Louise Brooks performed for the last time with Denishawn

On this day in 1924, Louise Brooks performed for the last time as a member of the Denishawn Dance Company. That evening performance, the last of the 1923-1924 season, took place at the Palace Theatre in Trenton, New Jersey. [There are two theaters in Trenton named the Palace, and off hand, I am not sure which Denishawn performed at. There is this one and this one. The first, which is the more likely venue at which the group appeared, is no longer standing.]

Pictured below are two pages from a 1923-1924 season program. Can you spot Brooks below?

On the beach

This little seen image of the Denishawn Dance Company, taken during the 1922-1923 season, features future dance great Martha Graham, standing center, and future silent film actress Louise Brooks, kneeling second on the right. Graham and Brooks' time with Denishawn overlapped for a single season, when they toured the country togetheralong with Ruth St. Denis, Ted Shawn and the other members of Denishawn. Graham, born in 1894, was about 30 years old at the time. Brooks, born in 1906, was about 16. Those were the days.

Denishawn Dancer Jane Sherman

Jane Sherman has died. The dancer and author passed away on March 16th.

Sherman (1908 - 2010) was one of the last - perhaps the last - living members of the early / first generation / original Denishawn Dance Company. She was also a kind of unofficial historian of Denishawn and its founders Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn. Sherman authored a handful of books on the subject, and also appeared in various documentaries.

One of the documentaries she appeared in was Louise Brooks: Looking for Lulu. In it, Sherman spoke about Louise Brooks' two season tenure with Denishawn prior to her entry into silent film.

Sherman's time with Denishawn did not overlap with that of Louise Brooks. They missed each other missed each other by about a year. (Had Brooks not have been kicked out of Denishawn, they likely would have toured the Far East together.) Nevertheless, Sherman was aware of her famous predecesor and wrote about Brooks and her small but noted history with Denishawn in various works.

Sherman was the author of various articles and books including Soaring: The Diary of Letters of a Denishawn Dancer in the Far East, 1925-1926 (Wesleyan, 1976), The Drama of Denishawn Dance (Wesleyan, 1979), Denishawn: The Enduring Influence (Twayne, 1983), and Barton Mumaw, Dancer: From Denishawn to Jacob's Pillow and Beyond (Wesleyan, 2000). I have each. Each are excellent.

A little more on Sherman and her life can be found on the arts meme website and on the ballet talk website. Sherman's death was announced by Norton Owen, Director of Preservation, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival.

[The image below shows members of the Denishawn Dance Company during the 1922-1923 season. Martha Graham is center, Louise Brooks is second from the right.]

Early Modern Dance: The Denishawn Collection

There is a real nice collection of Denishawn images on Flickr ( http://www.flickr.com/photos/nypl/sets/72157610902043629/ ) . These images are exotic, erotic (at least I think so) and visually so very interesting. God, how I wish someone would publish a pictorial book devoted to Ruth St. Denis, Ted Shawn, and the Denishawn Dance Company. And by the way, Louise Brooks can be seen in at least two of the images gathered on Flickr.

Another Google Map

I have finished compiling another Google map. Though it is still something of a work in progress, I have placed the date, venue and city for each of the stops on the 1923-1924 Denishawn tour, which included Louise Brooks. This newly created map can be found at here.

As I had mentioned in an earlier blog, I have also created a map for the 1922-1923 Denishawn tour, and a map of my Louise Brooks research (featuring the libraries and archives I've visited, as well as the top 12 lending institutions). I have also started a Louise Brooks Gazetteer - which will include locations where the actress lived and worked (excluding the Denishawn performances). This latter map far from complete. Please check them out and let me know what you think. . . . has anyone who reads this blog ever worked with Yahoo maps?

Blog on Blog

Larry Doe, who recently was involved with the transcription of vintage Denishawn instruction piano rolls, has blogged about the the LBS. Check out Larry's earlier blog entries. Imagine being able to hear music recorded for Denishawn way back in the 1920's.

