My Life in the Theatre

My name is Despina Kavarlingou Cooke, but I have been known

 by the name Lily since I was a baby. A long time ago, I was born 

in beautiful Athens, Greece, 

to Elias and Athena Kavarligou.

I was their only child. When I was only 7 years old, my father, still a young man,

was killed during the German occupation in 1944. A sad time indeed for all of Greece ,

 but mostly for me, now a fatherless child. But we are not going to talk about sad things.

We will look back in time, to a very short but happy and productive career in

the Athenian entertainment world of music and dance and classic Greek movies!  

So please travel with me into to the past!  

As you can see from this baby picture, I always loved the tutu! 

When I was 14 years old  I entered the famous dance school  

of Koula Prachika. After a year or so, my mother enrolled me into 

Tatiana Varouti and Helen Choukala’s Ballet School that was 

thriving at this time. Helen was the prima ballerina of the Greek 

National Opera. Tatiana had studied and danced in Russia, 

so I was very privileged indeed, to study under those two wonderful

 and talented teachers. Our first school recital, Eine Kline Nacht music, 

was so professional that we had the recital  in one of the Theaters in Athens! 

We looked good!  

Dance was my life.

 That’s all I thought about, all the time.

To my delight I was invited to join the corre de Ballet of the Greek National Opera,

 no doubt from the suggestion of my teacher, the prima ballerina.

Pictures of the Greek National Opera

I was 17 years old and you can imagine my happiness, since this Greek theater was one of the oldest

and respected by many music-loving Greeks! After all, Maria Callas sang there...

before my time of course! I was in awe to be a part of that, to hear, day after day,

many of the immortal Operas and Operettas, and of course to perform in some of them.  

My Scrapbook page

   Here are some of the performances I was in.

 Un ballo un Masquera

Lucia di Lammermoor, The Tales of Hoffman, Operettas, 

The Land of Smiles, and the Greek Operetta Vaftistikos 

(sorry, no pictures allowed during performance).

During this time, I had other opportunities to expand to other branches

of the artistic world. I was invited to dance in a play by a Greek writer at

a summer outdoor theater in the Royal Gardens, called Vasilikos Kipos. 

In Greek, the play was called Erotokritos, and it was such a thrill for me 

to be with so many wonderful dramatic and character actors of the time... 

G. Papas, Kalogeirou,  N.Hatzihristos, and my dear, dear friend 

Dionisios Papagianopoulos, one of the kindness men I ever met, 

and a true gentleman!  

See more theatre pictures

But back to the play...it was a beautiful, colorful play in the 

warm Athenian  summer nights. Unforgettable times!  

One of the greatest moments of my short career was taking part in the 

2nd season of the newly opened Athens Festival

 at the Ancient Theater of Herod Atticus, under the Acropolis.  

The Opera was Orfeo un Euridice, performed by

 the Greek National Opera in 1956 and it was a hit!

In an August night with the moon out and the lighted Acropolis was a site

never to be forgotten! And the music of Gluch, oh so heavenly!

So have you had enough yet? No?  

Well then, let’s go to the movies! 

Yes, I did have some small parts in the movies.

 Small for me, but those films are still classic movies in Greece, for example 

who among the Greeks does not remember Kafetzou with the very funny lady,

 G.Vasiliadou? Well, I was the maid in the movie! Yes, yes, I know...from the elegant

 Opera stage to the maid with the braid. Oh well, who can pass the opportunity

 to be a part of a Greek classic film? Then there was another Greek hit, 

the national treasure, Agapitikos tis Voskopoulas, with Aliki Vougiouklaki.

See movie pictures

And then was the tearjerker, a drama, called Katadikasmeni kai apo to paidi tis,

 with Eleni Hatziargiri, S. Stratigos, and a young Thanasis Vengos, and me

dancing the mambo on the table! Shame, shame!! Of course I do have 

those movies on videocassettes as a souvenir and 

for the entertainment of my grandchildren!

Of course there was another movie, a comedy with N.Rizos & Haztihristos,

 called Kothonia tou Syntagmatos, and another one called Oneira Koritsion, 

1956, with F. Filaktos directing.

 I am sorry to say we cannot find them on videocassette.

If anyone out there has info on those films, please let me know!

****NEW**** Click here for more photos of my life in the theatre and movies

So all this exiting busy life happened in three short years, can you believe it?

 Music, dance, movies, theater, and then BOOM! 

Lamoure! Love!  

I had just met the love of my life and he swept me off my dancing feet! 

The handsome young man from North Carolina who asked me to marry him

 the second time we met, and I said YES! I married him in three months time, 

and I am still married to him after 47 years! Am I crazy or what?

The night of our engagement

Our Wedding Day

March 17 1957

I am happy that you shared my picture journey of a short career at a time

 when music, dance and theater was really loved and treasured by many people and still

talked about around the tables with some good ouzo and good company!

Thank you so much,

Yours Truly,

Despina Lily Marinou Kavarligou Cooke

Be Inspired to Dance ~ Visit my Dance Quotations page

 Parthenon and Atticus Theatre Images 

Copyrighted by Historylink101.com & found at Greek Picture Gallery.

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