{"id":2058938,"date":"2025-09-30T03:28:39","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T03:28:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2058938"},"modified":"2025-09-30T03:28:39","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T03:28:39","slug":"6-of-historys-most-dazzling-showgirls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/6-of-historys-most-dazzling-showgirls\/","title":{"rendered":"6 of History\u2019s Most Dazzling Showgirls"},"content":{"rendered":"

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In honor of Taylor Swift\u2019s latest studio album, The Life of a Showgirl<\/em>, we\u2019re highlighting a handful of history\u2019s most iconic showgirls\u2014from Mistinguett of the Moulin Rouge to \u201cQueen of Las Vegas\u201d Lola Falana and beyond. Find out how they wowed the world below.<\/p>\n

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  1. Mistinguett<\/a><\/li>\n
  2. The Dolly Sisters<\/a><\/li>\n
  3. Josephine Baker<\/a><\/li>\n
  4. Lola Falana<\/a><\/li>\n
  5. Dolores<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

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    Mistinguett<\/h2>\n

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    Mistinguett circa 1930. | Hulton Deutsch\/GettyImages<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

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    Jeanne-marie Bourgeois<\/a>\u2014better known by her stage name, Mistinguett\u2014was born outside Paris in 1875. She became one of France\u2019s most famous sensations of the early 20th century, with comedic and musical routines that enthralled audiences at the Moulin Rouge, Folies-Berg\u00e8re, and Casino de Paris. Mistinguett\u2019s legs got tons of attention: The press often mentioned<\/a> that she had insured them for an exorbitant amount of money, though the exact sum varied from source to source. In 1936, she herself said they were insured for $500,000<\/a>\u2014each. (That\u2019s about $23 million total<\/a> in today\u2019s dollars.)<\/p>\n

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    American musical theater fans might be a little more familiar with Mistinguett\u2019s work than they think. The song \u201cMy Man,\u201d popularized by American comedian Fanny Brice\u2014and by Barbra Streisand<\/a> playing Brice in 1968\u2019s Funny Girl<\/em>\u2014is the English version<\/a> of Mistinguett\u2019s \u201cMon Homme.\u201d<\/p>\n

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    The Dolly Sisters<\/h2>\n

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    \"twin<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n

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    The Dolly Sisters sometime in the early 20th century. | Oscar White\/GettyImages<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

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    Identical twins Janszieka and Roszika Deutsch<\/a> were born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1892, and immigrated to New York City with their family. They performed together as Jennie and Rosie Dolly\u2014a.k.a. the Dolly Sisters, arguably the best-known sister act of the early 20th century. The pair started in vaudeville and appeared in a number of Broadway productions throughout the 1910s and \u201920s, including 1911\u2019s Ziegfeld Follies<\/em>. European audiences adored them, too.<\/p>\n

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    The sisters did sometimes perform apart, Jennie with her first husband, vaudevillian Harry Fox<\/a> (the probably apocryphal namesake of the foxtrot). But they\u2019re mostly remembered as a double act. Their lives inspired the 1945 movie musical The Dolly Sisters<\/em><\/a>, starring Betty Grable as Jennie and June Haver as Rosie. Unsurprisingly, it doesn\u2019t tell the whole story. In real life, their careers petered out by the late 1920s; Jennie was then injured in a horrible car accident in 1933 and died by suicide<\/a> in 1941. Rosie died of a heart attack<\/a> at age 77. The sisters are buried together with their younger brother in a mausoleum in California<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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    Josephine Baker<\/h2>\n

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    \"Woman<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n

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    Josephine Baker circa 1930. | Hulton Archive\/GettyImages<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

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    Josephine Baker<\/a>, born in Missouri in 1906, brought the Jazz Age to France in a big way; her most iconic number<\/a> was a dance performed in strings of pearls and a skirt made of bananas. Baker\u2019s life offstage was just as dynamic as her showgirl acts. During World War II, she used her star power to spy for the Allies by smuggling intel written in invisible ink on sheet music\u2014she even pinned notes to her undergarments. Later, Baker adopted 12 children<\/a>, whom she called her \u201crainbow tribe.\u201d She was also active in the American civil rights movement, participating in the 1963 March on Washington. She even had a pet cheetah named Chiquita.<\/p>\n

