WHO KILLED RASPUTIN??

Ronald Moe was a committed seeker for truth. Before Ron’s recent untimely passing he had finished his book on the murder of Rasputin and its meaning in the unraveling events in Russian history. “Prelude to the Revolution, the Murder of Rasputin” is now published and ready to be purchased and read.

Ron and I had some revealing discussions about this story over the past years as the murder of Rasputin is generally attributed to Prince Felix Yusupov. Ron presents a different story which involves the British agent, Oswald Rayner. Moe’s work is the result of diligent and thorough research and at the same time his book is readable and absorbing. After his retirement from his political science position at The Library of Congress he followed his passionate and deep research into the last days of the Romanoffs. I am now happy to see that due to the perseverance of his devoted wife, Grace, and friends, that landmark account is ready to read.

For a quick synopsis see Amazon’s Book Description page at http://www.amazon.com/PRELUDE-REVOLUTION-RASPUTIN-Ronald-Moe/dp/1593307128/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1323786255&sr=1-5 .

See also http://ronmoe.wordpress.com/

Coco Chanel and WHO? Rasputin??

 Things “happen.” As an “unintended consequence” of the murder of Gregori Rasputin by Prince Felix Yusupov in December 1916 in St. Petersburg, Grand Duke Dimitri Pavlovich, first cousin of Czar Nicolas II, one of the handful of conspirators, was sent far out of town and Dimitri ended up in Paris. And who do you think took notice of the aristocrat’s arrival? Coco Chanel! She was eleven years his senior but that didn’t stop either one.

The French perfume business was booming because the scents didn’t last past eleven at night—so they bathed in the stuff.  As I heard the story, Dimitri advised Coco that she should not sell big bottles of perfume for cheap prices, but small bottles for high prices.  Dimitri introduced Coco to Ernest Beaux, a successful Russian-born perfumier from St. Petersburg who had learned his craft from his grandfather who entered Russia in 1812 with Napoleon and stayed there, learning the secrets of Russian perfume. From his grandfather, Beaux insisted that the addition of deer musk would make the perfume last the night. Coco hired Beaux, added deer musk to the eighty-some other ingredients and voila: we have Chanel No. 5. That was 1920. As an unintended consequence of the murder of Rasputin, our lovely ladies today have Chanel No. 5. Ce qui arrive, arrive.

As an intended consequence read “Walking on Ice, An American Businessman is Russia.”

Coco Chanel and WHO? Rasputin??

No, they were not lovers. Really!! But there is a connection, albeit a long thin one. Grand Duke Dimitri was one of the handful, led by Prince Felix Yusupov, who murdered Rasputin in Saint Petersburg in December, 1916. Czar Nicholas II sent the conspirators far out of town and Dimitri was sent to a military unit in Persia. In the next year, 1917, it was all over for Czarist Russia and the Grand Duke never returned. Like many other fleeing Russians he ended up in Paris. And who do you think took notice of the aristocrat’s arrival? Coco Chanel. She was eleven years his senior but that didn’t stop either one.

 The French perfume business was booming because the scents didn’t last past eleven in the evening. So they bathed in the stuff. (Can you imagine!) But, as I heard the story, Dimitri said to Coco that she should not sell big bottles of perfume for cheap prices, but small bottles for high prices. He introduced Coco to Ernest Beaux, a successful Russian-born perfumer from St. Petersburg, whose French employer, Coty, would not follow his suggestions. Beaux insisted that the addition of deer musk would make the perfume last the night. Coco hired Beaux, added dear musk to the eighty-some other ingredients and voilà- Chanel No. 5 was born—that was 1920. The Coco-Dimitri affair was in 1921 and while she moved on to others, the relationship in indeed historic. You may have seen the film “Igor and Coco” about her affair with Stravinsky. It seems she liked Russians – famous Russians.

In my next book, “The Lady with the Ostrich Feather Fan” you will learn more about Rasputin’s murder, but it is really about the “life” of two Rembrandts that were the pride of the Yusupov collection and now hang in the National Gallery of Art. More on that later. This perfume story is just one of the many side-stories that emerge when writing.

To read more about all this read “Chanel” by Edmonde Charles~Roux.

“Poor Russia” Platonov says. Chekhov is relevant today.

When I lived in Moscow, I heard a talk on the play “The Mechanical Piano” by Oleg Tabakov based on a drama by Chekhov, written by that great Russian author at eighteen. It was apparently Chekhov’s first play, overly long, full of everything he ever dreamed to put into a play―crashing trains and dancing gypsies. When he brought it to the famous actress Maria Yermalova, she told him it was terrible. He burned it. He never even gave it a name, but it is commonly called “Platonov” after the main character. But a second copy of that play survived. It resurfaced, modified as a movie by Nikita Mikhalkov in 1977 – “An Unfinished Piece for a Mechanical Piano.” Three hours long and according to some Russians, one of the best films ever made. The story became the basis for a shorter stage play now also called, “The Mechanical Piano.”

The characters are typically Chekhovian. Platonov is a middle aged man with great aspirations and no education or family pedigree from which to launch his life’s direction. He is in love with a woman married to a young member of the intelligentsia, who has achieved nothing with his degrees and high connections and is mainly occupied with thinking about Russia.

The following Sunday I went to see the play and the next week coincidentally happened to see on television the 1977 movie directed by Nikita Mikhalkov. The most humorous part is when Platonov, despondent about life, attempts suicide by drowning himself in the river; not realizing the river was only three feet deep. He emerges soaking wet with his cream linen suit shrunken by two sizes. Failing even at suicide, he is now even more discouraged with life, and can only blame it on Russia. “Poor Russia,” he says.

I borrowed this hilarious episode for my book “The Lady with an Ostrich Feather Fan,” based on the story of the “Yusupov Rembrandts” now in The National Gallery of Art in Washington. The murder of Rasputin, by Prince Felix Yusupov and friends had humorous parallels to the Platonov scene when the chains to sink the victim’s body in the river were left behind. In my new book, the discovery scene in the Yusupov Palace is recognizably similar. This new historical novel is planned for 2011 publication.

Buy the book here  “Walking on Ice, An American Businessman in Russia”