The Diva's beginnings

While researching the remains of the Krotona Theosophical colony that once thrived in the Hollywood Hills, the aspect that interested me the most was that of the human characters involved, both in the larger world of the Society, and in the small world of the neighborhood.

The colony itself lasted only ten years before it moved to Ojai, in Ventura County, where it still resides today. But Theosophy's mark on this little neighborhood is still visible. And that's largely due to the efforts of one extraordinary character, a woman named Marie Russak Hotchener.

But who was she? Where did she come from?

“Scorns Riches and Power All for Theosophy” says the headline on a March 4, 1911 profile of Marie Russak in the San Francisco Call.

Returning to the Bay area in her U.S. lecture tour with Krotona founder A.P. Warrington, Marie is not quoted directly in the story, but it reads with a romantic spin that clearly came from Marie herself.

The world offered her all [it] had to offer. She accepted the gifts, weighed them, tested them, found them wanting, and dropped them. Beauty, wealth, fame, social glitter, to her all have proven baubles. Now she prepares to seek the things which are not of this world. So little is her fame to her, so little her wealth and position that she speaks not of them. Her pride is not that she once rivaled [a famous singer], but that she is now a theosophist; not that she once wore the robes of splendor, but that now she is garbed in a gown of humility and wisdom.

The story exaggerates both the low and high points of Marie’s trajectory. She was “born in the mountains of a poor family, her early days were a round of struggles.” Her career as an opera singer is it touted as worldwide, as “the doors of fame were opened to her. The world bowed before her.”

It’s all about the story, they say in Hollywood, and hers is as dramatic and self-serving as any star's.

Marie Russak Hotchener was born in 1867 near Chico, California. Her family name was Barnard. In one contemporary record, her father is said to work as a stable hand. Another record notes that Marie’s grandfather owned the stable.

Marie could sing, and went to Mills College to study while still a young girl. She graduated in 1885, and went on to San Francisco, where she sang for the famed Adelina Patti, who described her as a child with "a voice of gold." On these references, she was hired by the Mendelssohn Quintette Club as a singer.

The Quintette, from Boston, were a respected classical music troupe, performing mixed programs of classical works. After touring the South Pacific, and a San Francisco engagement, they embarked on a North American tour. Marie joined them for two seasons.

Looking at the route, I can see she gained a swift education in the life of a professional musician. In October the Quintette hit the road, playing Grand Forks, North Dakota, where a new opera house was under construction, opening in November.

The Princess Opera House, in Winnipeg

They played Winnipeg, Manitoba, in November at the 1347 seat Princess Opera House, and Marie’s notices were great:

No musical organization has so firm a popularity with the Winnipeg public as the Mendelssohn Quintette Club. ….The singer of the company is Miss Marie Barnard; and there is simply no comparison between her and her predecessor. She has a remarkably mezzo-soprano voice of wide range and wonderful sweetness alike on high and low notes. A young woman yet, she is certain to become a famous singer. She took the audience in the Princess last night by storm, as the enthusiastic encore showed. In the first part of the programme she sang Mozart’s aria “Cosi fan Tutti” and as an encore gave “the Stars of the Night” certainly the gem of the evening. The accompaniment of the Quintette on this piece was superb. In the second part she sang an air “Profume Orientali” by Bellinghi; to an enthusiastic encore she sang “Comin’ through the rye.” The delighted audience were not satisfied and again called out the fair singer who gave them ‘the Mocking Bird” with flute accompaniment by Mr. Henneberg

Even with great notices it must have been rough to play Winnipeg in November.The Princess Opera House, built in 1883, was cold, its furnace so inadequate they augmented it by woodstoves for heat. If you think this sounds risky, you're right. The theatre burned down in 1892.

The Quintette played not only theatres, but also churches and meeting halls. They played San Antonio, Texas on March 27, 1891, then East Las Vegas, New Mexico on April 10. On April 29th they played Bakersfield, where the reviews said “Miss Marie Barnard has a voice of great sweetness and compass, and a mobile face joined to a winning way that gave the audience great delight.” May 8 – 11 they performed at the First Congregational Church, where Marie sang Bishop’s “Sing Lo! Hear the Gentle Lark!” with accompanying flute obbligato. In Ogden, Utah’s Grand Opera House on May 13, she sang “Annie Laurie.”

The Opera House in San Antonio, Texas

“Julius Cann’s Official Theatrical Guide of 1897” lists US and Canadian theatres on the touring circuit, with information like seating capacity, technical details, and local contacts for printing, shipping, lodging and medical doctors. Some towns had wonderful facilities, like the Ogden Opera House, whose Romanesque exterior was crowned by a Turkish-style minaret. The lobby was tiled with mosaics, and the fire curtain on the stage was painted with a scene of the Orient.

Ogden, Utah. The Opera House is the building with the hat-like dome. The Reed Hotel, where performers stayed, is to the right.

Hotels varied from town to town. Some were sophisticated, but others were grim, infested with bedbugs. Even the good hotels with restaurants might not accommodate an intricate train and theatre schedule, so often travelling performers subsisted on apples, cereal, milk and stale bread. Sometimes railroad time-tables were so tight conductors sped up the tempo onstage just to make sure the troupe caught the train to the next stop.

Marie spent two seasons with the Quintette, and while in Boston, she met Justin H. Smith, a Dartmouth graduate who worked for the book publishing firm of Ginn & Co. They married on June 4, 1892.

Boston must have seemed far more civilized and refined. But after a rough-and-tumble life on tour, it might also have felt a little dull. Instead of gaining multiple encores, Mrs. Smith sang with church choirs and musical clubs, and sometimes as a soloist with the Boston Symphony.

