Dancer to Dramatic Actress 1920-1928

Individual performances by Ida Rubinstein after the end of World War I:

1919: La Tragedie de Salome -- Poem by Robert de Humieres, Music by Florent Schmitt, New choreography by Nicola Guerra. A charity gala at the Paris Opera, co-starring Georges Wague. Sarah Bernhardt also recites Triomphe by Fernad Gregh.
1920: A film version of St Sebastien, directed by Vidult Haut, is started but never completed. Some dance scenes reportedly survive. Ida and Sarah Bernhardt perform in a recital of La Nuit de Mal by Alfred de Musset. Ida reprises her role in Scheherazade, with Le Ballet Russes. Ernrico Cecchetti is in the cast again, and Leonide Massine is her dance partner. She flies to Italy to film La Nave by D'Annunzio. She will make another movie, San Giorgio with Giulio Artiste Sartorio in 1921. Her last appearence with Edouard de Max is at a charity function in 1922.

Ida Rubinstein on a holiday in Norway 1922
Jpeg by M. Evans from scan of P.D. image
Ida and her airplane St. Sebastien, near Venice, Italy 1920
(Gabrielle D'Annuncio - 2nd from left; Walter Guinness - right;)
Jpeg by M. Evans from scan of P.D. image

Dramatic Dance Productions

Antoine et Cléopâtre (1920) -- Translated from William Shakespeare by Andre Gide, Co-starring Edouard de Max, Georges Wague, and Armand Bour, Music by Florent Schmitt, Costumes by Jacques Dresa, Ida Rubinstein's costumes from the House of Worth (Maison Worth).
Artémis Troublée (1922) -- Liberetto by Leon Baskt, Music by Paul Paray, Choreography by Nicola Guerra,
Costumes and Decor by Leon Baskt.
Phaedre (1923) -- Liberetto by Gabrielle D'Annunzio, translated by Andre Doderet, Sets and costumes by Leon Baskt.
Ishtar (1924) -- Music by Vincent d'Indy, Choreography by Ivan Clustine (1912), Costumes and Decor by Leon Baskt.
Le Martyre de Saint Sebastien (1922, 1923, 1924, and notably in 1926 at La Scala in Milan, conducted by Arturo Toscanini, with D'Annunzio in the audience.)
Orphée (1926) -- A mime-drama by Jean Cocteau, Music by M. Arthur Honegger, Costumes by Alexander Golovin, performed at the Paris Opera. (Based on original works by Roger-Ducasse and Alexander Ziloti in 1913-14)

Ida Rubinstein in Ballet costume 1921
Ida Rubinstein posing for the camera sometime between
Antoine et Cléopâtre and Artémis Troublée
Photograph by James Abbe circa 1921
Michigan State University College of Arts and Letters Department of Theatre 		..
Antoine et Cléopâtre 1920
Jpeg by M. Evans from scan of P.D. image

Dramatic Productions

La Dames aux Camélias (1923) -- Adapted from a story by Alexandre Dumas II, Sets and Decor by Alexandre Benois.
Le Secret du Sphinx (1924) -- Drama by Maurice Rostand, Costumes by Romain de Tirtoff (Erté)
Le Idiote (1925) -- Adapted from Dostoyevsky's novel by Vladimir Bienstock ond Fernand Noziere,
Sets and Costumes by Alexandre Benois, Directed by Armand Bour.
L'Imperatice aux Rochers (1927) -- Written by Saint Georges de Bouhelier, Music by Honegger, Sets and Costumes by Alexandre Benois, Directed by Alexander Sanin.
(The curtain was raised at 7:45 P.M. and did not descend until 4 A.M. -- Toni Bentley)


La Dames aux Camélias circa 1924
Jpeg by M. Evans from scan of P.D. image
Le Idiote circa 1925
Jpeg by M. Evans from scan of P.D. image
1920-1928; Ida presents Antonine et Cleopatre in 1920. More big-budget stage spectaculars follow, written by D'Annunzio and others. In 1921 she moves into a lavish new residence at 7 Place des Etats-Unis in Paris, designed by Léon Baskt. It will be her home, when she is not traveling, until 1940.
After Sarah Bernhardt passes away in 1923, Rubinstein successfully revives Dumas' La Dames aux Camélias, made famous by the first lady of the French Theater, with her late friend's blessings. She achieves new respect as a dramatic actress -- producing and starring in a play based on Dostoyevsky's novel The Idiot.
Her artistic soulmate Gabrille D'Annunzio survives in a bizarre military adventure in Northern Italy. Her social champion Robert de Montesquiou dies in 1921. Her longtime admirer and friend Léon Baskt becomes progressivly ill and dies suddenly on December 27, 1924 -- preceeded by her famous co-star Edouard de Max on September 6.
Vicki Woolf & Michael de Cossart