
As a kid, I had a late C19 postcard titled La Belle Otéro the woman portrayed appeared fabulously and erotically beautiful in a way that old postcards do not usually allow. Unbeknown to me, in August 1898 in St Petersburg the French film operator Felix Mesguich (a Lumiere Brothers employee) shot a one minute reel of this extraordinary actress/dancer/theatre personality/Folies Bèrgere star/courtesan performing La Valse Brillante. And like the postcard, the footage powerfully transmits her great vitality, exuberance and abandon. So when I came across some of this footage today a post seemed inevitable. Puente de Valga, Galicia (Northwest Spain) born, Carolina Otéro worked her way through cafes, bordellos and music halls to become employed at the Folies Bèrgere in Paris in 1889, creating the gypsy character La Belle Otéro. Not unlike Louise Weber developing La Goulue (The Glutton) at the Moulin Rouge. It was at this famous music hall that Carolina crystallized her indistinguishably meshed private and public image in part through a wardrobe of outlandish clothing, including her famous jewel and pearl encrusted brassieres. And from there, Otéro launched herself on the world travelling and performing in all corners of the globe - Moscow, Rio de Janeiro, New York, Paris . And becoming, it was thought, the lover of King Edward VII, Tzar Nicholas II, the Grand Duke Peter, the Duke of Westminster ! She amassed and lost a fortune in the approved manner. And the high life was still <b>...</b>
La
Belle
Otéro
FINAL
nickwallacesmith