It's unclear what happened to the Smiths' marriage, but by April of 1895, Marie was once more on the road singing - this time with the band of John Phillip Sousa, under her maiden name again. In Fort Wayne; in Hamilton, Ohio; in Vicksburg, Mississippi; Atlanta; Hutchison, Kansas, and San Antonio, Texas, she sang. The programme included operatic fare like the aria from "Cosi fan Tutti" or an excerpt from "Tannhauser," and also popular numbers and marches.

In September of 1895, a notice in the New England papers stated Marie Barnard would travel to Paris to study opera, and so she did.

Marie Barna, in Paris, as Salome

She sang wherever she could - for a musicale afternoon at the home of rich American patrons, or at a Fourth of July event for American expatriots in Paris. Her teacher got her an engagement at the opera in Bologna, where she made her debut as Marguerite in "Faust" in January of 1896 - under her new professional name, Marie Barna. Other roles came her way, in Rome and finally at Covent Garden, London, where she was offered a three-year contract by impresario Sir Augustus Harris.

Unfortunately Sir Harris died suddenly, voiding the contract. Marie took a job with the American Damrosch-Ellis Opera Company, and returned to the states. Back on the road.

Marie Barna as Brunhilde with the Damrosch-Ellis Opera

It was a step up from the old days, however. The Damrosch company was instrumental in bringing Wagnerian opera to America. Competing with New York's Metropolitan Opera, its '97-'98 season played six weeks in Philadelphia, five in New York, and two weeks in Boston, Cincinnati and Chicago. Marie played principal roles, like Isolde in "Tristan und Isolde," and Brunhilde in "Siegfried."

In June of 1898, the Boston papers noted that Marie was back in Paris, and Mr. and Mrs. Justin Smith would divorce.

The Opera House at Bayreuth

In January '99, Marie was invited by Madame Cosima Wagner, the composer's widow, to participate in the annual Wagner Festival in Bayreuth, Germany.

It was perhaps the crowning note of her musical career.

Though not a star, Marie's New York performances at the Metropolitan Opera House must have been memorable enough to attract the attentions of Frank Russak. 41 years old and single, Frank and his brother owned a Wall Street brokerage. Frank was an amateur musician, and loved the opera so much he had produced several charity productions that had been reviewed in the New York Times. Wealthy, he owned a townhouse at East 65th Street. He summered both in New Jersey seaside resorts and in Newport, Rhode Island among New York's wealthiest.

Frank Russak, 1894

In June '99, an announcement appeared in the Newport, Rhode Island papers that Frank Russak and singer Marie Barna would marry.

In the East Coast papers at the time, Marie's pedigree was presented as far more lofty that she claimed in 1911. Her father’s family was linked to the founders of Barnard College, and his profession was described as a Judge -not a stable hand. Perhaps he was, by that time.

On September 20, 1899, Marie and Frank were married at a private home in Newport. She wore a "gown of white satin faille, covered with mousseline de soie and pointe d'Aiguilles lace, richly embroidered in pearls," and she carried a bouquet of forget-me-nots. The only jewelry she wore was a diamond collar, a gift from the groom.


So here she was. Married to a wealthy man who adored her. Happily ever after - right? What more could a woman want of her life?

As it turned out, Marie wanted much much more. And she would do what she could to get it.

Come back again to read more.

The Diva of Krotona

Marie photographed at Krotona Court

Krotona of Hollywood, that short-lived experiment in Utopian living nestled in the Hollywood Hills, would not have been realized if not for the efforts of some forceful people. A.P. Warrington, a mild-mannered lawyer from Virginia, was the main promoter and fundraiser for the new colony, but he had help from others.

One of those people was Marie Russak Hotchener, and she’s my absolute favorite character in this peculiar history.

An opera singer turned activist, a protégé of Annie Besant, leader of the Theosophical Society of America in Adyar, India, Marie was larger than life. A drama queen, opportunist and relentless self-promoter, she was a Diva in every sense of the word. She made herself the center of attention, and though she often over-reached, she always managed to stay on top of her game.

View of Theosophical Society Headquarters in Adyar

It seems she knew almost everyone, and managed to be, Zelig-like, on the scene for important developments. Appointed Colonel Olcott’s Honorary Secretary after she met the aging society founder in 1906, she traveled with him to India, and was present at his deathbed there in 1907. She witnessed the supposed materialization of the Master appointing Annie Besant the leader of the society – and forgiving her colleague Charles W. Leadbeater for his sexual scandal.

Marie had gained the inner circle – in Leadbeater’s “Rents in the Veil of Time”, naming the timeless entities reincarnated as the Theosophic elite, she is given the code name “Helios.”

A few years later, when the young Krishnamurti experienced his first Initiation, it was Marie Russak who wrote down the memories of his astral experience as he dictated them to her. Marie was the only woman deemed spiritually pure enough to clean the young boy’s room.

She was present in London in 1912, when Mrs. Annie Besant gave a public lecture at Queen’s Hall that galvanized the Theosophic community. Russak described how the Great Spirits were present in the auditorium, charging the room with magnetism and “a mass of searchlights flashing brilliantly in and through the transparent rainbow clouds.” Whether it was spirit lights or just great stagecraft, Marie knew how to work it.

Untitled painting by Mabel Alvarez, a painter who stayed at Krotona during the 'teens.

When Krotona was still a mere idea, A.P. Warrington went on a lecture tour throughout the U.S., fundraising with Marie Russak in tow. She was already a celebrity, known as an opera singer with a repertory of Wagnerian principal roles. Contemporary reports of their lecture tour describe her presentation as “a delightful and instructive description of Adyar…illustrated with stereopticon views and flashes of wit and humor,” and Marie as "most charming." She wore a sari during the presentation.

