Odd Places To Find Romanovs - TV Series - Comedy Shows - Movies

[Alixz]

Whoever owns that picture should be suing.  I don't know if that one is public domain or owned privately.

[TimM]

If the picture is in the public domain, I don't think anything can be done about it.

[Clemence]

Hi Sara,

Wow......
The Dowager Empress standing in for a 'whore' - even though a high class one!!!!!!

Thanks for posting.

Larry

Anna was not a whore! She was a free spirit!

Have you ever heard of ''Edward The Seventh''? It's a 1975 TV Show and many Romanovs in it! Alix had a strange accent in english though(

[Rodney_G.]

This  was a really odd place to find mention of Romanovs (who were in fact second to Rasputin). It was on Fox Primetime Sports radio (don't ask) with sports talk show hosts Pat O'Brien and Steve Hartman, two irritating veritable half wits. But prompted by some cue I can't recall they went off on a riff about Rasputin, his murder and the Romanovs. It was oddly both farcical and fairly accurate. Both guys, who are buffoons, nevertheless had some decent knowledge of Rasputin, suggesting they'd at least read something halfway serious. This in itself was most surprising.

They included a fair amount of accurate detail about Rasputin's murder  but still ruined it with numerous errors or distortions. And they kept referring to a "they" who killed  or had Rasputin killed but never got too specific of who this 'they' was. And placing the murder in 1926 didn't help, though it was only one digit off. Thus though they garbled the whole Rasputin murder, they showed a real familiarity with the episode. And they went on with it at length. Even referred to Rasputin rising up from his funeral pyre as his corpse was being burned.(an imagined scene from some documentary).

All this was from was from two typical sports show jokers ordinarily more at home talking about steroid abusing superstars, LeBron's latest outing, or the outrage of ranking Sheboygan State 17th in preseason hockey polls. I couldn't believe what I was hearing, which is just as well. An odd place indeed.

[edubs31]

lol, so ridiculous it's brilliant! But what are a couple of dimwitted 21st century sports jocks compared to the bumbling fumbling Felix Yusupov, Dmitri Pavlovich and company? lol

I know you said you couldn't recall what prompted this incredibly off-topic conversation, but it wasn't Leo Dicaprio playing the title role of Rasputin that inspired the discussion was it? I ask because these sports radio programs are generally littered with pop culture/entertainment discussion, and the new movie set to be released (next year?) could possibly be the the topic of conversation consider how surprising Leo's role is to some, and how generally popular he is as an actor.

I'm guessing you were squirming and dying to leap through the radio and make some sense out of the situation. By the way, I would have paid good money to have heard you call in, gotten on the air, and straightened a few things out for the rarely enlightened hosts you speak of! :-)

[Rodney_G.]

lol, so ridiculous it's brilliant! But what are a couple of dimwitted 21st century sports jocks compared to the bumbling fumbling Felix Yusupov, Dmitri Pavlovich and company? lol

I know you said you couldn't recall what prompted this incredibly off-topic conversation, but it wasn't Leo Dicaprio playing the title role of Rasputin that inspired the discussion was it? I ask because these sports radio programs are generally littered with pop culture/entertainment discussion, and the new movie set to be released (next year?) could possibly be the the topic of conversation consider how surprising Leo's role is to some, and how generally popular he is as an actor.

I'm guessing you were squirming and dying to leap through the radio and make some sense out of the situation. By the way, I would have paid good money to have heard you call in, gotten on the air, and straightened a few things out for the rarely enlightened hosts you speak of! :-)

Edubs, your reference to Leo di Caprio playing Rasputin in a new movie as a topic on this show  is a real possibility for the reasons you mention . It's frustrating not being able to recall, but still the amazing thing is they were rreally off and running on this theme,rather than just tossing off the  casual Rasputin reference anyone's capable of. And I've jumped on the gaffes , but O'Brien at least really had some knowledge, both details and relatively 'big picture' of the time. I'm sure his typical listeners (me excluded, I like to think) were wondering "what does this have to do with the NFL preseason?'

In any case, as they rambled on, I knew this was material for "Odd Places.." At one point they had the killers going UPstairs to shoot Rasputin, but that's not so bad. POB actually had the  number of shots fired at Rasputin correct! But then he had the body being burned shortly after being pulled from the river , so that's a miss.

The whole episode was goofy/fun, once you get past the errors. Can a mention of  "the missing Russian Grandduchess"Anastasia on the "Paula Dean Show' be ruled out?

[Rodney_G.]

I've found a pretty damn odd place to find a Romanov(reference). It's to Nicholas II's personal chef, Victor Hirtzler, famed French born cook to the Emperor as well as to King Pedro of Portugal.
He departed Imperial service well before the revolution and became a renowned cook in Paris, and, in this case, at the nationally famous, ritzy and largest hotel in the Western US, the Hotel lSt. Francis in San Francisco. He was one of the first celebrity chefs.

He is mentioned in the book I just finished," Room 1219; The Life Of Fatty Arbuckle, The Strange Death of Virginia Rappe, And the Scandal that Changed Hollywood" by Greg Merritt. It's about the early silent film star , Roscoe,"Fatty" Arbuckle, best remembered now for his murder trials for the death of Virginia Rappe after a wild party at the St. Francis, Labor Day, 1920.

