A series of four photographs all from the studio of Arthur Winter of Preston. This one has a date of 1935 on the reverse and handwritten “The Maid of the Mountains.” It turns out that “The Maid of the Mountains” was a successful light operetta performed often in the first half of the twentieth century by various different companies and troupes. A search of the British Newspaper Archive reveals the following advertisement:
So, although I can’t be certain, it seems likely from the date that the photograph is of the chorus from the Preston and District Amateur Operatic Society.
Three further photographs from the same studio and date are probably of dancers from the same Society.
Not sure how I feel about “AI” generated videos from old photographs but the results are always interesting. The software seems to have invented some extra dancing girls for “The Maid of the Mountains.”
A second video generation seems altogether unlikely and too modern in style.
I recently obtained a 2 page article from The Sketch magazine dated September 18 1895 interviewing John Tiller and giving lots of details about his training methods and troupes. I’m constantly amazed by how many dance troupes he trained and named. As time went on he basically franchised his brand to other trainers so we may never have a full list of the troupes trained in the Tiller method.
Quotes from the article are all shown in italics. The images are also from the article.
“Who has not heard of John Tiller of Manchester? But some of us may not have chatted with the energetic and genial manager whose name is so intimately connected with the troups of dancing and singing girls who in fours, sixes, eights, and sixteens, raise out spirits as high as they kick their heels in the maddening whirl of skirt which adds to the abandon of their style. “
“To go to Manchester without calling on Mr Tiller would be like going to Westbourne Grove without paying Whiteley’s a visit – they both have something to do in the way of skirt-providing, by the way.“
I didn’t get the reference to Whiteley’s but wikipedia tells me it was an early department store that grew out of a dressmaker’s business. Hence the reference to “skirt-providing.”
“As long as our girls are respectable and respectably conducted we don’t lay too great stress on drawing from any special class. We don’t send them out before eleven. You say that’s full early; but remember that we have them educated under proper governesses, for we hold that cultivation of intellect is necessary to learning dancing.”
It’s surprising how young some of the Tiller Girls were and there are many questions to be asked about their welfare and treatment. On the other hand becoming a Tiller Girl was one of the few ways that working class girls could escape from their backgrounds. Although I don’t think she was ever a Tiller Girl, Jessie Matthew’s career, as given in her autobiography, was very much one of a working class girl finding escape through dance.
“Of course, you supply individual dancers?”
“Rather,” he replied with a confident smile. “Miss Ethel Neild, now at the London Lyric, comes from our school; Miss Any Knott will be principal boy at Huddersfield next winter; and Miss Bessie Cohen and Miss Maggie Rimmer are well-known soubrettes and dancers of pas-seula all over the provinces; while, if you have space, you might mention “Little Blake,” “Little Annie” and “Little Burnett,” who have been particularly successful in their “single turns.”
“I notice that you name your troupes differently. There are “The Fairy Four,” “Tiller’s Troubadours,” “The Forget-Me-Nots,” “Tiller’s Mascottes, “ “The Rainbow Troupe,” &c. What distinction is there between them?”
“Very little, except that each troupe has its own speciality. “The Tiller Troupe” is composed of our tallest girls, and “The Forget-Me-Nots” are the smallest; but they all dance and sing. They can do “cart-wheels,” the “splits,” and the high kick – indeed, everything that is done in fantastic dancing.”
The Sketch article is a great resource and all the more valuable for being contemporaneous with Tiller’s early work. By listing some of his dancers and the venues they appeared at, the article also adds to our knowledge of the music hall venues of the day. Who knows what else is yet to be discovered?
Peggy and Mollie Bensaid, known as the Bensaid Twins, were a celebrated British dance and performance duo whose remarkable showbiz career spanned almost 70 years.
They began performing as part of a youth dance troupe and quickly gained recognition in theatres and summer camps across the UK. There are many photographs of them at a young age.
There are also photos of them performing solo.
During World War II , the twins toured extensively, performing for British troops and the American Red Cross. Later they reinvented themselves as Britain’s only female clown duo.
Apparently they were separated for many years but reunited in a nursing home. They also featured in a documentary about “Hundred Year Old Drivers” which you can find on youtube.
I don’t suppose I should be surprised given the bizarre and often revolting creations that appear on Instagram and elsewhere but I’m still surprised by the power of so-called AI. Using OpenArt AI I took the still of these dancers and entered the prompt “girls perform a dramatic dance” and got the video at the top of this blog post. The result, rendered in about 3 minutes, is astonishing. Facial expression are a little off in places but otherwise this looks like a real film of a real event. It isn’t.