They travelled by train and motorcar. They spoke at the “beautiful Ebell Auditorium” in Oakland. There, even though it rained, she was a big hit. One reviewer said

The lady had the audience with her from the start and the members are hers to a man. [She came, she saw, she conquered. Perhaps if I said she came, we saw and she conquered it would be nearer the truth.]

Photo of Marie that appeared in newspapers during her 1910 - 1912 lecture tour

At a Pasadena talk, Marie spoke on the topic of

Masonry in old Atlantis and in ancient Egypt, illustrated by two ground plans of the temple, received by her under exceptional conditions.

Her lecture tours took her all over the country, and newspapers reported her sayings. At one presentation in Chicago, in 1913, she revealed to the audience that the average weight of the human soul was four and eleven-sixteenths ounces. “The soul,” she claimed, “does not improve with weight. It is like a spongecake. A heavy, soggy soul is an inferior one.”

At another gathering, while taking questions from the audience, she diagnosed the cause of a young man’s stuttering. He must have lied to his wife in a previous incarnation, she said. “Any one who habitually told untruths in his former incarnations suffers that way — justly, too."

Describing the principles of reincarnation in 1912, she claimed “Death is as simple a process as slipping off a glove.”

Rochester's New York Central Terminal waiting room

She was quite a grandstander. Architect Claude Bragdon, who embraced Theosophy and included principles of musical structure in his building designs, invited her in 1914 to tour the completed New York Central Terminal in Rochester, New York, in the days before its opening. According to Bragdon,

As we were standing in the gallery overlooking the waiting room, she ran up the notes of the diatonic scale in her full, powerful voice. At the utterance of a certain note the entire room seemed to become a resonant chamber, reinforcing the tone with a volume of sound so great as to be almost overpowering: the walls, the ceiling, the entire building seemed to cry aloud. “There!” said the singer as the sound died away in overtones. “Now your railway station has found its keynote - now it is alive!"

British composer Cyril Scott dedicated his piece “Carillon, Egypt (An Album of Five Impressions)” to her, writing that it was only with her help that he was able to connect with his former incarnation as an ancient Egyptian, which inspired the piece.

Design by Claude Bragdon

Although Marie was a significant player in the founding of Krotona, she doesn’t strike me as someone who’d get her hands dirty, slogging up the muddy hillside or sitting on the floor to eat in unfurnished bungalows, as the earliest settlers of Krotona did. Married to a retired banker living in France, she lived well when she came to town, staying in the Hotel Hollywood, or in the beautiful Ternary Building with other Theosophical VIPs.

Entry to the Ternary Building today

She enjoyed a warm relationship with her Theosophic colleague, Henry Hotchener. Twenty years her junior, Hotchener was a New York lawyer who seems to have functioned as a canny “fixer” when the Society’s leaders needed one. He had outraged Mr. Leadbeater by representing the faction that demanded his resignation, yet years later when another sexual scandal arose, Hotchener’s duties helped smooth it over, protecting Leadbeater.

Hotchener saw Hollywood’s real estate growth as an opportunity, and the Krotona colony as an specialized niche market. He purchased lots west of the colony, toward Beachwood Canyon, and sold them to wealthy enthusiasts of the Theosophic and occult arts. In 1914 Hotchener built Marie a villa at 6101 Scenic Avenue, and a home for himself on Gower.

Marie's villa at Scene Avenue

The popular lecturer William Levington Comfort spent some time at Krotona during the ‘teens, and later his daughter wrote a novel that includes a fictionalized account of the colony. In it, the family is met at the train station by a large car driven by her father’s patroness, who could easily be modeled on Marie Russak Hotchener. Swathed in a white veil that covers her short grey hair, Mrs. Beckner wears a necklace of amber beads “large as acorns”. They learn that her “chosen name” is Natasha.

Mrs. Beckner often referred to others by their astrological distinctions: ‘My friend Uranus in the Ascendant,’ or ‘My little Pisces friend.’....her whole life had changed when she began using Natasha in place of Clara, which really did not belong to her.

Mrs. Beckner’s home is described as having a “private adytum, a room made mystic with black and gold wallpaper, shrines, incense and a celestial map,” and a roof-top solarium where she encouraged her guests to sunbathe in the nude.

In the rear of Mrs. Beckner’s house rose the hills of Krotona where the temple was and the lotus pond and the vegetarian cafeteria. There were several small tabernacles as well, a metaphysical library, a Greek Theatre where ‘The Light of Asia’ was being played, and numerous dwellings cut into the hillside above and below the winding road. It was all very beautiful, but Paula, perversely, disliked it. Krotona gave her an indoor feeling; peoples’ faces had a consciously sanctified look; her father’s friends struck her as queer.

Frank Russak

In December of 1914, word came that Marie’s estranged husband Frank Russak had died of heart failure, on board the steamship Minnetonka on the passage from England to the U.S. One wonders what Frank thought of his flamboyant wife and her adventures. Just two years before his death, he wrote a melancholy response to the Harvard alumni association:

You ask whether I still play the Hungarian Rhapsody No.2. I still play this, but very infrequently. And when I do, it is not without thought of my Harvard friends who lent me encouragement in my musical pleasures and relaxations. I regret to say that I do not give attention to music that I should like to give….in recent years my life has undergone a great change and to the detriment of some of the idealities of life that are so well expressed through music. Perhaps I have lived too long in the realm of the ideal, and now I see life as it is.

Entrance to Krotona Court today

Despite the difference in age, Marie and Henry Hotchener married in 1916. She published a magazine called “The Channel.” Henry was put in charge of the Krotona book publishing business. They moved house frequently, living in the properties they built and sold, and also staying at the Hotel Hollywood. They finally settled in a villa she designed at 6137 Temple Hill Drive.

