Armenian National Committee of San Francisco – Bay Area
51 Commonwealth Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94118
Phone: 415.387.3433
Fax: 415.751.0617
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:
PRESS RELEASE
May 7, 2009
Contact: Ani Baghdassarian
Tel: (415) 596 6162
Email: [email protected]
"Ravished Armenia" Screened at San Francisco Library
— Author Anthony Slide tells the story of star, Aurora Mardiganian
San Francisco, CA – On April 28, 2009, film historian and author
Anthony Slide discussed the story and 1919 film about Armenian
Genocide survivor Aurora Mardiganian at the San Francisco Public
Library. The event, hosted by the San Francisco – Bay Area Armenian
National Committee (ANC SF) and the library, also included a screening
of the seldom seen segments of the film, "Ravished Armenia," as well
as excerpts from Slide’s interview with Mardiganian.
"Both Mardiganian and the film did more than we can possibly
acknowledge to bring the Armenian Genocide to the attention of
Americans," stated Slide.
Slide has authored or edited more than fifty books on the history of
popular entertainment. He has also served as associate archivist of
the American Film Institute and resident film historian of the Academy
of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Slide’s 1997 book, "Ravished
Armenia and the Story of Aurora Mardiganian," (Scarecrow Press, 1997),
reprints Mardiganian’s original memoir and other original
documentation on the film.
Slide gave the audience of approximately 200 an account of the life of
Mardiganian (born Arshalouys Mardigian), the behind-the-scenes story
of how the film was made and publicized, and played excerpts from an
interview he conducted with Mardiganian in the early 1990’s. In
addition, the only surviving 21-minutes of scenes from the production
were shown as the full-length motion picture is believed to be lost.
Slide explained that it is unclear whether the recovered clips were
part of the final film or outtakes. Mardiganian, who starred in the
film, does not appear in the clips. The Armenian Genocide Resource
Center provided the clips, adding an introduction and subtitles
discussing the events being depicted.
Slide noted that the story of "Ravished Armenia" begins on Easter
Sunday, 1915, and ends in 1917, with Aurora Mardiganian wandering
across the plains of Armenia watching as her family and her community
are raped, robbed and murdered. She later escaped to Russia, Norway,
and eventually the United States.
When he first came across Mardiganian’s memoir, Slide said, "I became
quite fascinated, and also frankly a little suspicious of the story.
One reads of atrocity after atrocity, ethnic cleansing in its most
brutal and savage form. As one turns the pages, one cannot help but
wonder what the author can come up with next to top the last account
of violence and sexual assault. Could it really be true that one
woman, a woman named Aurora Mardiganian, was the principal character
in this drama? Did she really exist? I really had doubts."
Suspecting that the story was an amalgam based on the stories of all
the suffering of the women of Armenia, Slide sought out Mardiganian
herself. A series of inquiries led him to Van Nuys, California, where
Aurora lived in a "tiny, tiny, one-room apartment."
"I met this really sweet old lady – charming – and she seemed really
pleased to have someone come and talk to her. She was so delighted to
see me, she made stuffed grape leaves," said Slide. "She also made me
coffee and she gave me the coffee cup to take home, saying it was an
Armenian tradition." Slide said that when he was leaving, Mardiganian
told him, "I hope Heavenly God will help you with his light, and
you’ll be the one who will bring out the real truth of my life."
Slide said that he didn’t realize how important his interview with
Mardiganian would be, considering she was not only speaking as a
witness to the making of the film he was writing about, but that she
was also a witness to the Armenian Genocide. Had he considered it
further, he may have conducted a much longer interview than the
one-hour he recorded with her.
Mardiganian arrived in New York on November 5, 1917 as a teenager. A
screenwriter and his wife, Harvey and Eleanor Gates, became her legal
guardians. Working with the Near East Relief fund, which provided aid
to Armenian Genocide survivors, the Gates transcribed Mardiganian’s
experience and published the memoir as a book. Between 1918-1935, 30
editions of the book were published selling more than 1 million
copies. The memoir was also published in serial form in the Hearst
paper, New York American and in the Los Angeles Examiner.
