THE OREGON SUNDAY JOUHNAU, PORTLAND, SUNDAY 2lOi;NING,
DEGE2IBEH 31, 1C22.
And Now That the
f
: " . - ,
t . " C ' ' '
A
McCormick Protege
Has Proven Who She
Isn't, She Absolutely
Refuses ' to Reveal
Who She Is
7
r ,
i k
I
.r v . .
V TRANSLATION t .
4TL! morning I hd tbe pr of
mUnf lK celebrated and lovely deneer,,
Mdie. SkKroff. She enae to m on
account .of the many newspaper report
that she was ray daughter. ' I take this
opportunity to reiterate again the f aUity
of the statement that there U mUf rela
! tionship between us.'
' -
(
J
r ss-
Alexaj&cler '
' Skharof7, .
- - tli Famous
RossUn D&aced
and Husband '
' of the
'.r MyitcriouJ '
Above, a Tranlation of the Actual
Letter of Denial, Reproduced Below,
to Which Admiral von ,
Tirpit Si HU Nam
. Admiral von Tirpitz.
Vl LOTHILDE SAKHAROFP. tbo darfc.
eyed dAncer who conquertd London
T With her beauty and stormed New
,York under tho patronagro of the muiti
millionaire i McCormicks, - ia NOT - tho
idaughter of Admiral voa Tirpiti, griztled
lea lord of Germany darin? the warl
Her Identity, In faeV la a greater mys
tery than it was when she was the idol of
London theatregoers or when she mad
her. debut at the Metropolitan Opera
The Radiant Clothilda
. . Sakharoff,
Who Only Complicates
the Mystery of Who ;
She Js by Saying1,
"1 shall nerer tell'
much- my father was
famous Russian general. The
whole world had his - same
. ' x on ltd lips during' the war.
' But the world will neves
- learn that name from me. I
, ". ; - shall die with my secret
. - locked In my heartr
The mystery cloaking the identity of
the beautiful,, radiant Clothilde began
when she came out of nowhere ten years
3;o and captured London's heart: One .
ght no, one had ever heard of her; the
next all Piccadilly was ; raving over the
enchanting new Russian dancer who had
made her debut In TSumurun.'
Who Is shetw asked the English;. They
could learn only that she was the wife of
Alexander Sakharoff, a famous Russian
dancer. But when reporters asked her
for her history she only smiled and shook
House, None of the .longs, milhonalres,- her head. Even her intimates in the whirl
ox ijonaon nignt uzs. never knew her
maiden name.. , -7 . " ;
As f am came to her, so came admirers. -The
young bloods of .Oxford competed
with bachelor dukes and philandering
earls for the favor of Sakharoff. Through
out the record-breaking run of 'SHmuun,
Sakharoff reigned as & queen not only on
the stage but in the gay haunts of Lon- '
wu a Vm UVUSUlUb uii kV , BU - WHS
bombarded her with jewels and flattery
she kent inviolate the facta atiout har
' origin. - vy' ?; " ' v
Sakharoff Went to the Continent. She
danced in Brlin. Vienna Paris Moftto
Carlo, -DeauTille, Rome. Goaaip recorded
that the King of Spain Was among the
gallants tagging in her train In Italy
she was areputed to hav inspired : d'An
, nuniio to a doten sonnets. Yet he, like
all ' the others, spoke of Sakharoff as a ,
sphinx, an enigma---aa alluring and puz-
tling -witch. . ' ....
t "Who is sht asked the trench and,
the Italians and the Austrian. And Sak
haroff only shook her head and smiled. . i
While she fewas at the, height, of her
European success, Sakharoff s met Mrs.
. Edith Rockefeller McCormick, daughter of
7. the richest man in the world and at that
time the wife of Harold McCormicJc, the
Chicago multl-mfllionaird and art patron,
; whom she has since divorced. - Mrs. Mc-
4 Ccrcicksras chamed by tho daacttt : ha
: poets and warriors who wooed her know
who Clothilde Sakharoff reallr is. And
.they may never know. -
) . That statement will -startle those who
remember hoA. a year ago, the news
papers rang with an "expose" published
- haroff as the child of -von Tiroits : bv a
, secrgt romance. It was even, reported
' that aha aTflitted th idnsMo-
But now from -von Tifpitt - himself,
breaking the silence he has maintained in
his post-war retreat, comes a signed denial
of SakharofTs parentage. It is published
lor the first time herei
- "This morning I had the pleasure) :
' Of meeting the celebrated and lovely
' rir dancer, Mme. Sakharoff. - She eame ..
to tae on account of the many news-
- paper reports that she was my daugh
'. ter- 1 take this opportunity to reiter-
., ate again the falsity of the statement
- that there : is any relationship - be- --
iwein ua."
" The declaration of von Tirpits, ob-"'
tained from him by Sakharoff herself after
' a desperate effort to stem the - gossip
s AniTne nav viema tvia. aT af . vesr vka.
r"r " 1 axa ucHMVf Mij e - avair wiv
rumors linkinr these two as, father and
-daughter. But it does not satisfy the
curiosity or the world. - '
If thf beauty is not Clothilde -ron Tip
pitz, then who is shot To this Sakharoff
answers: -n
xiiU tav teUl X sill adsli tils
V Iji ' X ft.e .
