Laurie Gordon

This photo of a woman dressed as a carousel may have been a costume for Halloween - or it may have been just a fanciful costume for a photo shoot. The name of the woman is unknown, as is the date and place of the photo, but it's looks to be from the 1910's - and she looks like she has a lampshade on her head!

A postcard from around 1900 featuring a costume from the Folies Bergere in Paris. I can't figure out what the box sticking out from her bust is? Part of her act? I'm sure that this was a scandalous costume at the time!

This is a "Carte Postale" (post card?) of "Susy" at Moulin Rouge around 1920. Moulin Rouge is a Parisian cabaret built in 1889 and is most famous (or infamous?) for the introduction of the can can. (Women lifting their skirts and showing their underwear??!!)

Susy was probably an entertainer at Moulin Rouge.

Etta Cain Criswell, 60 years old in 1950. Etta was born December 20, 1890 in Missouri and died in Orange County, California in 1953.

Mata Hari was the stage name of Margaretha Geertruida "Grietje" Zelle. She was executed by the French as a spy (perhaps unjustly) during World War 1 - in 1917. Her name, Mata Hari, has become synonymous with a female who uses her sexuality to uncover secrets.

Born in the Netherlands in 1876, Grietje Zelle reinvented herself as Mata Hari in Paris in 1905. She began as a circus horse rider (and artist's model) in 1903 and moved on to become a famous exotic dancer. Many people believed that she wore a body stocking so she did not actually appear nude but the impression was that she was nude. She was also rather promiscuous and lost custody of her daughter because of her behavior.

Emperor Pedro II of Brazil who ruled Brazil for 58 years (1831 - 1889). His birth name was (english translation): Peter of Alcantara John Charles Leopold Savior Vivian Francis Xavier of Paula Leocadio Michael Gabriel Raphael Gonzaga

Pedro II sounds much easier!

Teresa Cristina was the daughter of the Duke of Calabria and she married the Emperor of Brazil when she was 21. (He was 17, it was an arranged marriage - a state marriage.) (It is believed that the Emperor received a picture of her before their marriage that was actually of a more beautiful woman. They then had to get dispensation from the Pope to marry because they were closely related.)

After their marriage by proxy, the Emperor finally saw her - then immediately turned around and left. She wrote home: "I know my appearance is different from what has been announced. I will make every effort to live in such a way that nobody will be misled by my character. It will be my ambition to resemble the nature of Dona Leopoldina, my husband's mother, and to be a Brazilian with all my heart in everything I do."