They continued their interest in the occult – The couple is said to have exorcised the spirit of Mark Twain that possessed a troubled young man.

6137 Temple Hill Drive

When the colony dwindled and moved to Ojai, Marie and Henry remained in Hollywood, and reinvented themselves a whole new and fascinating life - in the most important business in town.

Show business? No.

Real estate, of course. Stay tuned for more.

Dysfunctional Family

"Cosmic Synchromy" by Morgan Russell, 1913

Anyone who’s ever been involved in the management of an organization - whether it’s a garden club, a political party, a fan club or a labor union - knows that institutions can be like a large, extended family. And just like families, some are cooperative, supportive, and healthy.

Others are just a dysfunctional mess.

If the family is the first institution created by human beings, I would imagine that the second is probably the church. And the third is probably those people who decided to split from the church and form another one.

The enigmatic Madame Blavatsky

The Theosophical Society was founded in 1875 by Madame Helena Blavatsky, Colonel Henry Olcott, and William Quan Judge. It was incredibly popular worldwide.

Four years later, Blavatsky and Olcott moved to Adyar near Madras in India. Back in the U.S., Judge guided the growth of local groups in over 100 American cities.

When Madame Blavatsky died in 1891, there was a sudden crisis in the group, which is not unusual in families with a dominant matriarch.

Mrs. Annie Besant

A Blavatsky protégé, Mrs. Annie Besant, with as varied and as fascinating a life story as the Matriarch, had met her in 1890, just prior to her death. Yet, supported by Olcott, she claimed to be Blavatsky’s choice to take on the leadership . She wore Blavatsky’s signet ring, with a large green stone flecked with blood-red veins, engraved with symbols like a serpent swallowing its tail. It was said to have special powers.

Like a spurned younger brother, Judge disagreed, and at the Society’s Convention in 1895 he led 85 of the American groups to secede. The remaining Americans loyal to Besant included the founders of the Krotona colony in Hollywood.

Over the next 30 years, Theosophists fought turf wars. They merged and split, formed alliances, only to split again. The written history of Krotona is filled not only with aspirations of Utopian living, but also with nasty, backbiting gossip, accusations of disloyalty and threats of lawsuits.

Krotona Court, 1925

The definition of a dysfunctional family is one where conflict, misbehavior, and abuse occur regularly, and are accommodated by the family members – even considered normal. Reading about the Krotona Colony and the early Theosophists made me realize that they were an embodiment of this.

Though old Colonel Olcott and the charismatic Annie Besant did not have a sexual relationship, the family dynamic sounds much like that when Dear Old Dad takes up with a Younger Woman after Sainted Mom passes away.

Besant had a friend, Charles W. Leadbeater* – a British clairvoyant with whom she collaborated on occult research and co-authoring books. Unfortunately, Leadbeater was like another stereotypical family character – the Creepy Uncle. In 1906 he was accused of sexual misconduct with young boys under his spiritual guidance. Although protesting his innocence, he resigned from the group amid scandal..

When Colonel Olcott died in 1907, Besant solidified her power. Lest anyone doubt, the journals recounted a mystical visitation of the Masters at the deathbed, confirming Besant’s leadership.

Theosophic Society Headquarters in Adyar, 1890

The Masters conveniently forgave Leadbeater’s offenses, and he was taken back into the fold, setting off a new round of schisms.

Krotona’s founder, a Virginia lawyer named A.P. Warrington, was admitted to the inner circle in 1906. His correspondence with Besant and Leadbeater, published in Joseph E. Ross’s book “Krotona of Hollywood” reveals the intricate relationships between Theosophic leaders.

Due to the Theosophists’ belief in spiritual manifestations, reincarnation, and occult phenomena, interactions between them take on an unreal quality. The gossip, manipulation, airing of grievances, and guilt trips involve not only living humans, but also entities from the Other World.

An early journal edited by Blavatsky

Rebuking a member who criticized another, Besant puts him firmly in his place, asserts her authority, and warns him against future offenses:

I wrote to you the other day on the undesirable tone of your letter … If this matter becomes public, I must stand with my Brother… and you and I will have to work apart. I hope you will be able to make such amends to him and so prevent a severance which I should most deeply regret…You should realize that the fact [he] is an Initiate makes it the duty of [you] to follow his lead in all…matters, to help him in doing things in his way... You have not quite realized this…. This is the mistake that led to the late blunder, and the effects of the blunder were due to the hidden forces set going by a wrong attitude.

Like any strong matriarch, she has the last word:

just has I have often thanked you for your good work, so I must tell you when you are in error, else were I a poor occultist and a poor teacher. In all this we need say no more. It is past.

When the collusion of two members to gain power is discovered, one person comments :

There seems to be a curious conspiracy (astral, I presume) in connection with American affairs just now; for the same extraordinary idea…has occurred (apparently simultaneously) to Dr. V___ and Mrs. R___. I need hardly say that I should never approve of such an action…and regard it…as a fraud against the Section. We know all the people concerned, and we know that under ordinary circumstances they would not do anything dishonorable; so I feel sure that their action is being dictated by some astral entity, probably masquerading in the form of some Master whom they revere…..There is some curious confusion in the minds of our friends; I am sure that it is unintentional, but I cannot quite understand how it arose.

It’s hard for me, at the remove of a near-century, to decide whether his words are tongue-in-cheek or actually serious about the astral entity – or whether he is subtly threatening his correspondent for his supposed role in the business.

One who, after a misstep, makes amends, is nevertheless made to eat a little psychic crow:

I am glad that you understand our feelings so well…Personally, I cannot but regret that you [said what you did], but the Great Ones harbor no petty resentments, and no doubt They perfectly understand that your intention was good. Of course, there is a certain practical karma attached to a remark like that; but we must just take it as a fact and start anew on that basis….

