The Princess on the Witness Stand: Irina Yusupova vs. MGM

when i was little i never understood why movies about real people featured the following disclaimer any similarity to actual persons living or dead or actual events is purely coincidental it was a blatant lie of course elliot ness in the untouchables wasn't made up neither was howard hughes and the aviator so why does that disclaimer exist because of a series of bad decisions that can be traced back to wait for it rasputin and the fall of the russian empire [Music] this isn't a story about rasputin or his murder but to understand what happened later we need to start in pre-revolutionary russia in october of 1905 sar nicholas ii and serena alexandra met grigori yephimovich rasputin whom i'm just going to call rasputin he was a wandering holy man who claimed to have spiritual gifts including the power to heal but he wasn't the type of holy man who led a chaste austere life nope he drank and he chased women he was arrogant and he was coarse he believed you had to sin before you could be saved combine this behavior with the hypnotic personal magnetism and rasputin made waves everywhere he went including at the imperial court over the next few years rasputin earned the zarina's trust because of his ability to ease the pain caused by her son's hemophilia he appeared to stop the boy's bleeding swelling and pain often just by praying at his bedside alexandra believed he was absolutely necessary for her son's survival no matter what anybody else said about him but since her son's illness was a secret no one on the outside could understand what alexander saw in him what was she thinking letting this creepy guy in the same room with her daughters for a family that already struggled with the concept of public relations rasputin only made the situation worse world war one magnified every problem russia already had shocked and angered by over 5 million wartime losses as of 1916 the family members left behind questioned the country's leadership who was making these terrible decisions why were their sons fathers and brothers sent into battle without shoes or guns why was there no food or fuel left for those at home who let things get this bad government ministers came and went appointed and quickly dismissed as one by one they failed to turn the war around or stabilize the economy most people believed rasputin was manipulating that zaren sarina into making these terrible choices as a result everyone from aristocrats to soldiers to factory workers gossiped about his influence nicholas ii's cousin grand duchess maria pavlovna later described the situation like this rasputin it was like a refrain his mistakes his shocking personal conduct his mysterious power this power was tremendous it was like dust enveloping all our world eclipsing the sun how could so pitiful a wretch throw so vast of shadow it was inexplicable baffling almost incredible someone had to fix this situation and if the tsar couldn't or wouldn't get rid of him well there were others who would [Music] prince felix yusuf took it upon himself to solve russia's rasputin problem he was the sole heir to one of the richest noble families in imperial russia and he knew rasputin personally in 1914 he'd married nicholas ii's only niece princess irina alexandrovna this brought him even closer to the imperial family where he saw firsthand the wedge rasputin was driving between the tsarins arena and the rest of the imperial family so he gathered a small circle of conspirators including his best friend grand duke dmitry pavlovich and lieutenant ivan sukhothin an officer in a prestigious guards regiment later they brought in vladimir kurskevich a member of the duma who had spoken out against rasputin and dr stanislaw lazevere in december of 1916 they put their plan into action felix invited rasputin to his home the moyka palace on the pretext that rasputin would finally get to meet felix's wife irina irina wasn't even in st petersburg at the time but rasputin didn't know that the murder itself is like a game of clue was he killed by cyanide in the poisoned cakes and wine glasses the shot by felix to his heart two additional gunshots fired by purshkievich the beating felix gave him with the steel and leather club or the icy waters of the river they dumped him into all that matters for this particular story is that the murder was discovered immediately felix and dimitri for the brunt of the tsar's anger nicholas ii exiled felix to his estate in central russia and sent dmitry to persia with the army grand duchess maria pavlovna later wrote that in the aftermath felix seemed intoxicated by his role in the murder dmitry on the other hand felt remorse and regret and as it turns out dimitri was right rasputin's death wasn't enough to prevent a revolution just 10 weeks after the murder nicholas ii abdicated the throne and russia collapsed into revolution and civil war felix and irina fled russia in 1919 they settled in london and then paris selling artwork jewels and trinkets to get by in 1927 felix published a book that described rasputin's murder puriskevich also published a memoir and felix addressed the subject again in his memoir lost splendor none of the other conspirators ever spoke publicly about the murder there are still unanswered questions about how accurate those published accounts are