SEEKS INDEPENDENCE.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20233, 17 February 1934, Page 24 (Supplement)

SEEKS INDEPENDENCE.

Garbo’s Double Startles Hollywood. Katharine Hepburn waited for years as a patient understudy before chance provided the opportunity which has promoted her at one leap to absolute screen stardom, but similar patience is not possessed by Kathryn Sergava, a Russian dancer and actress. Breaking a long, highly-paid contract as Greta Garbo’s unseen double, she has startled Hollywood with the announcement that she is going to replace Garbo! Before that announcement, Kathryn Sergava was unknown except to a few directors. So amazing was her similarity to Garbo—the same face and figure, the same colouring of hair and eyes and the same voice—that she was barred from film appearances, yet was “retained” on a small salary. When Greta Garbo sailed for Sweden, however, the fear arose that the Swedish enigma might never return to Hollywood, and immediately Kathryn Sergava’s salary leapt to big figures. Exotic, aloof, and seriousminded she was an exact counterpart of the temperamental Greta Garbo, and qualified to fill all the roles planned for Garbo if she failed to return. But Greta Garbo came back! Kathryn Sergava had waited a year for a chance that had not come. She did not intend to wait any longer, and when she realised that her studio did not dare put her in a picture for fear of infuriating the Swedish star; the Russian girl broke her contract and set out to make her own climb to fame. “ Bedside ” and its role of grand opera diva provided the first step, and her success created a panic before the

first public screenings were begun. Studio directors offered long-term contracts at big salaries and, choosing carefully, she went into “Hi Nellie,” with P&ul Muni, and will appear in a series of special films for ’ 1934. Kathryn Sergava was ten when the revolution broke out in Russia. She refuses to talk of herself except to express her dislike for being dubbed “ Garbo’s double,” and to declare that she is sufficiently different to make her way without too consistent comparison with Garbo. Cameramen, however, claim that she possesses a better photographic complexion than the Swedish star.