Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Re: Regina's Wedding Location





















While recently reading a fashion magazine I came across an image that looked strangely familiar. It was a picture of the front door of the building where Regina got married in 1926. Her maid of honor Jessie Fauset lived in an apartment in the building and hosted Regina's wedding. The newlyweds ended up living in this building on Seventh Avenue for the first few years of their union. I took a picture of the front door a few years ago in preparation for my documentary about Regina. The paint trim is now a different color but the columns and stone carvings are the same. (Photo: Essence magazine September 2011 issue).

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Re: Regina had an admirer


This summer a student of Russian literature who is studying in Venice, Italy contacted me. She wanted information about Regina. The subject of her research, author Boris Pil'njak, apparently was infatuated with Regina. Pil'njak wrote a letter on October 3, 1931 to his American interpreter, Joseph Freeman, which contained the following quote: "Phone Ella Winter and get her to track down the black Regina. And when will Regina come to the USSR? Bring her with you! tell her if she comes, I'll marry her, seriously, I mean it, I love Regina very much...Come! Bring Regina!" Tragically, Pil'njak was executed in Russia in 1938 after being accused of being a counter-revolutionary.