Although the society had a charter and by-laws, and named its officers with parliamentarian titles like General Secretary and President, Mrs. Besant ruled like a monarch. She did not brook dissent, and those loyal to her defended her by dismissing her opponents’ abilities:

One ally defends Besant against accusations:

No one who sees and speaks about her can doubt that the present opposition to her is fundamentally opposition to Them, and originates from those who are as yet unable to make the utter sacrifice of the lower self which is necessary before one can follow in Their steps.

People who overreach their given place were judged to be deceived by wicked spirits, the thought-waves of other people, or, simply, frauds.

H___’s proceedings are wicked, and should be repressed. He is inflated with overweening conceit, and supposes himself to receive messages from the Master Jesus through poor deluded Miss ___. He is doing much evil.

Even stranger, one correspondent contemplates winning the argument in the next world :

I know that as soon as he dies I can make him see the truth, but if he would only come to his senses before he dies it would save him agonies of remorse.

In a world so populated by spirits, one could blame almost anything on them. During a nation-wide lecture tour, blame for a burned-out light bulb for the magic lantern presentation was laid at the feet of a “little elemental” spirit.

Besant and Leadbeater became increasingly fixed on the return of one of the Masters in carnate form, as the Great Teacher. This time, they thought the Teacher would come from the West, not the East as Christ had.

"Dream of Life" by California painter Mabel Alvarez, who stayed at Krotona during the 'teens.

They were so excited about his coming that Leadbeater wrote a book called “Rents in the Veil of Time.” He identifies other people the Great Teacher, named Alcyone, encountered in his past lives, during as span ranging from 22,662 B.C. to A.D. 624. These entities, identified by code names such as Heracles, Sirius, and Orion, were none other than the leading members of the the inner circle themselves!

In Mary Lutyens’ book “Krishnamurti: The Years of Awakening” she tells how

this gave rise to a great deal of heart-burning and snobbery when once [the book was] published. ‘Are you in the Lives?’ became the question most often asked by one Theosophist to another, and , if so, ‘How closely related have you been to Alcyone?’

They considered several young men to be the incarnated Alcyone, including young Hubert van Hook, the son of a Chicago Theosophy leader.

Finally, they decided on a ten year old Indian boy named Krishnamurti, whom Leadbeater had seen playing on the beach.

It left poor Hubert in the lurch, even though Besant had persuaded his mother to bring him to Adyar for training. He remained there, sharing lessons with his rival, but, for fear of infecting Krishnamurti with his jealous vibes, he was not allowed to touch the other boy’s tennis racket or bicycle.

Loyalists in the ranks played the leaders off one another. When one person overreached, Besant wrote:

It seems likely that while Mrs. R___ was at Krotona, the strong psychic influence which surrounded her may have overpowered you a little. Fritz… wrote to me that many of the people of Krotona were being swept entirely off their feet, and that the strength of the members was being drawn away from definite Theosophical work in to lines of psychic development and emotionalism. No doubt that is to a large extent true; and if it were so, it must have reacted upon you also. I gather that Fritz and Marjory were not in high favour with Mrs. R___ because they declined to be impressed by wild assertions about psychic phenomena.

While a strict hierarchy kept the inner circle dominant over non-initiates, there would always be exceptions – and it was convenient to conjure up occult reasons for such deviations from the rule when a wealthy donor showed up:

The appearance of Mr. Barnhardt upon the scene with his large promise of money and his very deep devotion has made me wonder if he be not in the camp of those missing ones that I have been looking for, for certainly he feels very close to the Master….I asked him to give me some little object bearing his magnetism…to send it to you…so as to link him with you. He responded by handing me that which is within [enclosed]. When you psychometrize it, you will no doubt find him to be one of our useful workers of the past….

Besant, in her later years

History has taught us to beware of false prophets. Perhaps it’s because I am a non-believer, but when I read the letters, I don’t get the sense that these people were concerned with the spiritual realm, but rather that they were right down there mixing it up, with the back-biting and the lawsuits. The only difference was that they recruited their imaginary spirit allies to amplify their disputes. If you can imagine the biggest Drama Queen in your life, then think about how these folks took it to a whole ‘nother level.

This is the background of the Krotona colony. It became the intersection of this culture of dramatic, secretive paranoia, the creative and profane impulses of the arts, and the wheeler-dealer hucksterism of Hollywood. We’ll continue to explore.

*Mr. Leadbeater's story is treated lightly here, but it is not a pleasant one for his victims. We'll revisit this story later.

City of heretics

Aimee Semple McPherson in 1923

"Paradoxical in all things, Southern California is a land of exaggerated religiosity and also of careless skepticism, where old faiths die and new cults are born.” – Wrote journalist and historian Carey McWilliams in his book "Southern California: An Island on the Land."

L.A. has a reputation as a place where people embrace wacky ideas, strange religions, arcane philosophy, peculiar diets and odd disciplines. Cults and communes, communities and teachers devoted to disciplines expanding the mind, transforming the body, and inspiring spiritual thought have made their homes and lots of money here in Southern California. It's not surprising in a town where the biggest industry is creating fantasy, that some will create fantastic ways of life.

These efforts are deeply rooted in the city's history. Right from the start, Southern California was marketed as a place that would transform your life. Sick people came here for the cure. People who lived in chill, dreary Eastern cities came for tropical paradise. People who wanted to remake themselves found plenty of opportunities. People who want to make money off those people found an equal number of opportunities.

