Female Spectacle: The Theatrical Roots of Modern Feminism

325 Pages·2000·27.732 MB·English

by  Susan A. Glenn

Female Spectacle

SUSAN A. GLENN
Female Spectacle
THE THEATRICAL ROOTS OF MODERN FEMINISM
Harvard University Press
Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London, England • 2000
Copyright ©2000 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Glenn, Susan A. (Susan Anita)
Female spectacle : the theatrical roots of modern feminism / Susan A. Glenn.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-674-00333-0
1. Women in the theater—United States—History—20th century. 2. Women in the
theater—United States—History—19th century. 3. Feminism and theater—United States.
4. Actresses—United States—Biography. I. Title.
PN1590.W64 G59 2000
792′.082′00973—dc21 00-040683
To Rachel and Jim

Contents
Introduction 1
1 The Bernhardt Effect:
Self-Advertising and the Age of Spectacle 9
2 Mirth and Girth:
The Politics of Comedy 40
3 The Strong Personality:
Female Mimics and the Play of the Self 74
4 The Americanization of Salome:
Sexuality, Race, and the Careers of the Vulgar Princess 96
5 “The Eyes of the Enemy”:
Female Activism and the Paradox of Theater 126
6 “Nationally Advertised Legs”:
How Broadway Invented “The Girls” 155
7 “Like All the Rest of Womankind Only More So”:
The Chorus Girl Problem and American Culture 188
Conclusion:
The Legacy of Female Spectacle 216
Abbreviations 226
Notes 227
Acknowledgments 275
Index 277

Illustrations
Following p. 125:
1. Sarah Bernhardt (1880). Photo by Rochlitz Studio, courtesy of Theatre
Arts Collection, Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of
Texas at Austin.
2. Sarah Bernhardt (1896) inLa Dame aux Camélias.Photo by N. Sarony,
courtesy of the Harry Ransom Center.
3. Sarah Bernhardt (c. 1884) inThéodora.Photo by W. & D. Downey, cour-
tesy of the Harry Ransom Center.
4. Marie Dressler inTillie’s Nightmare(c. 1910). Courtesy of the Academy of
Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
5. Marie Dressler (c. 1900). Courtesy of the Harry Ransom Center.
6. Eva Tanguay (c. 1909). Courtesy of the Harry Ransom Center.
7. Trixie Friganza (c. 1920s). Photo by White Studio, courtesy of the Harry
Ransom Center.
8. Nora Bayes and Jack Norworth (c. 1908). Photo by Sarony, courtesy of the
Harry Ransom Center.
9. Elsie Janis (c. 1905). Courtesy of the Harry Ransom Center.
10. Cecilia Loftus (1898). Photo by Sarony, courtesy of the Harry Ransom
Center.
11. Eva Tanguay (1910). Sheet music cover, courtesy of the Harvard Theatre
Collection, the Houghton Library.
12. “All Sorts and Kinds of Salomes,”The Theatre,April 1909, p. 130.
13. Gertrude Hoffmann (1908). Photo by F. C. Bangs, courtesy of the Dance
Collection, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Astor, Lenox
and Tilden Foundations.
14. Aida (Ada) Overton Walker (1912). Photo by White Studio, courtesy of
the Library of Congress, LC–USZ62–117539.
15. Inez Milholland Boissevain (1913). Courtesy of the Library of Congress,
LC–USZ62–77359.
16. Emma Goldman (1919). Courtesy of the Library of Congress, LC–USZ62–
20178.
17. Suffrage parade (1912). Courtesy of the National Archives, 208–PR–14M1.
18. ZiegfeldFollieschorus (c. 1910s). Courtesy of the Harry Ransom Center.
19. ZiegfeldFollies of 1909.Courtesy of the Harvard Theatre Collection, the
Houghton Library.