Dancing With Juliet Prowse

* Along with Juliet Prowse and Shirley MacLaine, I was one of the “other dancers” who performed the cancan for Nikita Khrushchev and his wife Nina Petrovna when they visited our set at 20th Century Fox. Juliet’s obituary (Sept. 15) relates that after Premier Khrushchev spoke to his wife, he later “denounced the dance as immoral.”

The following transpired between Mrs. Khrushchev and me: I had learned how to say “Hello--How are you?” in Russian. After our performance dozens of people flocked around the premier. Mrs. Khrushchev stood by herself with only a bodyguard nearby. I curtsied and spoke the few words in Russian that I knew. She took my hand in hers and held it against her heart. She smiled and seemed to rock back and forth as she addressed me in her native tongue, apparently thinking that I spoke fluently. When she finished and released my hand, I murmured, “Spaceba, thank you,” and hurried over to a Secret Service man. He had heard our conversation and spoke Russian. I explained that I had understood nothing of what Mrs. Khrushchev had answered.

“Well,” he related, “She said that their visit to this movie studio is the highlight of her trip. She complimented you on your energy and how well you danced. But she was especially excited about having come so far from home to find in Los Angeles--dancing the cancan in an American film--a lovely Russian dancer!” I can tell you Nikita loved us, and Nina Petrovna--she was really proud of me. And Juliet? We rode together in a studio limo to costume fittings, and we, too, shared some very special moments. We commiserated because our gowns weighed 35 pounds and our shoes had high heels--and we both had difficult dancing sequences. Juliet was one of the most talented, hard-working and optimistic people I ever danced with. She deserved all the success she achieved.

BARBARA DeKOVNER

MAYER-HARRIS

Encino