74
Popular Culture Review
In 1934, Theremin and his first wife Katia were divorced (Glinsky
160). She had given up a promising medical career in Russia to move to the
United States to be with him, but the relationship had soured—they had lived
apart for some time—^and the marriage was finally terminated. As indicated
above, though, Theremin alleged in the Mattis interview that the actual divorce
resulted from pressure by Soviet officials, who suspected Katia of Fascist
leanings. The same year, the U.S. had established diplomatic relations with
Moscow, and a Soviet embassy was established in Washington. This enabled
them to watch Theremin more closely (Glinsky 158).
The Soviets assigned Theremin the task of investigating the American
prison system. He also had to report to weekly meetings at a seedy cafe with two
men from the Russian Consulate. They would immediately order him to drink
two glasses of vodka so that he would hold nothing back. But Theremin learned
a secret to help control his own flow of infonnation. Before the covert meetings
he would eat a large quantity of butter, which he claimed allowed him to
counteract the effects of the alcohol (Glinsky 162).
In addition to investigating life in the prison system, he also obtained
aviation secrets. Regardless of Theremin’s true motivation, he was a shrewd and
adept spy. He claimed he would never ask questions—these would arouse
suspicions—^instead he would simply volunteer information for the Americans.
He would demonstrate his own inventions, such as an aviation autopilot, and an
electronic remote control, and simply allow the Americans to reciprocate,
supplying whatever he needed to know.
During this period Theremin was becoming renowned in America as an
inventor. His temporary visa had been extended year after year, and he was
firmly entrenched in New York’s Russian community. His brilliant inventions
had led him to become the Vice President of a successful company called
Teletouch, allowing him to market his inventions throughout America (Glinsky
153).
He set up an “amazing” new wireless alarm system at Alcatraz, where
notorious gangsters like A1 Capone were housed, and Teletouch was contracting
to put in another system at New York’s Sing Sing prison. But the system at
Alcatraz had numerous problems and was eventually deemed a failure.
Theremin turned his Teletouch offices into a sort of fun house of electronic
gizmos, and turned his attention back to more frivolous inventions designed
purely for fun such as “the magic mirror,” and an electronic “baby guard,” but
the company—^and Theremin personally were already beginning to have major
financial problems. These worsened, eventually leading to bankruptcy for the
once-successful company. Theremin was also far behind in his income taxes
(Glinsky 167).
During this period Theremin worked with many Western composers
and other musicians. In his interview with Mattis, he had difficulty remembering
some of the key figures—^Mattis was especially disappointed that he failed to.
remember working with Edgar Varese—but he said that he made ten electronic