LEAP THROUGH THE CURTAIN

by George -- told by Mikes ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 16, 1955

An Iron Curtain escape concerns two ballet dancers in Budapest, Istan Rabovsky and Nora Kovach, Hungarian, partners and husband and wife, who took the underground from East Berlin to West Berlin just before they were due to appear at the State Opera House, in 1953. Their story takes a tandem telling, first Pistah, then Nory, alternating, and gives their individual biographies: Pistah, brought up in poverty by foster parents , found refuge in the Royal Hungarian Opera's ballet school and soon lost his heart to cheeky, naughty Nory. Nory, daughter of a civil servant, knew a better life than Pistah and in spite of her mother's objections, knew she wanted him. The war did not affect their training, they survived the Russian-German occupations, they were invited to Moscow and Leningrad as guests of the State Ballet School, returned to be married and achieve success and privileges in this Communist world, touring Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, and back to Moscow three years later. Never members of the Communist party, the orders to East Berlin gave them their first thought, soon dismissed, of going west, but the idea grew and, with little preparation and no plans, after attending rehearsals, they decamped...to find, after their identities were established, friendly help and a chance to make their name in a new world so little like the prison they had, however comfortably, known. An offbeat in refugee reports, this should attract balletomanes more than followers of more adventurous experiences but it adds up to an interesting view of the artist's life in today's world.

Pub Date: Feb. 16, 1955

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Dutton

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955

Categories: NONFICTION