He was variously a restaurateur, con man and actor, but one thing Prince Michael Alexandrovitch Dmitry Obolensky Romanoff was not was a prince.
But apparently to many movers and shakers he was a lot of fun, and so much of a character that Alva Johnston penned a five-part profile of Romanoff. A brief excerpt of Part One:
Born Hershel Geguzin in Lithuania, Romanoff (1890–1971) immigrated to New York City in 1900 and changed his name to Harry F. Gerguson. An odd-jobber and sometime crook (passing bad checks, etc.), at some point Romanoff raised the ante to become a professional imposter, and among other guises began passing himself off as a member of Russia’s royal House of Romanov. Few believed him, but it didn’t matter because his antics (aided by an eager press) got him invited to all sorts of soirees. And what better place than America to re-invent yourself, and especially Hollywood, where in 1941 Romanoff cashed in on his fame to establish a popular Rodeo Drive restaurant.
Here’s the terrific cover of the Romanoff’s menu:
Romanoff appeared in various films — both credited and uncredited — from 1937 to 1967…
…and apparently he didn’t ignore all celebrities…
…and if you are hungry for more, there is a recipe named for Romanoff, still available from the folks at Betty Crocker:
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Return to Sender
In his “Notes and Comment,” E.B. White exposed the corrupt ways of the Tammany-dominated Department of Taxes and Assessments thanks to the New Yorker’s fictional figurehead Eustace Tilley:
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Chinese Checkered
White actors portraying Asian characters was all too common in the 20th century (and still persists to this day) but Alla Nazimova’s portrayal of O-Lan in the Guild Theatre’s stage adaptation of Pearl Buck’s The Good Earth was just too much for critic Robert Benchley:
In all fairness to Rains and Nazimova, many of their white Hollywood compatriots portrayed Asian characters, including Katherine Hepburn in another adaptation of a Pearl Buck novel:
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From Our Advertisers
We begin with some good old-fashioned sexism from the makers of Packard automobiles…if this woman had a job outside of the home (uncommon before the war) she could have just gone and bought the damn car…right?…
…and don’t forget the ANTI-FREEZE, as this two-page ad from Union Carbide helpfully suggested (Prestone anti-freeze, that is, not the other crap on the market)…
…some back-page ads…the one on right featured a rather somber-looking Jack Denny, appearing at the Waldorf’s famed Empire Room…and then there is the Schick Dry Shaver…I owned a Schick in the 1980s and had a permanent 5 o’clock shadow until I switched to blades; I can’t imagine how these things would have performed 89 years ago…
…cartoonist Otto Soglow continued to extoll the virtues of decaf coffee…
…and on to our cartoons, William Crawford Galbraith eavesdropped on a backstage political discussion…
…Peter Arno found a lovelorn soul in a furniture department…
…Soglow again, this time hinting at the Little King’s naughty side…
…as a former newspaper editor, this entry from Garrett Price really hit home…I used to get calls about all sorts of interesting critters and misshapen vegetables…
…Rea Irvin gave us a former bank teller all washed up by the Depression…
…and James Thurber continued to explore the growing war between the sexes…
…we continue on to Nov. 5, 1932…
…and this observation by E.B. White on the state of cigarette ads, namely the latest from Lucky Strike…
…one of the ads that caught White’s eye…
…the Nov. 5 issue featured another edition of the parody newspaper “The Blotz,” but what caught my eye was the upper right-hand corner…
…intended as a joke, of course, referring to political changes in Germany…but to our eyes quite ominous…
…and here we have a Lord & Taylor ad that begs the question, “What’s wrong with this picture?” Aside from the weirdly attenuated figures (admittedly standard in fashion illustration), the fellow in the lounger appears to be sitting at floor level, contemplating a photograph that seems to be of some interest to his companions, none of whom appear to be all that cheerful…
…the Nov. 5 issue also offered readers several options for stockings…
…on to our cartoonists, James Thurber provided these sketches for the magazine’s football column (except the one at bottom left, which appeared in the events section in the Oct. 29 issue)…
…Americans were turning out for the 1932 presidential elections, some in their own way per Helen Hokinson…
…twenty-year old Syd Hoff gave us some late night hijinks…
…William Crawford Galbraith continued to probe the entertainment world…
…and we close with Alan Dunn, who takes us out with a bang…
Next Time: Pining for Tin Lizzy…
A New Yorker State of Mind 