680 --> 00:22:06,280 Speaker 1: man named Sergey yah Senin and they got married, which 389 00:22:06,320 --> 00:22:09,679 Speaker 1: surprises me. He was eighteen years younger than she was, 390 00:22:09,960 --> 00:22:12,720 Speaker 1: and the marriage was so that he could travel to 391 00:22:12,760 --> 00:22:15,600 Speaker 1: the United States on engagements. Right if they had not 392 00:22:15,640 --> 00:22:17,640 Speaker 1: been married, he would not have been allowed into the country, 393 00:22:17,880 --> 00:22:20,600 Speaker 1: and when she traveled to the US, Duncan was a 394 00:22:20,680 --> 00:22:24,199 Speaker 1: little bit surprised by the reception she received, which was 395 00:22:24,320 --> 00:22:28,000 Speaker 1: highly critical of her affinity for Russia and for Vladimir Lenin. 396 00:22:28,840 --> 00:22:32,360 Speaker 1: Both Duncan and her husband were accused of being Bolshevik agents. 397 00:22:32,440 --> 00:22:35,640 Speaker 1: They were apparently stopped in New York at the port 398 00:22:35,680 --> 00:22:39,159 Speaker 1: of entry. She responded to these criticisms by making the 399 00:22:39,200 --> 00:22:41,719 Speaker 1: point that though she was not particularly interested in the 400 00:22:41,760 --> 00:22:45,000 Speaker 1: politics of her new home country, she felt that all 401 00:22:45,119 --> 00:22:48,439 Speaker 1: artists are inherently revolutionary, so of course it made perfect 402 00:22:48,520 --> 00:22:51,159 Speaker 1: sense that she would be drawn to a revolutionary place. 403 00:22:51,920 --> 00:22:55,439 Speaker 1: During their time in the US, the relationship between Duncan 404 00:22:55,680 --> 00:22:59,480 Speaker 1: and her husband was reported widely. When he got drunk 405 00:22:59,480 --> 00:23:01,880 Speaker 1: at a party in the Bronx, the papers the next 406 00:23:01,920 --> 00:23:05,000 Speaker 1: day ran stories that he had become violent and had 407 00:23:05,040 --> 00:23:08,919 Speaker 1: given his wife two black eyes. When she left the US, 408 00:23:09,119 --> 00:23:12,600 Speaker 1: Is it or a swore she would never return. After 409 00:23:12,680 --> 00:23:14,800 Speaker 1: the two of them returned to Europe, he started to 410 00:23:14,880 --> 00:23:21,880 Speaker 1: exhibit increasing instability. Their relationship was deeply strained. In nineteen three, 411 00:23:22,160 --> 00:23:25,000 Speaker 1: you sent In returned to the Soviet Union by himself, 412 00:23:25,160 --> 00:23:28,800 Speaker 1: and in nineteen five he was found dead, apparently by suicide. 413 00:23:29,400 --> 00:23:32,399 Speaker 1: After the split with You sent in, Isadora lived in Nice, 414 00:23:32,480 --> 00:23:35,600 Speaker 1: she returned to France once again. She would claim to 415 00:23:35,640 --> 00:23:38,640 Speaker 1: anyone who asked that Moscow had been too bourgeois for her. 416 00:23:39,720 --> 00:23:42,040 Speaker 1: This was not a glamorous time in her life. She 417 00:23:42,119 --> 00:23:44,960 Speaker 1: was getting older. She recognized that she was not the 418 00:23:45,080 --> 00:23:47,920 Speaker 1: useful beauty she had once been, and she was prone 419 00:23:47,960 --> 00:23:51,439 Speaker 1: to drinking too much, and her finances remained perpetually on 420 00:23:51,480 --> 00:23:55,280 Speaker 1: the edge of ruin. In early nineteen seven, Duncan took 421 00:23:55,320 --> 00:23:57,480 Speaker 1: on a project that had been brewing in her mind 422 00:23:57,520 --> 00:24:01,040 Speaker 1: for quite some time. She wrote her