Creative Person; Anna Pavlova

Item Information

Title:
Creative Person; Anna Pavlova
Description:
This program examines the magic of Anna Pavlova and the reason why, thirty-five years after her death, her name remains synonymous with ballet. Miss Pavlova was born in St. Petersburg (now Leningrad), Russia, in 1881. She studied dance at the Imperial School of Ballet there until 1905, and later began a series of foreign tours which included her first London appearance in 1910 and her New York debut the same year. In 1911 she founded her own dance company and, until her death in 1931, devoted her entire life to bringing ballet and dance to remote regions of Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Australia. Included in the program are excerpts from films showing the range of Pavlovas work from classical roles such as The Immortal Swan to variety pieces such as Californian Poppy as well as informal footage of Mme. Pavlova at her home in Hampstead, England, and on tour with her company. Interspersed with this footage are exclusive interviews made specifically for this program with close associates of Miss Pavlova, such as Sol Hurok, manager of Pavlovas later American tour who discusses her from an impresarios point of view; Madame Butsova, a leading dancer of the Pavlova dance company who accompanied Pavlova on her world-wide tours; and Aubrey Hitchens, one of Pavlovas last dance partners. These and other interviews build a composite picture of Anna Pavlova and attempt to analyze her both as a personality and as one of the major contributors to the world of twentieth-century dance. The program is highlighted by footage of Pavlova on tour in Egypt in 1928. The existence of this film was only discovered within the last two years and it has never before been viewed by the public. (Description adapted from documents in the NET Microfiche) This series focuses on the private vision of the creative person. Each program is devoted to a 20th century artist whose special qualities of imagination, taste, originality, intelligence, craftsmanship, and individuality have marked him as a pace-setter in his field. These artists --- whose fields span the entire gamut of the art world --- include filmmaker Jean Renoir, poet John Ciardi, industrial designer Raymond Loewy, Hollywood producer-director King Vidor, noted Broadway couple Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee, artist Leonard Baskin, humorist James Thurber, satirist Robert Osborn, Indian musician Ravi Shankar, poet P. G. Wodehouse, painter Georges Braque, former ballet star Olga Spessivtzeva, Rudolf Bing, and Marni Nixon. The format for each program has been geared to the individual featured; Performance, interview, and documentary technique are employed interchangeably. The Creative Person is a 1965 production of National Educational Television. The N.E.T. producers are Jack Sameth, Jac Venza, Lane Slate, Thomas Slevin, Brice Howard, Craig Gilbert, and Jim Perrin. (Description adapted from documents in the NET Microfiche)
Interviewee:
Hitchens, Aubrey
Interviewee:
Butsova, Hilda
Performer:
Pavlova, Anna
Creator:
Hurley, Joseph
Creator:
Wadley, Mike
Interviewee:
Hurok, Sol
Creator:
Loxton, David
Creator:
McBride, Jim
Producer:
Kassel, Virginia
Author:
Hurley, Joseph
Producer:
Venza, Jac
Date:
May 14, 1967
Format:
Film/Video
Genre:
Documentary
Performance
Location:
Library of Congress
Collection (local):
American Archive of Public Broadcasting Collection
Series:
Library of Congress > Creative Person
Subjects:
Dance
Extent:
00:21:10.503
Link to Item:
https://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-512-d21rf5m899
Terms of Use:
Rights status not evaluated.
Contact host institution for more information.
Notes:
Episode Number: 49