Louise Brooks - Denishawn project

One of my projects is to gather material on each of the performances given by Denishawn during the two seasons Louise Brooks was a member of this modern American dance company. Much material has already been gathered, but some has proven difficult to find. If you live near any of the cities listed hear, perhaps you could help. Please email me. I would like to obtain local newspaper coverage (articles, advertisements, or reviews) on any of the following engagements:

November 24, 1922 - Lyric Theatre - Memphis, Tennessee
(need News Scimitar; and Memphis Press clippings)

November 25, 1922 - Marlowe Theatre - Jackson, Tennessee
(need Jackson Sun; and Jacksonian clippings)

November 30, 1922 - High School Auditorium - Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (see also 2-9-1924)
(need Oklahoma News clippings)

December 9, 1922 - Majestic Theatre - Peoria, Illinois (see also 2-23-24)
(need Peoria Evening Star clippings)

December 28, 1922 - Burns Theatre - Colorado Springs, Colorado
(need Colorado Springs Evening & Sunday Telegraph clippings)

January 9, 1923 - Lyceum - New London, Conneticut
(need New London Daily Globe clippings)

January 10, 1923 - Memorial Auditorium - Lowell, Massachusetts (see also 10-23-1923)
(need Lowell Sun; Lowell Evening Leader; and Courier-Citizen clippings)

January 11, 1923 - Worcester Theatre - Worcester, Massachusetts (see also 4-8-1924)
(need Worcester Evening Post; Worcester Telegram; and Evening Gazette clippings)

January 22, 1923 - Winthrop College Auditorium - Rock Hill, South Carolina
(need The Johnsonian (student newspaper) clippings?)

January 23, 1923 - Columbia Theatre - Columbia, South Carolina
(need Columbia Record clippings)

January 26, 1923 - Grand Theatre - Macon, Georgia
(need Macon News clippings)

January 27, 1923 - Lucerne Theatre - Orlando, Florida
(need Orlando Morning Sentinel clippings)

February 2, 1923 - Kyle Theatre - Beaumont, Texas
(need Beaumont Enterprise clippings)

February 4, 1923 - City Auditorium - Houston, Texas (see also 4-8-1924)
(need Houston Press clippings)

February 10, 1923 - Brenan Auditorium - Gainesville, Georgia
(need Gainesville Eagle; Gainesville News; and Gainesville Daily Times clippings)

February 13, 1923 - Academy of Music - Charleston, South Carolina
(need Charleston American clippings)

February 14, 1923 - Garden Theatre - Bennettsville, South Carolina
(need Pee Dee Advocate clippings)

February 20, 1923 - Strand Theatre - Salisbury, North Carolina
(need Salisbury Evening Post clippings)

March 8, 1923 - Marvin Theatre - Findlay, Ohio
(need Findlay Daily Courier clippings)

March 29, 1923 - Waterloo Theatre - Waterloo, Iowa
(need Waterloo Tribune clippings)

April 21, 1923 - Montclair Theatre - Montclair, New Jersey
(need Montclarion clippings)

October 15-20, 1923 - Apollo Theatre - Atlantic City, New Jersey
(need Atlantic City Evening Union; Atlantic City Press; and Atlantic City Gazette-Review clippings)

October 23, 1923 - Memorial Auditorium - Lowell, Massachusetts (see also 1-10-1923)
(need Lowell Sun; Lowell Evening Leader; and Courier-Citizen clippings)

November 6, 1923 - Academy Theatre - Hagerstown, Maryland
(need Daily Mail clippings)

December 10, 1923 - Moore's Opera House - Clarksburg, West Virginia
(need Daily Telegram clippings)

December 11, 1923 - Camden Theatre - Parkersburg, West Virginia
(need Parkersburg News clippings)

December 15, 1923 - Auditorium - Hopkinsville, Kentucky
(need Daily Kentuckian; and Daily Kentucky New Era clippings)

January 10, 1924 - Kyle Theatre - Beaumont, Texas
(need Beaumont Enterprise clippings)

January 11, 1924 - Grand Theatre - Galveston, Texas
(need Galveston Daily News and Galveston Tribune clippings)

January 12, 1924 - Auditorium - Houston, Texas
(need Houston Dispatch clippings)

January 14, 1924 - Colombia Theatre - Baton Rouge, Louisiana
(need Baton Rouge News clippings)

February 9, 1924 - High School Auditorium - Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (see also 11-30-1922)
(need Oklahoma News clippings)

February 22, 1924 - Waterloo Theatre - Waterloo, Iowa
(need Waterloo Tribune clippings)

February 23, 1924 - Majestic Theatre - Peoria, Illinois (see also 12-9-22)
(need Peoria Evening Star clippings)

February 27, 1924 - Grand Opera House - Ottumwa, Iowa
(need Ottumwa Daily Courier clippings)

April 8, 1924 - Worcester Theatre - Worcester, Massachusetts (see also 1-11-1923)
(need Worcester Evening Post; Worcester Telegram; and Evening Gazette clippings)

