Ziegfeld Follies

Amazing Costumes from the Folies Bergère in the 1920s and 30s

Amazing Costumes from the Folies Bergère in the 1920s and 30s

I should probably point out that this might not be suitable for viewing at work. It’s not terribly risque, but there are some photos of 1920s topless showgirls, so I guess it depends on what you classify for NSFW, and I don’t want to get anyone into trouble! The Folies Bergère opened in Paris in(…)

Pin Up Girls: A Brief History

Pin Up Girls: A Brief History

Pin up girls have been around for a lot longer than you think. Since as early as the 1890s girls have been drawn, painted and photographed and presented to the world as the ideal of beauty and sexuality.  Like fashions in beauty and body shape, the pin up has changed enormously over the last century.(…)

Forgotten Silent Movie Actresses: Rubye De Remer

Forgotten Silent Movie Actresses: Rubye De Remer

Rubye De Remer was a particuarly pretty silent movie actress during the 1920s. She landed a spot in the Ziegfeld Follies after being spotted after winning a New York beauty contest, and was dubbed “the most beautiful blonde since Venus” by Florenz Ziegfeld. Like many Ziegfeld Girls she went on to work in the movies,(…)

Saucy Portraits of 1920s Showgirls (NSFW)

Saucy Portraits of 1920s Showgirls (NSFW)

Alfred Cheney Johnston is most well-known for his photographs of the girls who performed in the Ziegfeld Follies in the 1910s and 20s. Here are some of his more risqué photos of the girls, including one of Gloria Swanson. They probably aren’t particularly suitable for viewing at work, depending on how open-minded your boss is(…)

Young Joan Crawford Topless

Young Joan Crawford Topless

Continuing on the theme from yesterday with Hollywood stars before they were famous, here’s a very young and rather risqué photo of Joan Crawford back in her flapper days. Totally different to her later on-screen image isn’t it! Image source and copyright: Some rights reserved  

16 Stunning Photos of 1920s Ziegfeld Girls

16 Stunning Photos of 1920s Ziegfeld Girls

Ziegfeld girls were the cheesecake pinups of the 1920s. Beautiful and talented they were the chorus girls of the spectacular Ziegfeld Follies which ran from 1907 to 1931. Many Ziegfeld girls went on to fame and fortune in the cinema and stars including Barabara Stanwyck (below), Louise Brooks and Joan Blondell all launched their careers(…)

Ziegfeld Follies girl Doris Eaton Travis

Ziegfeld Follies girl Doris Eaton Travis

Ziegfeld Follies girl Doris Eaton Travis photographed somewhere around 1918-1920. I love the fancy top she’s wearing – I wonder whether it’s a costume? It seems a bit spangly and skimpy to be a regular dress. What do you think?

Doris Eaton Travis

Doris Eaton Travis

Ziegfeld Follies girl Doris Eaton Travis (1904-2010) in her youth (somewhere around 1922).

Ziegfeld Girl in a Peacock Plume Dress

Ziegfeld Girl in a Peacock Plume Dress

Kathleen Rose, aka “Rose Dolores”, a Ziegfeld Girl in peacock plume dress. c.1917-1923 Isn’t this the most wonderful costume? I’d love to know what kind of show it was a part of, whether she just moved slowly around the stage and posed in the costume or whether it was part of some kind of routine. I’m(…)

Marion Davies, a self-described “silly, giggly idiot”

Marion Davies, a self-described “silly, giggly idiot”

Marion Davies, Ziegfeld girl, Hollywood actress, self-described “silly, giggly idiot” and mistress to William Randolph Hearst, half length, seated, facing left; in Yolanda. Photograph by Alfred Cheney Johnston, 1924.

Ziegfeld girl draped in pearls

Ziegfeld girl draped in pearls

Ziegfeld Follies girl draped in velvet and long stings of pearls photographed by Alfred Cheney Johnston, 1920s. Isn’t she lovely?

Josephine Baker in her famous banana skirt

Josephine Baker in her famous banana skirt

The fabulous and controversial 1920s cabaret dancer Josephine Baker in her famous Banana Skirt from the Folies Bergère production “Un Vent de Folie” 1927

1920s monokini (topless swimsuit)

1920s monokini (topless swimsuit)

I thought the topless swimsuit was invented by Rudi Gernreich in the 1960s, but apparently a slightly baggier version was around in the 1920s! This monokini was worn by Guna Mori, a Follies Bergere girl. Apologies for the size of the photo, I couldn’t find a higher-res photo! Which version do you prefer this one,(…)