ISADORA: THE BIGGEST DANCER IN THE WORLD (TV)

Summary

Ken Russell's dramatized biography of modern dance pioneer Isadora Duncan (played by Vivian Pickles) emphasizes her rebellious spirit and creative zeal. The program opens with newsreel-style footage of highlights in Duncan's life, including her dancing in the nude and attempted suicide. Sewell Stokes, Duncan's companion during the last year of her life, provides voiceover narration throughout the drama, which depicts the following events. Inspired by ancient Greek art during a visit to Athens, Duncan opens a dance school in Paris and becomes the mistress of Paris Singer (Bowles), a married man. After the tragic drowning of her two children in the Seine, she embarks on a South American tour clouded by her drug and alcohol problems. Denied funding for a new school in France, she accepts the Russian government's offer of a school in Russia. There she marries poet Sergei Yessenin (Jawdokimov). Moving to America, the couple are promptly deported for denouncing the government. Duncan's continued failure to raise money for another school leads her to attempt suicide. In Nice for a photo session, she dies when her scarf is caught in the wheel of a car. The drama ends with a fantasy sequence showing Isadora dancing through an open field with hundreds of little girls. (This is a syndicated version of the program that originally aired on Sept. 22, 1966, as part of BBC's "Omnibus" series under the title "Isadora: The Biggest Dancer in the World.")

Details

• NETWORK: Syndicated
• DATE: 1966
• RUNNING TIME: 1:02:12
• COLOR/B&W: B&W
• CATALOG ID: T88:0484
• GENRE: Drama
• SUBJECT HEADING: Biography; Dance; Drama;
• SERIES RUN: N/A
• COMMERCIALS: N/A

CREDITS

• Ken Russell … Producer, Director, Writer, Scenario by
• Leni Riefenstahl … Camera, Greek sequence filmed by
• Sewell Stokes … Writer, Scenario and dialogue by, Narrator
• Bice Bellairs … Choreographer, Choreographic arrangements by
• Bellairs School of Dancing … Dancer/Dancer Company, Pupils of the
• Vivian Pickles … Cast, Duncan, Isadora
• Peter Bowles … Cast, Singer, Paris
• Alex Jawdokimov … Cast, Yessenin, Sergei
• Murray Melvin … Cast, The Photographer
• Jeanne Le Bars … Cast, Wilma
• Alita Naughton … Cast, The Journalist
• Sandor Eles … Cast, Bugatti
• Isadora Duncan