V,::-: -
The Rouvh v
Working Model
in Clajr for :
the Marble
But of
Clothilda
for Which She
s , Recently
rosed.
saw in her a second
Pavlowa; She per
suaded Sakharoff to
Uke herself and her
dances to America.
, Sakharoff still an
'enigma and more
beautiful than ever,
landed in Hew York,
heralded - as : M r s.
Mccormick's pro
tege. - She installed
herself in a. luxuri
ous - suite at the
titz-Carlton, whiles
Harold 'MeCormlck
set the machinery ,
moving for her debut at the
Metropolitan. ... . - '
v That nieht will live in bnera.
'Annals as a gala one even for the
-Met! Never had the "Golden Horsehoe'V
pea more glittering. Box subscribers of
the Metropolitan usually do not make
their appearance until the close of the first
act. On this night scarcely a box was va
cant when the curtain' rose. Society out
short its dinner to see Sakharoff make her
first, bow. .Few stars of history have ;
schleved greater tributes.-'; ':fei .v
Society was not dlaSppolntedr Sak-1
haroff's debut was sensational. v: She won -deafening
applause i She was called be-
fore the curtain again and again ; -fier
facewas the nly part of her visible Sbov
the forest of flowers with which she was t
swamped. The critics were unanimous in
their opinions next day. -A great new t
,star, they, agreed, flared In the operatic :
sky. - , . - v" .-.
. . And then 4he mystery of Clothilde
Sakharoff had new mystery added to it'
She made one more appearance. One day
New York woke up to find she was gone i"
from the RitX. SwiftlV and acretlv h
bad caught a liner fori Europe.. Why?
;No one could say.-:; - :
- Harold r McCormick,- approached ; by
newspaper - men, - refused to discuss the
sudden departure. There - were rumors,
whispers, stories that told nothing, expla-'
nations that failed to explain. The beauty
who had refused td reveal herself had
tons without revealing her destiaation or
er reason for going. And that was that;
. all of It! M vv . ,
Whether Sakharoff got wind of Impend
ing . scandal : in France may never be
known, but New York was startled when,:
some tiie later, cables came- from over
seas quoting French newspaper as; de
claring that Sakharoff was the daughter
-of Admiarl von Tirpits. It was the first
time.Fuch a story had been even hinted
at and the news was a bombshell to the
society leaders who had entertained Sak
haroff so extensively. -
... S5-aju xi ill ttsxx ci a tiddea'
romance in the- admiral's
past, was not one that - s
famous .beauty would , weJU
come at any time. Coming ;
when the war fever against
Germanv vaa at Hm V.io-vif
'vnpritoa vdoan l'dy had teen
2? nd tejr nmement cancelled
fauf8 fwas suspected of connivance
SS?1?1 Abl?p V1 f New York
evidence that she was warned of the an-
?w c4if rfxp0Bw JU a tacit admissloa
that it was true. : - . , ;..v,-.
" t!?-r1??ff A4 aot know what to do,"
said J. Mandelkern, her manager, who
brought back the von Tirpits statement a
u. ie couia not aisprov
the charge without .revealing her real
identity, and this she had sworn never to
do. She did not believe a simple, tmsxrp; .
pdrted denial from herself could stop tha
gossip. Finally ahe decided she had but
one course to find Admiral von Tirpits
uu Ktk mm w nau me canard with DIM 4
.own Bpa;::W;vrv.r:: '-. , -
Bo it cams about that, one sunny An
tumn day not; so many weeks ago, tha-A
lujvBi woiaafi, 01 : .men, European stage
alighted from a motorcar before a villa In
the obscure-UStle town of St. Blasdea,"
Sha was accompanied by MrMendtlkern,
Sakharoff had arranged for an audlenc
with the admiral that day. . They were1
ushered in by a butler with the carriags 1
of an ex-soldier and an Iron Cross on his ;
breast. After they had waited but a few
minutes, the old sea-dog who once ruled
Germany's destiny on" the ocean entered
and bowed low to the dancer. It was
quite evident, according to Mr. Mendel .
kern, that be had never seen her before.
He raised his eyebrows inquiringly and '
Mme. Sakharoff broke into a torrent of
emotional words, v - ; - :
r "My'child,- said Admiral : von' Tlrpitt ':
when t She . had finished, 'you are very '
, beautiful. I feel ; that I could have no
greater honor than to be your father. I
only wish that I were. If I had been, rest
assured I would have acknowledged the
relationship and righted any wroDg dons .
to you long ago. As it Is, I will be only
too glad to right the other wrong that
has been done you now .
Von Tirpits has done what he could to
'make good his statement. He dictated,
and signed the denial of Sakharoff's par
entire. . ,
Will it stop the gossips' tongues? Or
will Sakharoff have to do what she Vows
she never, will -do tear away the veil of
mystery around her and make k&85rn fcgr
trus idertiqrl w,-
2a Oca4 tfUtt aua fjua