According to an article about Ayn Rand in today's New York Times, today is the centennial of her birth. I don't own or haven't read any of her books, except for Russian Writings on Hollywood, which was published by the Ayn Rand Institute Press in 1999.
Rand was born in czarist Russia in 1905, witnessed the revolutions of 1917 from her St. Petersburg apartment, and managed to make her way to the United States in 1926. Early on, she was something of a film buff, and at one time, Rand aspired to work in the film industry. (A couple of her novels would later be made into films.) The above mentioned book brings together early articles on the movies, along with other miscellaneous writings. Of note is the fact that Rand records having seen American Venus (1926) after her departure from the Soviet Union. According to her movie diary, Rand saw the film in Chicago on March 2 at the Terminal theatre. She had been in the United States less than one month. The American Venus was the eighth film she saw in America. She gave the film a 4-, or B- grade.
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