Max Eastman

After a version of a previous blog post, Mount Airy Road: Reds-on-Hudson, appeared in a local newspaper, the historical accuracy of some of its assertions was challenged by Robert Scott, for many years Croton-on-Hudson’s unofficial historian. Specifically, he says it is untrue that Charlie Chaplin and Leon Trotsky were “house guests” of Max Eastman, and that Isadora Duncan, the San Francisco-born founder of modern dance, could not have danced on the terrace of Gloria Swanson’s “castle.”

My research was conducted on the Internet, that rich mine of undifferentiated knowledge that sweeps up and throws back everything from established fact to rank speculation, rumor and invention without distinction. It is perfectly plausible to me that my research was contaminated by lore (“knowledge gained through tradition or anecdote”) posing as fact. But since even information on a blog can mislead the unwary Googler searching for truth, it’s still important to correct the record here. Besides, true history can be every bit as colorful as lore.

Charlie Chaplin

In correcting my mistakes, Mr. Scott provided facts that were even more fascinating than my own suspect ones. While Charlie Chaplin certainly was close friends with Max Eastman, he would not have been Eastman’s house guest in Croton, says Mr. Scott, because at the time of his visit to Croton in 1920, he and Eastman were vying for the affections of Hollywood actress Florence Deshon. “She was living with Eastman and shuttling back and forth between the suitors, trying to decide which one she loved. Although she and Chaplin walked together around Croton, Chaplin refused to visit Eastman.” And where was Chaplin actually staying while in Croton? The Tumble Inn, Scott says, a roadhouse located where the Skyview Nursing Home now stands. A slightly different version is found in Joyce Milton’s 1998 biography, “Tramp: the Life of Charlie Chaplin.” Torn between the two men, and determined “to spark a confrontation, [Deshon] persuaded Charlie to accompany her to Croton, but while walking up the path to Max’s cottage, his courage failed him. He left her there and hurried back to New York alone.” This is great stuff.

Leon Trotsky

As for Eastman’s great friend Leon Trotsky, Mr. Scott convincingly explains why Trotsky also could not have been Eastman’s guest at the latter’s house on Mount Airy Road. But in an extended phone conversation, Scott told me that long-time Croton resident Dr. Daniel Salzberg, who bought the house from Eastman in the 1940s, found in the attic Trotsky’s original manuscript for his massive book, “The History of the Russian Revolution,” which Eastman translated into English with the help of his Russian bride.

Finally, Isadora Duncan could not have danced on the terrace of Gloria Swanson’s castle in Croton because, as Robert Scott pointed out, the dates don’t work. Duncan gave her last performances in the United States in 1923, then left the country, never to return. Swanson bought her house in Croton the following year, 1924.

Isadora Duncan

Yet the Croton lore persists. Isadora’s sister Elizabeth ran a dance school off Mount Airy Road on Glengary Road, a stone’s throw from Swanson’s estate. Isadora undoubtedly spent time in Croton with her sister (according to the New York Times, Isadora “lived in Croton-on-Hudson for part of her life”). Even the long-time owner of the Swanson property, who had occasion to reminisce about it with Swanson herself, thought that Duncan had danced there, though she couldn’t say that Swanson had told her so. And if the castle was built in 1917, as some local records have it, we can not rule out that Duncan danced there before Swanson owned the property. Still, there appears to be no hard evidence to support the local lore connecting Duncan to the castle.

Meanwhile, in her sympathy for the newly fledged Soviet Union, Isadora fit right in with Croton’s “Reds-on-Hudson.” In 1922 she moved to Moscow, where she set up a dance school; she was a Soviet citizen at her death. Her will was the first of a Soviet citizen to be probated in the United States.

Posted By: Bruce Dollar