Red-Haired Russians & Eastern Europeans

Thanks to Emanuela's recent sleuthing we now have quite a few more redheads to add to our ever-growing list. I'll list the Russian and Eastern European ones here.

The first one is quite an interesting one; Helena Petrovna Blavatsky.

I mentioned how references to red hair pop up in some of her works in an earlier post (see; red-hair-in-works-of-helena-petrovna). Now it seems that she herself may have had red hair.

The following webpage contains a quote from Henry Steel Olcott (co-founder of the Theosophical Society) that describes Blavatsky's appearance.

"From the very beginning my vision was deceived by the red garibaldiс chlamys, which H. P. B. was wearing instead of a shirt. She presented a sharp contrast to the darkness of everything, which surrounded her… Her hair was red, soft, like a silk, and wavy, like Cotswold lambs’ wool."

http://sirius-eng.net/liki/blavatskaia.htm

A book titled The Archetypal Feminine in the Mystery Stream of Humanity also describes her as being red-haired.

"..she travelled all over the world, a beautiful young girl with red hair, either alone or with her sister."

Quite interesting.

Another Russian to add to the list is the novelist Andrei Bely. In the book The Grove Book of Operas the following is stated;

"Andrey Bely (known for, among other things, his brilliant red hair)."

Another redhead is the Soviet composer Sergei Prokofiev. Born in what is now eastern Ukraine he was said to have had "fiery-red hair".

(See the following article; http://www.interlude.hk/front/old-flames-burn-hottestsergei-prokofiev-eleonora-damskaya)

The Polish composer Ignacy Jan Paderewski was also a redhead, as can be seen from the following portrait;

The following passage gives quite a vivid description of him;

Why was he so popular? One reason was his magnificent physical appearance. His long, red hair inspired admiration and awe. The term "long haired music" may have originated with him.

Many musicians tried to emulate him, wearing the familiar top hat, long coat and long hair. Candies, toys and soaps were designed with him in mind. One Christmas toy was that of a little man with a black frock coat, white bow tie and a huge head of flame-colored hair sitting at a piano. At the turn of a screw the little man's hands rushed up and down the keyboard while his head shook violently.

http://pmc.usc.edu/composer/paderewski.html

Another who could maybe be added to the list is Anton Chekhov. An online article (for which the link is now broken) described his hair as "red-brown". Though it may be a little bit of a stretch to claim him as a redhead based on such a vague description.

Red Hair and Jewishness

Some new posts. First in a good while now. Hopefully I'll be able to rattle off quite a few over the next day or so as there's a fair bit of new information :)

First up, I was made aware of the following article concerning red hair and Jewishness. A theme we've touched upon quite a few times on this blog before.

http://www.judaismandscience.com/ginger-jews/

It's quite a comprehensive and well-researched article. Definitely well worth reading. It also echoes my own sentiments in regards the importance of not attaching too much importance to red hair or other superficial genetic traits.

"What the percentage of red-headed Jews is today is not at all clear. What is clearer and more important is that Jews come in all shapes and all sizes and all shades, with different aptitudes, attitudes and orientations

..Red hair is not, however, a marker of Jewishness. Red hair is neither restricted to Jews, nor is it predominant among them. Natural hair grows on Jews in many colors, maybe not as many as the colors on Joseph’s coat (see Gen. 37:3), but more than enough to dispel unwarranted stereotypes.

..Ginger Jews remind us of how varied Jews are. Ironically, the most important thing about redheadedness in Jews may well be that it is really not that important at all."

This may also be a good place to mention a few more famous people of Jewish descent that had red hair. Both of these were recently brought to my attention by Emanuela (along with a whole host of other new people - many of which I'll list in my next post.)

The first one is the Marxist theorist and anti-war activist Rosa Luxemburg. She was apparently nicknamed "Red Rosa" because of her hair colour and her politics. It reminds me of the Labour MP Ellen Wilkinson who used to get labelled "Red Ellen" for similar reasons.

Rosa Luxemburg

The second one is the filmmaker Billy Wilder, most famous for directing the Marilyn Monroe movie Some Like It Hot.

The book City of Nets: A Portrait of Hollywood in the 1940s describes him as "an ebullient youth with curly red hair". And the following Daily Mail article notes that his;

"twin trademarks were the pork pie hats he always wore - to hide his red hair - and the caustic observations that never allowed anyone to get really close to him."

