Nikita Balieff
Encyclopedia
Nikita Balieff was an Armenian
vaudevillian
, stage performer, writer, impresario
, and director best known as the master of ceremonies and creator of La Chauve-Souris theater group.
, Armenia
(now part of Turkey
) in 1876 or 1877, Balieff left Armenia for Moscow
in 1906 and took a job at the Moscow Art Theater under Konstantin Stanislavski
. After years of only non-speaking roles, and with a desire to perform comedy rather than drama, Balieff created his own theater group in a basement near the Moscow Art Theater. He named the troupe "Chauve-Souris" (French for "bat
") after a bat flew up out of the basement door and landed on his hat.
Chauve-Souris enjoyed much success and popularity in Moscow until the Russian Revolution
in 1917. Balieff then went into exile in Paris
and began presenting vaudeville shows there with other Russian émigré
s. He was noticed by the British
theatrical producer Charles B. Cochran
, who brought the troupe to London
.
through an arrangement with the producer Morris Gest
. Balieff and his company toured from Washington, D.C.
to California
for 65 consecutive weeks.
Between 1922 and 1929, Balieff returned to America to tour six times, appearing on Broadway in 1922, 1923, 1925, 1927, and 1929 with one final show billed as New Chauve-Souris in 1931. His shows consisted of songs, dances, and sketches, most of which had been originally performed in Russia.
One of his most popular acts, The Parade of the Wooden Soldiers, which used the delightful Leon Jessel
tune "Die Parade der Zinnsoldaten" ("The Parade of the Tin Soldiers"), referenced a story regarding Tsar Paul I
. The legend claims the Tsar left his parade grounds without issuing a "halt" order to the marching soldiers. Without one, the soldiers marched to Siberia
before being remembered and ordered back. The Balieff vaudeville version with its popular tune was a mainstay in Chauve-Souris, and later became part of the Rockettes repertoire as well. Wooden Soldiers was filmed in the DeForest
Phonofilm
sound-on-film process, and premiered on April 15, 1923 at the Rivoli Theater in New York City, along with 18 other short films made by DeForest. This short film is now in the Maurice Zouary collection at the Library of Congress
.
Balieff was known for his feigned lack of English
on stage. His monologues and introductions were delivered in a mix of Russian
, French
, and English language and slang coupled with much gesticulation. However, in private his English was better than that of his stage persona.
Balieff's company toured Europe
and South Africa
appearing in major capital cities. He was married to Helena Komisarjevska, a member of one of his theatrical companies. In 1927 he was featured on the cover of Time
magazine.
In 1934 Balieff created a new Chauve-Souris production, which proved to be his last theatrical venture. The fall of that year marked his final stage appearance: Continental Varieties, a revue
at the Helen Hayes Theatre
that featured Lucienne Boyer
. He appeared in the Ben Hecht
- Charles MacArthur
film Once in a Blue Moon (1935) with Jimmy Savo
.
. He had been ill for several months.
His funeral was held at the Russian Orthodox Church
of Christ the Savior on Madison Avenue
. Members of the Russian Opera Company sang the funeral mass and nearly 1,000 people attended the service, including members of the Russian nobility. Balieff is buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Maspeth, Queens
.
Balieff's caricature was drawn by Russian émigré Alex Gard
for the wall of Sardi's
restaurant. The signed drawing is now housed in the Billy Rose Theatre Division of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
.
Armenians
Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....
vaudevillian
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
, stage performer, writer, impresario
Impresario
An impresario is a person who organizes and often finances concerts, plays or operas; analogous to a film producer in filmmaking, television production and an angel investor in business...
, and director best known as the master of ceremonies and creator of La Chauve-Souris theater group.
Theatrical career begins in Moscow
Born in ErzerumErzurum
Erzurum is a city in Turkey. It is the largest city, the capital of Erzurum Province. The city is situated 1757 meters above sea level. Erzurum had a population of 361,235 in the 2000 census. .Erzurum, known as "The Rock" in NATO code, served as NATO's southeastern-most air force post during the...
, Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
(now part of Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
) in 1876 or 1877, Balieff left Armenia for Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
in 1906 and took a job at the Moscow Art Theater under Konstantin Stanislavski
Konstantin Stanislavski
Constantin Sergeyevich Stanislavski , was a Russian actor and theatre director. Building on the directorially-unified aesthetic and ensemble playing of the Meiningen company and the naturalistic staging of Antoine and the independent theatre movement, Stanislavski organized his realistic...
. After years of only non-speaking roles, and with a desire to perform comedy rather than drama, Balieff created his own theater group in a basement near the Moscow Art Theater. He named the troupe "Chauve-Souris" (French for "bat
Bat
Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera "hand" and pteron "wing") whose forelimbs form webbed wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight. By contrast, other mammals said to fly, such as flying squirrels, gliding possums, and colugos, glide rather than fly,...
") after a bat flew up out of the basement door and landed on his hat.
Chauve-Souris enjoyed much success and popularity in Moscow until the Russian Revolution
Russian Revolution of 1917
The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. The Tsar was deposed and replaced by a provisional government in the first revolution of February 1917...
in 1917. Balieff then went into exile in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and began presenting vaudeville shows there with other Russian émigré
Émigré
Émigré is a French term that literally refers to a person who has "migrated out", but often carries a connotation of politico-social self-exile....
s. He was noticed by the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
theatrical producer Charles B. Cochran
Charles B. Cochran
Sir Charles Blake Cochran , generally known as C. B. Cochran, was an English theatrical manager. He produced some of the most successful musical revues, musicals and plays of the 1920s and 1930s, becoming associated with Noel Coward and his works.-Biography:Cochran was born in Sussex and educated...
, who brought the troupe to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
Success in the United States
In 1922 Chauve-Souris made its first tour to AmericaUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
through an arrangement with the producer Morris Gest
Morris Gest
Morris Gest was a Jewish-American theatrical producer of the early 20th century.-Early life:Born in Vilna, now Lithuania, the son of Leon and Elizabeth Gershonovitz...
. Balieff and his company toured from Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
for 65 consecutive weeks.
Between 1922 and 1929, Balieff returned to America to tour six times, appearing on Broadway in 1922, 1923, 1925, 1927, and 1929 with one final show billed as New Chauve-Souris in 1931. His shows consisted of songs, dances, and sketches, most of which had been originally performed in Russia.
One of his most popular acts, The Parade of the Wooden Soldiers, which used the delightful Leon Jessel
Leon Jessel
Leon Jessel, or Léon Jessel was a German composer of operettas and light classical music pieces. Today he is best known internationally as the composer of the popular jaunty march "The Parade of the Tin Soldiers," also known as "The Parade of the Wooden Soldiers." Jessel was a prolific composer...
tune "Die Parade der Zinnsoldaten" ("The Parade of the Tin Soldiers"), referenced a story regarding Tsar Paul I
Paul I of Russia
Paul I was the Emperor of Russia between 1796 and 1801. He also was the 72nd Prince and Grand Master of the Order of Malta .-Childhood:...
. The legend claims the Tsar left his parade grounds without issuing a "halt" order to the marching soldiers. Without one, the soldiers marched to Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
before being remembered and ordered back. The Balieff vaudeville version with its popular tune was a mainstay in Chauve-Souris, and later became part of the Rockettes repertoire as well. Wooden Soldiers was filmed in the DeForest
Lee De Forest
Lee De Forest was an American inventor with over 180 patents to his credit. De Forest invented the Audion, a vacuum tube that takes relatively weak electrical signals and amplifies them. De Forest is one of the fathers of the "electronic age", as the Audion helped to usher in the widespread use...
Phonofilm
Phonofilm
In 1919, Lee De Forest, inventor of the audion tube, filed his first patent on a sound-on-film process, DeForest Phonofilm, which recorded sound directly onto film as parallel lines. These parallel lines photographically recorded electrical waveforms from a microphone, which were translated back...
sound-on-film process, and premiered on April 15, 1923 at the Rivoli Theater in New York City, along with 18 other short films made by DeForest. This short film is now in the Maurice Zouary collection at the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
.
