Misplaced Pages

#333666

69-405: Florence Foster Jenkins (born Narcissa Florence Foster ; July 19, 1868 – November 26, 1944) was an American socialite and amateur soprano who became known, and mocked, for her flamboyant performance costumes and notably poor singing ability. Stephen Pile ranked her "the world's worst opera singer   ... No one, before or since, has succeeded in liberating themselves quite so completely from

138-535: A Japanese Scene , in 1891. They became popular for community events and festivals, very often using children, who might parade before settling into a tableau for the audience and a camera. Before radio , film and television , tableaux vivants were popular forms of entertainment, even in American frontier towns. Before the age of color reproduction of images, the tableau was sometimes used to recreate artworks on stage, based on an etching or sketch of

207-458: A 33-year-old British actor named St. Clair Bayfield (1875–1967); they began a vaguely defined cohabitation relationship that continued the rest of her life. Upon her father's death later that year, Jenkins became the beneficiary of a sizable trust, and resolved to resume her musical career as a singer with Bayfield as her manager. She began taking voice lessons and immersed herself in wealthy New York City society, joining dozens of social clubs. As

276-557: A Jenkins recital "was never exactly an aesthetic experience, or only to the degree that an early Christian among the lions provided aesthetic experience; it was chiefly immolatory, and Madame Jenkins was always eaten, in the end." Narcissa Florence Foster was born July 19, 1868, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania , the daughter of Charles Dorrance Foster (1836–1909), an attorney and scion of a wealthy land-owning Pennsylvania family, and Mary Jane Hoagland Foster (1851–1930). Her only sibling,

345-461: A copy. The selections include four coloratura arias from operas by Mozart, Delibes , Johann Strauss II, and Félicien David , and five art songs, two written for Jenkins by her accompanist, Cosmé McMoon. Seven of the selections were released on RCA Victor LRT-7000, a 10-inch LP in 1954, and reissued on RCA Victor LM-2597, a 12-inch LP in 1962, The Glory (????) of the Human Voice (includes

414-478: A form still dominates the art photography market. As Fried notes: "Arguably the most decisive development in the rise of the new art photography has been the emergence, starting in the late 1970s and gaining impetus in the 1980s and after, of what the French critic Jean-François Chevrier has called the " tableau form" (p. 143). However, there appears to be only a handful of young, emerging artists working within

483-508: A high F, however. At the age of 76, Jenkins finally yielded to public demand and booked Carnegie Hall for a general-admission performance that took place on October 25, 1944. Tickets for the event sold out weeks in advance; the demand was such that an estimated 2,000 people were turned away at the door of the 2,800-seat venue. Numerous celebrities attended, including Porter, Marge Champion , Gian Carlo Menotti , Kitty Carlisle , and Lily Pons with her husband, Andre Kostelanetz , who composed

552-481: A movement with its roots in Aestheticism , which already made heavy use of the tableau as a non-theatrical visual art style. Pictorialism, according to Jeff Wall could be seen as an attempt by photographers to imitate painting (perhaps unsuccessfully): Pictorialist photography was dazzled by the spectacle of Western painting and attempted, to some extent, to imitate it in acts of pure composition. Lacking

621-490: A painting. This could be done as an amateur venture in a drawing room, or as a more professionally produced series of tableaux presented on a theatre stage, one following another, usually to tell a story without requiring all the usual trappings and production of a full theatre performance. They thus influenced the form taken by later Victorian and Edwardian era magic lantern shows, and perhaps also sequential narrative comic strips (which first appeared in modern form in

690-554: A physician 16 years her senior, in Philadelphia (in 1880, the age of consent for marriage in Pennsylvania was ten). The following year, after learning that she had contracted syphilis from her husband, she ended their relationship and reportedly never spoke of him again. Foster resided at The Newport , built in 1897 in Philadelphia at 1530–1532 Spruce Street, on the southeast corner of 16th. The 9-story luxurious high-rise

