Moulin Rouge 1920s

Found at the "& then they danced.. "  blog of Stephanie Amato-Ramiriez:

http://pinterest.com/amatostephanie/then-they-danced/

Moulin Rouge - Backstage 1960

Another interesting set of photos from CineCitta Luce shows dancers warming up for their cancan performance at the Moulin Rouge circa 1960;

See the entire set at CineCitta's archive site:

http://sverigesradio.se/sida/gruppsida.aspx?programid=3290&grupp=18590&artikel=4867804

Ballo di carnevale a via Margutta

An entertainer at the Ballo di carnevale a via Margutta in 1957 gives the camera a coy look.   For more photos from the occasion, see the archive at the CineCitta Luce site:

http://www.archivioluce.com/archivio/efg.jsp?resource=Vedo/IL0000003401/

Frontier Fiesta

 Bayou Queen Booth

 French Quarter Booth

 Unidentified - from Fiesta Page

 Unidentified - from Fiesta Page

Dixie Land 1890

These photos are from programs for the University of Houston's Frontier Fiesta event held in the late 1940's and 1950's.  This was the heyday of the cancan in popular culture, and numerous sororities and other groups included cancan routines in shows they put on.  Almost every booth in the show seemed to have a cancan or other saloon type dance going on.

A description of the event from one of the programs explains,

"On the seen-acre tract known as 'Fiesta City' replicas of famous saloons at the turn of the century seem to spring up overnight.   The Silver Moon, Crow's Nest and others of the log cabin-pleasure palace variety are built by a student body intent on setting up the best building the quickest.  

"Fraternities,  clubs, sororities and other campus organizations all add their part to the western event.  Campus waddies and cowgirls still attend classes, but the conversation outside classrooms is limited to various ways of phrasing, 'What are you doing for Fiesta?'''

You can see the originals at:

http://uhdigitallibrary.blogspot.com/  (the main page) 

and these specific pages for the photos above:

http://digital.lib.uh.edu/cgi-bin/getimage.exe?CISOROOT=/p15195coll14&CISOPTR=240&DMSCALE=15.57632&DMWIDTH=750&DMHEIGHT=982.08722741433&DMX=0&DMY=0&DMTEXT=&REC=1&DMTHUMB=0&DMROTATE=0

http://digital.lib.uh.edu/cgi-bin/getimage.exe?CISOROOT=/p15195coll14&CISOPTR=242&DMSCALE=15.59576&DMWIDTH=750&DMHEIGHT=982.06487835309&DMX=0&DMY=0&DMTEXT=&REC=1&DMTHUMB=0&DMROTATE=0

http://digital.lib.uh.edu/cgi-bin/getimage.exe?CISOROOT=/p15195coll14&CISOPTR=251&DMSCALE=15.63803&DMWIDTH=750&DMHEIGHT=985.50875729775&DMX=0&DMY=0&DMTEXT=%20can-can&REC=1&DMTHUMB=0&DMROTATE=0

http://digital.lib.uh.edu/cgi-bin/getimage.exe?CISOROOT=/p15195coll14&CISOPTR=177&DMSCALE=15.57956&DMWIDTH=750&DMHEIGHT=986.18612380557&DMX=0&DMY=0&DMTEXT=&REC=1&DMTHUMB=0&DMROTATE=0

http://digital.lib.uh.edu/cgi-bin/getimage.exe?CISOROOT=/p15195coll14&CISOPTR=133&DMSCALE=15.72987&DMWIDTH=750&DMHEIGHT=997.4307885906&DMX=0&DMY=0&DMTEXT=%20can-can&REC=1&DMTHUMB=0&DMROTATE=0

http://digital.lib.uh.edu/cgi-bin/getimage.exe?CISOROOT=/p15195coll14&CISOPTR=329&DMSCALE=7.89141&DMWIDTH=750&DMHEIGHT=507.97032828283&DMX=0&DMY=0&DMTEXT=&REC=1&DMTHUMB=0&DMROTATE=0

For an index to the programs see:

http://digital.lib.uh.edu/cdm4/results.php?CISOBOX3=frontier+Fiesta+program&CISOFIELD1=CISOSEARCHALL&CISOFIELD2=CISOSEARCHALL&CISOFIELD3=CISOSEARCHALL&CISOFIELD4=CISOSEARCHALL&CISOROOT=all&CISOOP1=all&CISOOP2=exact&CISOOP3=any&CISOOP4=none

All of the above are courtesy of Special Collections, University of Houston Libraries, University of Houston Frontier Fiesta Collection. UH Digital Library. http://digital.lib.uh.edu/ (accessed March 9, 2013)

Lydia Lopokova

I think these photos are of Ms. Lopokova costumed as the cancan dancer in the Ballet Russe's La Boutique Fantasque.  I discovered them at:

http://www.vam.ac.uk/b/blog/diaghilev-and-ballets-russes/treat-screen

where there is a link to a slow motion video of her dancing (spinning).

Trivia:  Ms. Lopokova was married to John Maynard Keynes.

