ANNA STEN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22356, 1 September 1934, Page 13

ANNA STEN

SUCCESS ULTIMATELY ACHIEVED Anna Steu was brought to Hollywood 18 months ago by Samuel Goldwyn, with the fame and world prestige of the Ger-man-made “ Brothers Karamazov ” as her introduction. She was the first actress to have been completely trained in Soviet stage and screen Institutions. In her training and her background there is the key and an insight to her nature.

’ In the desperate days after the world war, when a guerrilla civil strife was challenging the new order of things in Russia, Anna was embarking on her career In the theatre. More than that, she was working in a restaurant and helping to edit a provincial paper in order to help feed her mother and sister. The theatre, against which she pitted her under-nourished strength and her frail, girlish energy, was a threadbare one—no scenery and no equipment. The actors were glad to have enough clothes to keep them from freezing, enough food to keep them from staiving. There was a pride and an honour on the stages of Stanislavsky and Inkijinkoff. The theatres and the studios belonged to the workers, their art was for the workers to inspire and sustain them in bringing into being the new Russian State, a new civilisation. It was a big job, especially on an empty stomach, and with holes in one’s shoes. Her first picture for United Artists is “ Nana,” an adaptation of Zola's novel, to be released at the Regent on Friday next. It is recommended by the censor for adults.