The magician Satani, with a crystal ball, in 1925 from a photo at the Los Angeles Public Library

In 1913, Willard Huntington Wright, editor of the literary magazine “Smart Set” did not think well of early Los Angeles. In one essay called "Los Angeles- The Chemically Pure", he called it a city without a heritage. The rapid growth and the influx of rootless people overran its historic Spanish heritage, and in its place people who sought to belong turned to

faddists and mountebanks, spiritualists, mediums, astrologists, phrenologists, palmists and all other breeds of esoteric windjammers… Whole buildings are devoted to occult and outlandish orders – mazadazan clubs, yogi sects, houses of truth, cults of cosmic fluidists, astral planers, Emmanuel movers, Rosicrucians and other boozy transcendentalists.

Photo by A Eisenstaedt, from Life magazine, 1929

The occult was very popular in the early decades of the Twentieth Century, especially among show people. In 1919 the author Aleister Crowley described a “cinema crowd of cocaine-crazed sexual lunatics, and the swarming maggots of near-occultists.” He would know.

Magic store, Hollywood, 1926

The Hollywood culture of hucksterism was adopted even by what most thought to be mainstream religions. It was the era of the celebrity evangelist, and the most famous of all was Aimee Semple McPherson, who brought her theatrical brand of Christian revivalism to Los Angeles in 1920 or thereabouts. She was so popular she built a huge church in Echo Park, called the Angelus Temple. It could accommodate 5000 adoring worshipers, and McPherson's church-owned radio station could reach tens of thousands more.

Aimee had her perks, L.A. style - reserved parking. Photo from the Los Angeles Public Library

In 1926, H.L. Mencken, when asked to comment on the popularity of Aimee Semple McPherson, replied

there were more morons collected in Los Angeles than in any other place on earth….it swarmed with swami spiritualists, Christian Scientists, crystal-gazers and the allied necromancers.

A personal scandal in 1926 tarnished Aimee's reputation, and a new marriage - her third - to an actor damaged her brand further when it fell apart over accusations of cheating. She died in 1944 from an unintended overdose of sleeping pills.

Her shameless self-promotion inspired the creation of memorable literary characters, including the preacher Eli Sunday in Upton Sinclair's novel "Oil!" - which was adapted for the recent film "There Will Be Blood."

"Apparition Over Los Angeles" - Barse Miller

In 1930, artist Barse Miller was awarded a prize for his satirical painting, "Apparition Over Los Angeles" which showed McPherson, her mother, and her husband as a holy trinity hovering in the clouds above the Angelus Temple, along with a pile of heavenly money-bags. It was deemed so controversial it was withdrawn from the exhibit.

Los Angeles was a place where nothing was too wacky to be believed.

Nathanael West, in his novel “Day of the Locust” creates a fictional version of the cults he observed in Los Angeles, including

the Tabernacle of the Third Coming where a woman in male clothing preached the Crusade Against Salt and the Temple Moderne, under whose glass and chromium roof "Brain breathing, the Secret of the Aztecs’"was taught.

Lest we think West exaggerates, Carey McWilliams relates his own experience:

In Los Angeles, I have attended the services of the Agabeg Occult church, where the woman pastor had violet hair and green-painted eyelids; of the Great White Brotherhood, whose yellow-robed followers celebrate the full moon of May with a special ritual; of the Ancient Mystic Brotherhood of Melchizedek, of the Temple of the Jeweled Cross….of the Self-Realization Fellowship of America,which proposes to construct a $400,000 Golden Lotus Yoga Dream Hermitage.

He offers as example the directory of tenants of a single office building in downtown L.A.

Spiritual Mystic Astrologer; Spiritual Psychic Science Church…; Circle of Truth Church; First Church of Divine Love and Wisdom; Reverend Eva Coram, Giving her Wonderful Cosmic Reading; Divine Healing Daily; Spiritual Science Church of the Master, Special Rose Light Circle.

The former Chateau Elysee

What was it about Los Angeles that seemed to draw them all here? That still seems to draw seekers to the city?

One writer of the time, Emma Harding, in a history of spiritualism, thought that cults thrived on the Pacific coast because of the mineral magnetism from California's gold mines, which caused beneficial vibrations. The strong enthusiasm of the long-dead spirits of the miners also contributed to the attraction, apparently.

The Theosophists who founded the colony at Krotona in the Hollywood hills were part of this wave of spiritual seekers, and though they may have been sincere, their colony fell prey to the natural tendency for corruption and conflict that afflicts all human organizations.

Vintage postcard of the Theosophist colony in Point Loma near San Diego.

Another Theosophist colony had been established near San Diego, and were viewed by suspicion by the members of the Krotona colony, because of rifts between their leader and Mrs. Annie Besant, the "Dear Mother" of Krotona. This rivalry is revealed in snarky and gossipy asides in letters between the colony and Mrs. Besant. The fact that they believed in reincarnation lent an extra dimension to the gossip, bringing otherwordly creatures into their petty spats:

Mrs.Tingley's persecution of Mrs. Besant has been so steady and so heartfelt, that it makes one believe that she must be an old persecutor, probably one of the Catholics in the past who have given our beloved leader so much trouble.
- A. P. Warrington to C. Jinarajadasa, 2/13/1913

Theosophy was even ripped off in the 1930s by a pair of grifters named Guy and Edna Ballard. Ballard claimed to have encountered one of Theosophy's great masters while on a hike on Mt. Shasta. He and his wife formed a movement they called the "I AM" movement, that expanded on Theosophy's ideas with some profitable extras, including tokens, rings, signed photos, special charts, and even a New Age Cold Cream you could get by mail order. Ballard claimed to be the reincarnation of George Washington, an Egyptian priest, and a French musician. They were so popular they drew a crowd of 6000 to the Shrine Auditorium in 1935.


