Bernar­dine Szold Fritz arrived in Shang­hai in 1929 to mar­ry her fourth hus­band. Only thir­ty- three years old, she found her­self in a time and place like no oth­er. Yet from the night of their wed­ding, Bernardine’s new hus­band did not live up to his promis­es. Instead of feel­ing sor­ry for her­self or leav­ing Shang­hai, Bernar­dine decid­ed to make a place for her­self.

Like oth­er Jew­ish women before her, she start­ed a salon in her home, intro­duc­ing Emi­ly Hahn, the charis­mat­ic writer for The New York­er, to hote­lier Sir Vic­tor Sas­soon and leg­endary poet Sin­may Zau. And when Hol­ly­wood stars Anna May Wong and Char­lie Chap­lin passed through Shang­hai, Bernar­dine orga­nized gath­er­ings to intro­duce them to their Shang­hai con­tem­po­raries.

When Bernardine’s salon could not accom­mo­date all who wished to attend, she found­ed the Inter­na­tion­al Arts The­ater to pro­duce avant- garde plays, bal­lets, and lec­tures, often push­ing audi­ences beyond their com­fort zones. As WWII loomed, Bernardine’s devo­tion to the arts and the peo­ple of Shang­hai brought joy to the city just before it would change forever.