Producer William Selig bought the film rights to the story. Selig
owned a movie studio in Los Angeles where the film was shot, with
Aurora Mardiganian starring as herself. Oscar Apfel, who had
co-directed Cecil B Demille’s first film in 1913, was hired to direct
"Ravished Armenia," and among the cast was the major silent film star,
Anna Q Nilsson and Eugenie Besserer, who had played Al Jolson’s mother
in the first sound film, The Jazz Singer.
The film was shot in less than one month in late 1918. Sets were
built depicting Armenia, Mount Baldy represented Mt. Ararat, and
desert scenes were reported to have been shot at Santa Monica beach.
Although many of the film’s scenes of genocidal acts were graphic, the
U.S. censorship board approved it, saying it was "a frank,
straightforward exposition of sufferings of Armenia, which make a
sincere and powerful appeal to every drop of red blood in America’s
manhood and womanhood."
Some scenes in Mardiganian’s memoir, like that of a priest’s
fingernails being torn out, were omitted from the film, and others,
like the crucifixion of girls, were depicted less graphically than
Mardiganian’s descriptions.
Nevertheless, the advertising for the film particularly exploited the
circumstances, with lines like, "Ravished Armenia…Girls impaled on
soldiers’ swords. Aurora Mardiganian sold for 85 cents." In
Pennsylvania, the film was banned, but a court overturned the ban.
The film was also screened in London under the title, "Auction of
Souls," after an investigation by Scotland Yard regarding whether it
should be shown there. Because of concern that it would stir
anti-British sentiment in the Muslim world, references to Christians
in the subtitles were removed, as well as scenes of women being
crucified.
Aurora Mardiganian was introduced to the public at the Alexandria
Hotel in Los Angeles, at a luncheon hosted by the Mayor in January,
1919, and the film premiered shortly after. The New York premiere of
the film at the Plaza Hotel took place in February, 1919, and was a
major society event with 1000 paying invitees. Later that month,
Mardiganian spoke at the Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, during a
fundraiser for Armenian and Syrian Relief. At the time, her leg was
still bandaged from jumping 20 feet from a building on the set of the
film. Filming continued after her fall, and Mardiganian reported to
Slide that her leg bandages were visible in the final film.
Although Mardiganian briefly became a star, Slide described how she
was exploited during the making of the film and the publicity affairs
surrounding it. When the constant public appearances began to take
their toll on Mardiganian and she began inquiring about an accounting
for the money being raised for Armenian relief, she was sent to a
convent school, and a series of "look-a-likes" were hired to take her
place during public appearances. In 1921, she escaped the convent and
sued Harvey Gates for money owed to her. Gates claimed that out of
the more than $8,000 she had earned, most was used for publicity
expenses. Only $195 was subsequently turned over to her.
"Everything relating to Ravished Armenia seemed to disappear," Slide
said, describing a sad end to both the film and Aurora Mardiganian
herself. "Only a handful of still photographs were known to survive.
No prints of the film seem to exist. All the records of the film held
by Near East Relief were destroyed in a fire in 1964." Slide said
that all of the film documentation he had seen at Mardiganian’s home
was probably destroyed when she died.
As for Mardiganian herself, she was taken to Ararat Home, the Armenian
retirement facility, in January 1994. On February 5th, she was taken
to Holy Cross Medical Center, where she died the next day. "There was
nobody with her in the end," said Slide. "No son, no friends, no
members of the Armenian community for whom she had helped to raise so
much money. Her body was cremated. Her ashes unclaimed, and four
years later, as required by California law, she was buried in an
unmarked grave with 2,099 others."
Ani Baghdassarian, of the Bay Area Armenian National Committee
expressed great appreciation to Anthony Slide for having written about
Aurora Mardiganian and "Ravished Armenia," and for his excellent
presentation.
DVD’s are available from Heritage Publishing, 5400 McBryde Ave.,
Richmond, California, 94805.
The ANC of San Francisco – Bay Area advocates for the social,
economic, cultural and political rights of the area’s Armenian
American community and promotes increased Armenian American civic
participation at the grassroots and public policy levels.