Category: Court Cases

World's Faire Not So Fair, for showgirls arrested

7/22/2020

In the very early 20th century two things drew spectacle: The New York World's Fair & scandal in the press. The World's Fair was the height of excitement featuring exhibitions and showcases in the international eye, including vaudeville acts, particularly burlesque. From Sally Rands famous fan dance to the belly dancing of “Little Egypt.” (Sally Rand herself was arrested for her fandance at the Chicago world's fair in 1933 herself, but tonight we are in New York. )
But over zealous censors really had it out for the entertainment area of the New York World's Fair, which resulted in multiple raids. Including Joan Vickers & Fay Krop, two showgirls arrested backstage during their performance at "Congress of Beauty" & the popular "frozen alive" show. The reason for the raid in the first place? Inspector Mooney was sent by Mayor LaGuardia, upon the requests of religious leaders who had attended past performances and where so offended by entertaining women in both sets of acts that they wrote letters., demanding action. The Rev. George Drew Egbert (yes, Egbert, even his name sounds like his life is so dull and drab he goes LOOKING for art to silence for sport. One can assume if he didn't have the hobby of censoring women he'd have the DMV for a personality) wrote that he found the burlesque acts "disgustingly revolting" after himself and another Minister went actively looking for nudity on Thursday night and witnessed the frivolity and fun of vaudeville. This resulted in the women being arrested for indecent exposure Monday during a weekday performance.

This resulted in some papers printing the addresses and real names of the showgirls, an unfortunate common practice at the time, placing them in potential danger. Both women where released on bail, so when they returned to performing it resulted in large crowds and continued bookings.
But the press also resulted in getting License Commissioner Paul Moss involved and aiding for the performances to continue, in which he and a judge attended a show to see if it violated the law. Suggestions for minor changes where made, but the productions where approved to resume with those changes, a brand new license to produce each act for the businessmen in charge and the girls could get back to work. Joan with her fan dancing act, and Fay could throw back on her g-string and hop back into the ice. Both showgirls had a bail of $500. Today that would be $9,273.27 a total of $18,546.55.
81 years later, we thank Fay & Joan for their nights in jail, their tolerance of police interference, & their bravery for what we have as showgirls today. One can only hope that ones "released on bail" press photo can be as sassy as theirs.

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Decolettes or Disgrace?

5/17/2020

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In 1913, Blossom Browning was arrested for wearing a skirt with a slit a few inches above the knee received a fine of $25 for indecent exposure. $25 in 1913 is worth $647.45 today. She had to have multiple female friends help pay her bail
In 1890 Cora Hayes was arrested for wearing a too low cut Decolette Dress, that's right, an EVENING GOWN, FORMAL WEAR, as indecent exposure & it cost her $10, so today $281.75.....When Sergeant Anthony Shilling still demanded she appear in court, as he "wanted the matter{the dress} to be tested" she politely declined by not showing up to have her time wasted. Good for her.

Good For Her Arrested Development GIF from Goodforher GIFs

I will be honouring these women today by wearing clothes with my knees visible and my cleavage well framed. What will you wear today that would get you arrested in Cora & Blossoms time? How will you honour them?

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Rosa, Poor Rosa.

5/11/2020

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Snippet from a chapter
"The hypocrisy here came at great costs to women alone, outside of jail time: the death of one's dignity, respectability, societal place and freedom in participating in the sartorial pleasures of art and fashion that men experienced. Throughout history we note over and over again that males and male presenting person's did not pay this price. And often a heartbreaking price paid was the passions or creative interest of a woman or her potential;
The press in 1896 clamored around Rosa Blumenfeld as she was arrested at the request of her own father in a case of indecent exposure for merely posing nude for artists. It was her first time modeling. From the New York Journal to the Morning Herald of Kentucky Press described her looks, her fashions she wore in court, to describing her tears, her address was even listed. But nothing was said of the artists that had booked her and used her. They were not criticized nor described. She was only 19 or 20(research results were inconsistent.) One reporter wrote Rosa was “a rather pretty girl with a graceful figure” but nothing about her father or the artists involved. Reported claimed the art made of her that she posed for “TOO inappropriate to describe” thus causing more sense of shame around such an trivial thing we look at today as posing for artists. With tears in her eyes reporters quoted her telling the court “Had I known that I was doing such a horrible thing when i posed...I should have never had done so”
When the press demanded to know if she would model again, it’s recorded that she hung her head and hesitated. When she raised her head she said “That is a question I can not answer. I have already received many letters from artists in this city, New York, and nearby towns, to pose. But all of these letters I have destroyed so you see it is very likely that I may never do so again.” This must have been devastating. Your first time posing, feeling confident, contributing to art before the turn of the century, full of hope and excitement. Only to be arrested at the demand of your own father, harassed by the press, and then destroy the letters that could have meant a successful career of bookings. I imagine her there at night, burning the letters to keep from her father and his misogynistic rage, tears in her eyes. A muse pulled from the sky once she learned she had wings.
And if this had been a predatory situation, male artists praying upon unsuspecting and inexperienced young women wanting to be models, then this was just another case of the age old victim shaming. Holding her accountable for the sins of men who put themselves in positions of authority. With no safety nor solace within her own family, while her father punished her for the sake of preserving his name.
Another factor is to take into account of antisemitism. One article was even as bold to describe her clothes as “costly” in a negative tone in the same breath as saying she was of Hebrew heritage.
Upon finding these articles I was filled with such a boiling sense of injustice and relatability i had nearly thrown my laptop across the room. Once again we were denied the potential of art and the potential of this young woman as a form of artist herself, even as a model, because of the ideals of “Morality” around womens bodies. We gaze at art in museums all day long, but what of the anonymous women who posed for them and what did they experience in exchange?

To read and learn more then buy a copy of "Policing Muses" available this fall!

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World's Faire Not So Fair, for showgirls arrested

Decolettes or Disgrace?

Rosa, Poor Rosa.

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