Billy Wilder

Whilst looking online for an image to use I also came across a few quotes from Billy Wilder which I thought were worth sharing :)

Red Hair in Art - Luis Ricardo Falero

I recently came across another painter of redheads - Luis Ricardo Falero (1851-1896). Falero was a Spanish painter who had a penchant for painting naked females. Much of his work was focused on the themes of astronomy and mythology.

Fairy Under Starry Skies

The Artist's Model

Festival of the Witches

Red Hair in Advertising; 30/11/2016 - Red Hair & Thomas Burberry

I imagine this may be the high point and culmination of this red hair in adverts theme I've been covering. The next video is a pretty epic example of red hair appearing in an advert. It's a release from the English fashion house Burberry and features the red-haired actor Domhnall Gleeson.

Gleeson plays the part of Thomas Burberry in a retelling of the company's inception story. The advert looks more like a trailer for a movie than an advert. In fact, some viewers thought it was a movie trailer. I don't normally fall victim to this type of sumptuousness, but I must say I was very much impressed by this. From beginning to end it's quite captivating. The music used is also quite beautiful. Many of the comments on YouTube say this should be made into an actual movie. I find it hard to disagree.

The Tale of Thomas Burberry;

The video also features Antarctica. The most fashionable continent on earth at the moment. In part thanks to the current flat earth revival happening online.

Red Hair in Advertising Update: 15th November 2016

I've continued to notice token redheads in TV advertising since my last post on the topic. So it seems the trend is continuing. My favourite example of red hair in advertising so far though is the following advert I noticed posted on a bus stop on my way home from work a few days ago. The advert in question comes courtesy of the online retailer Very.

Red Hair in Adverts: Update September 2016

I've continued to notice more redheads in adverts since my last post on the topic. They haven't been quite as frequent, but have still been more than noticeable.

First up the following advert from the mobile phone company O2 starring a red-haired girl.

Then this one from the building society Nationwide which features a red-haired little boy with bright red hair.

And finally the following advert for Seriously Spreadable cheese with another red-haired female star.

I also noticed a few token redheads in this much televised McDonald's advert too.

Damn, more free advertising for meat-eating :/

It's difficult to know if red hair is genuinely fashionable at the moment or if it just seems to be fashionable when juxtaposed against the days when red hair was strictly prohibited on British TV. Maybe it's just getting the equal airing that it always should have got? Maybe that's what I'm noticing.

Incidentally, I also noticed this billboard advertisement featuring a redhead in my home town when out and about. It's advertising orange-flavoured Volvic water with the tag line "Orange and Proud".

(My apologies for the quality of the picture, but you get the idea.)

///////Slight Update To This Article//////////

It appears the advertisement shown above was not shown in Scotland or Ireland for fear of causing offence, as it was feared the slogan "Orange and Proud" could be deemed to relate to the Orange Order lol. Quite amusing ..and slightly interesting, especially given how we've mentioned the possible links between red hair and Protestantism on here before. Maybe there was more truth to this idea than we had realised.

(Also notice the one-eye symbolism in the advert!)

http://irishpost.co.uk/volvic-axe-orange-and-proud-ad-in-ireland-and-scotland/

Red-Haired Romanovs ??

First post in a good while. I'll start with something that Emanuela brought to my attention. Namely that the famed Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia was possibly a redhead. Anastasia, of course, was part of the Romanov royal family that was murdered by the Bolsheviks following the Russian Revolution. Many myths have grew up around the figure of Anastasia based upon the idea that she may have escaped the fate the rest of her family suffered and somehow managed to survive undercover.

Wikipedia describes Anastasia thusly;

[Y]oung Anastasia grew into a vivacious and energetic child, described as short and inclined to be chubby, with blue eyes and strawberry-blonde hair.

The source given for the information is the book Memories of the Russian Court by Anna Vyrubova, published in the 1920s. However, scanning through an online version of it I could only find reference to her hair being "blond".

The book also describes her mother, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, as having "red gold" hair.

Tall she was, and delicately, beautifully shaped, with exquisitely white neck and shoulders. Her abundant hair, red gold, was so long that she could easily sit upon it when it was unbound. Her complexion was clear and as rosy as a little child's. The Empress had large eyes, deep gray and very lustrous.

At the moment Russia holds a slight fascination for me. I'm beginning to think it's the most mysterious country on Earth. Then again it may be just another phase of interest I'm going through.