Felix Cherniavsky - Birth and Death Information (Maud Allan)

Added 18th Mar 2022 by Beth Dobson (Archives and Programming Assistant, DCD) / Last update 18th Mar 2022

Maud Allan 82 51 2008-1-9.jpg
Maud Allan 82 51 2008-1-9.jpg
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Felix Cherniavsky - Birth and Death Information (Maud Allan)

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Maud Allan Research Collection
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lo : April , 1910 August 13 , 1968 S.F. Chronicle . Millie Robbins MIIITE S Column Aug 13- 1968 Maud's Sensational Dance By Millie Robbins FOUR internationally ac . claimed dancers whose ca reers touched San Francis co in varing degrees , seem constantly to be confused . That's not too perplex ing , perhaps , considering MAUD ALLAN Salome with seven veils all were exponents of the type of terpsichore known as " interpretive , " and that their lives overlapped to some extent . The women were Isadora Duncan , Loie Fuller , Maud Allan and Ruth St. Denis . When the latter died re cently we received a cou ple of letters advising us to look into the fact that she had been the sister of a no torious local murderer . Not true . Our correspondents un doubtedly had her mixed up with Maud Allan , whose brother , Theodore Durrant , was convicted of one of the city's most revolting and widely - publicized crimes . She was studying in Eu rope at the time it was committed in 1895 and re mained there for many years after - a highly suc cessful performer . When she died in a Los Angeles rest home a dozen years ago , no reference to the early - day scandal was made in her obituaries . According to Miss Al lan's death notices , she had come to San Francisco with her parents from To ronto , where she was born . The family settled in the Mission District , her father William Alan Durrant , working as a cobbler , her mother occasionally as a domestic - possibly in the ocean - side residence of the city's one - time wealthy mayor , Adolph Sutro . Just how this couple of modost means had been able to send their daughter to Europe to study and sim ultaneously put their son through medical college re mains a mystery . Rumors were rife at the time that Sutro had fi nanced the talented girl's expensive education , and , moreover , supplied the wherewithal for her broth er's lawyers throughout his three - year trial . If true , was this merely a philanthropic gesture , or , as the gossips insisted , was Sutro really Maud's fa ther ? Answers to the titil lating questions never were forthcoming , or are they likely to be . When they were put to Maud's mother she denied getting assistance from the multimillionaire , maintain ing that her daughter had made her own way by ped dling a superior brand of patented corsets . At first Maud had con centrated on music and voice . But subsequently she switched to dancing and made her debut in Vienna in 1903 . Four years later , she gave a command perform ance for Britain's King Ed ward VII , then in 1908 in troduced in London's Pal ace Theater , her great Sa lome number . This created a sensation , although , a mazingly enough , drew little cen sure . Somehow , as one critic put it , she managed to por tray Herodias ' daughter not as " a vile woman swayed by illicit desires , but as a wayward girl led by the stronger will of an unscrup ulous mother . " Once in Budapest a per verted prankster had a real , bloody head substituted for the usual papier - mache one of John the Baptist deliv ered to her on a platter . Maud understandably promptly swooned from shock . ) She didn't appear here until 1910 when she per formed at the Garrick Theater before a wildly en thusiastic audience and re ceived rave notices in the press . Thirty years ago she sus tained such severe injuries in a car crash that she nev er could dance again . We'll fill you in on broth er Theodore tomorrow . 1

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