759-421: A quick and easy form of amateur dramatics that could be brought together in an evening, and required little skill in acting or speaking. They were also popular for various sorts of community events and parades. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, there was also a type of tableau used in the professional theatre, taking advantage of the extra latitude the law allowed for the display of nudity so long as

SECTION 10

#1732798685334

828-484: A quirk of English law, nudity on the stage was not permitted unless the performers remained motionless while the stage curtains were open; the situation in locations in the United States was often similar. In the early years of the 20th century, performers took advantage of this exception to stage "plastic representations", as they were sometimes called, centring on nudity. The most persistent performer in this line

897-434: A recital. The question of whether "Lady Florence"—as she liked to be called, and often signed her autographs—was in on the joke, or honestly believed she had vocal talent, remains a matter of debate. On the one hand, she compared herself favorably with renowned sopranos Frieda Hempel and Luisa Tetrazzini , and seemed oblivious to the abundant audience laughter during her performances. Her loyal friends endeavored to disguise

966-567: A revival in the form. Initially photography was expensive, and the form flourished in the English country house parties of the rich. Queen Victoria was an early adopter (only taking the part of the audience herself). In the mid-1850s the actors were her children, who performed tableaux for their parents 14th wedding anniversary in 1854. By the 1890s the settings had become very elaborate, as when her third son Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn , his wife and their three children posed for

1035-449: A semblance of pitch, but the further a note was from its proper elevation the more the audience laughed and applauded." The New York Post was even less charitable: "Lady Florence ... indulged last night in one of the weirdest mass jokes New York has ever seen." Five days after the concert, Jenkins suffered a heart attack while shopping at G. Schirmer's music store, and died a month later on November 26, 1944, at her Manhattan residence,

1104-528: A song for the recital. McMoon later recalled a moment: "[When she sang] 'If my silhouette does not convince you yet / My figure surely will' [from Adele's aria in Die Fledermaus ], she put her hands righteously to her hips and went into a circular dance that was the most ludicrous thing I have ever seen. And created a pandemonium in the place. One famous actress had to be carried out of her box because she became so hysterical." Since ticket distribution

1173-416: A wicker basket of flowers, clicking the castanets and tossing the flowers one by one. When she ran out of flowers, she flung the basket too—and then the castanets. Her fans, aware that "Clavelitos" was her favorite song, would usually demand an encore, prompting her to send McMoon into the audience to retrieve flowers, basket, and castanets so that she could sing the number again. Once when a taxi in which she

1242-631: A younger sister named Lillian, died of diphtheria in 1883 at the age of eight. Foster said her interest in public performance began when she was seven years old. A pianist, she performed at society functions as "Little Miss Foster", and gave a recital at the White House during the administration of Rutherford B. Hayes . Foster attended the Moravian Seminary for Young Ladies in Bethlehem, Pa. from September 1881 to March 1882, where she

1311-473: Is a static scene containing one or more actors or models. They are stationary and silent, usually in costume, carefully posed, with props and/or scenery , and may be theatrically illuminated . It thus combines aspects of theatre and the visual arts . They were a popular medieval form that revived considerably from the 19th century, probably as they were very suitable for recording by photography . The participants were now mostly amateurs, participating in

1380-610: Is first attested in 1909 in a Tennessee newspaper. It was popularized by Time magazine in the 1920s. Historically, socialites in the United Kingdom were almost exclusively from the families of the aristocracy and landed gentry . Many socialites also had strong familial or personal relationships to the British royal family . Between the 17th and early 19th centuries, society events in London and at country houses were

1449-475: Is no direct translation into English for tableau in this sense. While picture is similar, "... it lacks the connotations of constructedness, of being the product of an intellectual act that the French word carries." (p. 146) Other texts and Clement Greenberg's theory of medium specificity also cover this topic. The key characteristics of the contemporary photographic tableau according to Chevrier are, firstly: They are designed and produced for

