November 30:

1886 : Folies Bergere stage first revue

Once a hall for operettas, pantomime, political
meetings, and vaudeville, the Folies Bergère in Paris
introduces an elaborate revue featuring women in
sensational costumes. The highly popular "Place aux
Jeunes" established the Folies as the premier
nightspot in Paris. In the 1890s, the Folies followed
the Parisian taste for striptease and quickly gained a
reputation for its spectacular nude shows. The theater
spared no expense, staging revues that featured as
many as 40 sets, 1,000 costumes, and an off-stage crew
of some 200 people.

The Folies Bergère dates back to 1869, when it opened
as one of the first major music halls in Paris. It
produced light opera and pantomimes with unknown
singers and proved a resounding failure. Greater
success came in the 1870s, when the Folies Bergère
staged vaudeville. Among other performers, the early
vaudeville shows featured acrobats, a snake charmer, a
boxing kangaroo, trained elephants, the world's
tallest man, and a Greek prince who was covered in
tattoos allegedly as punishment for trying to seduce
the Shah of Persia's daughter. The public was allowed
to drink and socialize in the theater's indoor garden
and promenade area, and the Folies Bergère became
synonymous with the carnal temptations of the French
capital. Famous paintings by Édouard Manet and Henri
de Toulouse-Lautrec were set in the Folies.

In 1886, the Folies Bergère went under new management,
which, on November 30, staged the first revue-style
music hall show. The "Place aux Jeunes," featuring
scantily clad chorus girls, was a tremendous success.
The Folies women gradually wore less and less as the
20th century approached, and the show's costumes and
sets became more and more outrageous. Among the
performers who got their start at the Folies Bergère
were Yvette Guilbert, Maurice Chevalier, and
Mistinguett. The African American dancer and singer
Josephine Baker made her Folies debut in 1926, lowered
from the ceiling in a flower-covered sphere that
opened onstage to reveal her wearing a G-string
ornamented with bananas.

The Folies Bergère remained a success throughout the
20th century and still can be seen in Paris today,
although the theater now features many mainstream
concerts and performances. Among other traditions that
date back more than a century, the show's title always
contains 13 letters and includes the word "Folie."

history.com/tdih.do