autobiograph fe When 423 00:24:01,040 --> 00:24:03,800 Speaker 1: she started this memoir, she opened it with quote, I 424 00:24:03,880 --> 00:24:06,639 Speaker 1: confess that when it was first proposed to me, I 425 00:24:06,720 --> 00:24:09,560 Speaker 1: had a terror of writing this book. Not that my 426 00:24:09,640 --> 00:24:12,320 Speaker 1: life has not been more interesting than any novel, and 427 00:24:12,359 --> 00:24:15,640 Speaker 1: more adventurous than any cinema, and if really well written, 428 00:24:15,680 --> 00:24:19,639 Speaker 1: would not be an epoch making recital. But there's the rub, 429 00:24:20,040 --> 00:24:22,400 Speaker 1: the writing of it. Yeah, she was not a writer 430 00:24:22,560 --> 00:24:24,760 Speaker 1: up to this point, even though there were writers in 431 00:24:24,800 --> 00:24:28,000 Speaker 1: her family. And I will say her memoir is a 432 00:24:28,040 --> 00:24:31,320 Speaker 1: really fun read. Uh. Isadore Duncan may not have had 433 00:24:31,359 --> 00:24:33,520 Speaker 1: formal schooling after she was quite young. But she was 434 00:24:33,520 --> 00:24:36,800 Speaker 1: a very smart woman. Her writing style is filled with 435 00:24:36,880 --> 00:24:40,720 Speaker 1: really wonderfully expressive urns of phrase. It is incredibly frank 436 00:24:40,800 --> 00:24:43,120 Speaker 1: on topics of sex and love, and she doesn't seem 437 00:24:43,200 --> 00:24:47,879 Speaker 1: to really hide much of anything. And as some of 438 00:24:47,920 --> 00:24:50,560 Speaker 1: the quotes we have used here indicate, it also reveals 439 00:24:50,560 --> 00:24:54,359 Speaker 1: a person who in some ways was just incredibly ignorant 440 00:24:54,440 --> 00:24:57,880 Speaker 1: for all of her world travels. One of the things 441 00:24:57,920 --> 00:25:01,560 Speaker 1: that's really fascinating is how, even though it was written 442 00:25:01,720 --> 00:25:04,760 Speaker 1: when she was done with her Moscow phase, the ending 443 00:25:04,880 --> 00:25:09,960 Speaker 1: of this book really reads almost like Bolshevik propaganda. For example, 444 00:25:10,040 --> 00:25:12,959 Speaker 1: it ends with her arriving in Moscow, even though that 445 00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:16,400 Speaker 1: means it omits several years from her life after that. 446 00:25:17,119 --> 00:25:19,879 Speaker 1: The last two paragraphs read quote, when the boat at 447 00:25:19,960 --> 00:25:23,640 Speaker 1: last arrived, my heart gave a great throb of joy. 448 00:25:23,880 --> 00:25:27,080 Speaker 1: Now for the beautiful new world that had been created. 449 00:25:27,400 --> 00:25:30,840 Speaker 1: Now for the world of comrades, the dream that had 450 00:25:30,880 --> 00:25:34,320 Speaker 1: been conceived in the head of Buddha, the dream that 451 00:25:34,400 --> 00:25:37,440 Speaker 1: had been resounded through the words of Christ, the dream 452 00:25:37,520 --> 00:25:40,480 Speaker 1: that has been the ultimate hope of all great artists, 453 00:25:40,720 --> 00:25:43,959 Speaker 1: the dream that Lennon had by a great magic turned 454 00:25:44,000 --> 00:25:48,320 Speaker 1: into reality. I was entering now into this dream that 455 00:25:48,400 --> 00:25:51,680 Speaker 1: my work and life might become a part of its 456 00:25:51,760 --> 00:25:55,960 Speaker 1: glorious promise, a due old world. I would hail a 457 00:25:56,000 --> 00:25:59,159 Speaker 1: new world. Yeah. Reading that kind of bloom away, I 458 00:25:59,200 --> 00:26:02,359 Speaker 1: was like, whoa, Oh, this is like way after she 459 00:26:02,400 --> 00:26:05,239 Speaker 1: had already left the Soviet Union, and it had all 460 00:26:05,320 --> 00:26:08,200 Speaker 1: kinds of trouble because of her time there. She actually 461 00:26:08,280 --> 00:26:11,240 Speaker 1: finished writing this book in late August of nine seven. 