From  a St. Petersburg /Tsarskoe Selo gig with the Russian Tsar, to  cooking for movie hotshots in the soon to be  Roaring  Twenties in  San Francisco .
.At any rate, this Romanov reference was, if not odd , surely unexpected,  in an old  Hollywood movie world scandal tome.

[edubs31]

Interesting Rodney.

Didn't I once hear somewhere that one of the things that made Hirtzler decision to leave Russia, and his role as the Tsar's family's personal chef, easy was their fairly bland taste in cuisine? Perhaps he got tired of making the same old mostly traditional Russian dishes and grew frustrated by the lack of opportunity to flex his considerable culinary skills.

[Rodney_G.]

I hadn't heard of that as his motive for leaving  the Imperial kitchen, but I'd certainly thought it. A highly talented chef trained in the French culinary tradition could not have been all that enthused about preparing pirogis, blinis, fish or  cabbage soup, and borscht, assuming those were among the dishes served at the daily Imperial Family dinners. Whether he cooked for State dinners is unclear and that might well  be a different story.

[edubs31]

Does a men's room qualify for an odd place to find the Romanovs? I should certainly think so!

During a "break" at an establishment called "Two Stones" in Wilmington, De I noticed this picture and message on the small chalk board above my stall...



I knew I recognized this imagine somewhere and sure enough...Alexei Nikolaevich!



I thought it was a nice touch especially given the foundation that "Two Stones" is supporting, St. Jude's Hospital for children with illnesses. Given that obvious connection to Alexei and his hemophilia I'm guessing it wasn't an accident that his likeness appeared here. The owner wasn't available to ask about it but I did decide to email him. Will be interested to find out more...who created this, who chose this image, did they know it was Alexei or did they simply choose as a representation of a cute/innocent looking child, etc.

[Rodney_G.]

Far out!, though not as far out as I'd first thought before reading of Alexei's picture in "Two Stones"'and its support of St. Jude's Hospital  for children with serious illnesses. That makes sense since haemophilia  certainly qualifies as one and Alexei is probably one of history's best known sufferers  from it. There might be better choices for the chalk board and its modest solicitation, but still..

And ,yes, that's an odd place; one of the oddest so far on this thread, I would think.

And nice retrieval of the photo, edubs, though most of us here at the Forum would generally recognize the little guy.

[edubs31]

Far out!, though not as far out as I'd first thought before reading of Alexei's picture in "Two Stones"'and its support of St. Jude's Hospital  for children with serious illnesses. That makes sense since haemophilia  certainly qualifies as one and Alexei is probably one of history's best known sufferers  from it. There might be better choices for the chalk board and its modest solicitation, but still..

And ,yes, that's an odd place; one of the oddest so far on this thread, I would think.

And nice retrieval of the photo, edubs, though most of us here at the Forum would generally recognize the little guy.

Yeah I did a double-take. It's not 100% clear but I spotted it as Alexei quickly. Just needed to confirm the actual photo it was pulled from. My guess is that whomever is responsible for the design had to be aware what they were doing. Otherwise of all the images of children you could use why in the world would this one have been chosen?

I'm still hoping to hear back from the owner via email. He might think it a weird question but whatever, I did spend enough money in his establishment the other day to merit a response :-) I'm betting on these signs having been mass distributed (although I've never seen them before) and he doesn't have a clue about who made them or why they used Alexei. But it was a worth asking.

[Vecchiolarry]

Hi,

Am I correct in thinking that Wilmington, Delawre had a Romanov exhibit there some years ago - Faberge, perhaps()...
If so, then they would know about Alexei surely...

Larry

[Rodney_G.]

Hi,

Am I correct in thinking that Wilmington, Delawre had a Romanov exhibit there some years ago - Faberge, perhaps()...
If so, then they would know about Alexei surely...

Larry

You are correct, Larry. The exhibit ran for about the last five months of 1998 and was a great success. The Faberge Coronation Egg was a part of it. And a number of Forum members attended (not me, alas). Perhaps the creator of the picture/poster edubs saw was influenced by it. A fair chance, I'd say.

[edubs31]

Hey Larry,

Following up on what Rodney said. Yes, indeed. And I actually attended the Jewel's display. Unfortunately it was mostly lost on me. I was an 18-year old kid more interested in sports and girls than Russian history. I found it interesting and visually impressive, it just didn't stick around in my mind the way the same type of exhibit would now.

Yards, which is the name of the brewery that was supporting the St. Jude's fund is a Philly brewing company. The establishment I was at on Sunday was just across the Delaware state line (from PA) on the outskirts of Wilmington.

It is funny and somewhat amazing to me that Wilmington was picked as the location of that famous exhibit in 1998. Of all places! I think the logic at the time was that it was good place to have it geographically. Wilmington is only about 30-miles south of Philadelphia, 75-minutes from Baltimore, under two-hours from northern DC and under three hours from NYC. So it's centrally located to a hugely populated area. I believe they had also just opened up their new waterfront convention center at that time.

So in 1998 I had only passing interest on a massive display of Romanov treasures, and in the same city sixteen years later I'm now spotting Alexei's chalk drawn image in a men's room. My how our focus in life changes with time!