but all we need to know for this story is that felix yusupov came away as the man known as the murderer of rasputin [Music] in the early 1930s american playwright and poet mercedes de acosta took a screenwriting gig in hollywood with rko studios the daughter of aristocratic parents she had already traveled extensively and made friends with actors artists and writers across the globe when her rko contract got cancelled her friend greta garbo talked to mgm studio boss irving thalberg about hiring mercedes to write a script especially for her goldberg agreed and mercedes wrote a story that called for garbo to disguise herself as a boy dahlberg refused to put the glamorous garbo on screen in a very unglamorous disguise according to mercedes he said i'm in this business to make money on films and i won't have this one ruined he killed the script and mercedes was once again out of work but it wasn't long before thulberg came back this time he asked mercedes to bring him as much information as she could about rasputin's life seems like a pretty random request right but dahlberg was on a mission he wanted to make a movie with all three of the famous barrymore siblings lionel ethel and john they had never appeared on screen together and it would be box office gold if he pulled it off but since they were siblings the movie couldn't be a love story so thalberg went digging in the mgm archives and realized they had bought the rights to a novel rasputin by alfred claybund now ballberg needed mercedes to provide research and eventually a story mercedes took the job dahlberg didn't know it but she'd actually met felix yusupav years ago in paris through their mutual friend prince ogutinski one night in paris felix had told the story of rasputin's murder so now mercedes contacted him and asked for more detail she asked if irina had ever met rasputin no said felix he made sure she'd never even laid eyes on him after some initial research mercedes suggested the movie focused less on rasputin's life and more on his interaction with the imperial family thulberg agreed and asked her to start writing he also asked her to include a scene where rasputin tried to seduce irina he said it had to be quote very violent when mercedes protested because that wasn't historically accurate dahlberg said who cares putting the scene in gives strength to the whole plot according to her memoir she said but this is history history in our own time with the people living who enacted it such a sequence would be absolutely inauthentic and probably libelous dahlberg replied i don't need you to tell me a lot of nonsense about what's libelous or what's not i want this sequence in and that's all there is to it but mercedes didn't give up she wrote to prince ogatinski and asked him to tell felix about the script including the proposed seduction scene and ask how much she could use from what he'd told her when agutinsky replied he said felix didn't mind if she used any of the tidbits he'd told her but that she couldn't mention irina at all if she did felix would sue well that's that thought mercedes she showed dahlberg prince ogutinski's reply thinking it would get her off the hook instead dahlberg freaked out big time he said the industry had to come first over friends over history over everything he tore up her contract right in front of her for mercedes it was deja vu getting fired by thulberg again for arguing with him over one specific scene in a script [Music] by now it was early 1932 and the clock was ticking for irving thulberg mgm already had john and lionel barrymore under contract but ethel was a theater actress with little interest in hollywood he promised her that filming would be done by fall so she could return to the stage in new york ethel owed the irs back taxes and needed the cash so she agreed i don't give a hang about the movies she later said but i supposed playing with lionel and jack would be amusing when ethel arrived in may ready to start filming there was just one small problem they didn't have a script do you mean to tell me they haven't got a story she asked john told her they have six and don't think any of them is good enough it was true they'd had multiple writers but none of them had turned in what dahlberg was looking for he really wanted screenwriter charles mcarthur but so far macarthur had refused the job so ethel barrymore marched over to the ranch macarthur rented with his wife actress helen hayes she straight up told him that he was going to take the job when macarthur refused again she had a tantrum threatening to throw his lamp through the wall as she swore at him finally macarthur caved the mgm publicity department announced that the three barrymores would appear together in a talkie about the so-called mad monk of russia rasputin they said lionel would play rasputin but initial reports didn't list a specific role for jon or ethel just yet later they announced that ethel would play zarina alexandra and john would play felix usupov ethel asked for top billing but she didn't get it the studio gave that to jon because they saw him as the most profitable barrymore his recent hits included grand hotel and arsene lupe a name you'll recognize if you've seen the recent adaptation on netflix writer charles macarthur worked on the new script as quickly as he could but there were still problems with