DANCER-SPY

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 35, 11 February 1939, Page 8 (Supplement)

DANCER-SPY

SOME said she was like a burning flame in a world grey with war. Others thought she was more like the music to which she danced . . . like the quick, vivid notes of Debussy, all the gayer for the booming obligato of the guns. She was slim and eager, with tossing dark hair and eyes the colour of the sky at night. Her name was Antoria. Mcrcia, but everybody had forgotten that long since. They called her Argentina. They would watch her tiny redheeled slippers twinkle across the stage as her scarlet skirts swirled in the Cordoba. They would listen to her castanets purr, then click, and they would catch a breath as her full, 'beautiful lips parted suddenly in her flashing smile. For it was not merely an exquisite Spanish girl marvellously interpreting for them the dances of her native land. It was the rich colour they had known before Death ruled the world from the battlefields of France. It was life and laughter and love that had been and were grasped for a little moment when Argentina danced. So she was popular as few women had been before or have been since. Where she danced iii whatever warbeset capital of Europe magic descended briefly. Theatres sparkled with lights, with gems, with sudden hopefulness. Her dressing room was fragrant with flowers procured at who knew what terrific cost by those who paid homage to Argentina no less than to what she represented. Even after she had made her famous low bow, sinking down, down in her scarlet dress until she was like a flame dropping into embers, and the descending curtain closed away her frorld of make J believe, brightness remained for a time with those who - had seen her. i

La Argentina Worked For France, But The French Jeered. At Her

By--Winifred Van Duzer —Copyright

over their wine. They talked freely before her and to her. They talked of things supposedly mentioned only behind closed doors on the Wilhelmstrasse, and then in whispers. But why not? Could such a pretty head, such a gay head, be concerned with anything less frivolous than dancing? Early in 1915 a curious message readied the French espionage service. It came by way of Spain, and declared that a famous dancer, who refused to reveal her name, wished to act as agent for the Allies. The dancer already was wealthy, said the message, and deeired no remuneration for her service. French authorities were quick to accept this offer, though only two of their numiber, one of whom was Henri Dupont, knew the identity of the dancer . . . Argentina. If they were less quick to heed her first bit of information, it is hardly to be wondered at, since poison ga6 had been internationally outlawed for use in warfare, and she warned them that on the following April 22 the Germans were preparing to release poison gas upon the French army. The message wa« laid aside as preposterous, only to be remembered later. It was rememibered after that April 22 when the blue-uniformed poilus, sniffin<? the mornini? air. minirilpH wifTi cur.

story was not told until after that July night was that when she had made her famous low bow ... to the

