Nazimova

That pool reportedly was shaped like the Black Sea, in which Nazimova swam as a child, just as I had a century later.

Cutting classes in order to beg directors for roles, Wong began her career as an extra in Alla Nazimova's 1919 classic film about China's Boxer Rebellion, "The Red Lantern."

In the early 20th century two rather directionless young American men separately saw a now scarcely remembered actress named Alla Nazimova in plays by Henrik Ibsen.

That past fall she had seen a movie she liked: War Brides with Nazimova.

The oval pool, which Nazimova had made in the shape of the Black Sea, became a watering hole for Los Angeles’ bohemian intelligentsia.