Devi Dja (born Misria Dja; August 1, 1914 – January 19, 1989), better known as Miss Dja, was an Indonesian-born American actress, dancer, and singer. A member of the Dardanella Opera group, founded by Willy A. Piedro, who later became her husband. She moved with him to the United States around 1940, and remained there for the rest of her life as a professional entertainer, taking American citizenship.
Life and career
1914–1930: Childhood and early career
Devi Dja was born Misria Dja on August 1, 1914, in Sentul, a part of Sidoagung, the village in Godean, Sleman Regency, to Adiredjo from The Royal Palace of Yogyakarta, and Sriami from Sumenep. Some sources such as United States Immigration Service document stated her birthplace as Pandaan, a city in East Java near 60 km from south part of Surabaya, and the naturalization form in the United States in 1953 recorded Kali Baru, a district in Banyuwangi, as her birthplace which Dja also mentioned during her interview with Saeroen in the Pemandangan newspaper, in 1934. She had a younger sister, Sutijem, who later married Ali Joego and became an actress using the stage name Dewi Kusna. Her paternal grandfather, Satiran, was a soldier of the royal palace of Yogyakarta who fled after the rebellion of the followers of Prince Suryegalaga. In order to escape the rebellion, Satiran along with his family moved, busking, from village to village in East Java where Adiredjo later met with Sriami in Surabaya, and married her there. During Sriami's pregnancy, she often argued with her father-in-law and later moved away with her husband to give birth to Dja. Satiran sent Dja to live with her paternal grandparents and she was often sick as a toddler. Her birth name was changed by her grandfather to Soetidjah, a common practice in Javanese culture.
Dja's childhood was spent moving from village to village with her grandparents. At the age of five, she moved to Pandaan to live with her parent and didn't receive a proper education. She later returned to live with her grandparents in Kali Baru and with the help of an Arab man and Dutch women, Dja's grandfather established a troupe called Stambul Pak Adi in the 1920s. This troupe was popular in Bondowoso, Jember, and Banyuwangi. Dja later joined the troupe as a dancer and singer using the stage name Soetidjah (or Dja).
1930: Dardanella
During her time with her grandfather's troupe in Rogojampi, Banyuwangi, in early 1927, she met Willy A. Piedro (born Willy Klimanoff), a Penang-born actor of Russian descent, who was the lead of The Malay Opera Dardanella troupe and often saw her perform. He invited Dja to joined in his troupe after seeing her singing Kopi Susu on stage, and later proposed marriage with the help of the head of Rogojampi District and Dja's grandfather. Dja's first performance with Dardanella was in Makassar on December 2, 1927, when she was 13 years old in a play titled Boenga Roos dari Serang by Hoo Tjong Leon as an extra, where she portrayed Hoo's daughter, Kiem Nio. They continued to perform in Ambon, Ternate, and Manado, in March 1928. After their last performance in Surabaya, they travelled to Banjarmasin and performed The Sheik of Arabia which resulted in many positive reviews from the Bintang Borneo newspaper, and continued to perform in Balikpapan and Samarinda from May until August 1928. They returned to Java Island in October 1928 and began their tour again in Surabaya where Dja took a break from performance. On October 30, she appeared in The Rose of Serang in Semarang as Hoo's daughter and received a positive response from Djawa-Tengah newspaper. On November 24, Dja recorded songs she sang for Beka, a vinyl record company from Germany. Her song "Toekang Satee" which she sang along with Miss Riboet II was released by Behn, Meyer & Co.
In 1930, Dja, who often appeared in plays as an extra, was asked to replace the lead actress who had fallen ill. The Sin Jit Po daily newspaper praised her performance and described the extra as gorgeous which resulted in attention and applause from public. By 1931 she was appearing prominently in theatrical posters as "Miss Dja: Dardanella’s Sweet Seventeen". By this time the Dardanella was booming, with the troupe grown to 150 members, and made its first trip outside Indonesia, to Singapore. In the mid-1930s it travelled to China and played in several cities. This was followed with a visit to Rangoon and India, where, in May 1937, Dja danced in the presence of Jawaharlal Nehru, the future prime minister. Continuing west, with the number of members declining along the way, Dardanella performed in Turkey, Paris, Morocco and Germany. Dja became known as the Pavlova of the Orient, after the ballerina, Anna Pavlova.