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    Baker passed away in 1975. In 2021, she was reinterred<\/a> in Paris\u2019s Panth\u00e9on\u2014making her the first Black woman (and only the sixth woman) to be buried there.<\/p>\n

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    You Might Also Like …<\/h3>\n

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    Add Mental Floss as a <\/strong><\/em>preferred news source<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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    Lola Falana<\/h2>\n

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    \"Woman<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n

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    Lola Falana on German TV in 1978. | United Archives\/GettyImages<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

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    Lola Falana<\/a> was born in New Jersey in 1942. As a teenager in the 1950s, she booked her first notable gig as a dancer for jazz singer Dinah Washington. Her big break came in 1964\u2014a supporting role in the Broadway musical Golden Boy<\/em>, starring Sammy Davis Jr. Falana then became famous in Italy<\/a> for her TV appearances and a few film roles. But the pinnacle of her career happened back in her home country: In the 1970s and \u201980s, Falana was known as the Queen of Las Vegas<\/a> for her dazzling shows at top hotels.<\/p>\n

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    She was one of the city\u2019s highest-paid performers of the era; during her peak, she earned $3 million<\/a> for performing at the Aladdin for 20 weeks of the year. Falana was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in the late 1980s and withdrew from entertainment to focus on Christian missionary work<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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    Dolores<\/h2>\n

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    \"early<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n

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    Dolores in her most famous Ziegfeld costume, photographed by Alfred Cheney Johnston circa 1920. | Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/\/ Public Domain<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

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    British fashion designer (and Titanic<\/em> survivor) Lucile, a.k.a. Lady Duff Gordon<\/a>, plucked Kathleen Marie Rose<\/a> from obscurity as an errand girl in London and turned her into a famous model named \u201cDolores.\u201d When Paris\u2019s fashion industry foundered during World War I, Lucile took Dolores and some other models to New York to bolster the business<\/a> there. Florenz Ziegfeld attended one fashion show and asked Lucile to use some of her designs\u2014and some of her models\u2014for his revues. \u201cIt is going to be the biggest draw I have staged in years,\u201d he said, according to Lucile\u2019s 1932 memoir<\/a>. \u201cThat girl Dolores is marvellous, she will be the sensation of New York.\u201d<\/p>\n

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    Ziegfeld was right about Dolores: The 6-foot-tall blonde goddess captivated audiences and would influence runway culture for decades to come. Legendary fashion editor Diana Vreeland remembered Dolores as \u201cthe greatest<\/a>\u201d of Ziegfeld\u2019s showgirls. \u201cShe was very highly paid just to walk across the stage\u2014and the whole place would go to pieces,\u201d Vreeland said in her 1980 book Allure<\/em><\/a>. \u201cIt was a good walk I can tell you\u2014it had such fluidity and grace. Everything I know about walking comes from watching Ziegfeld\u2019s girls.\u201d<\/p>\n

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    \"1920s<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n

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    Dolores in 1922. | J. Willis Sayre Collection of Theatrical Photographs, University of Washington, Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/\/ Public Domain<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

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    Dolores, for her part, felt her appeal was one-dimensional and fleeting. \u201cI recognize perfectly that the show girl end of the stage has no future to it. We haven\u2019t histrionic ability and we don\u2019t delude ourselves about any visionary career,\u201d she said in a 1920 interview<\/a>. \u201cI\u2019m here because I have looks, and I won\u2019t have enough looks after thirty to be here.\u201d Her plan was to marry well and leave the scene before she got phased out. In 1923, she wed American millionaire<\/a> William Tudor Wilkinson in Paris and retired there.<\/p>\n

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    \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

    \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.mentalfloss.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    In honor of Taylor Swift\u2019s latest studio album, The Life of a Showgirl, we\u2019re highlighting a handful of history\u2019s most iconic showgirls\u2014from Mistinguett of the Moulin Rouge to \u201cQueen of Las Vegas\u201d Lola Falana and beyond. Find out how they wowed the world below. Mistinguett The Dolly Sisters Josephine Baker Lola Falana Dolores Mistinguett Mistinguett […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2058939,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2058938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/6-of-Historys-Most-Dazzling-Showgirls.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2058938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2058938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2058938\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2058939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2058938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2058938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2058938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}