The Black Russian (40 page)

1
–
2
Elvira in Czechoslovakia, restrictions on employment, legal
problems
, journey to Germany, return to Constantinople:
Elvira to Allen, March 8, 1933, CPI 443.

3
–
4
brothers’ difficulties, Fred’s passport applications, U. S. government changes mind:
DPT 423, 430, 629.

5
–
6
Elvira’s appeal:
DPT 629; USSS to Consul General, Sept. 17, 1935,
Central Decimal File, box 577, 367.1115, Thomas, Bruce, and
Frederick
/2, RG 59.
SS
Excello
:
Bruce Thomas, Application for Passport Renewal, June 20, 1938, box 16, General Records, U.S. Consulate
General
, Istanbul, RG 84.
Fred’s work in Manhattan:
Frederick Thomas Jr.’s application for Social Security Number, Sept. 1, 1938.
Bruce tries to enlist:
Central Name Index, 1940–1944, box 1219, RG 59. 
African-American
newspapers:
New York Amsterdam News,
February 7, 1948, 2; a garbled variant appeared in
CDe,
February 14, 1948, 7.
Fred asks for State Department’s help:
Central Name Index, 1945–1949, box 456; 1950–1954, box 463, RG 59.

7
–
8
Bruce travels to United States:
Central Name Index, 1950–1954, box 463, RG 59.
meeting with Mikhail:
Interview, Nov. 8, 2006.
Bruce’s death:
Bruce Thomas Certificate of Death, State of California,
County
of Los Angeles, Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk.
Fred’s death:
Death Notice, February 12, 1970,
Democrat and Chronicle
(Rochester, NY), 7B; e-mail from Younglove-Smith & Ryan Funeral Home,
Rochester
, NY, October 30, 2008.
Olga’s traces:
Interview, Nov. 8, 2006.
Irma’s fate:
CPI 383; interviews, Nov. 8, 2006; June 16 and 18, 2009.
Mikhail’s life, Chantal Thomass:
Interview, Nov. 8, 2006; http://www. chantalthomass.fr.

