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Alexis Kosloff, a.k.a. Aleksei Mikhailovich Kozlov


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the attached scans show the cover and the central spread of a small-size, 4x6 in., 8-pg. brochure produced to advertise the teaching headquarters of Alexis Kosloff.

the moscow-schooled Russian dancer was NOT married to Alexandra Baldina [see correction below to my thinking he was]; his somewhat more prominent brother was Theodore, a.k.a. Fyodor, had a career in Hollywood and established schools elsewhere.

A.K. also published as book, listed as follows in the NYPLibrary listing, which curiously does not give the publication's date:

Kosloff, Alexis.

Title: Russian ballet technique; method of practising foundation steps, potpourri of exercises, suite of dances. With descriptions and music. Edited by Olive Threlkeld Hanley.

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the attached scans show the cover and the central spread of a small-size, 4x6 in., 8-pg. brochure produced to advertise the teaching headquarters of Alexis Kosloff.

the moscow-schooled Russian dancer was married to Alexandra Baldina; his somewhat more prominent brother was Theodore, a.k.a. Fyodor, had a career in Hollywood and established schools elsewhere.

A.K. also published as book, listed as follows in the NYPLibrary listing, which curiously does not give the publication's date:

Kosloff, Alexis.

Title: Russian ballet technique; method of practising foundation steps, potpourri of exercises, suite of dances. With descriptions and music. Edited by Olive Threlkeld Hanley.

Alexis Kosloff was not married to Alexandra Baldina, she was married to his brother Theodore who was a leading actor in Hollywood and was described as a 'matinee idol' playing lead roles opposite Gloria Swanson, Nita Naldi, Gloria Swanson, Bebe Daniels and Anna Q. Nilsson. With his dark hair and complexion, the ballet dancer was often cast in more exotic roles, often as a "Latin lover" type, Eastern European prince or noble, or Arabic sheik. Kosloff's acting career often relied heavily on DeMille procuring roles for him in his films. Indeed, the majority of Kosloff's film roles are in DeMille directed films. The advent of talkies revealed his heavy thick accent and he retired from the cinema a very rich man.

The book you refer to written by Alexis was published in New York in 1921.

No sooner had Alexis Kosloff arrived in America in 1915, he was appearing on Broadway with his brother Theodore and also moved into acting in the film, “The Dancer’s Peril! in 1917 which is now available on DVD.

Having settled in New York, he began choreographing and dancing in some six musicals between 1918 and 1932. He was involved in an attempt to create a dance fashion to music by Louis Breau and Ray Henderson and appearing in a photograph on the front cover of the sheet music in 1920 called “The Cat Step.” Alexei was also in demand for providing dance entertainments for New York society fund raising events.

You could learn about dancing from Alexis at home as his voice was heard on a piano roll called Interpretive and Fancy Dancing Lessons made in 1926.

Kosloff joined Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo on tour in Europe and then danced with the Mordkin Ballet back in America.

When Nijinska staged La Fille mal Gardee with Ballet Theatre in 1940 Kosloff played Alain and later when ballet master with the Metropolitan Opera Company from 1940 he continued to dance in operas.

In his early days in America, Kosloff sometimes appeared with his reputed wife Vera Fredova (who also worked with Theodore Kosloff) aka Winifred Edwards formerly with Anna Pavlova who was to return to England and was known as a remarkable teacher with The Royal Ballet.

Alexis Kosloff retired to Hastings-on-Hudson and died in 1982/83. His house features in tours of “Hastings’ Personalities and Their Homes.”

Ps

When he arrived at Ellis Island his name was recorded Alexis Kosloff and not in the Russian style which surprised me at first but then I

remembered he had been in London and toured the UK where the translation had taken place.

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I am an historian interested in Theodore Kosloff's early appearances and school in New York (or, perhaps Alexis's school) around 1915/1916 (I'm guessing the book may date to then, as I know Theodore was taking students at the time). I'm curious to know if you'd be willing to share the 8-page booklet with me so I can look to see if there is any relevant information to my work. Do you know the date of the booklet?

Thanks

Heather

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When he arrived at Ellis Island his name was recorded Alexis Kosloff and not in the Russian style which surprised me at first but then I

remembered he had been in London and toured the UK where the translation had taken place.

I'm not entirely confident that he would have been processed through Ellis Island, as that was the Reception Center for third-class passengers, "steerage". Second-class travellers went through immigration examination at the somewhat ritzier Castle William, today Castle Clinton. First-class immigrants, the rarest breed, were processed in the most formal rooms of the Old Customs House.

Given the variable skill in the Immigration Service of dealing with Slavic and German names, it's a lucky thing that he didn't end up "Smith" and his brother "Jones". That happened a lot, sometimes voluntarily, (August Schoenberg got off the boat and became August Belmont) but most often not ("What's your family name? What was it before?").

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If you search the Ellis Island database at www.ellisisland.org, an Alexis Kosloff of Russian nationality is recorded as having arrived on March 26, 1915 from London, being 27 years old on arrival and single, having travelled on the ship the Lusitania, which departed from Liverpool.

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OK, that would make sense. Third class on a Cunarder (the ships whose names ended in "ia" - Mauretania, Carpathia, Lusitania) was a lot nicer than even first class on some other lines like Leyland (ships ending in "an" - Virginian, Californian, Canadian). Kosloff would have had a nice voyage.

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OK, that would make sense. Third class on a Cunarder (the ships whose names ended in "ia" - Mauretania, Carpathia, Lusitania) was a lot nicer than even first class on some other lines like Leyland (ships ending in "an" - Virginian, Californian, Canadian). Kosloff would have had a nice voyage.

Mme. Hermine has indicated the source for my original post on the subject and I have found that Ellis Island was the first point of call for a number a ballet personalities travelling to America from Europe.

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OK, that would make sense. Third class on a Cunarder (the ships whose names ended in "ia" - Mauretania, Carpathia, Lusitania) was a lot nicer than even first class on some other lines like Leyland (ships ending in "an" - Virginian, Californian, Canadian). Kosloff would have had a nice voyage.

You are correct about the Cunarder Line providing "nicer" accomodation for 3rd Class passengers. On some lines this class had meant sleeping in open berths in large rooms(cabins). When Aleksei Kozlov travelled to America 3rd class on the Lusitania, it meant sharing a cabin with four or six bunks.

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i note the post above about seeing more of the brochure scanned at the top of this thread comes from a new member, i.e. one w/o private message permissions at this point; in this case, this member should reach the moderators, who can pass along to me an email with your interest etc. in the Kosloffs' story.

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As a hugely late addition to this topic, you might be interested that I contacted the Ellis Island staff when I was following up the arrivals of Ballets Russes dancers. They told me that everybody arriving in NY was processed by Ellis Island, but whereas the 3rd class passengers were taken over to the island itself, the first and second class would wait on board until cleared. Hence the wealth of publicity photos taken on deck. Both Kosloff brothers first arrived in the US (with Baldina) in October 1910, after which they joined up with Gertrude Hoffman's "Imperial Russian Ballet", staging several of Fokine's "hits".

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