The Four Amaranths, acrobatic dancers

the Four Amaranths
(Mary, Tina, Jennie and Hannah, fl. early 20th Century),
acrobatic dancers (photo: unknown, circa 1915)

This hand tinted real photograph postcard, photographer and publisher uncredited, dates from about 1910. For reference to the Four Amaranths’ appearances in New York between 1915 and 1920, see the Internet Broadway Database.

‘FOUR AMARANTHS
‘A quartette of graceful lady acrobatic dancers. Some act.’
(The Wisconsin State Journal, Madison, Wisconsin, 23 February 1915, p. 6f, advertisement)

Keith’s, Philadelphia, PA, week beginning 23 April 1917
‘… The pretty dancing turn of Hooper and Marbury got something more than usual in the opening position. Both are good dancers, and pretty stage setting and costuming help get the act over in good shape. A dancing act of another kind – that of the Four Amaranths, who mix acrobatics with their stopping, closed the vaudeville bill, and the girls did very well without showing anything new.’
(Variety, New York, Friday, 27 April 1917, pp. 48D/49a)

The Amaranths troupe was originally composed of three sisters, known as the Three Amaranths (otherwise the Sisters Amaranth). They appeared in the musical play, The Cingalee; or, Sunny Ceylon, which was produced at Daly’s Theatre, London, on 5 March 1904. Their Perahara Dances were intended to enrich the exotic setting of the piece. ‘One of the most striking features in The Cingalee is the devil dancing by the Sisters Amaranth, who were greatly applauded by the Queen [Alexandra] on the first night.’ Other members of the cast included Hayden Coffin, Rutland Barrington, Fred Kaye, Huntley Wright, Sybil Arundale, Gracie Leigh, Carrie Moore and Isabel Jay, together with the dancers Loku Banda, Willie Warde and Topsy Sinden.

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