She danced at Coney Island in the 1890s and at Huber's 14th Street Dime Museum in New York. She also appeared at Hammerstein's Victoria Theater, which was run by future lyricist Oscar Hammerstein's father Willie (and built by his grandfather, the original Oscar). Princess Rajah's dancing was considered most scandalous for its sensuality and for what Marybeth Hamilton calls her "already sleazy background" in sideshows and vaudeville.
Princess Rajah was not Egyptian - one source says that she later married Clifford C. Fischer, an agent, and he was relatively easy to track down in the 1910 and 1920 censuses. In 1920 he was married to second wife Rosalie*, whose father Oscar Lewis was also living with them in Indiana. Rosalie (Lewis) Fischer - who was probably the former Princess Rajah - was born in Indiana in 1877, which would have made her 27 years old in the Mutoscope film.
Buster Keaton, who appeared on the same bill as Rajah early in his career, often parodied her snake dance, and the photo here shows him attired in all his kitchen-cupboard finery. The wonderful photo of Buster Keaton's Princess Rajah parody is from Arabella's Notes, a website devoted to Keaton and his movies.
See also here for a description of the specific dance moves that Princess Rajah performs in the Mutoscope film.
*In 1910, Clifford was married to a woman named Ada M. who appears to have been the mother of his two children, Robert and Alice. The census states that they married in 1896, at which time Princess Rajah was dancing in New York.
OTHER SOURCES
Clifford C. Fisher household, 1910 US Census, Wayne Twp, Randolph, Indiana, p. 48, #369/370, Series T624, Roll 376.
Clifford C. Fischer household, 1920 US Census, Union City Ward 2, Wayne Twp, Randolph, Indiana, p. 178A, Series T625, Roll 464.
Erdman, Andrew. Blue Vaudeville (McFarland, 2004), pp 114-5.
Hamilton, Marybeth, When I'm Bad I'm Better (U of Cal. Press, 1997), pp 27-8.
Meade, Marion, Buster Keaton (DaCapo Press, 1997), p. 81.
YouTube information cites dance ethnologist Michelle Forner and vaudeville historians Joe Laurie Jr. and Douglas Gilbert for the information accompanying the clip, see here.
9 comments:
Wow, that muscle dance was VERY impressive. Thanks for posting it.
I'm left...speechless.
Slapinions - Wasn't it though? I never knew one could do such a thing with a chair - or would want to! Apparently it is some sort of folk-dance move in Eastern Europe and Greece (according to the commentary on YouTube)...
Miriam - So was I! And then when i recovered I said to myself, you must write about this! :)
Wow. If I could muster up a sixteenth of the energy she put into that dance, I might have Thanksgiving dinner ready in time. Speaking of which, Lidian, you and yours have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
This is just fascinating for me. I'm a dancer myself, and I don't think I've ever come across this clip before. She's using a lot of North African tribal elements to her dance, but a lot of it is obviously Anglicized. I wonder who taught her?
Laura - A happy Thanksgiving to you, too! I wish I had her energy too, it would really come in handy around here.
Ebon Swan - That is really interesting to have your perspective as a dancer - I wouldn't have picked up the influences there, so thank you.
Madame, what strong teeth you have!
I LOVE that clip. I watched it twice. And thanks for all the other great information - tying it in to Buster Keaton. Wonderful.
My mother told me recently that Princess Rajah was the stage name for her great aunt Rose, who she said was married to Clifford C. Fischer. After hearing this I googled around and found this page, so your analysis seems to be correct about Rosalie Lewis Fischer.
I don't know anything about Rosalie Lewis Fischer but that is not the name of my great aunt Rose, who was the one in the film where she spun with the chair in her mouth.
The other films are not my aunt Rose but other women. My aunt WAS known as Princess Rajah and did in fact become famous for her dance of Cleopatra. She toured America then went on to Europe where she had three command performances from heads of the countries, England, Germany, and Russia. Her dances became more mature and elegant and she learned dances of many countries and interpreted them on stage.
Post a Comment