My Aunt, Yeva Milyutina

1

For many years I had known that one of my mother's sister, Yeva, was once an actress in Russia. My mother was born in Russia but left at a very early age with her parents, her only brother and a number of sisters. But Yeva, the oldest of the sisters, stayed behind. I don't know much more about the story, but recently, while talking to my cousin Gloria, the topic came up. Gloria knew our Aunt Yeva's last name (I had no idea what it might have been, and, as it turns out, it isn't the same as my mother's maiden name), so I decided to start from there to see if I could find out more about her.

I figured the Internet Movie Database would be a good place to start, and, sure enough, I found an entry for Yeva Milyutina there. I wasn't able to track down any videos of her movies on the Internet, so I did a Google search for department of russian film. After picking out a few names from the search results and sending off a few quick e-mails, I got a reply from Professor Vance Kepley, Jr., the Chair of the Department of Communication Arts at the University of Wisconsin in Madison who recommended I try Facets Multimedia in Chicago where he thought I might be able to obtain a copy of The Girl With the Hat Box (in Russian, Devushka s Korobkoi), one of Yeva's few movies.

Sure enough (and quite surprisingly!), Facets Multimedia had a copy of The Girl With the Hat Box on video. I ordered it and within a few weeks, it arrived in the mail. While Yeva had only a small part in this 67 minute 1927 silent movie, maybe only appearing on screen for a total of five minutes, it was a real thrill to see this long, lost aunt of mine! She looked a lot like I would have expected her to look - a lot like my mother and several of her sisters. I only wish my mother was here today to see it. Here are a few screen shots of Aunt Yeva from the movie which show the amazing resemblence.

In The Girl With the Hat Box, Yeva plays a sort of clownish servant girl named Marfusha, and, as I already mentioned, only appears briefly in it. However, the fact that this movie was even put out on video with English subtitles makes me think it has some importance in the history of Russian film. She also appeared in a few other films (see her IMDb entry), but no one I talked to seemed to think they are available through normal video channels. (One of the replies I received suggested doing an Internet search using a Russian search engine, but that's far beyond my linguistic capabilites.)

I later learned from Gloria that Yeva was mostly a theater actress, and, in fact, retired from the theater in Russia to an actors' retirement home somewhere just outside of Moscow. She came to America just once to visit, but didn't like it and quickly returned to Russia. At one point, she wrote to one of her sisters here in America asking her to come and visit her, but, alas, none of the sisters ever went.

Here is the video box's front and back (click on them to see them full size.) Yeva is not credited on the box (her name does appear in the movie's opening credits), however, that's her on the back, sticking a fork into the backside of one of the other characters! The story itself is not bad, sort of what you'd expect in a typical '20s silent movie, with some interesting glimpses into Russian life under the communists appearing throughout the entire film. Seeing Russia in the '20s - the people, the scenery, the snow covered streets of Moscow and the surrounding countryside, and especially my aunt Yeva - made this a real pleasure for me to watch and a treasure for me to own and share with the rest of the fanily.

The comments on the back of the video box read:
Boris Barnet's THE GIRL WITH THE HAT BOX "A JOY TO WATCH...A BOISTEROUS, SLAPSTIC SCRAMBLE!" - THE NEW YORK TIMES
A completely hilarious and charming romantic comedy featuring the extraordinary talents of director Boris Barnet and actress Anna Sten - later a star for Goldwyn in the thirties. Anna works in a hat shop - sharing her small apartment with a penniless student. She is given a supposedly worthless lottery ticket instead of her wages by her unscrupulous employer. The ticket wins her a fortune and a madcap chase ensues to possess the ticket - and Anna's love.     THE GIRL WITH THE HAT BOX moves with the speed and grace of the best of the American silent comedies.     Boris Barnet, a Russian director of English ancestry, was the great comedic genius of Soviet cinema with such films as THE HOUSE ON TRUBNAYA SQUARE, OUTSKIRTS, and THE GIRL WITH THE HAT BOX.	THE GIRL WITH THE HAT BOX (Devushka s korobkoi) 1927 67 minutes B&W. A Mezhrabpom-Russ Production Russian intertitles with English subtitles Orchestral Score Restored: Gosfilmofond Director: Boris Barnet Scenario: Valentin Turkin & V. Shershnevich With Anna Sten, Vladimir Fogel, Pavel Pov, Ivan Koval-Samborsky, and Serafima Birman Decor: Sergei Kozlovsky Photography: Boris Frantisson & B. Filshin ©1991 KINO INTERNATIONAL