462 00:26:11,240 --> 00:26:15,160 Speaker 1: She turned in a manuscript that was entirely handwritten. Why 463 00:26:15,280 --> 00:26:18,440 Speaker 1: she chose to end it in ninety one and ignore 464 00:26:18,480 --> 00:26:21,760 Speaker 1: her marriage to yes and In and her return to France, 465 00:26:22,560 --> 00:26:25,719 Speaker 1: It's just a mystery. We don't know. She had also 466 00:26:25,840 --> 00:26:29,359 Speaker 1: been reported as having gotten engaged to Bob Chandler, who 467 00:26:29,440 --> 00:26:33,240 Speaker 1: was a New York decorative artist, in nineteen seven, but 468 00:26:33,400 --> 00:26:36,240 Speaker 1: she claimed that had been a dinner party joke between 469 00:26:36,280 --> 00:26:39,880 Speaker 1: friends that had somehow reached the press. Yeah. It's interesting 470 00:26:39,880 --> 00:26:42,959 Speaker 1: when you read newspaper reports of of this last section 471 00:26:43,000 --> 00:26:45,680 Speaker 1: of her life, many of them do mention like, oh, 472 00:26:45,720 --> 00:26:48,439 Speaker 1: if only she had been able to marry Bob, everything 473 00:26:48,480 --> 00:26:51,560 Speaker 1: would have been different. She gave a quote to an 474 00:26:51,560 --> 00:26:54,840 Speaker 1: Associated Press reporter in September of nineteen twenty seven that 475 00:26:54,960 --> 00:26:59,359 Speaker 1: is often mentioned as early prescient. When talking about her 476 00:26:59,359 --> 00:27:02,080 Speaker 1: autobiograph Fee, she said, quote for the first time, I 477 00:27:02,080 --> 00:27:05,040 Speaker 1: am writing for money. Now I am frightened that some 478 00:27:05,160 --> 00:27:09,399 Speaker 1: quick accident might happen, and so that brings us now 479 00:27:09,440 --> 00:27:13,879 Speaker 1: to her very famous and grizzly death. The details of 480 00:27:13,920 --> 00:27:17,600 Speaker 1: this story have two different setups. One is that while 481 00:27:17,640 --> 00:27:21,680 Speaker 1: she was living in Nice in September is a door 482 00:27:21,840 --> 00:27:26,359 Speaker 1: met a young man driving a Bugatti convertible. She suggested 483 00:27:26,400 --> 00:27:27,920 Speaker 1: to him that she would love it if he would 484 00:27:27,960 --> 00:27:30,679 Speaker 1: take her for a drive, and he agreed. And the 485 00:27:30,760 --> 00:27:33,240 Speaker 1: other is that the car was hers, a new car, 486 00:27:33,320 --> 00:27:35,679 Speaker 1: and that her chauffeur was teaching her to drive it. 487 00:27:36,520 --> 00:27:39,040 Speaker 1: According to some stories, she turned to her friends as 488 00:27:39,080 --> 00:27:43,760 Speaker 1: the car started and said, Adu misamis jaz lagoire, which 489 00:27:43,840 --> 00:27:47,080 Speaker 1: is goodbye, my friends, I am going to glory. But 490 00:27:47,160 --> 00:27:51,280 Speaker 1: despite those inconsistencies, what is consistent is that at m 491 00:27:51,359 --> 00:27:53,879 Speaker 1: on September fourteen, she was in the vehicle on the 492 00:27:53,960 --> 00:27:57,240 Speaker 1: Promenade des Anglais when her long scarf was picked up 493 00:27:57,280 --> 00:28:00,320 Speaker 1: by the wind became entangled in the cars, where wheel 494 00:28:00,720 --> 00:28:05,560 Speaker 1: and her neck was broken. Today Isadora Duncan's work survives. 