the story like mercedes de acosta ethel advised irving thalberg to nix the seduction scene the usupavs were real people she said and they might not like seeing themselves depicted on screen in historically inaccurate scenes but thulberg still wouldn't listen all he did was change felix's character's name from the real life yusuf to the made-up chagadaya but the line between truth and fiction on set was still hazy which john barrymore confirmed when he told interviewers his character was based on felix macarthur finished the script in mid-july and shooting started on july 22nd under director charles braban but things did not go well according to a biography of irving thalberg john barrymore was drinking and ethel had trouble adapting from the stage to a movie set with a camera and a microphone when ethel accused director charles brabin of working too slowly and tried to get him replaced he walked off the set bahlberg replaced him with richard bolaslovski by the end of august 1932 after a full month of shooting the movie was still a disaster 15 story conferences still hadn't fixed the script so thulberg and his producer bernie hyman shut down production and asked charles macarthur to do a rewrite twelve days later they started filming again with macarthur revising scenes up to the day before they were filmed ethel said things were so rushed that someone usually handed her a carbon copy of the final script meaning the type with her lines was printed in reverse and would you like me to recite it backwards too she asked ethel had strong feelings about her character she claimed to have met serena alexandra in london through her friend the duchess of sutherland and she had zero problems contradicting the director to tell him exactly how alexandra would have moved or spoken you forget she said i knew her majesty personally the frustrated crew began to call ethel empress of all the rushes by early october ethel's time was up per her contract they crammed the last of her scenes into three days of filming even after she left however filming dragged on and on drastically inflating the budget everyone with the calendar started wondering if they'd make their release date of december 23rd stressed and burned out the crew started calling the movie disputin but even that didn't last late that fall the studio changed the name of the movie from rasputin to rasputin and the empress newspapers reported the change referring to it as a little useless luckily the news wasn't all bad when the head of the research department saw a script that called for rasputin to wear sandals she rushed to the set to tell lionel that detail was wrong but when she got there she saw that he'd ignored the script and worn boots as the real rasputin would have done lionel was an actor who did his homework the gruelling shoot continued into november at this point dahlberg insisted on filming the seduction scene he thought it would make rasputin seem as evil as possible as well as make the imperial family more sympathetic they filmed it on november 12th a month later on december 12th shooting wrapped and the editors got to work only 11 days before the premiere at this point producer bernie hyman decided the movie still needed a little something extra he added a prologue to the beginning that read this concerns the destruction of an empire brought about by the mad ambitions of one man a few of the characters are still alive the rest met their death by violence this would prove to be a very expensive mistake [Music] the movie premiered as scheduled on december 23rd 1932 at the astor theater in new york even in the midst of the great depression it made a million dollars but mgm's general counsel wasn't impressed he said the movie quote stinks audiences won't go near it the take of 1 million dollars also wasn't super impressive considering it had cost twice that to make the good news was that audiences generally liked the movie so let's pause for a quick description of what it was they saw in the film a character named princess natasha the emperor's cousin introduces rasputin to the empress rasputin gains power at court but natasha's fiancee prince paul chechadayev believes he's destroying russia paul attempts to shoot rasputin but it doesn't work because rasputin is wearing a protective vest to get revenge rasputin puts natasha in a trance and tells her we are going to punish paul you and i the movie didn't show exactly what happened next but according to the sources in the us version of the film you can hear natasha screaming in the background ashamed of what happened natasha tells prince paul that she's no longer fit to be his wife later when rasputin gets a little too touchy-feely with one of the empress's daughters natasha threatens to tell the empress rasputin hypnotizes her but when alexandra finds them natasha wakes up and tells her everything she sends rasputin away in the movie's climax prince paul and rasputin have an epic fight scene paul poisons rasputin beats him and tosses him into the icy river watching him sink below the surface nicholas exiles paul and the empress asks him to take natasha with him they go to england while the imperial family eventually faces a firing squad the film's reviews were mixed the new york heralds critic wrote it achieves one feat that is not inconsiderable it manages to libel even the despised