Her Wikipedia entry:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lydia_Lopokova

INA.fr

INA.fr has an archive of videos that includes a number of classic period cancan performances, including these:


http://www.ina.fr/video/I04315111/marcel-amont-le-bresilien-video.html

http://www.ina.fr/video/R10335007/spectacles-et-festivites-a-l-occasion-de-la-sainte-barbe-video.html

http://www.ina.fr/video/AFE85007217/soiree-au-moulin-rouge-video.html

http://www.ina.fr/video/I00008263/french-cancan-au-moulin-rouge-video.html

http://www.ina.fr/video/CAF91022241/vendanges-a-montmartre-video.html

http://www.ina.fr/video/CAF94062700/vendanges-sur-la-butte-montmartre-video.html

http://www.ina.fr/video/CAF94062703/vendanges-a-montmartre-video.html

You can find other cancan videos using the search function on these pages.

Windmill Theatre

The Windmill Theatre was a beloved British institution, and its passing has been mourned and its history remembered.  The above program cover shows a sample of the classic cancan performed there.

Two films/TV Series in which it figured are "Mrs. Henderson Presents" and "The One and Only Phyllis Dixey."  There are various tributes on the Web too, including arthurlloyd.co.uk and the Flickr pages of windmill3, where this photo originated 

The cite for the latter is:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/40604141@N02/8183706438/in/photostream

You should look around in windmill3's Flickr Photostream for many more photos from the Windmill and its Revudeville.

arthurlloyd.co.uk features photos I haven't seen elsewhere and a lot of reminiscences about the Windmill.

The main page is:

arthurlloyd.co.uk

The Windmill is featured on:

http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/Archive/Feb2003/Feb2003index.htm
(See the photo of the real Mrs. Henderson and check out the links on that page)

http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/Archive/Feb2003/Windmillgirls.htm

http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/Archive/Feb2003/WindmillGirls2.htm

http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/Archive/Feb2003/Slides/SlidesIndex.htm

http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/Archive/Feb2003/KenBandy/BackstageCameraman.htm

British Pathe

One of our members called my attention to the video archives of British Pathe.   You may have seen them before but there is some great classic material there that deserves another visit.  Included are these four videos that show the cancan at Bal Tabarin  from the late 20s through the late 40s:

1929:

http://www.britishpathe.com/video/bal-tabarin

And in 1939:

http://www.britishpathe.com/video/paris-dances

And in 1947:

http://www.britishpathe.com/video/bal-tabarin-draws-record-crowds

And in 1949:

http://www.britishpathe.com/video/cancan-at-le-bal-tabarin

Also, there are many more that you can locate through use of the search feature on the pages.

Congress is in Session

The performer in the middle is Gabriele Ray, playing Lady Dorothy Congress in The Little Cherub.  She is flanked by her sisters Lady Agnes Congress and Lady Rosa Congress.  I'm not sure if this production involved a cancan, but Miss Ray was certainly capable of performing one:

http://classiccancan.blogspot.com/2013/02/miss-gabrielle-ray.html

(Speaking of Congress and horsewhips, there is a place such whips could be beneficially applied to the current membership of the US Congress.)

This photo is from the blog of Grumpy Old Fart:

http://summertime75.wordpress.com/2013/01/17/lily-elsie-rotary-3261-e/

For more about Miss Ray, click on the link at the right of the above page for access to a Blog devoted to her.

Paris in Piccadilly

This photo is of dancers at the Piccadilly Hotel, London, circa 1930.  The original can be seen at the Flickr pages of Igor Slavich, who has assembled a great collection of London photos of bygone eras:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/igorslavich/8519422834/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/igorslavich/sets/72157632484241851/with/8519422834/

France 1968

A photo of a local performance of the cancan posted at the site of the Ministere de la Culture et de la Communication:

http://www.culturecommunication.gouv.fr/

This photo appears at;

http://www.culture.gouv.fr/Wave/savimage/phocem/phw/phw-1960-1969/1968/phw-1968-12-95-p.jpg

I was unable to ferret out the identity of the dance troupe or the location, although the time period appears to be 1968.

Moulin Rouge 1955

A superb photo of the Moulin Rouge dancers circa 1955.  This is from the French blog, BlogZoom:

http://angor.blogzoom.fr/783151/DOISNEAU-2607-French-cancan-au-Moulin-Rouge-PARIS-1955/

Where the caption reads, "DOISNEAU - 2607 - French cancan au Moulin Rouge - PARIS - 1955"

Before She Was Lucy 2

Lucille Ball had an extensive film career appearing in a number of 1940s comedies and musicals.  This is an additional non-cancan spinning shot from the same photo session. It was posted at the I Love C+B Clothing  blog:

http://ilovecbclothing.wordpress.com/2011/02/19/oh-lucille/

Lucy did perform a comic cancan in one of the episodes of I Love Lucy called "The French Revue."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYUzhr72c2A

Harborough's Gang Show - 1974

Another amateur performance, this time at an annual show to benefit the local  Scouts and Guides.

See the story at the Lutterworth Mail site:

http://www.lutterworthmail.co.uk/community/nostalgia/mail-memories-gang-show-s-moulin-rouge-inspiration-1-4789661

Before She Was Lucy

Lucille Ball had an extensive film career appearing in a number of 1940s comedies and musicals.  This non-cancan spinning shot was posted at the Tumblr blog, Women of the 30s - 70s:

http://womenofthe30s-70s.tumblr.com/post/42339901499/lucille-ball-1942

It appears to be a proof because the platform she is dancing on is not dressed up enough for this to be a publicity still or a movie still.

Lucy did perform a comic cancan in one of the episodes of I Love Lucy called "The French Revue."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYUzhr72c2A