I recently acquired a set of 20+ photographs of girls in dance poses. I assume these were taken to illustrate to other dancers the basic poses. The size of the photos is 2 inches by 3 inches and the quality is not great. There’s no information to show who the dancers were, who the photographer was or at what date they were taken. My guess is they date back to the Edwardian era. More poses from this series are shown below.
I would further speculate that these poses were influenced by Isadora Duncan and her followers as she often performed barefoot and in a short tunic.
This photo is larger and from a different source but you can see the same posing ideas being put into practice.
And here’s another set of dancers barefoot and in tunics.
And a solo dancer striking a pose. Once you start looking you will find many dancers who all seem to be working from the same templates.
Most of the photographs of the Windmill Girls were taken by their house photographer and publicist Kenneth H Bandy. This is a typical shot of the dancers and they are all named on the reverse: Renee Baxter, Valerie Trevor, Rosalie Waltham, Irene King, Renny Calvert, Hope Calvert, Jeanne Weatherstone, Thelma Ward, Pauline Colgate. After I’d published this photo on my flickr feed I was contacted by someone who told me Jeanne Weatherstone was his mum!
As you can see from this inside cover of the Revudeville annual publication the Windmill Girls performed multiple times per day and they were required to learn new routines every five weeks. There were also two sets of dancers; troupes 1 and 2.
The leader of the dancers was known as the Head Girl (not just at the Windmill but also for other troupes). This card is an interesting puzzle. Who was the “head girl” that this card was dedicated to? In the book “Remembering Revudeville” by Jill Millard Shapiro there’s a section written by Vivien Goldsmith about her mother Joan Jay. During the war the performers often slept overnight in the Windmill Theatre as it wasn’t safe to venture out during bombing raids. Goldsmith said it resembled a boarding school in some ways and that her mother Joan Jay “referred to herself as its head girl.” Joan Jay left the Windmill after 11 years to get married and I’m guessing the card dates from that time.
So who sent the card? The signature looks as though it’s Joy or Joyce. I can’t find a reference to a Joyce at the Windmill but there were four Joys. Comparing the card to photos in the Revudeville book I’d say it’s Joy Hunt but again I can’t be sure.
(The oddly shaped piece of card was on the back of the photo and doesn’t help. It definitely looks like “F/O Joyce” and then there’s “To: Pam Treves” who isn’t listed in the Revudeville book.)
All of the routines performed by the dancers were given spurious names to justify them.
The dancers performed both in groups and as solo dancers, such as Anita D’Ray shown above. The dancers also included males though I’ve not shown any here as the theme is “vintage dancing girls.”
At first glance it isn’t clear this photo should be classified as “vintage dancing girls.” However the models are named as Jill Antsey and Marion Lynde and a search reveals they were Windmill Girls in the 1940s so they would have danced as well as appearing in nude tableaux. This article www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/Archive/Feb2003/SpeedwayArticle/Spe… from 1948 gives more information. There’s mention of “Beryl Catlin and Marion Lynde rehearse a Spanish dance.” As for Jill Antsey you can read “A Lead in the current search for new British talent will be given by Daniel Angel Films in their musical-thriller “Murder at the Windmill.” More than a dozen youngsters who have never before been in front of a movie camera will be given a chance supporting Garry Marsh, Jack Livesey, Elliot Makeham, Jon Pertwee, Jimmy Edwards and Diana Decker. For instance, one of the juvenile leads will be played by Windmill girl Jill Anstey.”
The film “Murder at the Windmill” is listed on imdb and has been recently shown on Talking Pictures TV. (It’s not a great film but it gives you an idea of how small the theatre was).
A souvenir issue of the Revudeville programme was issued yearly and often featured gimmicks such as this one. The large seven being a cut-out leading to the fuller picture inside. You can find copies of the various editions on ebay for a few pounds each though some editions are harder to find than others.
Of course the Windmill Theatre was also famous for its nude tableaux and the dancers were also required to appear in these scenes. A clever loophole meant that nudity could be featured on stage so long as the girls did not move! You can see more examples of the tableaux, the photos by Kenneth Bandy and many more Windmill related ephemera at my flickr feed.
Egham is a town in Surrey adjacent to Runnymede where the Magna Carta was signed. The four photographs in this post were taken at the Studio, High Street, Egham. Date is unknown but I’d guess the 1920s or 30s.
