Nijinsky in Surrey

The programs were of white silk, printed in gold. In the royal box sat King George V and Queen Mary. It was a command performance, honoring their coronation.

On stage was a program fit for a king: Destinn singing arias from Aida, and Melba arias from Romeo and Juliet; Tetrazzini and John McCormack in a duet from The Barber of Seville. Then came the evening's climax: the much-bruited new Russian ballet, whose 21-year-old star, Vaslav Nijinsky, had all Europe abuzz with the grace of his dancing and the power of his leaps. That night, London's applause was added to the Continent's.

One day last month, 36 years later,

Vaslav Nijinsky came back to England. At 57, the grace and ease were no longer in his step and his round Slavic face showed the pallor of years of illness and the vacuity of long insanity. Dressed in a dark blue suit, which looked incongruous on him, he shuffled aimlessly along with his male attendant, and Romola, his devoted wife.

Once, ten years ago, the harsh outlines of reality had begun to focus in Nijinsky's blurred mind. He was allowed to leave his secluded asylum in Switzerland, lived privately for a time in his wife's native Hungary. He had begun to recognize friends. Then came war, and the sound of bombs sent him cowering back into his world of shadow. The Russians found him in Hungary, put him up in the best hotel in Vienna, gave him a box at the ballet. The Russians assured Romola that Nijinsky would be welcomed in Russia as a hero of the Soviet Union. Once they got him drunk, and Nijinsky danced for them (TIME, Aug. 20, 1945). But Romola wanted to take him to western Europe.

Last week, helped by English friends, Nijinsky was comfortably settled in a country hotel in Surrey. There he plays games of patience with his attendant. He likes to listen to the radio, occasionally dances to music he likes--if there is no one in the room but his wife. He still draws strange faces and spidery designs. When strangers approach, his brown eyes look hunted and wild and he grips his chair. Romola still believes that her husband has a dancing future. Says she: "Nijinsky's one wish is to go to America. There he was happy in his art. He will dance again."

Romola would also like to get her daughter Kyra in the movies. But Kyra, who is 33 and runs a ballet school in France, wants to dance. Says Romola: "I don't advise anyone to dance. You train for 20 years and are famous for three."

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