tidied Carter
CLIFTON AVENUE - CINCINNATI 20, OHIO
3
THE JEWISH CHRONICLE
A JEW WHO HAS
REVOLUTIONIZED ART
Talks on
Life Insurance
by Louis Danto
The Story of Leon Bakst—The Greatest
Living Artist
Perhaps no artist of the Twen- hied himself back to his atelier in
tieth Century has achieved such Paris.
widespread fame as this young
Along about this time Serge de
Russian Jew, whose mastery of Diaghileff, a wealthy Russian no-
color and line lately earned him bleman with a penchant for the
the Nobel prize. His work has arts, came into the life of Bakst.
brought about a revolution de Diaghileff had dabbled some-
not merely in art of the theater, what into the art of the theater
but has extended to wearing ap- and then had a sort of coterie of
parel, ornaments, furniture, deco- pseudo-Bohemians about him. All
ration and even architecture, the were persons engaged in doing
world over.
things in new ways, and into this
circle Bakst promptly was initi-
Leon Bakst was born in 1868 in ated. There was Fokine, the
Petrograd. Undoubtedly it is to dancer, an insurgent in the ballet
the combination of Oriental Sem- school maintained by the Russian
itic factors that has made his col- Government, a rebel against the
ors, like his characters, as one authority of Petipa, who had auto-
enthusiastic critic declares, "shout cratically ruled the instiution for
and dance with joyous abandon." more than half a century ; there
In Russia, his birthplace, he was was Stravinsky, the bold har-
treated rather harshly. It was in monic innovator, who soon was to
1895 that he went to Paris. Ile break the tonal system in stand-
then was 27 years old. He began ard use throughout Europe, and
work in the studio of Albert Edel- now there was Bakst.
feldt, a versatile finished artist,
After trying out his proteges in
who himself was working for
greater impressionism in painting, various ways, de Diaghileff be-
and undoubtedly this circum- came convinced that he might
stance has marked influence upon combine all their services toward
a common end—the idealization
him.
of the Ballet Russe and the eman-
After working tirelessly here cipation of art in general. So he
for some time Bakst felt that he prepared for a brilliant debut for
had spent long enough appren- all in Paris. In the meantime, in
ticeship at the technical end, and 1906, Bakst was "discovered" by
returned to Petrograd, hoping Paris at an exhibition of his work
that he would find better recep- arranged by de Diaghileff. He
tion than when he had come there extracted the poetry hidden in
for his first view of earth. So he every epoch and brought them
started a magazine called "The forward in the form of beautiful
World of Art," to which he con- color cot binations.
tributed grotesque but beautiful
His esigns ever are work for
designs and novel caricatures. He
the
theater, and they do not come
was not above attaching political
into
vital being and full sugges-
significance to some of these,
either ; and here one gets first tion until they are wrought upon
glimpse of the human side of the the stage. There, and only there,
belong the sombre magnificence of
man.
his setting of "Scheherazade," the
But connoisseurs of Petrograd
were indifferent to this work of vague and vaporous beauty of the
the leisure hours of Bakst, and hillside for "L;Apres Midi D'un
this time, realizing that the Russian Faun," and ominous tower in
capital was no place for him, he which "Thamar" waits her prey.
a
Kohanim Not Excused.
A number of English Kohanim
protested against enlistment in the
army. Owing to their holy calling,
they assert, the religion of Israel
forbids them to kill and maim.
Chief Rabbi Joseph Hertz, how-
ever, to whom the matter was re-
ferred by the government, ruled
that the Kohanim had no right to
demand such a privilege. Even in
ancient times, in Palestine, every
ablebodied Cohen was compelled to
go to the war and fight and it is
reasonable to suppose that they can-
not expect greater privileges than
was accorded them at the time Is-
rael was a nation, the Chief Rabbi
asserted.
Eight hundred Boy Scouts,
comprising 58 troops, held an ex-
hibition at Boston, Mass., re-
cently. Troop No. 42 of Wor-
cester, Mass., composed. entirely
of Jewish boys, won a large silver
cup as first prize for the best
demonstration a n d exhibition
drill.
Earl Levey, captain of the
high school basket ball team of
Pueblo, Col., was killed when a
snowslide hit the train in which
he and his team were traveling
on their way to play one of the
schools on the western slope.
Dr. David Levine, whose term
as rabbi at the Temple Emanu-
el at Spokane, Wash., will ex-
pire next August, will then be
in the employ of the Western
Union Life Insurance Co. as a
special agent for Spokane and
vicinity.
Life Insurance and the
Marriage License
A man who cannot give his bride a policy of insurance upon his
life is too poor to bin , a marriage license or to pay a wedding fee.
There is no reason Nvhy wives cannot be trained to have the
same business sense that widows are forced to have—or go to the
wall. "Collier's Weekly" says that a wife should not merely ac-
cept, but should demand that protection which is so often her
only safeguard against privation, if not actual poverty. "She
should insist that it he regarded not as an extravagance, nor as an
investment, but as a necessity. It must come before luxuries
such as super-millinered bonnets for the wife, and cigars or beer
for the husband. It should come before a savings bank account.
In fact, it should arrive with the wedding presents."
Widows never object to life insurance. But their acquiescence
is to late. The damage is done and the chance is gone beyond
recall.
NEW ENGLAND MUTUAL
LIFE INSURANCE CO.
of Boston, Mass.
Organized 1835.
Assets over $70,000,000.00.
LOUIS DANTO
Manager
Office, Main 2749
Telephones1 House, Cadillac 3024
UTTER
a
THOMSON, State Agents
623 Penobscot Bldg.