The first successful blend of a social message and entertainment was Aleksandrov's "Circus" (1936). It starred his wife, Lyubov Orlova (an operatic singer who had also appeared in "The Jolly Fellows") as an American circus performer who has to immigrate to the USSR from the U.S. because she has a mixed-race child, whom she had with a black man. Amidst the backdrop of lavish musical productions, she finally finds love and acceptance in the USSR, providing the message that racial tolerance can only be found in the Soviet Union.