Louise and Me

Ohio-born Sydne Rome, one of the most popular stars of European films, has just become the first American actress to win a starring role in Soviet cinema. Sydne plays Louise Bryant, lover and wife of John Reed, in the $50,000,000 Mexican-Italian-Russian coproduction of "Ten Days That Shook the World," Reed's account of the Russian Revolution. (That's Sydne, in her Bryant persona, above.) Directed by the eminent Russian director Sergei Bondarchuk, the project took three months and literally a cast of thousands to complete. During that time, Sydne had the opportunity to observe firsthand Russian moviemaking techniques, which at times included the recruiting of genuine Russian generals to give orders to the troops assembled for the picture. She also had the opportunity to study her character in the historic locations where Louise had lived and worked with Reed. For Playboy, Sydne agreed to re-create her movie persona, from Louise's real life in Provincetown to her fantasies about Russia. What follows are her impressions of Bryant and her feelings about this historic opportunity.

Although Louise Bryant predated by decades what we think of as the sexual revolution, she was a true forerunner of our times. She spent her early 20s in Portland, Oregon, and the bourgeois lifestyle of that community was in constant conflict with her personality and her drive. Louise was unusually attractive and irresistibly drawn to the physical, sensuous aspects of life. Knowing that she had to leave Portland or be stifled, she took charge of her destiny by meeting, entrancing and, ultimately, following journalist John Reed to New York and then to Provincetown, Massachusetts, a community of East Coast bohemians. There, (continued on page 224)Louise and Me(continued from page 194) in the dunes and the sea air, she was no longer confined by society's mores and eagerly let her spirit take over her life.

Not surprisingly, Louise took to Provincetown even more than Reed did. He had liked the structure and the urban atmosphere of Greenwich Village, while Louise felt more alive in the country. She would stay on in Provincetown for weeks after Reed had left. With her friends, dreamers and adventurers, she would lie in the sun and sand and fantasize that she was in the hot, erotic Sahara. At other times, she and her friends would sit and talk for hours of Russia, which seemed far away, romantic and emancipated. Reed, of course, was excited about the political implications of the revolution, but Louise, charged by the dunes' sensuous atmosphere, would thrill to the exotic and romantic images conjured up by a country in revolt.

Provincetown's atmosphere encouraged more than mere fantasies, however. It was there that Louise decided to have an affair with Eugene O'Neill. It is a tribute to her charms and her skill that she was able to keep O'Neill and Reed, who were friends, simultaneously involved with her without hurting either one. By convincing O'Neill that she and Reed lived like brother and sister, she enticed the playwright into a relationship that enabled him to sleep with his friend's wife without losing respect for either party. And by giving Reed no reason to question her feelings, she never aroused his suspicions.

Still, Louise was not really a manipulator; she was, rather, a romantic dreamer. When she listened to Reed talk about going to Russia, she did not focus on pictures of food lines, committee meetings and workers' strikes but fantasized instead about ice palaces, beautiful winter clothes and mystical northern lights.

Those flights of fancy were not, however, indications of a shallow, weak or irresponsible woman. She not only was physically secure enough to pose naked in the dunes, which was then a daring act, but was intellectually sure enough of her talents and abilities to get an assignment from the first feminist magazine in this country to go to Russia and report on what the Russian women were experiencing. Ultimately, she wrote not just an article about her experiences but an entire book, Six Red Months in Russia. Thus, in spite of the fact her dreams and her manner were almost totally apolitical, she managed to become involved in an area in which few women had ever been involved and to hold her own against political giants amid the issues of the day.

Recently, I had the privilege of portraying Louise Bryant in the film Ten Days That Shook the World, directed by Russia's finest director, Sergei Bondarchuk. I lived in the Soviet Union for three and a half months and enjoyed not only an intense cinematic experience but also a rather unsheltered and extremely human day-to-day Soviet existence. As a result, I came to understand to the best of my ability America's most mysterious and most politically threatening competitor. Because I was to play Louise in the movie, I spent a great deal of time getting to know about her life and came to feel a great kinship with her, regarding her almost as a mentor and an inspiration. Because I am an American who has built a career in Europe, has never shied away from difficult journeys and has always felt it important to be free and uninhibited, I couldn't help noticing similarities in our lives.

My work, like Louise's, has taken me all over the world, giving me the opportunity to savor many cultures, peoples and situations. I have played the lead in 28 major European films, have been privileged to work with Europe's finest directors and actors, have made record albums that have had world-wide success and have performed in my own television specials. There is only one great frustration in my professional life, and that is that I have never had the chance to work in my own country--perhaps playing a girl from a place such as Upper Sandusky, Ohio, the small town where I spent most of my childhood.

And though I sometimes feel that being an American actress in Europe is a handicap, I am always grateful for its fabulous fringe benefits. Unable to remain close to my roots or my hometown, I have had to become something of a fearless adventurer prepared to fit into many worlds without being judgmental. But while I have always been regarded by other people as adventurous, I was humbled by Louise's courage and accomplishments--it was so much harder to travel and to be an independent woman back then that I knew she was much braver and much more of a trail blazer than I.

Then, when I stood in the same places she had stood in Russia and in Provincetown, re-creating her actions and movements, I felt a bit haunted, as if Louise had started living inside my body. That kind of schizophrenic reaction is not an uncommon one for an actress, but I had never before experienced it as profoundly.

I gradually began to understand why she had such a hold on me. An actress plays characters by calling up aspects of her personality that are not necessarily close to the surface but are demanded by the part. Then, when the role is done and those aspects are no longer justified, she pushes them back into her psyche. But Louise Bryant never censored herself. She was so unfettered in her feelings and so secure in herself that she didn't need an excuse to summon up repressed parts of her personality. She let all her multiple personalities, thoughts and wants come to the forefront whenever they needed to. That, I believe, is why she was so free and so fearless.

Now, even though I am no longer playing her, Louise still inhabits a part of my being. She has taught me that it is possible for us to live out our dreams as long as we have faith in the future and a sense of romance and adventure. While people had always told me that I appeared to be fearless, I knew myself that deep down, I was apprehensive about the future. After going to Russia and giving myself over to Louise's spirit, however, I learned that you can and will be happy if you choose to be. So, rather than waste time worrying about what is going to happen, I now try to face life with a positive and open attitude. Tomorrow, I've discovered, will take care of itself, especially if today is lived properly.

Louise also taught me not only that independence and courage are important but that life is meant to be shared. Romance, I learned, means more than going from one man to the next; even total abandon is more meaningful and satisfying when balanced against an ideal love that is lasting. Her spiritual love for and commitment to John Reed put her relationships with other men and her constant travels in a more balanced perspective: Although she insisted on having it all, she never once lost her sense of priorities. Even though she was a true American, she did not hesitate for a moment to go to Reed in Russia, quietly enduring great hardships and braving grave danger, because her commitment to him was the deepest, most important value in her life. And that, to me, is what remains most inspiring and most memorable about Louise Bryant--for though that sense of commitment, like all sincere commitments, now seems to be out of fashion, it can still clarify the confusion in which we often find ourselves.

"It is a tribute to her charms that she was able to keep O'Neill and Reed simultaneously involved."