495 00:28:05,640 --> 00:28:09,560 Speaker 1: Her choreography has been passed down through generations of her students, 496 00:28:09,640 --> 00:28:13,080 Speaker 1: and you can see her work performed today. The Isabelora 497 00:28:13,240 --> 00:28:17,280 Speaker 1: Duncan Dance Company and Isadora Duncan Foundation are both run 498 00:28:17,440 --> 00:28:22,159 Speaker 1: by Laurie Bellilove, who's a third generation Duncan dancer. This 499 00:28:22,320 --> 00:28:27,399 Speaker 1: episode is kind of a bummer to end with, so 500 00:28:28,440 --> 00:28:30,359 Speaker 1: I don't want to do that to anybody, So to 501 00:28:30,400 --> 00:28:33,520 Speaker 1: finish on a slightly more upbeat note, I thought it 502 00:28:33,560 --> 00:28:35,639 Speaker 1: would be fun to end on a passage that just 503 00:28:35,720 --> 00:28:39,720 Speaker 1: struck me from Duncan's autobiography, which was published shortly after 504 00:28:39,800 --> 00:28:44,160 Speaker 1: her death. Obviously, because she had had died so suddenly, 505 00:28:44,280 --> 00:28:46,320 Speaker 1: she was not able to make any revisions to it, 506 00:28:46,480 --> 00:28:51,720 Speaker 1: so most of it's pretty pretty much entirely um transcribed 507 00:28:51,760 --> 00:28:54,720 Speaker 1: from her handwriting. The version I have has notes of 508 00:28:54,800 --> 00:28:56,920 Speaker 1: when like spellings were different and whatnot, but other than that, 509 00:28:57,000 --> 00:28:59,600 Speaker 1: it's pretty much word for word. And I like this 510 00:28:59,680 --> 00:29:02,440 Speaker 1: past it because it evidences that for all the flaws 511 00:29:02,520 --> 00:29:04,760 Speaker 1: that she had, she was also very sharp and funny 512 00:29:05,360 --> 00:29:09,040 Speaker 1: and self aware. She wrote quote, how can we write 513 00:29:09,080 --> 00:29:12,200 Speaker 1: the truth about ourselves? Do we even know it? There 514 00:29:12,320 --> 00:29:14,720 Speaker 1: is the vision our friends have of us, the vision 515 00:29:14,760 --> 00:29:17,400 Speaker 1: we have of ourselves, and the vision our lover has 516 00:29:17,480 --> 00:29:20,520 Speaker 1: of us. Also the vision our enemies have of us, 517 00:29:20,680 --> 00:29:24,120 Speaker 1: and all these visions are different. I have good reason 518 00:29:24,200 --> 00:29:26,080 Speaker 1: to know this, because I have had served to me 519 00:29:26,200 --> 00:29:29,640 Speaker 1: with my morning coffee newspaper criticisms that declared I was 520 00:29:29,720 --> 00:29:32,360 Speaker 1: beautiful as a goddess and that I was a genius, 521 00:29:32,880 --> 00:29:36,640 Speaker 1: and hardly had I finished smiling contentedly over this. Then 522 00:29:36,680 --> 00:29:38,440 Speaker 1: I picked up the next paper and read that I 523 00:29:38,600 --> 00:29:42,040 Speaker 1: was without any talent, badly shaped, and a perfect hearpy. 524 00:29:42,920 --> 00:29:45,680 Speaker 1: I soon gave up reading criticisms of my work. I 525 00:29:45,760 --> 00:29:47,960 Speaker 1: could not stipulate that I should only be given the 526 00:29:48,040 --> 00:29:52,200 Speaker 1: good ones, and the bad were too depressing and provocatively homicidal. 