The Ziegfeld Follies changed American entertainment in a big way. When Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr., introduced the Follies of 1907 at the New York Theatre on Broadway, he took spectacle to a whole new level. It started as an uncertain experiment. It blossomed into an entertainment empire that ran until 1931 (with periodic revivals after Ziegfeld’s…
Edythe Baker was a distinctive figure in jazz world during the 1920s and 1930s, making her mark in a male-dominated profession. She excelled as a jazz pianist, composer, and recorder of popular music. Her beauty and talent also led her to both dance and play the piano in the renowned Florenz Ziegfeld’s Midnight Frolic. Performing…
During the early 20th century, Western audiences wanted spectacle. They couldn’t get enough of so-called “exotic” performances—female dancers with bare flesh draped in jewels, moving with sensuous rhythms. But it wasn’t just about the dance. It was about the story, the illusion, the fantasy. Audiences craved the escape, the thrill of something different, the titillating…
Rereading Louise Brooks’s reminiscences of her early years in New York City, published as Chapter One in Lulu in Hollywood, I’m struck by the unique blend of detail, candor, and lack of pretension or sentiment. She credits her success in the city to a soda jerk who tamed her accent, a waiter who refined her…
The following is adapted from the introduction to my book about Salomania, Sex, Art, And Salome: Historical Photographs of a Princess, Dancer, Stripper, and Feminist Inspiration. Check out the book for more detail, including over 130 historical photographs. I spent many years working with historical documents at the Library of Congress and other cultural heritage…