Lewis J. Selznick writes to the Czar of all Russia, on his recent demotion:
NICHOLAS ROMANOFF
PETROGRAD, RUSSIA
WHEN I WAS POOR BOY IN KEIV SOME OF YOUR POLICEMENT WERE NOT KIND TO ME AND MY PEOPLE STOP I CAME TO AMERICA AND PROSPERED STOP NOW HEAR WITH REGRET YOU ARE OUT OF A JOB OVER THERE STOP FEEL NO ILLWILL WHAT YOUR POLICEMAN DID SO IF YOU WILL COME NEW YORK CAN GIVE YOU FINE POSITION ACTING IN PICTURES STOP SALARY NO OBJECT STOP REPLY MY EXPENSE STOP REGARDS YOU AND FAMILY
SELZNICK
NEW YORK
(Ramsaye, Million and One Nights, 1926, p. 766)
Now, after the reports of Trotsky as a Vitagraph actor, this would have made for quite a crowded market of Russian extras !
(Sternberg’s 1928 The Last Command has of course this exact plot…)