527 00:29:53,840 --> 00:29:59,440 Speaker 1: I love that quote so much because she is funny 528 00:29:59,720 --> 00:30:03,400 Speaker 1: and very interesting, and uh, it does sort of break 529 00:30:03,480 --> 00:30:06,480 Speaker 1: my heart that when you say her name, most people go, yeah, 530 00:30:06,480 --> 00:30:09,280 Speaker 1: and she dye in that gross car accident, which she did, 531 00:30:10,240 --> 00:30:16,080 Speaker 1: but obviously she had a whole, whole, interesting, very fascinating life. Yeah. 532 00:30:16,920 --> 00:30:20,000 Speaker 1: I do highly recommend her her autobiography because it is 533 00:30:20,000 --> 00:30:22,080 Speaker 1: a fun read, and that's a pretty quick read. Do 534 00:30:22,160 --> 00:30:24,160 Speaker 1: you have some listener mail for us as we wrap 535 00:30:24,440 --> 00:30:28,080 Speaker 1: this up. I do, I do um. The first is 536 00:30:28,160 --> 00:30:31,320 Speaker 1: from our listener Carla, who writes a Dear Holly and Tracy, 537 00:30:31,440 --> 00:30:34,080 Speaker 1: I just listened to your podcast on John Dalton. My 538 00:30:34,280 --> 00:30:37,480 Speaker 1: dad is red green color deficient. I very distinctly remember 539 00:30:37,600 --> 00:30:40,320 Speaker 1: learning this in the hardware store. We were standing in 540 00:30:40,400 --> 00:30:42,240 Speaker 1: front of a bunch of dowels that have been color 541 00:30:42,320 --> 00:30:45,760 Speaker 1: coated in varying shades of green. My dad, who was 542 00:30:45,800 --> 00:30:48,800 Speaker 1: a very even tempered man, grunted and said these idiots, 543 00:30:49,000 --> 00:30:51,360 Speaker 1: which was about the harshest thing he had ever said 544 00:30:51,360 --> 00:30:54,240 Speaker 1: in my presence. He asked me if I could get 545 00:30:54,240 --> 00:30:56,959 Speaker 1: the one that matched the size he needed. He then 546 00:30:57,040 --> 00:30:59,280 Speaker 1: explained to me why it was so bad to label 547 00:30:59,320 --> 00:31:02,080 Speaker 1: stuff in only color coding, because people like him could 548 00:31:02,160 --> 00:31:05,000 Speaker 1: not tell the difference. I'm very happy to hear of 549 00:31:05,080 --> 00:31:07,800 Speaker 1: the trend moving toward using the term color deficient visions, 550 00:31:07,840 --> 00:31:11,400 Speaker 1: since it helps people understand what's really happening. In middle school, 551 00:31:11,440 --> 00:31:13,680 Speaker 1: I corrected my science teacher when he said that color 552 00:31:13,760 --> 00:31:16,760 Speaker 1: blind people only saw in shades of gray. If my 553 00:31:16,880 --> 00:31:19,200 Speaker 1: dad wasn't color blind, as they used to say, I 554 00:31:19,480 --> 00:31:22,160 Speaker 1: would have just believed my teacher. I ended up giving 555 00:31:22,200 --> 00:31:24,479 Speaker 1: the class a lecture on why color coding by itself 556 00:31:24,680 --> 00:31:26,480 Speaker 1: is bad, just like my dad had done for me. 557 00:31:27,320 --> 00:31:29,840 Speaker 1: My dad has always been pretty comfortable with his color deficiency. 558 00:31:29,920 --> 00:31:32,320 Speaker 1: He'll make comments like, heck, I'm color blind, and even 559 00:31:32,360 --> 00:31:34,280 Speaker 1: I can tell that doesn't look good. I think the 560 00:31:34,320 --> 00:31:36,880 Speaker 1: funniest thing he's done was paint the living room wall purple, 561 00:31:37,040 --> 00:31:40,480 Speaker 1: thinking it was gray. Thank you for your thoughtful podcasts 562 00:31:40,720 --> 00:31:42,720 Speaker 1: to shed light on so many subjects. Every time I 563 00:31:42,760 --> 00:31:45,520 Speaker 1: listen to your podcast, I feel a bit smarter. Carla Um. 564 00:31:45,720 --> 00:31:49,640 Speaker 1: That's adorable. I, to the best of my knowledge, do 