April 10, 1924 - Stamford Theatre - Stamford, Connecticut
(need Stamford Sentinel clippings)

Research report

Yesterday's trip to the library was productive. I got articles and advertisements for the two Denishawn Dance Company performances in Houston, Texas. Remarkably, the Houston Post gave each performance a glowing front page review. (Of the hundreds of performances, I have only come across a handful of front page reviews. Usually, the reviews are buried inside the newspaper - and usually on the arts or entertainment pages. And once on the sports page.) I also went through some rolls of the Atlanta Georgian, a Hearst newspaper. From it I scored some Denishawn material, as well as a few early film reviews. I plan to request additional rolls of this paper, as a have the local screening dates of Brooks' films in Atlanta from having gone through the Atlanta Constitution. I also went through a couple of rolls of microfilm of the Wilmington Morning News in hopes of finding some Delaware film reviews, but found nothing.

Besides the usual hunt through newspapers for Denishawn and film reviews, I also took a look at the Cherryvale Daily Republican - the newspaper from Louise Brooks' hometown (before her family relocated to Independence and then Wichita). I looked at microfilm from around the time of Brooks birth - November 14, 1906 - as well as mid-1908. From the 1906 issue, I found an article, "Assistant Counsellor Is a Girl," announcing the future actress' birth on the day she was born. It took a bit to find it, as this two sentence piece is very brief. I was fun to scour this Cherryvale, Kansas newspaper from 100 years ago. It was interesting to see local news stories as well as advertisements for the Cherryvale bookstore, for a music shop advertising pianos, for the local grocier, etc....

Here is a nifty advertisement I came across which advertises a Chautaqua meeting. Louise Brooks' mother (along with Brooks herself) attended many such events. This one promises "nine days of mental uplift and enjoyement." Among the speakers is the Hon. Warren G. Harding - future President of the United States.

Still things to be found

I spent about three hours at the library today. There are still things to be found.

I went through two reels of microfilm of the Omaha Daily News in search of material on the December, 1922 and February, 1924 Denishawn performances (with Louise Brooks) in Omaha, Nebraska. I found a number of articles and a review. Radio was just coming in around 1922, and the Daily News devoted no less than four articles to a local broadcast on WNAL by Ted Shawn and Ruth St. Denis. One article, suggesting that Denishawn were hip, began "Old folks won't have a chance at the radio headsets Thursday from 7 to 7:30 pm. Youth will demand a listening, for - Ted Shawn and Ruth St. Denis, among the brightest luminaries in the realm of dance . . . will broadcast their famous 'History of the Dance' lecture." Perhaps it was the modernity or daring of the Denishawn aesthetic that appealed to the younger generation. A review the following day entitled "Ted Shawn Tells Fans Nude Dance Returning," noted that Shawn "declared the undraped dance on the wave of popularity."



These radio broadcasts could be heard far and wide. An article in the Omaha paper related how an earlier broadcast of Shawn and St. Denis from Davenport, Iowa over station WOC could be heard in New York City. "Skeptic Becomes Ardent Radioite" related how a Denishawn manager, listening in the Flatiron building, heard the Denishawn radio lecture. It was the manager's first experience with radio, the article reported.

The February, 1924 Denishawn performance was equally well covered. One article reported that more than 100 people would attend a luncheon for Ruth St. Denis and Denishawn dancer Doris Humphrey at the Fontenelle Hotel. (It wasn't clear if Shawn, Brooks, or the other dancers attended this event - though it did list who from Omaha would be there and were they would sit.) An effusive article in the Omaha Daily News on the day of their program at the Brandeis theater was headlined "Ruth St. Denis Transforms Body Into Flowing Liquid!" The review the following day was titled "Translate Music Into Poetic Motion."

This is the second Omaha newspaper I have looked at. I have also gone through the World-Herald. My next inter-library loan request covering this material will be for the Omaha Evening Bee.

I also went through two months of the Hollywood Citizen News. I have been tracking down a series of near daily advertisements that Louise Brooks' dance studio, the Brooks O'Shea Studio of Distinctive Ballroom Dancing, took out in Hollywood Citizen News and the Los Angeles Times. Today, I collected 42 different ads - each of them different "hints for dancers." Very interesting stuff - though I doubt Brooks had much to do with the dance instructions contained in the ads. Also, I will have to request more microfilm, as the series stopped near the end of the month with the promise to resume later in the year. (I have nearly 100 different advertisements photocopied so far!) Here is a rather little known item I also came across. It dates from 1940. I love finding stuff like this.



