In Hollywood With Nemirovich-Danchenko, 1926-1927: The Memoirs of Sergei Bertensson

Sergei Bertensson’s diary of his trip to Hollywood with Russian theatre great Nemirovich-Danchenko is a unique record of an extraordinary and under-documented chapter in film and theatre history. For a year Bertensson followed his employer as he met with directors, producers, and stars, forever discussing projects that would never be realized. Some of the leading figures in Hollywood history appear in this record, including Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, and John Barrymore. Bertensson’s observations of life in Hollywood on the eve of the talkies revolution provide us with a compelling snapshot of movie history in the making, seen from the unusual perspective of an outsider.

Anna Shoulgat is Assistant to the director at the St. Petersburg State Museum of Theatre and Music. She is also a theatre historian, critic, and translator. Paul Fryer is a Senior Lecturer in Theatre at Rose Bruford College in the U.K. He has published widely on silent film and opera. His most recent book, Lina Cavalieri: The Life of Opera’s Greatest Beauty, 1874-1944, was published in 2003.