The unusual thing about these dancers is how elaborate their costumes were. I don’t suppose they went to such lengths just for their own amusement so it’s very likely they performed in Music Halls or variety theatres. It’s possible they were in a local pantomime though again their elaborate costumes suggest something grander.
Of course there’s the perennial problem that the studio where the photographs were taken is not necessarily where they are from. If the troupe were touring then their home location could be anywhere.
Once again we’re confronted with the fact that there is insufficient information to identify the dancers or where they performed.
When thinking of “vintage dancing girls” your first thought might be of maypole dancers, such as the ones shown above. Although images of girls dancing around maypoles are common there’s no tradition that confines it to girls alone, You can find plenty of examples of boys and girls maypole dancing and, indeed, adults of both sexes.
Often maypole dancing goes alongside other traditions such as choosing a May Queen and would be part of much wider celebrations with many onlookers.
Postcards of maypole dancers tend to be more collectable and therefore more expensive to buy than other cards, especially if the location and date are given. Topographical RPPCs are probably more popular than any other kind and it seems natural that if you collect scenes from a particular town then you will want to have non-topographical materials from the same area. (Similarly cards showing floods or natural disasters from named towns are even more collectable and more expensive).
The wikipedia entry for maypole gives extensive details of the likely origins and appearance in other countries and traditions. Perhaps surprisingly the general conclusion is that the maypole is not phallic despite the explanation to the contrary given in The Wicker Man film and the popular imagination.
There are many other traditional “folk” dances to be discovered. This pipe dance is similar to Scottish sword dancing. The idea is that the dancers must avoid breaking the pipes as they dance around them.
The garland dance was apparently introduced by mill owners in the 19th century. In this case the wikipedia entry is light on detail though garland dancing can often be seen at folk festivals right up to the present day.
Then there’s clog dancing practiced throughout the North of England and Wales as well as being exported to the USA.
I will leave the consideration of female morris dancers for another post even though there are those that maintain it’s purely a male pursuit. (I’m not one of them).
It’s often difficult to distinguish between amateur dancers, semi-professionals and professionals. This is especially true when it comes to older photographs and RPPCs where you might be looking at a troupe who had a long career in music hall or variety or might have been together for only one specific gig.
In this post I have only included dancers who are clearly professionals and by and large this means dancers from the twentieth century. The photo at the head of this post names the dancers as L to R Margaret Faber, Bobbie Selinger, Sue Faber, Doris Jeaume, Madge Rose, Annabelle Faber. Photo by Maurice Seymour of Chicago.
I have several photographs of the “Opal Girls.” I’ve not been able to trace much about them. Despite the indication of Italian and Belgium photographers there was a printed sheet giving a Ruislip England address which indicates the troupe performs in “Acts and ballets, cabaret and theatre, films and TV, American choreography complete reviews produced and All branches of entertainment.” So a versatile troupe then!
I have a folder of the “The Fabulous Joy Healey Dancers” which I assume belonged to one of the dancers. The cover, shown above, makes extravagant claims about their many appearances.
The George Carden Dancers. Stamped on reverse of this photo is: “Copyright Photograph by Associated Television (ATV) (Reproduction for editorial purposes if credit given).” This troupe appeared in many British TV programmes of the 1950s and 1960s including the Royal Variety Performance.”
I don’t know anything about the Sally Wickham Dancers. shown above.
Dancer and/or showgirl? A page from the Souvenir Programme for Folies-Bergere at the Prince of Wales Theatre London. The show began its run in 1955. (The Folies first ran in London in 1949).
No information on this troupe of dancers except a photo credit to R Foucher-Creteau of Paris.
Of course the most famous name given to dance troupes is “The Tiller Girls” of whom I have previously written. There are also the Windmill Theatre Dancers who I will write about in another post. There are also many many ballerinas, some famous, some not, who I will also discuss elsewhere.
These photos are from a full album of photographs. Very few have any information and certainly none of the performers’ names. All except one of the photographs with any written information give the locations as Par, St Ives and Newquay and are dated 1936. The exception is noted as Bognor 1937.
There is one photograph of the girls in everyday clothes recorded as Stanmore Common which is in the London Borough of Harrow.
Putting the pieces together it seems most likely that the girls are a semi-professional or amateur group of dancers from London who toured the South of England in 1936 and 1937. (The board advertising a demonstation by “London Experts” would seem to confirm this.) As well as photographs showing them in costume and rehearsing their moves there are lots of other shots of them relaxing and having fun.
The girls seem to have enjoyed practicing their moves on the beach.
The dancers found plenty of time to relax when not practicing their moves.