And for fun, I requested and searched through nine months of the Fargo Forum. I hadn't looked through any newspaper from this city before, let alone much else from North or South Dakota. And for that reason, I did it. What I found were some brief articles and advertisements for three of Brooks' films. Among them was an October, 1927 screening of The Street of Forgotten Men. Interestingly, Brooks' first film was still being shown in theaters some two years after its release.

Once again, I went to the library

Once again, I went to the library in search of yet more Louise Brooks material. Four inter-library loans were waiting for me. Most of my requests these days are aimed at Denishawn performances. To that end, I went through some microfilm of the now defunct Minneapolis Journal and the now defunct Albany Evening Journal. I also went through the Rockford Register-Gazette (from Rockford, Illinois). In each newspaper I found articles, advertisements and a couple of reviews. Louise Brooks was mentioned in one of the reviews. One other unusual article spoke about a visit by the Denishawn dancers to a Minneapolis hospital to visit sick children. The search goes on . . . . I have added citations to the Denishawn bibliographiesof the relevant material.



One of the advertisements I came across for Denishawn's 1923 Minneapolis performance is pictured above. Interestingly, adjoining it was an advertisement for a performance by the noted stage (and silent film) actor Fritz Leiber, who was once well known for his interpretations of Shakespeare. His son, Fritz Leiber Jr., who would become one of the great science fiction and fantasy authors of the post-War period, referenced Louise Brooks in his classic horror novel Our Lady of Darkness (1978).

Along with a bunch of Denishawn material, I also scored some articles, reviews and advertisements for The Street of Forgotten Men, A Social Celebrity, and The Show Off. This material came from the Minneapolis Journal, Albany Evening News (the successor to the Albany Evening Journal) and Des Moines Register (from Des Moines, Iowa). I think I have gotten everything I can from the Des Moines Register.

Are you The American Venus of Eau Claire?

Yesterday's trip to the library was worthwhile. I looked at two newspapers on microfilm, the Eau Claire Leader (from Eau Claire, Wisconsin) and the Hannibal Evening Courier-Post (from Hannibal, Missouri). Both papers yielded Denishawn material (some articles, some distinct advertisements, and reviews), as each city was a destination on the Denishawn tour during the years Louise Brooks was with the company.

While looking through the Hannibal newspaper around the time of Denishawn performance, I came across this remarkable advertisement.



Along with the Denishawn dates, I had also requested a couple of months of microfilm of the Eau Claire Leader, on the off-chance I might run across some film reviews in that Wisconsin paper. And in fact, I did come across material on local screenings of The American Venus and A Social Celebrity. I found articles promoting each film, and some advertisements. Each were no doubt supplied by the studio, and were nothing I hadn't seen before. I one unsual item I did run across was this advertisement promoting a local beauty contest to be held in conjunction with the screening of The American Venus.



Such contests were held elsewhere (I have run across a few such instances), but this promotion has a local angle to it. Very nifty!

On this day in 1923

On this day in 1923, in it's review of the previous evening's Denishawn performance, the Baltimore News wrote " . . . for all the amazing nudity not once has a salacious note sounded."

I got some good Denishawn material

Some inter-library loans arrived. I got some good Denishawn material from the curiously named Evening Day (from New London, Connecticut) as well as the Lewiston Sentinel (from Lewistown, Pennsylvania). What is notable about the Lewiston performance is that it was the first of the 1922-1923 season, and the first in which Louise Brooks was a member. Brooks, in fact, was referenced in the front page review which appeared the day following their appearance. I looked through some later months of each paper, and in each I found some material on The American Venus (1926). I also found some clipping on Beggars of Life (1928) in the Lewiston Sentinel dating from March, 1929. The William Wellman directed story of hoboes, tramping, and railroads would be one of the last silent films shown at the Rialto Theater in Lewiston. A week or so later, newly arrived sound equipment would be installed.