It's funny to learn that one of the contemporary figures trying to debunk the fad of the occult was none other than the famed magician Harry Houdini. Houdini, who used physical skills to perform his sensational acts of dare-devil escape, despised self-proclaimed mediums and spiritualists, and after his beloved mother died in 1920, he dedicated himself to debunking the fakes.

Ironically,when Houdini died of peritonitis in 1926, his grief-stricken wife Bess spent the next ten years holding seances to raise him from the grave. She finally quit, after a media-staged attempt held at the Knickerbocker Hotel resulted in the usual failure.

Well, that's Hollywood for you.

L.A.'s other Theosophists - Theosophy Hall on Grand Street south of downtown

Although it was written in 1946, Carey McWilliams' book is still fresh today. Anyone who's interested in the history of Southern California should read it. The ability of California - and Los Angeles in particular - to allow its residents to delete their past, to create new realities, is one of its strangest qualities.

In writer Frank Fenton's first novel "A Place in the Sun", the author elaborates on the paradox that Carey McWilliams puts so succinctly in the quote that opens this post:

This was a city of heretics. A themeless city with every theme. Chicago, St. Louis and Denver had each been different; each had its own sordidness and strength and fury. Each was lusty and titanic in its own way, joyful and somber in its own way, and each was indubitably American. But not this Los Angeles. It had an air of not belonging to America, though all its motley ways were American. It was a city of refugees from America; it was purely itself in a banishment partly dreamed and partly real. It rested on a crust of earth at the edge of a sea that ended a world.

It was in this environment of personal and institutional re-invention that the Krotona colony came to Hollywood. And just like all other Hollywood newcomers, they adapted and became part of this new culture that created its own mythology, over the next few decades.

The Light in Hollywood

Readers of this blog probably already know what happens when I start researching something that piques my curiosity. Together you've come with me to learn about the Passages of Paris and the tawdry world of an L.A. taxi-dance hall; you've joined me as I explore the journeys of my father's family and [The Man I Love]'s grandfather and his life in L.A.

Well, hop aboard, because our recent discovery of Hollywood's historic spiritual colony known as Krotona has uncovered some wonderful stories I'd like to share with you. This is Part One.

A postcard view of Krotona Court

In 1912, in Hollywood, California, Mr. A.P. Warrington, with donations from wealthy followers, purchased some 11 acres north of Franklin Avenue, in the foothills of Mount Hollywood, for a group called the Esoteric Society. There would be educational centers, meeting rooms, gardens and retreats. He called it Krotona, after the mythological school established by the Greek philosopher Pythagoras.

Warrington was a follower of Mrs. Annie Besant, leader of the Theosophical Society, a religious group based in Adyar, Madras, India, but begun in 1878 in New York State. Besant had taken over leadership of the Society after the death of its founder, Madame Helena Blavatsky. The Esoteric Society was an elite group, her inner circle.

Warrington described the site in a letter to Besant, whom he addressed reverently as “My dear Mother”:

This is the most choice little spot I have ever found. It is on an elevation and at the foot of the hill, to the South, lies Hollywood and Los Angeles, and immediately around the hill are palatial homes of the very rich. To the West the same, with an unusually beautiful view of a lovely little vale; to the East and extending on up into the mountains is a charming little canyon...And to the North, there are the beautiful mountains, our site being right in the lap of them. The trolley comes within one long block of our site.

Theosophy translates as "god-wisdom.” As Theosophists, Warrington and Besant both believed in noble beings who existed to guide humanity toward perfection, over the course of many reincarnated lives. The worlds’ religions were attempts by the Masters to lead humanity to the Absolute Truth, and thus all religions are valid. Truth was found in the study of philosophy, arts, science and astrology. They believed in the occult; and believed certain people – themselves – were naturally receptive to spiritual messages.

Hollywood viewed from Primrose Avenue in the Krotona Colony in 1925

Architects Arthur S. and Alfred Heineman were hired to design the campus. Buildings already on the site were remodeled for colony use. Small bungalows were quickly erected to house staff.

One of the original bungalows

On July 2, 1912 - an astrologically favorable date - a ceremony marked the laying of the colony cornerstone. A processional of robed guests, followed a Grand Marshall to the blast of a trumpet, “in the subdued summer sunlight, down the winding lane among flowers and trees.”

A copper casket was buried beneath the stone, decorated with palm fronds, bearing portraits of Society leaders, golden tokens, copies of Society by-laws, the works of Theosophist scholars, and copies of the local daily papers. According to Masonic customs the stone was squared, leveled and plumbed, and anointed with water, wine, oil and salt. A wealthy benefactress, Mrs. Broenniman gave a dramatic recitation of the Birth Chant of the Omaha Indians, calling to the Sun, Moon, all the elements of weather; to the hills of the Earth, and to all animals, birds and insects to smooth the colony’s future.

It’s unclear where the cornerstone was actually laid. An architectural rendering of the campus by the Heinemans show a large white administration building, but there appears to be no trace of such a structure in Krotona. An existing house on Primrose Avenue was remodeled for use as the main administration office. Two other houses called the Brown House and the Yellow House were home to colony activities.

The colony's Science Building, today a private residence

On July 5, 1912, the first Summer School term began. Some 80 – 90 pupils attended courses on theosophy and science, Esperanto, Parliamentary procedure, Pedagogy, Psychology and Vegetarian Diet.

As the summer went on, more workers joined the colony with their families. Their children played idyllically on the wooded slopes and swung on swings. The children were organized by age into groups, from the Lotus Circle for the youngest, to the Golden Chain, where they were taught to chant “I am a link in the Golden Chain of Love that stretches round the world…” Teenagers joined the Round Table, based on the Arthurian legend.