rasputin the new york times gave it a glowing review the day after release reviewer mordont hall praised the film especially the fight scene between quote prince czecho dive as prince yusupov is known here and the mad monk but a week later the same reviewer wrote it might have been preferable if the producers had foregone the temptation to deviate from actual occurrences photoplay magazine's review struck a similar note when it said you can't miss this offering we urge this in spite of liberties taken with history to add insult to injury none of the barrymores received acting nominations for that year's academy awards the movie's only nod was for best original story by screenwriter charles mcarthur yeah i kid you not best original story i couldn't make this up if i tried [Music] as we've already seen mercedes de acosta told felix usupov what was happening before the movie ever got made and felix didn't waste any time in early january of 1932 before the script was finalized or filming had even started his american lawyers wrote to mgm claiming the movie was libel mgm replied on january 19th saying nope don't know what you're talking about there's no libel here and the truth was mgm was probably right felix had killed russ putin by his own admission so a movie that depicted what he himself stated to be the truth probably wasn't liable so felix tried a different tactic his american lawyers wrote to mgm again this time saying the movie libeled irina they said the character of princess natasha was a thinly veiled version of her and because of the seduction scene they demanded the film be withdrawn with the public apology but months went by with no real progress on the case the film came out in america and was scheduled for a summer release in england in 1933 at about that time irina met the famous american lawyer fannie holtzman in the south of france despite dropping out of high school fannie had earned a law degree in night school at fordham university while she studied she worked in a law firm whose clients were mostly actors and writers the minute she passed the bar exam in 1923 she had over a hundred clients already signed up newspapers around the world printed stories about her work on behalf of famous hollywood clients including fred astaire when his sister retired from their dance duo leaving him out of work it was fanny who suggested the studio pair him with ginger rogers over the next decade she became almost as big a star as her clients befriending everyone from studio boss louis b mayer to the duchess of rutland irena told fanny about the movie and said felix wanted to talk to her so they all met in paris but because felix didn't speak very good english and fanny didn't speak russian or much french they had trouble communicating effectively so felix sent fannie to see irina's mother grand duchess xiena in windsor so fanny went to see xenya who spoke perfect english as an added bonus xgenya's cousins king george v and queen mary dropped in for tea queen mary couldn't resist asking if fanny knew mary pickford charlie chaplin and john gilbert she did of course and the conversation went so well that george and mary invited her up to windsor castle the meeting had been a test and fanny passed with flying colors fanny warned xiena that mgm had deep pockets and their case could drag on for quite a while but xienya had full confidence in her my dear i foresee a great victory she said but because there was already a fair amount of publicity surrounding the movie fannie and casienya decided on a code name whenever xienya called fanny she was to use the name lady snooks to try and keep nosy telephone operators from eavesdropping as her next step fanny contacted an mgm representative to see if they were interested in settling the answer was no the story was clearly fiction they said plus they had signed releases from quote former court figures of the period but behind the scenes mgm must have been a little worried before the movie premiered in england they made a few cuts including removing the seduction scene and natasha's line i have not the right to be your wife meanwhile fanny arranged a private screening of the movie for herself and felix afterward she thought their best hope for a win came from the prologue that said this film depicted real people with the movie about to come out in england xenya and george talked about what they should do because fannie was american she couldn't try a case in england but king george's personal solicitors refused to take the case we'd be laughed out of court one of them said plus they didn't want to expose the royal family to the press coverage a trial would generate so fannie figured she had to go straight to the top of the food chain she called louis b mayer the head of mgm he agreed to settle and told her mgm's vice president and general counsel in new york would handle it but that guy categorically refused to pay despite louis b mayer's request fannie realized the case would have to go to trial either in the u.s or england england would be better since irina had family there plus the british legal system took libel and privacy laws more seriously than in america to pursue the case in england irina would need both a barrister a senior lawyer who would appear in court and a law firm who would handle the paperwork first fannie chose the law