SECTION 20

#1732798685334

1518-519: Is still in operation as of 2024. Years later, she claimed to have been granted a divorce decree on March 24, 1902, although no documentation of any such ruling has been found. She retained the Jenkins surname for the remainder of her life. After an arm injury ended her aspirations as a pianist, Jenkins gave piano lessons in Philadelphia to support herself, but around 1900 she moved with her mother to New York City. In 1909, in her early forties, Jenkins met

1587-648: The Lumen Prize 2016 for Web Arts. In Pier Paolo Pasolini 's 1963 film La ricotta , a film maker tries to have actors represent two paintings, by Jacopo Pontormo and Rosso Fiorentino , of the Passion of Jesus. The 1969 film The Color of Pomegranates , directed by Sergei Parajanov, presents a loose biography of the Armenian poet Sayat Nova in a series of tableaux vivants of Armenian costume, embroidery and religious rituals depicting scenes and verses from

1656-509: The media , particularly when the status of being a celebrity is largely due to that lifestyle. Celebrity Paris Hilton is an example of a 21st-century socialite due to her ability to attract media attention and fame based only on her connections and associations. Hilton is the great-granddaughter of Conrad Hilton , the founder of Hilton Hotels & Resorts , and heiress to the Hilton Hotel fortune. Due to her outrageous lifestyle, Hilton

1725-531: The tableau form. Examples include Florian Maier Aichen , Matthew Porter and Peter Funch . More recently, Canadian artist Sylvia Grace Borda has worked since 2013 to continue to stage tableaux for the camera within the Google Street View engine. Her work creates 360° immersive tableau vivant images for the viewer to explore. Through her efforts to pioneer the tableaux vivant for online exploration, she and her collaborator, John M. Lynch, won

1794-495: The "chairman of music" for many of these organizations, she began producing lavish tableaux vivants , popular diversions in upper-crust social circles of that era. In each of these productions, Jenkins would cast herself as the main character in the final tableau, wearing an elaborate costume of her own design. In a widely republished photograph, Jenkins poses in a costume, complete with angelic wings, from her tableau inspired by Howard Chandler Christy 's painting Stephen Foster and

1863-418: The 18th and 19th century. Most of the earliest socialites were wives or mistresses of royalty or nobility, but being a socialite was more a duty and a means of survival than a form of pleasure. Bashful queens were often forced to play gracious and wealthy hostess to people who despised them. Mistresses had to pay for their social reputation and had to use their social skills to obtain favor in the court and retain

1932-522: The Angel of Inspiration . Jenkins began giving private vocal recitals in 1912 when she was 44 years old. In 1917, she became founder and President Soprano Hostess of her own social organization, the Verdi Club. Its membership quickly swelled to over 400; honorary members included Enrico Caruso and Geraldine Farrar . When Jenkins's mother died in 1930, additional financial resources became available for

2001-684: The Crusaders in Constantinople , Jacob wrestling with the Angel ; El Greco 's Assumption of the Virgin ; Watteau 's The Embarkation for Cythera . Throughout Derek Jarman 's film Caravaggio (1986 film) , many of Caravaggio's paintings are recreated in tableau vivant to explore their relationship to his life. The 1991 film My Own Private Idaho presents its sex scenes using the effect. The 2013 film, A Field in England , makes use of

2070-528: The Establishment , or an American " society " based on birth, breeding, education, and economic standing, were originally listed in the Social Register , a directory of the names and addresses of the "preferred social contacts" of the prominent families in the 19th century. In 1886, Louis Keller started to consolidate these lists and package them for sale. The concept of socialites dates to

2139-588: The Hotel Seymour. She was buried next to her father in the Foster mausoleum, Hollenback Cemetery, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania . Some of Jenkins's performance difficulties have been attributed to untreated syphilis , which causes progressive deterioration of the central nervous system in its tertiary stage . Nerve damage and other morbidities caused by the disease may have been compounded by toxic side effects—such as hearing loss—from mercury and arsenic ,

