Explore early 20th century history and culture—uncovering the entertainment and social trends that shaped life in North America and Europe from 1900 to 1930
Today, the word “flapper” conjures a picture of a woman in her twenties with a cocktail, cigarette holder, and sleek bob haircut, ready for sophisticated adult adventure. That is most definitely not how the flapper first came into public awareness. In the 1910s, and still in many uses well into the early 1920s, a flapper…
When the prominent American psychologist G. Stanley Hall died in April 1924, The New York Times remembered him days later under an unusual headline: “Dr. G. Stanley Hall Studied the Flapper’s Personality.” The article devoted substantial attention not to Hall’s place among the founders of American psychology, but to an essay of his about the…
Hilda Ferguson was one of the most talked-about showgirls of the 1920s Jazz Age: a Ziegfeld Follies revue star whose fame rested as much on scandal as on her famous shimmy dance—the era’s emblem of the flapper in motion. She kept company with bootleggers and gangsters, was questioned again and again about the unsolved murder…
Edythe Baker (1899–1971) was an American pianist and recording artist who rose from a Kansas City music-store counter to London stardom. She was also linked to romance in high places: King Edward VIII, along with his playboy brother the Duke of Kent. And, of all people, Winston Churchill. At 19 the trade press hailed her…
The Ziegfeld Girls were showgirls selected for Florenz Ziegfeld’s Broadway revues and promoted as ideals of American beauty, glamour, and modern womanhood. A century ago, a line of women glided languidly into the glow of the footlights on a Broadway stage. Some nearly nude, they shimmered with feathers, jewels, satin, and sequins. The audience watched…
Phryné Moderne Devant l’Aréopage (Modern Phryne Before the Areopagus) Shocking Dance: About the Book This book (published ca. 1913) is a curated collection of press coverage surrounding Adorée Villany’s controversial nude dance performances in Munich and Paris between 1911 and 1913. Framed by Villany’s declaration—“My unveiled form lays my soul bare”—the volume takes its title…
Adorée Villany: Naked Enigma Adopting the Dance of the Seven Veils Adorée Villany tested the European limits on how much skin a dancer could show on stage during the early 20th century. She also pushed the boundaries of early modern dance choreography. Most of all, she was an enigma. Adorée (or Viola) Villany was either…
Nyota Inyoka (1896–1971), a French-born dancer and choreographer of European and possibly Indian or North African heritage, rose to prominence during a period when stylized fantasies of the East dominated Western stages. Nyota Inyoka Rediscovered Famous Female Dancer Falls into Obscurity Although widely acclaimed during the 1910s and 1920s for her striking performances and scholarly…
As the motion picture industry took off, Salomania stormed the silver screen—Salome movies shocked, scandalized, and mesmerized people around the globe. It is hard to overstate how influential the Salome story was in silent film. The British Film Institute lists 21 films with “Salome” in the title made before 1930, but this is a serious…
When Richard Strauss attended a Berlin theater production of Wilde’s play Salome in 1902, he imagined a Salome opera, feeling the play “cried out for music.” By choosing this provocative story for operatic treatment, Strauss courted controversy—perhaps in hopes of drawing attention. As Alex Ross notes, the composer “felt drawn to sexually charged material throughout…