firm but their representative harold brooks told fanny he didn't think they had a case because there was no precedent for a libel suit about a movie i don't follow president fanny said i establish it as irina's barrister she chose sir patrick hastings well known as england's best cross-examiner hastings had a few misgivings though he believed the movie characters were quote entirely different from irina and felix to make things worse the entire case rested on what was essentially a murder confession he later wrote it was a terrible responsibility to put a witness into the box to give evidence that he had been guilty of such an act not surprisingly he said he took the case with quote feelings of considerable anxiety now that her team was all set fanny filed paperwork suing mgm for defamation in america and england with preemptive paperwork filed in germany france italy and austria in the american suit she asked for a whopping 2 million dollars in damages for irina mgm's response was predictable they denied everything they also demanded irina post a 5 000 bond as security against future legal costs according to fannie's nephew that money along with irina's initial legal fees came from buckingham palace behind the scenes fannie and sir patrick hastings did their best to strategize and prepare but before the trial began fanny left the country she didn't want to bring any more publicity to a case that might embarrass the british royal family but even after her departure the case made headlines worldwide when asked to comment ethel barrymore told the new york times i have never seen the film right through my sympathies are with the yusufs whom i have known personally for some years the stage was set for a sensational trial [Music] the trial opened on february 27 1934 crowds of interested spectators jostled for position outside the courtroom hoping to push their way inside but the gallery was already full of eager observers including lady diana cooper the daughter of fanny's friend the duchess of rutland the judge sir horus avery had a strange nickname acid drop he was referred to as a hanging judge and in his younger days had prosecuted oscar wilde reporters described irina as she took her seat in the front of the courtroom she wore a black hat and coat with violets pinned to her fur collar a short veil covered her eyes her fingers they noted were covered with rings and she wore a string of pearls as well as pearl earrings to get things started sir patrick hastings made the opening argument for her case afterward the jury adjourned to watch the movie then hastings called irina to the stand his questions were short and to the point designed to solidify natasha as irina in the jury's mind for example irina testified that during the years the movie depicted 1913-1916 the tsar had no other young unmarried niece and in the movie natasha had worn a nurse's outfit in 1916 similar to the one irina had worn in real life then it was the other side's turn to cross-examine her mgm's barrister sir william jowett said that if the role of princess natasha was so libelous surely her friends would have written to her to tell her about it but when he asked if that had indeed happened irina replied nobody ever writes to me and i never answer letters well so much for that approach next chaot tried to prove that irina was in it for the money not to restore her reputation because fanny had already asked mgm about a settlement chaot thought he had her but irina testified that she didn't know fanny had done that and it hadn't been at her request irina was a rock she was calm and steadfast as she repeated that her main motivation was to have the film pulled not to make a book when jowett asked her if she knew that mgm had already made cuts to the film she had the perfect reply but the harm was done already it had been shown before she said on day two of the proceedings irina was back on the witness stand this time jowett tried to highlight the differences between real life and the movie he had her confirmed that she had not introduced rasputin to court as natasha had in the movie then he asked her do you not think it is rather far-fetched and ridiculous to try and assign an historical counterpart to every character in the film and once again she had the perfect answer well they are historical characters in the film she replied later irina's barrister described her testimony and cross-examination like this princess yusupov was the realization of an advocate's dream throughout a long and somewhat painful ordeal her demeanor never changed she displayed neither indignation nor distress and she answered every question without hesitation and with unfailing courtesy although some of the suggestions made to her might well have provoked an outburst but the line between truth and fiction was getting blurred once more both inside and outside the courtroom a new york times article summarizing irina's testimony referred to her husband as prince cheggidaya off i've said it before and i'll say it again i couldn't have made that up if i tried next irina's barrister hastings called his second witness felix in 10 short minutes he quickly confirmed elements of felix's life that were similar to the movie including the name of his home the moyka palace day three began with jowett's cross-examination of felix he went through the murder