Abdülmecid II,
1

Adel, Stepan Osipovich,
1
,
2

Adil, Fikret,
1
,
2

Adrianov, Aleksandr Aleksandrovich,
1
,
2
,
3

African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church,
1

alcohol consumption,
1
,
2
,
3
,
4

alcohol laws,
1
,
2

Alexandra, Tsaritsa,
1
,
2
,
3

Alexis, Tsarevich,
1

Alhambra Theater,
1

Allen, Charles E.,
1
,
2
,
3
,
4

background and overview,
1

Fred and Bruce Thomas’s passport applications approved by,
1

on Frederick,
1

Frederick’s interview with,
1

Frederick’s passport application sabotaged by,
1
,
2
,
3
,
4
,
5

Karp Chernov and,
1

Larry Rue on,
1

Ravndal and,
1

Robert Skinner and,
1

Wilbur Carr and,
1

American Civil War,
1

Anglais, Hôtel des,
1

Anglo-American Garden Villa (“Stella Club”),
1
,
2
,
3
,
4
,
5

finances,
1

in the media,
1

name of,
1

opening weeks,
1

popularity and success,
1
,
2

shows,
1
,
2
,
3

Angora,
1

Angora (Ankara), Frederick’s escape to,
1

anti-Semitism,
1

Apollo,
1

Aquarium,
1
,
2
,
3
,
4
,
5
,
6
,
7
,
8
,
9
,
10

advertisements,
1

antiforeign riots and,
1

benefit evening at,
1

boxing matches at,
1

Bruce Lockhart and,
1

Charles Aumont and,
1
,
2
,
3
,
4

description and overview,
1

finances,
1
,
2
,
3
,
4
,
5
,
6
,
7
,
8

Frederick began working at,
1

Grand Duke Sergey at,
1

Grigory Konsky and,
1
,
2

living quarters at,
1

Maxim, Apollo, and,
1
,
2

in the media,
1
,
2

military officers at,
1

nationalization of,
1
,
2

Odessa and,
1

performers at,
1
,
2
,
3

drafted into army,
1

foreign,
1

parade led by,
1

popularity and success,
1
,
2
,
3
,
4
,
5
,
6
,
7

reopening,
1

rivals,
1
,
2
,
3

shows at,
1
,
2
,
3
,
4

ballet,
1

operettas and farces,
1
,
2

sexuality in,
1

“siege” of,
1

“Skating-Palace” at,
1

“soldiers’ theater” at,
1

staff of,
1
,
2

control of Aquarium transferred to,
1
,
2

drafted into army,
1

Arkansas,
1

Armstrong, Harold,
1

Auditorium Hotel,
1

Aumont, Charles,
1
,
2

Austria-Hungary,
1
,
2

Bagge, Picton,
1

Berlin

Frederick Thomas in,
1

Irma Thomas in,
1
,
2

Valli Thomas in,
1

Berry, Burton Y.,
1

“Bertha and Thomas” partnership,
1
,
2
,
3

See also
Anglo-American Garden Villa

Berthet, Mr.,
1
,
2

biracial people,
1

Bloody Sunday,
1

boardinghouse, Frederick’s,
1

Bolshevik Revolution.
See
October Revolution

bourgeoisie, terror against.
See
terror

Bowen, George,
1

boxing,
1
,
2

Brest-Litovsk, Treaty of,
1
,
2
,
3

Brist, George L.,
1

Bristol, Mark L.,
1
,
2
,
3
,
4
,
5
,
6

Britain,
1

Brooks, Billy,
1
,
2

Bruce, Blanche K.,
1

Brusilov Offensive,
1

Burri, Alfred,
1
,
2

Cameron, Lucille,
1

Cantacuzene, Mikhail Mikhaylovich,
1

Carr, Wilbur J.,
1
,
2

Carter, Harry A.,
1
,
2

Catholicism,
1

Chaliapin, Fyodor,
1
,
2

“Champion Osman, the Tambura-Player,”
1

Chanticleer (Maxim),
1
.
See also
Maxim

Cheka,
1
,
2
,
3

Chernov, Karp,
1

Cherry Hill Methodist Church,
1

Chicago,
1
,
2
,
3
,
4
,
5

churches,
1

Russian,
1
,
2
,
3

U.S. southern,
1

Ciniselli Circus, auctioning of,
1

Çiragan Palace,
1

Civil War, Russian.
See
Russian Civil War

Civil War, U.S.
See
American Civil War

Clarendon Hotel,
1

Coahoma County, Mississippi,
1
,
2
,
3
,
4
.

See also specific topics

cocaine,
1

cockroach races,
1

Codolban, Nitza,
1

Conservatory of Music,
1

Constantinople.

See also specific topics

Allies’ occupation of and British martial law in,
1

arrival in,
1
,
2

description and overview,
1

Elvira Thomas in,
1
,
2
,
3

foreigners and increasing xenophobia,
1
,
2

racial attitudes in,
1
,
2

Russian refugees in,
1

tourism and entertainment,
1
,
2
.

See also
Maxim

World War I and,
1
,
2

Cooke, Henry,
1
,
2

Cutrer, John W. “Jack,”
1
,
2
,
3

Cutrer, Will D.,
1

d’Anselme, Philippe,
1

Dickerson, Levin,
1

Dickerson, Oliver,
1

Dickerson, Peter,
1
,
2
,
3

Dickerson, Susan,
1

Dickerson, William

attempt to swindle the Thomases’ out of their farm and property,
1

background and overview,
1
,
2

death,
1

Lewis Thomas’s lawsuit against,
1

relationship with Lewis and India Thomas,
1

Douglass, Frederick,
1

drug use,
1

See also
alcohol consumption

Drysdale, William,
1
,
2

Duncan, George,
1
,
2

Dunn, Robert,
1

Easley, G. Gilmer,
1

Eastbrook, Joseph,
1

England,
1

Eustis, J. B.,
1

Evelinov, Boris,
1

Excello
, SS,
1

Farson, Negley,
1

“First Russian Theatrical Stock Company,”
1

“For the Russian Army, from the Artists of Moscow” campaign,
1

France,
1
,
2
.

See also
Paris and French society and culture,
1

Francis Ferdinand, Archduke,
1

French Army’s occupation of Odessa,
1
,
2

Friars Point, Mississippi,
1

Gaisberg, Fred,
1

Gallagher, Michael F.,
1

“Gamma” (journalist),
1

Garden Bar,
1

Germany,
1
,
2
,
3
.

See also
Berlin

Elvira Thomas in,
1

Moscow’s “anti-German” pogrom,
1

Valli Thomas in,
1
,
2
,
3
,
4

Giselle
(ballet),
1

Golitzine, Olga Thomas (daughter),
1
,
2

birth,
1

disappearance,
1
,
2
,
3
,
4

finances,
1
,
2

Frederick and,
1
,
2
,
3
,
4
,
5
,
6
,
7

later life,
1
,
2

marriage,
1

in Romania,
1

Grand Hôtel Fontaine,
1

“Great Festival of Charity,”
1

Greer, Carl,
1