Balieff was known for his feigned lack of English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
on stage. His monologues and introductions were delivered in a mix of Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, and English language and slang coupled with much gesticulation. However, in private his English was better than that of his stage persona.
Balieff's company toured Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
appearing in major capital cities. He was married to Helena Komisarjevska, a member of one of his theatrical companies. In 1927 he was featured on the cover of Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine.
In 1934 Balieff created a new Chauve-Souris production, which proved to be his last theatrical venture. The fall of that year marked his final stage appearance: Continental Varieties, a revue
Revue
A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century American popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own during its golden years from 1916 to 1932...
at the Helen Hayes Theatre
Helen Hayes Theatre
Helen Hayes Theatre with 597 seats is the smallest Broadway theatre and is located at 240 West 44th Street in midtown-Manhattan....
that featured Lucienne Boyer
Lucienne Boyer
Lucienne Boyer was a French diseuse and singer, best known for her song "Parlez-moi d'amour". Her impresario was Bruno Coquatrix.-Early career:...
. He appeared in the Ben Hecht
Ben Hecht
Ben Hecht was an American screenwriter, director, producer, playwright, and novelist. Called "the Shakespeare of Hollywood", he received screen credits, alone or in collaboration, for the stories or screenplays of some 70 films and as a prolific storyteller, authored 35 books and created some of...
- Charles MacArthur
Charles MacArthur
Charles Gordon MacArthur was an American playwright and screenwriter.-Biography:Charles MacArthur was the second youngest of seven children born to stern evangelist William Telfer MacArthur and Georgiana Welsted MacArthur. He early developed a passion for reading...
film Once in a Blue Moon (1935) with Jimmy Savo
Jimmy Savo
Jimmy Savo was an American Vaudeville, Broadway, nightclub, film and television performer, comedian, juggler, and mime artist....
.
Death and funeral
Balieff died of a kidney ailment on September 3, 1936, aged 59, at the Park West Hospital on West 76th Street in ManhattanManhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
. He had been ill for several months.
His funeral was held at the Russian Orthodox Church
Russian Orthodox Church
The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...
of Christ the Savior on Madison Avenue
Madison Avenue (Manhattan)
Madison Avenue is a north-south avenue in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, United States, that carries northbound one-way traffic. It runs from Madison Square to the Madison Avenue Bridge at 138th Street. In doing so, it passes through Midtown, the Upper East Side , Spanish Harlem, and...
. Members of the Russian Opera Company sang the funeral mass and nearly 1,000 people attended the service, including members of the Russian nobility. Balieff is buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Maspeth, Queens
Maspeth, Queens
Maspeth is a small community in the borough of Queens in New York City. Neighborhoods sharing borders with Maspeth are Woodside and Sunnyside to the north, Long Island City to the northwest, Greenpoint to the west, East Williamsburg to the southwest, Fresh Pond and Ridgewood to the south, and...
.
Balieff's caricature was drawn by Russian émigré Alex Gard
Alex Gard
Alex Gard , born Alexey Kremkoff in Kazan, Russia, was a cartoonist. He contributed weekly drawings to the drama section of The New York Herald Tribune, and was hired to create caricatures of Broadway and other celebrities at Sardi's Restaurant in New York City.Restaurant owner, Vincent Sardi, and...
for the wall of Sardi's
Sardi's
Sardi's is a restaurant in New York City's theater district at 234 West 44th Street in Manhattan. Known for the hundreds of caricatures of show-business celebrities that adorn its walls, Sardi's opened at its current location on March 5, 1927....
restaurant. The signed drawing is now housed in the Billy Rose Theatre Division of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
New York Public Library
The New York Public Library is the largest public library in North America and is one of the United States' most significant research libraries...
.
Sources
- The New York Times, "The Last Laugh Out of Russia", January 15, 1922
- Time Magazine, "New Revue in Manhattan", August 23, 1943