Francesca Ludova Collection
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Museum of Performance and Design, Performing Arts Library
2022
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Title: Francesca Ludova Collection
Dates: 1907-1979
Collection Number: 990.83/990.115
Creator/Collector:
Ludova, Francesca
Extent: 1 Box. 0.5 linear feet.
Repository:
Museum of Performance and Design, Performing Arts Library
San Francisco, California 94124
Abstract: Francesca Ludova (1907-1979) was a dancer with the San Francisco Opera Ballet and the Metropolitan Opera Ballet, as well as
in Hollywood in movies and at the Hollywood Bowl. She also danced with the Albertina Rasch Dancers and studied at the Legat
School and with Olga Preobrajenska in Paris. This collection contains a scrapbook of postcards received from her close friend
Eugenie Mason, her future husband Dimitri Romanoff, and others, as well as correspondence, photographs from their travels
and from her time in Hollywood, a wreath pin gifted to Ludova, and Ludova’s obituary.
Language of Material: English
Entire Collection is open for research.
Reproduction of these materials can occur only if the copying falls within the provisions of the doctrine of fair use. Copyright
varies by item.
[Identification of item]. Francesca Ludova Collection. Collection Number: 990.83/990.115. Museum of Performance and Design,
Performing Arts Library
The Francesca Ludova Collection was donated to the Library by Harriet Kunze September 25, 1990.
Biography/Administrative History
Francesca Ludova, former dancer with the San Francisco Opera Ballet and the Metropolitan Opera Ballet, was born Frances Guigni
in San Francisco, California in 1907; she died at the age of 72 at General Hospital, San Jose, California on June 28, 1979.
Ludova danced with the San Francisco Opera during the late 1920’s under the direction of one of her former teachers, Theodore
Kosloff. In the 1930’s, she moved to Hollywood, California where she appeared both in movies and danced at the Hollywood Bowl.
Francesca danced with the Albertina Rasch Dancers and studied at the Legat School and with Olga Preobrajenska in Paris. She
then returned to San Francisco and later joined the Metropolitan Opera Ballet Company. In 1940, she married Dimitri Romanoff:
dancer, ballet master and regisseur with whom she operated the San Jose Ballet School in San Jose, California. Ludova also
danced under the name Francesca Romanoff after her marriage to Dimitri.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Collection of Francesca Ludova contains such personal items as a scrapbook of postcards received by her between the years
1928-1940 from her close friend Eugenie Mason, various other friends and her future husband, Dimitri Romanoff. The majority
of the postcards trace the world travels of Eugenie. Sent to Francesca from her visits to Java; Paris; London; Egypt; Bali;
Japan; Barcelona; Madrid; Cairo; Rome; Pasadena, California; Prince George, British Columbia; Olympia, Washington; and Santa
Barbara, California Eugenie’s correspondence expresses the loving bond of friendship shared between the two women. Included
in the scrapbook are photographs of Eugenie in Java. The Collection also includes a wreath pin with three diamonds presented
to Francesca Ludova (Frances Giugni) by Theodore Kosloff when she was his student in San Francisco. Thirty-six black and white
publicity stills of such 1920’s, 30’s, and 40’s film stars as Charles Chaplin, Jack Pickford, the Marx Brothers, Ronald Colman,
Marlene Dietrich, and Wallace Beery reflect Francesca’s career in Hollywood. A copy of Francesca Ludova’s obituary, as it
appeared in Dance News, October, 1979, is included in the Collection.
Beery, Wallace
Chaplin, Charlie, 1889-1977
Colman, Ronald, 1891-1958
Dietrich, Marlene
Giugni, Frances
Kosloff, Theodore
Marx Brothers
Mason, Eugenie
Pickford, Jack, 1896-1933
Preobrajenska, Olga, 1870-1962
Romanoff, Dimitri, 1907-1994
Romanoff, Francesca
Albertina Rasch Dancers
Hollywood Bowl (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Metropolitan Opera Ballet
San Francisco Opera