Wannabe

In the spirit of things.  A nice cheesecake photo, probably from the 1950s, of a model tossing her petticoat cancan-style.  I do not have the provenance of this photo any longer.

Dancer in Dressing Room

Perched on a riser, this unidentified dancer displays her cancan costume with a big smile.  The photo is by Leslie Jones and is in the Leslie Jones Collection at the Boston Public Library, which is available on Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/boston_public_library/7543760756/in/set-72157627286959850

More details are available at the above Flickr page.

Google Cultural Institute

There is a new research tool available for classic images - Google Cultural Institute.  The photo above of Merle Oberon dancing the "Parisian Trot" is from a set of publicity photos taken in September 1943 by John Florea  for a  Life Magazine article about her dancing the cancan in The Lodger.  It is included in the Life Magazine collection contained in the Cultural Institute.   Some of these photos have been available otherwise, but others, like the one above, have not been.

There are 23 photos of Ms. Oberon in this set, including just a few you probably have seen before.  The link to the Oberon photos is:

http://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/asset-viewer/MgEPKeywBiXOjA?hl=en#!browse:f.text=lodger&q.openId=date&hl=en

The search function at the top of that page will lead you to other items of interest.

The Google Cultural Institute has a wide variety of material about many different subjects.  The project is described at:

http://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/about/

USO Show

These five ladies cheer up the troops in a USO show during World War II.

Flapper Flapping

 ... her skirt, that is.   Judging from the hairdo and style of panties, I'd say this extraordinary photo is from the 1920s.  It is available at the French DelCampe auction site:

http://www.delcampe.fr/page/item/id,210047778,var,Photographie-studio-1900-1920-portrait-femme-sexy-genre-cabaret-french-cancan-Studio-Keystone-TALBOT-Paris-Grand-format,language,F.html#description

The dancer is not identified.  She looks a little like Ayn Rand, except she is smiling. ;-)

Kitty Starling the London Darling

A poster by Ludwig Hohlwein from 1926.  Offered at EBay:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Kitty-Starling-London-Darling-Ad-Ludwig-Hohlwein-1926-/181096432459?pt=Art_Prints&hash=item2a2a30434b

I wasn't able to find any information about Ms. Starling other than that she may have been perfoming in Munich.

La Chaste Suzanne and her protégés

A still from the second cancan in La Chaste Suzanne (La Casta Susana).  This is offered by Historic Images on EBay at:

http://www.ebay.fr/itm/1962-Press-Photo-Maruja-Diaz-in-La-Chaste-Suzanne-/350728601199?pt=Art_Photo_Images&hash=item51a90dbe6f

For more about La Chaste Suzanne and Marujita Diaz (sitting on the top of the circular sofa in this photo) see:

http://barbebleu.tumblr.com/search/la+casta+susana

http://clubccd.blogspot.com/2013/01/la-casta-susanala-chaste-suzanne.html

http://clubccd.blogspot.com/2013/01/la-casta-susanala-chaste-suzanne-second.html

If you've never seen this film, you should -  it is definitely worth a look.

Art School Dance - 1953

The dancers are Pamela Fawkes and Julia Matcham, and they are performing at the Art School dance in Chelsea.  The photography is by John Bignell.  This photo and a collection of his other photos from the 50s and early 60s, including a couple of cancan photos,  is presented at The Library Time Machine blog:

http://rbkclocalstudies.wordpress.com/category/john-bignell/

Die Dilledöppchen

A pot of gold if you pronounce it correctly?   No - I'm not Bill Maher.

This is a modern photo (2001) but it is in black and white in partial keeping with the theme of this site.  The dancers are the KG Ramersdorfer Jonge troupe as best I can determine.

See the original at:

http://www.general-anzeiger-bonn.de/bonn/beuel/ramersdorf/Die-Dilledoeppchen-wirbeln-wieder-article757970.html?&i=1

The KG Ramersdorfer Jonge site is:

http://www.ramersdorferjunge.de/

Cancan in heels

This is from the photo collection of an unnamed dancer and is currently offered on EBay at:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/130872512887?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649

It looks like some backstage hi-jinks.  I'm not sure any serious dancing would have been likely in the high heels she is wearing, but who knows.   There is the old line about Ginger Rogers being able to do everything Fred Astaire did, but backwards and in heels.

Her long legs and the position of her kick remind me a little of the poster for the 1952 Moulin Rouge film:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/archive/4/46/20121014194214!Moulin_rougeposter1952.jpg

Music with the Girls

A photo from the 1951 show, "Music with the Girls".  No other information is available.

This photo is available at the following EBay auction:

http://clubccd.blogspot.com/2013/03/caramella.html

Cartwheels

 Unidentified dancers cartwheel during a cancan performance.

From an EBay auction:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Press-Photo-The-Young-Fit-Cartwheel-During-The-Can-Can-/400434924628?pt=Art_Photo_Images&hash=item5d3bc80c54&nma=true&si=Fy3%252F4hGHt5eFUjcowOgYT8JqvPM%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

See Historic Images' EBay store for more vintage material.

Congressional Aides?

This actually is a real photo not a political commentary.  The description says that these eight Congressional  secretaries are dancing the cancan on the steps of the US Capitol to publicize a 1956 benefit show, "Revisin' and Extendin','' for the Society of Crippled Children.

It is offered in an EBay auction:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BS-PHOTO-hao-531-Dancing-Can-Can-/350740205713?pt=Art_Photo_Images&hash=item51a9bed091

No lie, and here's the proof

To pique your literary interests, from the books blog of Margaret, "Books Please":

http://www.booksplease.org/2010/02/09/would-i-tell-a-lie/

http://www.booksplease.org/2010/02/12/would-i-tell-you-lies-the-answers/

Moulin Rouge 1920s

The cancan ensemble at the Moulin Rouge of the 1920s.   This is from an Ebay.fr auction, where the location is misidentified as the Alhambra:

http://www.ebay.fr/itm/PARIS-CABARET-LAlhambra-French-Cancan-Demonstration-de-French-Cancan-au-c-/370775308007?pt=FR_SK_dvd_Photo&hash=item5653ee36e7

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