maue jier iamous iow oow ... to ttie iug ine morning air, regarded with surp_ • • 1 acre A • moon and to the purple sea stretching prise a greenish-grey cloud riding tourismas Jtereu, towards the Spanish coast and to the ward the front-line trenches on the east Lips Wert Scaled summits of the Pyrenees towering in wind. Lazily the cloud drifted over No .. .. the distance (for she had no other audi- Man's Land, sifting through barbed Nevertheless there was a night when ence) she did not rise again. Flame in- wire entanglements, billowing across Argentina danced to the accompaniment deed had sunk into embers. It was sandbags. Nearer it came, settling finof aisses . . . when, in the end, she ran Argentina's last dance. ally into ehellholes and dugouts. Onlyweeping to her dressing room. It was She was born, according to her story then did the poilus clutch tortured on a night in Paris when the war was only recently told by Henri Dupont, throats and die. It was the introduction at its height that her red heels twinkled, who worked with the French espionage of the Allies to the use of poison ?ag the scarlet skirts flared, the castanets service during the Great War, near in the world, war. purred, then clicked. Buenos Ayres, where her parents, both _ She Paused to laugh across the foot- stars of,the Royal Spanish Opera Ballet, CottVinCUlg lights, to blow kisses to the soldiers had gone to fill an engagement. At six Tl. /» y who filled the house. But the soldiers she made her debut in the Royal ballet. vCtttTttlS were silent. There was silence for a long At 11 she was rated as a premiere The chiefs of the Second Bureau were roared. * 111 *«■« ""ly, danseus* At 18 she -as appearing in convinced now. After" tl "Go back to Berlin!" howled a voice. BeS. ** 068 " ' ' BritiS,® J® pn Tif% to morium t0 ° k * UP ' ThCT€ pande * elle WM incredibly beautiful But the military Weref Ims °lisTly . * . , , . and because her dancing was superib, she convinced, ignored her second Argentina stopped dancing. She was feted by the wealthy and the Arriving by g ito roundabout rout?the talked quickly down stage, stretched throughout the capitals of-Europe. In message said that in three months'Ver- £ SfST th r,r« the would be MmTeS?unhappy ihey thought her a spy for the Ger- spike-moustached officers of the Kaiser, fqr France was the result of the proman#, the jeering mob out beyond the Argentina accepted their flowers, crastmation, history records. The bftr mvfr wi 7 ,he cned » ab » lau ß hed with them > danced with them German push found the French lacking B„f wW* JL. . .. •• • ? nd turned on them a speculative artillery and reserves. Not even ade«JS ™ld Ae ; say to them regard. quate transportation for ruling men then or ever? Her lips -were sealed. For almost as much as her own and guns to the danger zone had been Some day perhaps they would know the Spain, curiously enough, she loved provided. U SV.A w? ™J? y r» n< Tv Ti° Uld knOW Fran « e - ' ® he loved the warm-hearted After this second striking proof that i , Y ho C T\ t0 the Frisian the unknown dancer was not dealing ■"?yEJL 1 "' the me4 * l ° f theatre 8 to watch her dance. And she in fantasy, all her information waf tfte of Honour. admired the gay bravery with which taken seriously, by the French. The And still later everybody paid her the poilus faced danger. Gaiety she British, however, saw it differently K t ? ld ' could understand, but the dogged Who was this mysterious woman spy? But this Tinas aiter another evening mechanical perfection of the Germans Where did she get her information? when Argentina danced. It was a long left her cold. How did she work? What tos her wW 19 , 36 iAs the war went on, and France made motive? Thus worked sceptical minds, when she again donned the red-heeled no gams, Argentina brooded. Strange As a matter of fact, Argentina lived slippers, the scarlet gown and whirled little lights burned in her eyes when little differently than she had lived through the Cordoba while the castanets she danced with the German officers in before. She danced, she found her dresspurred and clicked. And the reason her Berlin, "when she laughed with them ing room, wherever she went, filled with ❖ — '

flowers, she whiled away night hours in gaiety. If she were more frequently in Berlin than 'before, no one noticed the fact, except perhaps a few German officers, who believed her sympathetic to their cause and thought she wished to cheer them by her presence. And cheer them she did, for so gay was she, romping through those warshadowed nights, that everybody romped with her, forgetting for a few hours that there was anything in the world but play. Even the Kaiser and the Crown Prince, their aides and friends, put aside the cares of war to attend her performances. From the moment Berlin set eyes on her, she held the city spellbound by her art, quite as she fascinated the most powerful men in Germany by her charm. After a time there seemed small point in leaving Berlin, where it was so simple to catch a word here, another there, to eavesdrop on scraps of conversation between two Chiefs of Staff, to piece the scraps together into a startling whole, to forward the result by secret ways to Paris. Thus Argentina came to be identified with the Central Powers. And if she were practically always in the company of Captain Hans Lessing, it was not extraordinary. The captain was an attractive young Saxon soldier attached to the Crown Prince, and why, afiked his friends, should he not be in love with beautiful Argentina, and she with him? Introduction To the Kaiser Precisely to what extent the dancer had used every resource at her command to 'bring about her association with Captain Lessing, nobody ever guessed. Before the war she had been introduced to the Kaiser by King Alfonso, and this of itself helped assure her entree into official circles at Berlin,