Life at Krotona was simple. Alcohol and tobacco were forbidden, and most members were vegetarians. In his book, "Krotona of Old Hollywood" Joseph E. Ross describes the daily routine. Everyone rose to work by 8:30. At 12:15 they ate a communal vegetarian lunch. They worked until dinnertime at 6:00 and then in the evening came together for meetings and classes. There were readings of inspirational literature and stories. Wednesday was for business. Mr. Augustus Knudsen taught a class on The Bhagavad-Gita. Friday evenings the Order of the Star in the East conducted ceremonial rituals. Saturdays were for music; piano, phonograph and song, selections from "Parsifal" by a gentleman member. Animated discussions debated what Beethoven would compose if he were reincarnated, or the techniques of harmonization in the Greek mode. Each night at 9:00 pm, an Evening Meeting sent all off to bed with serenity.

A side gallery of the Krotona Court

In fall of 1912, construction began on the Krotona Court. The building was designed by the architectural firm of Mead & Requa. It would house a library, a book publisher, and the magazine produced by the Society. Plans included dormitory space for visiting disciples or those who wanted to live more simply and a vegetarian cafeteria with an outdoor eating space. Mr. Warrington’s residential quarters were located on the second floor over the building entry.

The building was designed in the Spanish revival style, an arched entry leading to a central court with function rooms opening onto it. At the rear, a domed Esoteric Room opened off the second floor gallery. Within its Moorish-style interior was a built-in altar positioned to focus the energy of combined meditation toward the mystic East.

The courtyard at Krotona

On October 1, the birthday of Mrs. Besant was celebrated with readings, stories, and musical tributes. Each guest placed a flower before her portrait, whose frame was entwined with green branches.

On Halloween, the children performed a play, for a ten cents admission to fund a future childrens’ library. The stage was decorated with jack-o-lanterns, and the tickets with drawings of black cats.

In November, 27 of the colonists shared a vegetarian Thanksgiving dinner. The menu included a turkey substitute, made of lima beans, corn flakes, and “dressing,” served with mashed potatoes and gravy, spinach, a salad of cottage cheese, pimento and nuts, and cranberry sauce, olives, and other relishes. Dessert was raspberry ice cream and cakes. The table was decorated with bouquets of pink carnations.

Krotona Court, with the completed Temple of the Rosy Cross to the southwest

In spring of 1913, when Krotona Court was completed, Miss Sarah J. Eddy contributed three large inspirational paintings of mystical themes to hang in the Assembly Hall. Another donor gave an 18th century Japanese gong for ceremonial use.

The Knudsen house today

In 1914 A wealthy benefactor from Hawaii, Mr. Augustus Knudsen and his wife built their grand villa where Vista del Mar curved to climb the hill. The three-level villa had large rooms for entertaining that opened broad arcaded terraces to the views below. A flight of grand steps, with arches and fountains, led down to lower Vista del Mar, to access the trolley lines on Franklin.

A glimpse of the Temple today, converted to apartments

Also in 1914, a related group, led by Marie Russak, a Besant protégé, formed the Temple of the Rosy Cross, based on the ideas of medieval Rosicrucianism. The Krotona Court complex was expanded with a larger assembly hall Temple, featuring stained glass windows with the "Rosy Cross" motif.

The stained glass window of the Temple, now an apartment building

In 1915, a large rambling structure known as the Ternary was built on Temple Hill Drive. It was three dwellings connected by a courtyard, and the home of Grace Shaw Duff, a celebrated lecturer from New York and other members of the inner circle.

The Ternary today, converted to apartments

Beyond the Ternary lay a lotus pool and the Greek-style outdoor amphitheatre where music and dance programs were performed. Beyond that, an Italian Garden included a Moorish-style kiosk or pagoda. Poems and stories published in the Theosophist magazines described the beauty of Krotona.

As one visitor put it in 1914:

It is especially lovely at night when one gazes down on the thousands of twinkling lights as the sea reflecting the starry firmament above. But the most indescribable part is the wonderful atmosphere of serenity and peace and power that broods over it.

Another view of the courtyard

The history of the Theosophical Society is as complicated as that of any human institution. Internal conflicts split the group; the old guard weakened and incoming members brought new ideas. The Hollywood real estate boom destroyed the rural serenity of the site. The group eventually relocated to a site in Ojai, in Ventura County.

It is hard for me to write about this without being unintendingly condescending. I don't believe in the stuff they believed in. Reading the story from nearly 100 years later, and knowing the history of Hollywood’s penchant for cults, quackism, and charlatanry, it’s easy to judge these folks as naïve - or even goofy. I am not a religious person, and for me, the idea of spiritual visitations, messages beyond the grave, and reincarnation seems ridiculous.

Stained glass lights beside a door in Krotona Court

On the other hand, there is something touching about the sincerity of the foundation of Krotona, and the dedication of its original settlers. For a brief time, they seemed to transcend the intrigue and political scheming that soon convulsed the Theosophic Society, both in the U.S. and worldwide. For a few short years, from 1912 to 1922, by all accounts the colony was a special place to be. The contribution it made to Los Angeles in the arts, in film and in this neighborhood, is still remarkable.

We'll explore more about Krotona, its people, and the peculiar ability of Los Angeles to attract and nurture an amazing array of cults, fads, and spiritual seekers and self-improvers.

I learned a lot about Krotona from these two sources:

Joseph E. Ross, "Krotona of Old Hollywood, 1866-1913 Volume I," El Montecito Oaks Press, 1989

Alfred Willis, "A Survey of the Surviving Buildings of the Krotona Colony Hollywood," Architronic, http://corbu2.caed.kent.edu/architronic/v8n1/v8n106.pdf

Historic photos from the Los Angeles Public Library.