Coretti Arle-Titz in Revolutionary Vladivostok

Vladivostok, Russia (1918)

Golden Horn Theatre-Hotel

After the October Revolution, the Bolsheviks concentrated their energies on seizing control across the entire incredibly large Russian landmass. Many people (particularly artists and entertainers) fled east into Siberia, where Soviet control hadn't reached (or was at least minimal). One particular destination was the port city of Vladivostok. The city was often the last destination of weary passengers of the Trans-Siberian railroad before traveling on towards China or even Japan. 

Map of a divided Russia (1918)

As Imperial Russia came to an end, much of Russia's small Afro-American expatriate community fled the country, returning to the United States (from which they escaped from in the first place). In early-1918, among those aboard the trains east were Georgette Harvey, Minnie Brown & even Corette Alefred (Arle-Titz). The majority of Russia's American community fled the country after the 1917 October revolution.

By December 4th, 1917, Minnie was engaged at the Palermo Restaurant in Harbin, China. Georgette had fled across Mongolia and China to Yokohama, Japan where she was soon employed as a maid. Corette remained in Russia, as she was seen appearing at the Golden Horn Hotel-Theatre in Vladivostok around August 1918.

As seen in Anatoly Vakhov's book 'Flame in the Tundra': 

"Mandrikov entered the strip of yellow light falling on the sidewalk, and involuntarily looked up. The light fell from the wide-open door of the restaurant "Golden Horn" and from its signboard, which, with fiery letters, crumbled down the cornice. From the doors it was drawn with warmth, a pleasant aroma of delicate dishes. I heard music. There were several cars at the entrance. The varnished doors and the hoods of the cars glistened with rain. Two uniformed American officers with ladies emerged from the newly arrived car, past Mandrikov....

In the hall, covered with a bluish haze of cigarettes and cigars, waiters wandered between the tables, crouching like felines. There was a rumble of voices, claps of champagne. At a distant table someone shouted: "For Russia the Great!" Mandrikov quickly examined the room and asked the head waiter to come up and set up a separate room. An elderly man with a loose face, with a glance at Mandrikov's companion, smiled knowingly and led them along a steep staircase to the mezzanine. The cabinet came out with one side to the common room. Mandrikov sat down so that, while remaining unnoticed from below, he himself could see almost the entire hall. There shined gold with epaulettes, jewelry on ladies. A large crystal chandelier filled the hall with light....

The orchestra played a fashionable slow dance - tango. Several pairs emerged in the middle of the hall. All these were foreign officers - Americans, British, Italians and French. Clinging tightly to his partner, they slowly walked around the hall, shuffling their soles and bending, as if exhausted from languor.

Tango was over. Suddenly the lights went out. There were surprised exclamations, a woman's laughter. Nina Georgievna expected that the hand of the cavalier would touch her, but this did not happen. In the farthest corner of the hall erupted two spotlights, red and green beams converged on the stage orchestra, highlighting the fixed half-naked female figure with her hands at her side. A whisper rang out through the hall, rare claps were heard. They were joined by new ones, and applause, like a storm, swept the hall.

"Bravo, Arle-Titz, bravo!"

The regulars of the restaurant learned the recently arrived mulatto Arle Titz, who is the performer of the exotic "belly dance", who came to Vladivostok. A short sparkling skirt and a narrow strip of silvery fabric on her chest made up her entire outfit. Black curly hair was intercepted by a band of sparkling gemstones. The orchestra began to play. At first the melody was slow, and the woman began to move to the rhythm with shoulders, hands, hips. The pace of the music grew faster and faster with every second, and she wriggled as fast as if she was tormented by a terrible illness. The audience was roaring, cackling, choking with squeals and groans ...

The projectors went out as suddenly as they flashed and gave way to the light of the chandeliers. On the stage there was suddenly no mulatto, but the audience was still buzzing, shouting, clapping, whistling ...

- How wonderful! - said Nina Georgievna, although she remained indifferent to Arle Titz, but envied her success, and most importantly - earnings much more light than her.

"It's disgusting!" - Mandrikov frowned disgustedly. - Eat. Mandrikov's last word sounded like an order...."

Possibly convinced by Boris Titz (whom she had been in a relationship with since September 1917, and later married Kharkov sometime in 1920), instead of continuing onward to China or Japan, Corette returned west to the Kharkov where in 1919 she graduated from the Kharkov Musical Conservatory and toured across the Ukraine with the Concert Brigade of the South-Western Front, performing in clubs, military camps, canteens and barracks for the Red Army.