Denishawn articles and reviews

Another on-going project is the gathering of reviews of each of the performances given by Denishawn during the two seasons Louise Brooks was a member of the dance company. Many reviews have already been gathered, but some have proven difficult to track down. The LBS would like to obtain local newspaper coverage (articles, advertisements, or reviews) of the following engagements:
November 25, 1922 - Marlowe Theatre - Jackson, Tennessee
(need Jacksonian clippings)

January 10, 1923 - Memorial Auditorium - Lowell, Massachusetts
(need Lowell Sun; Lowell Evening Leader; and Courier-Citizen clippings)

January 11, 1923 - Worcester Theatre - Worcester, Massachusetts
(need Worcester Evening Post; Worcester Telegram; and Evening Gazette clippings)

January 26, 1923 - Grand Theatre - Macon, Georgia
(need Macon News clippings)

January 27, 1923 - Lucerne Theatre - Orlando, Florida
(need Orlando Morning Sentinel clippings)

February 10, 1923 - Brenan Auditorium - Gainesville, Georgia
(need Gainesville Eagle; Gainesville News; and Gainesville Daily Times clippings)

February 13, 1923 - Academy of Music - Charleston, South Carolina
(need Charleston American clippings)

February 14, 1923 - Garden Theatre - Bennettsville, South Carolina
(need Pee Dee Advocate clippings)

March 9, 1923 - Marvin Theatre - Findlay, Ohio
(need Findlay Daily Courier clippings)

October 15-20, 1923 - Apollo Theatre - Atlantic City, New Jersey
(need Atlantic City Evening Union; Atlantic City Press; and Atlantic City Gazette-Review clippings)

October 23, 1923 - Memorial Auditorium - Lowell, Massachusetts
(need Lowell Sun; Lowell Evening Leader; and Courier-Citizen clippings)

November 6, 1923 - Academy Theatre - Hagerstown, Maryland
(need Daily Mail clippings)

December 10, 1923 - Moore’s Opera House - Clarksburg, West Virginia
(need Daily Telegram clippings)

December 11, 1923 - Camden Theatre - Parkersburg, West Virginia
(need Parkersburg News clippings)

December 15, 1923 - Auditorium - Hopkinsville, Kentucky
(need Daily Kentuckian; and Daily Kentucky New Era clippings)

January 11, 1924 - Grand Theatre - Galveston, Texas
(need Galveston Daily News clippings)

April 8, 1924 - Worcester Theatre - Worcester, Massachusett
(need Worcester Evening Post; Worcester Telegram; and Evening Gazette clippings)

Music by Clifford Vaughan

Lately, I have been wondering if there are any films or recordings of Denishawn from the period Louise Brooks was a member of the dance company. I have also been exploring the music of  the dance company - the music played while Denishawn danced. . . . This week, I acquired a somewhat obscure CD entitledMusic by Clifford Vaughan. I have listened to it once, and like it a good deal. The disc features work by Vaughan (1893 - 1987), a now little known musician who had a long career as composer, pianist, organist and conductor. (Issued on the Cambria label in 1997, this disc may be out of print. After some searching, I was able to purchase a second-hand copy online.)

What brought my attention to this recording were eight short works on the disc entitled "Oriental Translations for Denishawn." As it turns out, in 1925, a year after Louise Brooks left Denishawn, Ruth St. Denis engaged Clifford Vaughan as musical director of the dance company. (Vaughan replaced Louis Horst, who reunited with Martha Graham.) The composer accompanied Denishawn on their triumphant, twenty-month tour of Asia, Canada, and the United States. And while on tour, he absorbed the musical traditions of Japan, China, India, Burma, Java, Ceylon and other cultures. As a result, Vaughan composed the "Oriental Translations for Denishawn." (Included among them is "White Jade," which would become one of Ruth St. Denis' most famous solos.)

The recordings of "Oriental Translations for Denishawn" included on Music by Clifford Vaughan date to 1941, and were performed by the Vaughan Ensemble conducted by the composer. They are the most direct musical link to Denishawn (in the form of audio recordings) I have been able to find.

Dance on tape

Over the course of the last week, I watched three Denishawn tapes I borrowed from the library. Normally, I am not very keen on modern dance, or ballet. That's why I was surprised at how much I liked these videos.

Denishawn: The Birth of Modern Dance (1988) and Denishawn Dances On (2002) were largely composed of short documentary passages (narration over photographs along with brief film clips) interspersed with contemporary recreations of Denishawn dance routines. Louise Brooks, I believe, could be spotted in group photographs in each film.

Apparently, there is very little vintage film of Denishawn - or at least none available to those who put together these two titles. Most interesting for me, then, among the contemporary recreations, were those dances performed by Denishawn while Brooks was a member of the company. I have a hard time visualizing dance (especially when it is described in a book), that's why it was good to see a couple of the Brooks-era dances recreated. I also really, really, really enjoyed a Ted Shawn dance, "Gnosienne," done to music by Erik Satie. Wow, that was amazing!

