"This book represents the script and film stills from the major silent film of Eleanor Antin's invented Soviet film director Yevgeny Antinov. Throughout her career Antin has explored various persona such as the king, the nurse, and perhaps the most famous - the ballerina Eleanora Antinova. In this work, Antin humorously explores notions of self, nostalgia, and history, specifically the Eastern European Jewish shtetl communities torn apart by internal struggles and ultimately destroyed by the Holocaust.

Yet the authentic look of the black and white film, the plot of this dark melodrama in the Yiddish theatre tradition, and the sheer beauty of the film's images make it a true masterpiece of silent film-making. If Antinov did not exist, Antin would have had to invent him - and she did. His cinematic creations were necessary to fill in the missing gaps of film history."--BOOK JACKET.