22.00USD
Ida (Pinckney) Fuller, Belle Epoque "Interpretive" Dancer, circa 1905
In Ida Fuller, nee Pinckney, the well known Belle Epoque "interpretive" dancer, we have a very clear example of the competitive twists and turns that sometimes occurred between performers of la Belle Epoque.
Ida Fuller became widely known for her "skirt" dancing, or "serpentine" dancing. This was a variety of dance which was, as far as we can determine, developed by the famous dancer, choreographer, and inventor, Loie Fuller, a remarkable woman whose name became, in many ways, synonymous with Art Nouveau and the Belle Epoque. Only one of the ways in which this is remarkable, is the fact that Loie Fuller was a somewhat short, chubby girl from Illinois, not known for being a great beauty, who after gaining a middling reputation as an actress and singer in the states, made her way to Paris, opened at the Folies Bergeres, and became an almost instant success. Although she did return, now and then, to the U.S., and maintained her citizenship here, she basically adopted France as her home, and France, most certainly, adopted her.
Volumes could be (and have been), written about La Loie, or Lo-Lo, as she was sometimes affectionately called, but we will compose a post concerning her, in greater detail, at some later time. The style of dance she introduced to the world was much copied and imitated. Scores of women claimed a close relationship, even to be her sister, using the last name of Fuller, most of them illegitimately, but at least one, legitimately.
Her work was even parodied. In his book, "The Victorian Visitors: Culture Shock in Nineteenth Century Britain," Rupert Christiansen tells of one amusing example:
" the music hall star Little Tich, who parodied her [Loie Fuller], as Miss Turpentine, swanning around the stage in yards of rapturous muslin and then breaking the sublime illusion by stopping to scratch her leg."
Not so much information can be found regarding Ida Fuller. She was born Ida Pinckney, in Forest City Iowa, in 1867. In biographical articles concerning Loie, Ida is often dismissed as a mere imitator, a pretender to Loie's own unique art form, the serpentine dance.
That Ida was a latecomer, who made use of Loie's already developed style to work out her own routines, is almost certain. To dismiss her, however, as a mere imitator, is probably not entirely fair.
It has been suggested that Ida's "claims" that she was a relation of Loie's, were untrue. Well, our research suggests otherwise. Ida Pinckney, as far as we can tell, married Frank Rodney Fuller, Loie's elder brother, an electrician with extensive knowledge of Loie's lighting effects, as he was reputed to have been involved in her earliest successes with her dance routines.
Below are a few lines taken from a genealogical forum, and posted by a relation of Ida Fuller's:
"Lake Mills Graphic, Iowa, 17 Oct 1894:
Ida Fuller of Forest City, the world renowned actress and serpentine dancer, passed through town on Monday's train enroute for Europe where she has engagements.
Lake Mills Graphic, Iowa 6 July 1898:
The Tribune is in receipt of a postal card dated at Luzerne, Switzerland June 16th, from Frank & Ida Fuller. They are summering there. They have contracts in advance for more than a year in their European tour, and are doing well."
The fourth image in this listing, NOT included for sale with the postcard we are selling,
is a copy of an emergency passport application filled out by Ida in 1898, in Vienna. Witnessing this application is Frank R. Fuller, who was in fact Loie Fuller's older brother. This document, and more, in an excerpt from a theatrical memoir we quote below, at least establishes that Ida's claim to a familial relationship, if by marriage, is true enough.
Additionally, the "Fire Dance," a routine for which Loie herself became very well known, and to whom its invention is generally credited, was, (again, only evidenced by the fruits of our research, which are drawn from accounts written by contemporaries of these ladies who were involved in the theatrical world of the period), actually an invention not of Loie's, but of Ida's, who performed the routine widely, both in Europe, and in the United States.
In "Forty Years of Observation of Music and Drama," by Robert Grau, 1909 Broadway Publishing Co., Grau, clearly a fan of Loie Fuller's work, praised her artistic accomplishments, and bemoaned the fact that her genius had gone unappreciated in America. However, when touching on Ida, he writes:
"Ida Fuller is not a sister of Loie, but her sister in law. She married Frank Fuller, an electrician, who was closely identified with Loie's first success It is only fair to Ida to explain that her greatest achievement, the basic foundation of the success which she has so struggled for, the fire dance, is her own creation, as more than one important interest in theatricals has discovered by decisions in courts of equity, which give to Ida Fuller, for all time, undisputable protection to her patents and creations."