The third tape I watched, The Men Who Danced: The Story of Ted Shawn's Male Dancers, 1933 - 1940  (1986), though it had nothing to do with Denishawn, was also quite interesting and enjoyable. It featured interviews with some of Shawn's original dancers. And once again, I believe, Brooks could be seen in a group photograph in the film.

[ Note to the world: someone needs to put together an PBS-style "American Masters" program on Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn. It would be revelatory.]

A few more Denishawn articles and film reviews

Today's trip to my local library - my first in a few weeks - was productive. Three inter-library loans were waiting for me. I went through the New Haven Union(from New Haven, Connecticut), where I uncovered some articles on the Denishawn performance there in April, 1923. I also found a few later articles and some nifty advertisements relating to the local screenings of The American Venus and A Social Celebrtity.
As well, I went through the Evening Reporter (from Lebanon, Pennsylvania), and found some articles on the Denishawn performance there in November, 1923. As with a number of their performances during Louise Brooks two years with the company, this Denishawn performance was a benefit. Their recital at the Academy of Music benefitted the local V.F.W. - and was writen-up in the local paper.

I also went through the Independence Daily Reporter (from Independence, Kansas). Louise Brooks and her family lived in Independence for about three or four months in 1919, after having left Cherryvale and before relocating to Wichita. The Denishawn tour stop there in January, 1924 - and received a front page review! Louise Brooks participation in the company received a full paragraph of praise, and her connection to Independence was noted.

Today, I also received a splendid email from Mario Gladu, who lives in Quebec. A French speaker, Mario wrote (in graceful English) to say that he found a few articles about the Denishawn performance in Montreal, Canada in March, 1923. Responding to my call for help, Mario took it upon himself to check for material in a French language newspaper based in Montreal, La  Patrie. As it turns out, Brooks was mentioned in one article - program notes reproduced in advance of the performance. There was also a picture of the Denishawn dancers - but it is hard to tell if Louise is among them. Mario has promised to check the other French-language papers in Montreal and Quebec for similar material. Thank you Mario! A citation - the first one from a French-language Canadian newspaper - was added to the bibliography. [Interestingly, Mario wrote that the theatre where the Denishawn company performed in Montreal, the historic St Denis, still stands. It is there that the well known "Just for Laughs" festival and many other events are held every year.  Here is a picture as it looks today.]

Divine Dancer

Finished reading Divine Dancer: A Biography of Ruth St. Denis by Suzanne Shelton. I really liked this book, and would recommend it to anyone interested in Denishawn or early 20th century cultural history. Shelton's book is certainly is one of the most enjoyable biographies I have read in some time. It is well written, well researched, and full of interesting information.

St. Denis had an incredible life, and was acquianted with, or knew, many of the leading personalities of her day. St. Denis once performed on the same bill as W.C. Fields, danced for the painter John Singer Sargeant, and was friendly with the Nobel Prize winning Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore. Rodin once sketched her, and she danced for King Edward VII. St. Denis had "special relationships" with the architect Stanford White (famous for his own special relationship with Evelyn Nesbit), the showman David Belasco, and the German writer Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It was also rumored she had an affair with the painter Egon Schiele. In 1906 (the year Louise Brooks was born), St. Denis toured Germany, where she met the dramatist Frank Wedekind, author of the Lulu plays!

All of that is background to her incredible achievements as a dancer. She was a contemporary of (and personally knew) Isadora Duncan, Anna Pavolva, Maud Allan, and Loie Fuller. Both as a solo artist and as a founding member of the Denishawn dance company, St. Denis - perhaps more than anyone else - helped introduce modern dance to America. Hers was a truly singular life.

A footnote: my copy of Divine Dancer once belonged to the composer Lou Harrison. Like St. Denis, Harrison had a great interest in Asian culture. Whereas St. Denis was drawn to Indian dance (her nautch dance was well known), Harrison was drawn to the music of the Indonesian gamelan. I do not know that St. Denis and Harrison ever met, but I would not be surprised if they had, as their circles of friends may well have overlapped. Besides his considerable accomplishments as a composer, Harrison was also a music critic and calligrapher. My copy ofDivine Dancer bears Harrison's calligraphic ownership signature.

Denishawn bibliography updated

I've updated the Denishawn bibliography. Citations were added - mostly from the New York Times and Washington Post - for a bunch of brief articles. Among the material added was a small article mentioning a previously unrecorded Denishawn performance in New York City. The performance (which was not part of their 1922-1923 tour) was a benefit, and took place in May, 1923. The article did not mention Louise Brooks by name, only that Ruth St. Denis, Ted Shawn and the Densiahwn dancers would be present.