Florence Foster Jenkins - Misplaced Pages Continue

2208-1036: The Huntress" and were to be found at such places as the Hall of Rome in Great Windmill Street , London. Other venues were the Coal Hole in the Strand and the Cyder Cellar in Maiden Lane . Nude and semi-nude poses plastiques were also a frequent feature of variety shows in the US: first on Broadway in New York City , then elsewhere in the country. The Ziegfeld Follies featured such tableaux from 1917. The Windmill Theatre in London (1932–1964) featured nude poses plastiques on stage; it

2277-459: The Middle Ages occasionally a Mass was punctuated with short dramatic scenes and painting-like tableaux . They were a major feature of festivities for royal weddings, coronations and royal entries into cities. Often the actors imitated statues or paintings, much in the manner of modern street entertainers, but in larger groups, and mounted on elaborate temporary stands along the path of

2346-553: The Verdi Club's annual "Ball of the Silver Skylarks" in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel's Grand Ballroom. Attendance, by personal invitation only, was restricted to her loyal clubwomen and a select few others. Jenkins handled distribution of the coveted tickets herself, carefully excluding strangers, particularly music critics. "There's no way she could not have known," said Schuman. "No one is that unaware ... she loved

2415-413: The actors did not move. Tableaux featured poses plastiques ('flexible poses') by virtually nude models, providing a form of erotic entertainment, both on stage and in print. Tableaux continue to the present day in the form of living statues , street performers who busk by posing in costume. In film or live theatre the performers sometimes briefly freeze in position for a tableau vivant effect. In

2484-445: The audience reaction and she loved singing. But she knew." Despite her careful efforts to insulate her singing from public exposure, a majority of critics favored the view that Jenkins's self-delusion was genuine. "At that time Frank Sinatra had started to sing, and the teenagers used to faint during his notes and scream," McMoon told an interviewer. "So she thought she was producing the same kind of an effect." "Florence didn't think she

2553-539: The evening wardrobe of an individual regularly attending society functions can cost $ 100,000 annually. Examples of modern-day American socialites include: The Kardashian-Jenner family , Jill Kelley , Tinsley Mortimer , EJ Johnson , Olivia Palermo , Lauren Santo Domingo , Paris Hilton , Derek Blasberg , and Jean Shafiroff . Tableau vivant A tableau vivant ( French: [tablo vivɑ̃] ; often shortened to tableau ; pl.   tableaux vivants ; French for 'living picture')

2622-474: The expansion and promotion of her singing career. According to published reviews and other contemporary accounts, Jenkins's proficiency at the piano did not translate well to her singing. She is described as having great difficulty with such basic vocal skills as pitch, rhythm, and sustaining notes and phrases. In recordings, her accompanist Cosmé McMoon can be heard making adjustments to compensate for her constant tempo variations and rhythmic mistakes, but there

2691-582: The focus of socialite activity. Notable examples of British socialites include Beau Brummell , Lord Alvanley , the Marchioness of Londonderry , Daisy, Princess of Pless , Lady Diana Cooper , Mary Constance Wyndham , Lady Ursula d'Abo , Margaret Greville and the Mitford sisters . Since the 1960s, socialites have been drawn from a wider section of society more similar to the American model, with many socialites now coming from families in business or from

2760-433: The impression that by simply being wealthy and fashionable, an individual has the opportunity to become famous. Consequently, it is an individual's ability to climb the social ladder due to his or her wealth and recognition that makes them a socialite. According to The New York Times , socialites spend between $ 98,000 and $ 455,000 per year (young and old, respectively) to maintain their roles as successful socialites. Just