in extreme detail trying to show the jury more differences between real life and the movie at one point jowett referenced a line in felix's book about offering rasputin the snacks that hadn't been poisoned he was trying to make the point that felix was incredibly nervous and didn't know what he was doing and by implication that his account of the murder was thus unreliable but felix had the best response regarding his nerves this is quite natural he said i am not how you say professional murderer i giggled at that part overall felix's cross-examination took a whopping 36 hours as jawed tried to show that rasputin's death had been more of a group effort than felix's sole doing and while that may be true it didn't really help his case because the average person on the street who watched the movie probably didn't know all the arcane details of who shot rasputin where and how many times later eurena's barrister complimented felix on how calm and steady he was while describing such horrific events he wrote it was an awful story he had to tell but he told it without passion and indeed without emotion of any kind throughout his long ordeal the prince stood like a figure carved in stone when felix's cross-examination ended irina's lawyer called six more witnesses including her brother nikita all of whom testified that as soon as they saw the movie they knew chagadav was felix and natasha was irina finally it was jawed's turn to call mgm's witnesses and it didn't take long for everyone to realize that irina's legal team had made one big mistake in the initial pleading for her case the lawyer who'd written it claimed defamation since the movie portrayed natasha as quote seduced or a mistress of rasputin so jawed aimed to make a clear distinction between being seduced or a mistress and being raped he said that if the jury believed natasha had been raped they had to find for mgm because that meant she had not been seduced or a mistress and even if the character had been raped chaot argued that it wasn't defamatory since the female victim was not guilty of quote unchastity or adultery once hastings realized his team had made a mistake he asked the judge to amend the language of the original pleading the judge allowed it potentially saving irina's case on days three and four chaot called six witnesses some of whom were affiliated with the old imperial court they all testified that they never thought the movie characters represented felix and irina jowett spent a lot of time trying to show how they more closely resembled others including grand duke dimitri and anna furubova a friend of empress alexandra when jowett wrapped up his questioning the jury watched the movie one more time in preparation for the closing arguments surprisingly no one brought up the press clippings and interviews where both the studio and john barrymore had straight up said that the character of prince paul was based on felix and no one subpoenaed the director screenwriter or producer to testify as to their intentions irina's lawyer did make the point that of a hundred newspapers that reviewed the movie in england five of them suggested cheddar was really felix on monday march 5th 1934 a crowd swarmed the courtroom in anticipation of the verdict lady diana cooper and the countess of oxford and asquith watched from the gallery in the front of the room irina looked nervous and fidgeted with her lace handkerchief in his closing argument for mgm jawed said the prince paul character was more like grand duke dimitri than felix and the natasha character wasn't like irina at all because she was a lady in waiting who'd introduced rasputin to the court it was common knowledge that irina had never met rasputin so no reasonable person could confuse the two women next it was irina's barrister's turn hastings reiterated that felix was the only man internationally known for killing rasputin and irina was his wife the movie had depicted the man who killed rasputin and his fiancee he didn't say it but i'm sure he was thinking come on people connect the dots here plus the movies prologue had said this was a story about real people some of whom were still alive since russ putin nicholas alexandra and their son were all dead felix and irina were the only people in the story left alive who else could mgm have meant to depict it was a question mgm couldn't answer after the closing arguments the jury of nine men and three women withdrew to deliberate felix and irina stayed in their seats in the front of the courtroom they didn't talk they didn't move they just sat there for the full deliberation which was either one or two hours depending on which source you believe hastings later described the agonizing weight quote in this particular case my anxiety was accentuated it meant so much to the princess she had been compelled to lay bare the most tragic episode of her whole life and to lose her case would be intolerable when the jury returned the foreman announced that they found for irina and awarded her damages of 25 000 pounds a collective gasp echoed in the courtroom at the size of the award this was a huge amount of money at the time the same amount would have paid the wages of a skilled tradesman for 48 years upon hearing the verdict irina finally smiled she turned to hastings and thanked him for helping her some jury members had actually wanted