Flore Revalles
Flore Revalles | |
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Geneva, Switzerland | |
Occupation(s) | Singer, dancer, and actress |
Flore (or Flora) Revalles (January 25, 1889 – August 29, 1966) was a Swiss entertainer active over the early decades of the twentieth century. Revalles began as a singer in Switzerland, danced with the Ballets Russes in Europe and America and appeared in Broadway and Hollywood productions before resuming her singing career in Europe. She is also remembered for being an aunt of the French film star Guy Tréjan (1921–2001).
Life and career
Emily Flora Treichler was born in
In January 1916, Diaghilev brought his troupe to New York for a two-week engagement at the
Flore Revalles is her name and she plays in most of the ballets, among them in the ancient story of the snake lady of the Nile, Cleopatra. Flore Revalles is a person all soft curves and long sinuous lines with dark Egyptian coloring and all the attributes of a well regulated vampire. In the story from which the ballet is taken a humble slave dares to love Cleopatra. At first the whole court with the queen stand aghast and astounded at the presumption of the slave; but, swayed by a whim, yields to him for a brief and delirious hour and then kills him with a strange and terrible poison. Galveston Daily News, November 26, 1916[3]
Revalles made headlines in the United States in October 1916 after revealing she had adopted a cobra to help perfect her Cleopatra dance, stating “the cobra is the most graceful of all snakes.”[4]
During her stay in America Revalles appeared in two Broadway productions, Miss 1917, a musical revue that had a fair run at the
She also played in at least two American motion pictures, playing Messalina in Woman—a 1918 film that attempts to tell the story of womankind from Eve to the present day, a story some found risqué—and Daisy Rittenshaw in the 1920 picture Earthbound, in which her husband murders his best friend after discovering their affair. Later her lover returns as a ghost unable to move on until he helps those he’d wronged.[7][8]
In the early 1920s Revalles decided to return to Europe to resume her singing career. She eventually chose to retire in the mid-1930s to
Gallery
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Photograph for Schéhérazade, 1916:Zobeide
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Revalles circa 1916
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Flora Revalles as Cleopatra, from a 1916 publication
References
- ^ a b c Davier, Anne Flore Revalles, in: Kotte, Andreas (Ed.): Dictionary of the Theater in Switzerland, Zurich 2005 Chronos Verlag, vol. 3, p. 1484. accessed October 17, 2012
- ^ Russian Ballet Arrives. New York Times, (New York City), January 12, 1916; p. 13; Nijinski Puts Life In Ballets Russes, New York Times (New York City), April 13, 1916; p. 11’; Patriotic Airs At Concert. New York Times (New York City), July 5, 1917; p. 9;
- ^ Ballets Russes at Huston Next Week. Galveston Daily News (Galveston, Texas), November 26, 1916, p. 31
- ^ She Studies the Motions of a Snake in order to Perfect Cleopatra Dance. Des Moines Daily News (Des Moines, Iowa), October 07, 1916, p. 4
- ^ Century Theatre Collapse. New York Daily Mirror (New York City), January 12, 1918, p.4 accessed October 17, 2012
- ^ Actress Scores Hit. Kingston Gleaner (Kingston, Kingston), March 14, 1919, p. 13
- ^ Woman From Eve to Date, is Shown in this Daring Movie. Sandusky Star Journal (Sandusky, Ohio), August 11, 1919, p. 2
- ^ Earthbound, Photoplay, November, 1920, p. 38 accessed October 15, 2012
External links
- Flora Revalles at IMDb
- Anne Davier (2005). "Flore Revalles". In Andreas Kotte (ed.). OCLC 62309181.