2829-445: The inherent capabilities of the camera itself. And this, Wall argues, was a direct result of photojournalism , and the mass media and pop culture industries. By divesting itself of the encumbrances and advantages inherited from older art forms, reportage, or the spontaneous fleeting aspect of the photographic image pushes toward a discovery of qualities apparently intrinsic to the medium, qualities that must necessarily distinguish

Florence Foster Jenkins - Misplaced Pages Continue

2898-484: The interest of their lovers. With the increase of wealth in the US in the 19th century, being a socialite developed into a role that brought power and influence. In the 21st century, the term "socialite" is still attached to being wealthy and socially recognized. The lines between being a socialite and celebrity with an exuberant partying lifestyle have since become blurred due to the influence of both popular culture and

2967-466: The late 1890s). Tableaux vivants were often performed as part of school Nativity plays in England during the Victorian period; the custom is still practised at Loughborough High School (believed to be one of England's oldest grammar schools for girls). Several tableaux are performed each year at the school carol service, including the depiction of an engraving en grisaille (in which

3036-652: The laughter with cheers and applause; they often described her technique to curious inquirers in "intentionally ambiguous" terms. For example, "her singing at its finest suggests the untrammeled swoop of some great bird". Favorable articles and bland reviews, published in specialty music publications such as The Musical Courier , were most likely written by her friends or herself. "I would say that she maybe didn't know [how badly she sang]," said mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne . "We can't hear ourselves as others hear us." Nerve damage due to syphilis and its treatment (see below ) may have physically compromised her hearing as well. On

3105-545: The main procession. Johan Huizinga , in The Autumn of the Middle Ages , describes the use and design of tableaux vivants in the Late Middle Ages . Many paintings and sculptures probably recreate tableaux vivants, by which art historians sometimes account for groups of rather static figures. Artists were often the designers of public pageantry of this sort. The history of Western visual arts in general, until

3174-401: The means to make the surface of its pictures unpredictable and important, the first phase of Pictorialism, Stieglitz's phase, emulated the fine graphic arts, re-invented the beautiful look, set standards for gorgeousness of composition, and faded. (p. 75) However photography did have the ability to become unpredictable and spontaneous. This was achieved by making photographs related to

3243-435: The medium from others and through the self-examination of which it can emerge as a modernist art on a plane with others. (pp. 76–78) The argument is that, unlike most other art forms, photography can profit from the capture of chance occurrences. Through this process—the snapshot, the "accidental" image—photography invents its own concept of the picture: a hybrid form of the "Western picture" (pictorialist photography) and

3312-512: The modern era, has had a focus on symbolic, arranged presentation, and (aside from direct personal portraiture) was heavily dependent on stationary artists' models in costume – which can be regarded as small-scale tableaux vivants with the artist as temporary audience. The Realism movement, with more naturalistic depictions, did not begin until the mid-19th century, a direct reaction against Romanticism and its heavy dependence on stylized tableau format. The invention of photography caused

3381-694: The non-Jenkins recording of A Faust Travesty by Jenny Williams and Thomas Burns). The material has since been reissued in various combinations on four CDs: Jenkins commissioned filming of her performances at the Verdi Club's signature annual event, the "Ball of the Silver Skylarks", held each October at the Ritz Carlton Hotel. All were thought lost until copies of the 1934 through 1939 and 1941 films were discovered in 2009. Jenkins historian Donald Collup has announced plans to feature excerpts from her filmed performances in an upcoming documentary. Sources Socialite The word socialite

3450-430: The object, requiring one to stand back from the picture to take it all in. This "confrontational" experience, Fried notes, is actually quite a large break from the conventional reception of photography, which up to that point was often consumed in books or magazines. The photographic tableau has its roots not in the theatrical tableau vivant , but in pictorialist photography, such as that of Alfred Stieglitz ,

3519-556: The other hand, Jenkins refused to open her performances to the general public, and was clearly aware of her detractors. "People may say I can't sing," she once remarked to a friend, "but no one can ever say I didn't sing." She dismissed her original accompanist, Edwin McArthur , after catching him giving her audience "a knowing smile" during a performance. She went to great lengths to control access to her private recitals, which took place at her apartment, in small clubs, and each October at

