La Sylphe

Keith and Proctor’s 125th Street Theatre, New York City, July and August 1908

‘A Dancer from Paris.

‘Ly Sylphe, billed as “Principal Dancer, Follies Bergeres, Paris,” was one of the principal attractions at Keith and Proctor’s 125th Street Theatre. She is a very slight and extremely supple young woman, and shows some cleverness in her work. She opened with a “Danse Classical,” which proved to be a very ordinary ballet dance done in the usual ballet costume. The second number was “Parisienne Gigolette,” which brought a change of costume and some good balancing on one foot. The picture screen was then lowered and a series of moving pictures showing La Sylphe in a Salome dance in Paris was displayed. This gave the dancer time to change her costume for the somewhat sensational Salome number. She wore a transparent skirt and a small bodice, and did some excellent contortion work, the effect being more acrobatic than terpsichorean. Owing no doubt to the amount of advertising received by Maud Allan and some very good press work in the New York papers, the business throughout the week was phenomenal for this season of the year. On several occasions people were turned away, even when the thermometer was flirting with the 95 mark. Incidentally, La Sylphe has been retained for a second week.’

The New York Dramatic Mirror, New York, Saturday, 18 July 1908, p.14a

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