staff pooh-poohed the idea. But a fev weeks later, when everything trans pired exactly as she had said it would and the English armies were forced t< fight like demons, even Haig was con Tinced. After that the information suppliec by Argentina went a long way toward! determining the Allied plan of cam paign. Thousands of lives were savet by her work, and hundreds.di-ulttk*** us the result of a single message wliicl enabled the British to win one of tin greatest victories of the war when informed them the Germans were aoonj to retire from Cambrai. If Argentina rejoiced in her succes* nobody suspected it, for no one bul Henri Dupont and his single confrere were aware of the part she played After the night when she was hissec off the Paris stage, France regarded hei as a friend of the enemy, and for hei own protection as well as for continued usefulness, she was forced to live thi* lie when the truth would have made lier the idol of the French. Delirions Audiences Even after the Armistice her secret was kept from all but a few in authority, but now she was conferred with the medal of the Legion of Honour, and, with what may have been intuition, the regard of the nation returned to her. Argentina danced again in Paris, cheered by delirously approving audiences. She crossed the Channel to dance before the British Royal Family. North and South America came next, with a triumphal tour in the United States. In Spain she garnered what was perhaps the most treasured prize of her career, the Rosette of Isabella, the first to be bestowed by the Spanish Republic. It was in the winter of 1930 that Argentina drew her career to a close at the Paris Opera, to houses sold out long in advance. A young woman, still supremely lovely, there was no threat grey in the tossing dark hair, no line in the honey-coloured skin, no weariness about the full, beautiful lips when they parted suddenly in the famous flashing smile. It was not age, but her heart, that betrayed Argentina. She had been warned never to dance again. In a corner of France, near Bayonne, she had built a home, the Villa Miraflnrpq flhrtVfl fVio Poir nf T>„t. • J

where she cast about for the person most_ likely to assist her. No doubt it was intuition which fixed her choice on the young captain, since he turned out to be a lover first and a soldier afterwards. It is known now that Captain Leasing was well aware of Argentina's interest in the plans of the German high command, whether or not he knew of the use to which she put it. Even during her absences from Berlin he sent her coded information in what appeared to be love letters. Not only this, he managed to have himself transferred from his staff post in the front line to be near the dack enigmatic woman he loved. Lessing's only reward was Argentina's smile, but no doubt he considered it sufficient. In the end he was killed by an English bullet during one of the last battles of the war. How much Argentina loved Lessing, or whether she loved him at all, nobody ever knew. It sometimes is said that she never loved anyone really, but lived for her art, either practising or performing hour after hour in her effort to achieve perfection. Thus Argentina worked with surenese and precision which left only the British to be convinced. When word hcr found its way into Paris that the Germans were about to make a large-scale attack in the Aisne sector, the French rushed heavy reinforcements to the area, and the armies of the Central Powers were beaten back with heavy losses. When she sent the information that Germany was preparing for a last great ™,°I. wm the war in spring of fi! * . manner which directly involved the British, Sir Douglas Haig and his

nores, above the Bay of Biscay. Behind it were the foothills of the Pyrenees. Before it the sea stretched to the hazy purple line of the Spanish coast. By day fisherwomen in brief skirts and wooden shoes walked the silvery beaches; by night the stars brooded in a purple-black arc of sky. Here Argentina found peace and here, on the terrace of Miraflores, she twinkled through her last dance with only the July moon, the mountain summits, the foam-tipped waves for audience. She had attended a dance festival in San Sebastian, and returned atingle with the music, the gay rhythm. Once again she donned the.red-heeled slippers, the scarlet gown, laughed as the castanets purred their blithe message, clicked invitation. A treacherous heart? Another year, another day—what did it matter T To-night the moon had trained on her a spotlight more splendid than any she had known before." The sound of distant breakers was like the happy chatter of applause. Little red heels moved suddenly, red skirts swirled. ... It wa« an ecstatic Bolero that Argentina danced on the terrace above the sea. Quicker flew the heels, more like curling flame were the red skirts, whirling, faster, faster . . . Who shall say what instinct warned her that the time had come to make her famous low bow ? Down she 6ank and down; flame dropped into embers at last. Argentina would never dance again. Newspapers next day told of her passing between the mountains and the sea, but it was only recently that Henri Dupont, keeper of her secret, decided to speak . . . to tell the real story o. Argentina—the dancer who helped the Allies to win the world war.