to give her double that amount and only changed their minds when they realized more suits were pending felix and irina left the court through a private door to avoid the crowd outside they drove to their solicitor's office where she drank tea and chain smoked from a long amber cigarette holder according to a newspaper report she called her mom grand duchess xenia and said 25 000 pounds damages we are all so relieved that it is over and so delighted with the results when asked what she was going to do next she said she was gonna go stay with her mom she told another reporter these are the first moments of joy that have been given me for very many weary years i never doubted i should win how could i but i'm so very tired of having our misery and our private affairs held up to the public i never go into society now my recreation seems to be worry today's verdict is the first ray of light i have had in spare moments during the case i have been drawing and painting monsters out of my head i hope i shall be able to sell them perhaps for two guineas each i shall guard every penny of this 25 000 pounds and put it in a trust fund for my daughter and her children so that she and they shall never know the poverty i have endured predictably mgm wasn't happy about the damages they filed an appeal claiming the award was excessive and that irena had suffered no loss of reputation in the eyes of her friends it didn't work the appeals court upheld the original verdict one of the appeals court judges lord justice scrutin didn't think too much of mgm's argument that saying a woman had been raped wasn't defamatory he wrote i really have no language to express my opinion of that argument it takes some courage to argue it scrutin also said that had mgm's prologue said that everything depicted was fictitious his decision might have been different to settle the rest of irena's claims in other countries mgm offered another huge amount of money their ledgers recorded as 185 thousand dollars but it's generally reported that the real amount was between 750 000 and 1.1 million dollars fannie holtzman herself said the settlement was even bigger than mgm would admit to apparently the studio had an off the books contingency fund and they may have pulled the difference out of there either way this was one of the highest amounts ever awarded from a libel lawsuit up to that point mgm also had to issue a public apology affirming that the princess natasha character was fictional the yusufs got a very large check on august 9 1934 there was a victory party at fanny's london apartment where the guest list included hollywood royalty and british aristocrats including the duchess of rutland rebecca west sophie tucker and douglas fairbanks jr later irena's lawyer wrote that this case contained more elements of human tragedy than any other civil action i have ever known to avoid any further legal trouble mgm changed the movie's prologue it replaced the original text with this the events and characters in this film are fictional and any resemblance to characters living or dead is purely coincidental other hollywood producers began to insist their films carry the same disclaimer no one else wanted to pay out what mgm had had to pay out so today that disclaimer is standard operating procedure even when the movie is about a real-life person and that's not the only lasting legacy we have irina's case is still taught in law school today it was the first libel case one through what's essentially a murder confession i'll leave you with one more tidbit after everything had wrapped up fanny holtzman went to visit casino at frogmore her son prince nikita brought fannie an autograph book and asked her to sign it she was so well known he said that the duke of york's oldest daughter elizabeth wanted her autograph if you're interested in watching the movie it's available to rent digitally on youtube amazon prime google play apple tv and more it apparently underwent yet another change after the conclusion of the case when i rented it it didn't have a prologue at all instead the fictional characters were noted in the beginning i'll be posting some screenshots on patreon with some of the questionable costume choices outrageous moments and more thanks so much for watching if you enjoyed this video please leave a comment like or subscribe for more fascinating stories about royal women check out my website at girl in the tiara dot com and sign up for my mailing list i put links for both of them in the description you can also support me on patreon for as little as a dollar a month that support helps pay for books and research subscriptions to help me track down more information on little-known royal women to all my patrons who are watching thank you so much your support helps keep me this site and this channel going thanks so much for watching until next time [Music] uh [Music] so [Music] so [Music] hmm [Music] so [Music] so you

Channel: The Girl in the Tiara

Views: 46,804

Keywords: The Girl in the Tiara, Girl in the Tiara, Felix Yusupov, Yusupov, Youssoupov, Irina Yusupova, Irina Youssoupov, royal history, 20th century, women's history, Russian history, Rasputin, European history, Hollywood history, MGM history, Rasputin and the Empress

Id: OmvxPi_pd5Y

Length: 45min 27sec (2727 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 30 2021