SECTION 50

#1732798685334

3588-460: The poet's life. Jean-Luc Godard 's film Passion (1982) is about the making of an ambitious art film that uses re-creations of classical European paintings as tableaux vivants , set to classical European music. The paintings include Rembrandt 's The Night Watch ; Goya 's The Parasol , Third of May 1808 , La Maja Desnuda , Charles IV of Spain and His Family ; Ingres ' The Valpinçon Bather , The Turkish Bath ; Delacroix 's Entry of

3657-427: The prevailing (and largely ineffective) remedies of the pre-antibiotic era. By the time penicillin became generally available in the 1940s, Jenkins's disease had progressed to the tertiary stage. The only professional audio recordings of Jenkins consist of nine selections on five 78-rpm records (Melotone Recording Studio, New York City, 1941–1944), produced by Jenkins, at her expense, and sold to her friends at $ 2.50

3726-437: The shackles of musical notation." Despite – or perhaps because of – her technical incompetence, she became a prominent musical camp cult-figure in New York City during the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s. Cole Porter , Gian Carlo Menotti , Lily Pons , Sir Thomas Beecham , and other celebrities were counted among her fans. Enrico Caruso reportedly "regarded her with affection and respect". The poet William Meredith wrote that

3795-612: The spontaneous snapshot. This is the stage whereby Wall argues that photography enters a "modernist dialectic". Wall states that unpredictability is key to modern aesthetics. This new concept of the picture, which Wall proposes, with the compositional aspects of the Western picture combined with the unpredictability that the camera affords through its shutter, can be seen in the work of many contemporary photographic artists, including Luc Delahaye , Andreas Gursky , Thomas Struth , Irene Caesar , and Philip-Lorca diCorcia . The tableau as

3864-488: The subjects are painted and dressed completely grey). Tableaux were also performed for charity events. The February 1917 edition of the American magazine Harper's Bazar reported, with many photographs, on two events in London where society ladies posed, mostly as paintings. One event concentrated on paintings by James McNeill Whistler and John Singer Sargent , posed by ladies of American birth in London. The other included Violet Trefusis and Lady Diana Cooper . By

3933-408: The wall. summoning a confrontational experience on the part of the spectator that sharply contrasts with the habitual processes of appropriation and projection whereby photographic images are normally received and "consumed" (p. 116) By this, Chevrier notes that scale and size is obviously important if the pictures are to "hold the wall". But size has another function; it distances the viewer from

4002-583: The world of celebrity. Despite this, the notion of the Sloane Ranger still emphasises many socialites' connections to Britain's ruling class . The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is widely regarded as the current home of socialite activity in the UK. The television show Made in Chelsea has explored the lifestyles of young socialites living in London in the 21st century. American members of

4071-627: Was among 20 students in the "Fourth Room". Shortly after 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday, December 20, 1881, Foster performed a vocal duet of “Two Merry Alpine Maids” as part of the annual Christmas service. Composed by Stephen Glover (1813–1870), this particular number was described by London’s Musical Herald as "a gay duet, with yodel and la la passages..." In a little under a year at the Bethlehem Female Seminary, Foster paid over $ 100 for music instruction and sheet music (equivalent to almost $ 3,000 in 2023 dollars). Foster’s interest in music

4140-413: Was exquisitely bad, so bad that it added up to quite a good evening of theater ... She would stray from the original music, and do insightful and instinctual things with her voice, but in a terribly distorted way. There was no end to the horribleness ... They say Cole Porter had to bang his cane into his foot in order not to laugh out loud when she sang. She was that bad." Nevertheless, Porter rarely missed

