V. Hollywood's Russian Roots

Who now has not heard of the major Hollywood company Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer? Who wouldn't recognize its logo, the roaring lion, that precedes many of our favorite movies?..

It is far from widely known, however, that the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corporation – just as the Hollywood itself – was started by two immigrants from Czarist Russia, Shmuel Gelbfisch and Lazar Yakovlevich Mayer.

Samuel Goldwyn, whose original name was Shmuel Gelbfisch, was born inWarsaw, which at that time was a part of the Russian Empire. His date of birth is not known for sure; Encyclopedia Britannica states that Gelbfisch was born in June 1879. His parents were named Abram and Anna. Shmuel's father died when his son was still very young, and the orphan was taken to Manchester,England, by his relatives. In 1895, Shmuel decided to leave England for theUnited States, a country where, as the young man believed, every possible opportunity existed. Shmuel had no connections in the United States - no friends, no relatives.  He hardly spoke English. On American soil, Shmuel took on a new name Samuel Goldwyn. After working for several years at a glove factory, Samuel started his private business of glove-making. When, in 1912, lowered taxes on importing gloves to the United States rendered his enterprise no longer profitable, the 23-year-old immigrant set out to try himself in the field of cinematography.

Samuel convinced his father-in-law Jesse Laski, who was already experienced in show-business, to join resources and to use his contacts for attracting movie stars of the day to the two's first project, the film The Squaw Man. Although Samuel initially wanted to shoot the film in Arizona, the production team had to be relocated southward, to California, because of rain. There, in a small village by the name of Hollywood, the new-to-the-job directors rented a barn for $ 75 a month. In spite of all the troubles that seemed to follow the filmmakers - one camera operator left them along with his equipment - The Squaw Man was an absolute hit; it garnered $ 244 thousand. After the motion-picture's success, the movie headquarters of the United States relocated from the East to the West - more precisely to Hollywood.

Samuel Goldwyn's partner in his film business was Louis Mayer [AKA Lazar Y. Mayer], who came to the United State from Minsk with his family as a child. Mayer had been engaged in the show business since 1907. At first, he operated several movie theaters. Later, he started to work exclusively as a distributor. In 1915, Mayer - as it is said - struck it rich when he acquired the sole right to distributing David Griffit's hit production, The Birth of a Nation. Mayer made $ 250 thousand. By 1917, Mayer opened his own cinema studio and started to direct films himself. He worked very closely  with the former wife of Charlie Chaplin, Milder Harris Chaplin. At the time of Mayer's merger with Samuel Goldwyn's corporation in 1924, he was already well-established in America's film industry.

Many more Russians stood at the beginnings of America's moviemaking. In the 1920, when the Russian Empire was replaced by the Soviet state, the United States was shaken by the first wave of Russian immigration. Never before has the U.S. experienced so large an influx of former elite class members. Feeling humiliated by their low social status in the new country, former Russian aristocrats, army officers, and writers resurrected the glorious victories and the tragic losses of their past lives by participating in motion pictures.

When he first came to the United States, Cossack General Vyuacheslav Savitskiy had to earn his living as a waiter in a Russian restaurant. He later organized and headed a Cossack performing group. Savitskiy played the role of a Russian General in the film The Last Command in 1928.

White Army officer Aleksandr Voloshin worked as a taxi driver in Los Angeles. Hoping to end the misery of his lowly life in America, Officer Voloshin in mid 1920’s tried to get into the film industry. He acted in a number of movies, including His Private Life, Case of Lena Smith, The World and the Flesh, Bride Comes Home, Champagne Waltz, Daughter of Shanghai, Spawn of the North, You Can’t Take It with You, and Destry Rides Again. Voloshin’s career in the movie business, launched as early as 1928, lasted until 1940. Voloshin was one of the most sought-for Russian actors in Hollywood. When he died in 1960, he was buried in the Paramount Studio cemetery, a resting place for many other deceased film celebrities.

General Nikolai Bogomolets, in 1926, played the role of a Russian officer in a movie Into Her Kingdom, which dealt with the life of Countess Tatiana, daughter of Czar Nicholas II.          

Hollywood in the late 1920’s and 1930’s had so many Russians that a workers’ union of Russian actors was formed there in 1936.               

The interest of America’s cinematography towards Russia grew stronger because of the dramatic appeal that contemporary events in Russia had. TheU.S. film industry turned out many movies about revolutionary class-conflicts, the backdrop for which was always the charming magnificence of the Russian Empire. The ongoing events of Soviet Russia were also adapted to movie theater screens. Russian literature classics were similarly made into films.

Thequintessential Hollywood image of Russia combined aristocratic luxury with barbaric savagery. In Fred Niblo’s 1930 film Redemption, in addition to other inaccurate depictions of Russia, the city of Samarqand was shown as a gypsy resort. In Cecil DeMille’s movie The Volga Boatman produced in 1926, Russian revolutionaries were portrayed as Tatars, gypsies, and boat-drivers. 

By late 1940’s the Russian theme in American cinematography was no longer in fashion. Relationships between the Untied States and the USSR became cold. Russian actors and directors effectively lost direct influence in Hollywoodfor several decades. Even with that, almost half of the last names of Hollywoodcelebrities are Russian in origin.

It would be interesting to note that of today’s movie stars, a large number have Russian family ties. While Harrison Ford’s father was from Ireland, his mother was a Russian Jew. [Now wonder that he was able to play the captain of the Soviet nuclear submarine so well.]

Leonardo DiCaprio, as it turns out, is also of Russian descent. To a recent film festival in Los Angeles, DiCaprio brought his grandmother Elisaveta Smirnova.

. Even Natalie Portman is not that removed from being considered of Russian origin. Although she was born in Jerusalem, her parents moved there fromKishinev. When Natalie was three, her family moved to the United States. 

Milla Jovovich’s (pic. 7) story is similar. She was born in Kiev. Her mother GalinaLoginova was an actress. Her father Bagdanovich Jovovich was a pediatrician from Yugoslavia. Milla spent five years of her life in the Soviet Union until moving to Sacramento in 1980.

A young Hollywood actress, Larisa Oleynik, also has Russian roots. She was born in 1981 in California to Roman Oleynik, a computer programmer who emigrated from Russia. Her role in The Secret World of Alex Mack earned her a junior Emmy award. Oleynik also starred in the The Babysitter’s Club and in The Ten Things I Hate about You.  

(pic. 7)