565 00:31:49,720 --> 00:31:52,720 Speaker 1: not have color vision divisiency and still painted my living 566 00:31:52,800 --> 00:31:57,800 Speaker 1: room purple. Um. I also wanted to mention a quick 567 00:31:58,160 --> 00:32:02,400 Speaker 1: email from Kathleen who does. She also wrote we mentioned 568 00:32:02,440 --> 00:32:05,200 Speaker 1: it in the last episode about the new information about 569 00:32:05,240 --> 00:32:08,400 Speaker 1: the diatlev pass. But there's a second part of her 570 00:32:08,440 --> 00:32:11,160 Speaker 1: email that I wanted to share because it's adorable. It's 571 00:32:11,200 --> 00:32:13,480 Speaker 1: a dog story. Second, I wanted to thank you for 572 00:32:13,600 --> 00:32:16,120 Speaker 1: your Hellhounds episode as it provided a middle name for 573 00:32:16,200 --> 00:32:19,200 Speaker 1: my newest dog, my first dog, Macki Mick's body butt. 574 00:32:19,240 --> 00:32:21,920 Speaker 1: Grogan got his middle name because when he gets shaved 575 00:32:21,920 --> 00:32:24,080 Speaker 1: in the summer, he turns into a Dalmatian under all 576 00:32:24,160 --> 00:32:27,360 Speaker 1: his fur. However, I'd had my second dog, Miriam for 577 00:32:27,480 --> 00:32:29,240 Speaker 1: months and still not been able to come up with 578 00:32:29,320 --> 00:32:31,840 Speaker 1: a middle name for her, but after your Hellhounds episode, 579 00:32:31,920 --> 00:32:34,640 Speaker 1: her middle name simply had to be Rugarou. She is 580 00:32:34,720 --> 00:32:37,040 Speaker 1: black and her nickname is Monster because she's a high 581 00:32:37,120 --> 00:32:40,280 Speaker 1: energy jerk who gets into everything she and I say thanks. 582 00:32:40,400 --> 00:32:42,720 Speaker 1: I hope these pictures of the destruction she can cause 583 00:32:43,080 --> 00:32:46,360 Speaker 1: and the videos of her being a turd dragging my 584 00:32:46,480 --> 00:32:49,160 Speaker 1: other talg around by his leash and running while carrying 585 00:32:49,200 --> 00:32:52,280 Speaker 1: a log bright in your one all the best, Katie Um. 586 00:32:52,440 --> 00:32:57,240 Speaker 1: She sent two videos of um miss Miriam Rugarou and 587 00:32:57,400 --> 00:33:00,400 Speaker 1: Mackie and they are adorable. I have a dog crush 588 00:33:00,480 --> 00:33:03,160 Speaker 1: on Miriam. It's exactly the cute flavor of dog I love. 589 00:33:03,360 --> 00:33:06,440 Speaker 1: It's a little black thing with perky pokey up ear. 590 00:33:06,520 --> 00:33:08,640 Speaker 1: Since she looks like she probably keeps you on your toes. 591 00:33:08,720 --> 00:33:10,400 Speaker 1: So thank you, thank you, thank you, because that did 592 00:33:10,480 --> 00:33:15,240 Speaker 1: make great. You can also write to us had History 593 00:33:15,320 --> 00:33:17,760 Speaker 1: podcast at i heeart radio dot com. You can find 594 00:33:17,840 --> 00:33:20,160 Speaker 1: us everywhere in social media as Missed in History, and 595 00:33:20,240 --> 00:33:21,800 Speaker 1: if you would like to subscribe, you can do that 596 00:33:21,880 --> 00:33:24,040 Speaker 1: on the i heart Radio app, at Apple podcast or 597 00:33:24,080 --> 00:33:31,480 Speaker 1: wherever it is you listen. Stuff you missed in History 598 00:33:31,480 --> 00:33:34,200 Speaker 1: Class is a production of I heart Radio. For more 599 00:33:34,280 --> 00:33:37,320 Speaker 1: podcasts from i heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, 600 00:33:37,440 --> 00:33:40,600 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.