Loie's brother Burt (Loie's younger brother), also apparently an electrician, is often credited with having worked closely with Loie in the production of her routines, and Frank (her older brother), often goes unmentioned. We suspect that a rift developed between Loie and Frank, and can only imagine the unfortunate vituperations which must have arisen between them when Fred assisted his wife, Ida, in the development of the "Fire Dance."
On the other hand, we need to remember that although Loie Fuller had the reputation of being extremely secretive as far as her "serpentine" dance routines, and their lighting effects, were concerned, in show business, whether in the moving picture industry, which was in its early infancy at that time, or on the stage; between dancers, or stage magicians (whose illusions immediately come to mind when thinking of Loie and Ida Fuller's work), feuds between performers made the press, and what made the press made for public interest, and that translated into showers of gold. So we may never know for certain whether or not Ida and Frank actually hijacked Loie's invention of serpentine (also known as "butterfly"), dancing, or whether it was simply shared, among members of the same family.
If in France the reception of this style of dancing was embraced with excitement and enthusiasm, it was not always so elsewhere. Below is a quote from a collection of theatrical interviews published in London, in 1894 by a journalist who refers to himself as, "Mr. Call Boy," (Gilbert Dalziel), in which he reveals, during the introduction to an interview with dancer Mimi St. Cyr, the contempt he feels for this style:
"AS certainly as the Serpentine dance has been overdone, so has it been misnamed. The Serpentine dance, as we know it, is not serpentine at all. It's a waving of the skirts which is far more suggestive of clothes hanging out to dry in a high wind than of serpents."
We think it is rather a shame that Mr. Call Boy should have written so derisively of the style of dance in which Ida Fuller specialized, particularly when earlier in the book, he publishes an interview she granted him!
Following is a portion of that interview in which Ida Fuller briefly, and somewhat humorously talked about one aspect of her dancing:
"I hear that this dancing with the arms is much more fatiguing than dancing with the legs. Is that a fact, Miss Fuller?"
"It is just that, Mr. Call Boy. And for why? In dancing with your arms you have to hold them up so, or stretch them out like that (suiting actions to words), and all the blood runs out of them. There's not much natural strength where there's no blood, you know, and consequently one kind of dancing is more tiring than the other. I find the Butterfly dance a tremendous strain. Dancing with your legs is a different thing altogether. They are more or less in their natural position; the feet are mostly pointed to the floor, and when a leg is thrown above the head, it is only for a moment. It is back again before it knows it has been there!"
In "Art Nouveauu: The French Aesthetic," by Victor Arwas, he writes describing the physical challenges of this kind of dancing, particularly in terms of the manipulation of the long bamboo rods to which were attached the flowing silks.
In fact, La Loie, and presumably Ida Fuller also, sometimes manipulated hundreds of yards of silk during her performances, causing them to gracefully billow and take shape as high as thirty feet in the air above her.
But as to the artistic merits of this style of dance, our readers can be the judge. Please follow the link below to Youtube, where you will be treated to a delightful collection of very early motion picture clips, wherein a number of women (who knows, perhaps one of them is Ida Fuller!), perform this style of dance.
*Although we have read that Loie Fuller, herself, never made a motion picture of her work, we observe that the dancer in clip number seven does at least resemble La Loie.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZcbntA4bVY
This is simply a gorgeous, dreamy, card, with writing on the back in a truly beautiful style. Please note, that having been born in 1867, Miss Fuller was at least 38 years old when this was published! Please examine our high res scans for detail.
Postage is for first class shipping in a secure photo mailer, and we happily combine shipping on all paper goods. If you purchase two cards, we will refund the postage on the second card, and when you purchase three or more cards from us at the same time, your shipping will be entirely free, except for international orders which, because of sudden increases in international shipping rates will still be charged one card's shipping fees on orders of three or more.
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redpoulaine.blogspot.com
where we post biographical and historical tidbits, images of cards and photographs for sale, some already sold but remembered fondly, related images of historical interest and sometimes even images of items that have not yet arrived in the shop, but that are expected to arrive soon, as well as coupon codes, links to other related sites, and more!