4209-560: Was further evidenced by her purchase of hymnals. Additionally at that time, she purchased books in mythology, elementary algebra, rhetoric, and history. Foster did not graduate from the Bethlehem Female Seminary. After graduating from high school, her hopes of studying music in Europe were dashed when her father refused permission and funding. On July 11, 1883, ten days after the funeral of her sister and eight days before her 15th birthday, Foster married Dr. Francis Thornton Jenkins (1852–1917),

SECTION 60

#1732798685334

4278-432: Was hailed by the media as "New York's leading It Girl " in 2001. Gossip Girl , an American television series airing between September 2007 and December 2012, focuses on the lives of New York City socialites who live on Manhattan 's Upper East Side . The show is a strong influence on how socialites are regarded in the 21st century because of the presence of scandal, wealth, and fashion in each episode. Pop culture gives

4347-614: Was little he could do to conceal her inaccurate intonation. She was consistently flat, sometimes considerably so. Her diction was similarly substandard, particularly with foreign-language lyrics. The difficult operatic arias that Jenkins chose to perform—all well beyond her technical ability and vocal range—served only to emphasize these deficiencies. "There's no way to even pedagogically discuss it," said vocal instructor Bill Schuman. "It's amazing that she's even attempting to sing that music." The opera impresario Ira Siff  [ d ] , who dubbed her "the anti- Callas ", said, "Jenkins

4416-466: Was out of Jenkins's control for the first time, mockers, scoffers, and critics could no longer be kept at bay. The following morning's newspapers were filled with scathing, sarcastic reviews that devastated Jenkins, according to Bayfield. "[Mrs. Jenkins] has a great voice," wrote the New York Sun critic. "In fact, she can sing everything except notes ... Much of her singing was hopelessly lacking in

4485-798: Was pulling anyone's leg," said opera historian Albert Innaurato . "She was compos mentis , not a lunatic. She was a very proper, complex individual." As an anonymous obituary writer later put it, "Her ears, schooled in constant introversion, heard only the radiant tones which never issued forth to quell the mirth of her audiences." Her recitals featured arias from the standard operatic repertoire by Mozart , Verdi , and Johann Strauss ; lieder by Brahms ; Valverde 's Spanish waltz "Clavelitos" ("Little Carnations"); and songs composed by herself and McMoon. As in her tableaux, she complemented her performances with elaborate costumes of her own design, often involving wings, tinsel, and flowers. She would perform "Clavelitos" dressed as Carmen , complete with castanets and

4554-475: Was riding collided with another car, Jenkins let out a high-pitched scream. Upon arriving home, she went immediately to her piano and confirmed (at least to herself) that the note she had screamed was the fabled F above high C, a pitch she had never before been able to reach. Overjoyed, she refused to press charges against either involved party, and even sent the taxi driver a box of expensive cigars. McMoon said neither he "nor anyone else" ever heard her actually sing

4623-606: Was the German dancer Olga Desmond , beginning in London, and who later put on "Evenings of Beauty" ( Schönheitsabende ) in Germany, in which she posed nude in imitation of actual or imagined classical works of art ("living pictures"). The English tradition in risqué entertainment continued until the English law was changed in the 1960s. In the nineteenth century, tableaux vivants took such titles as "Nymphs Bathing" and "Diana

4692-567: Was the first to use the term tableau in relation to a form of art photography, which began in the 1970s and 1980s in an essay titled "The Adventures of the Picture Form in the History of Photography" in 1989. The initial translation of this text substitutes the English word picture for the French word tableau . However, Michael Fried retains the French term when referring to Chevrier's essay, because according to Fried (2008), there

4761-678: Was the first, and for many years the only, venue for them in 20th-century London. Tableaux vivants were often included in fairground sideshows (as seen in the 1961 film A Taste of Honey ). Such shows had largely died out by the 1970s, but continue in the Bridgewater Carnival in Somerset . Tableaux remain a major attraction at the annual Pageant of the Masters in Laguna Beach, California . Jean-François Chevrier

#333666