Full Description
Gertrude Hoffmann made her name in the early twentieth century as an imitator, copying highbrow performances from Europe and popularizing them for a broader American audience. Born in San Francisco, Hoffmann started working as a ballet girl in pantomime spectacles during the Gay Nineties. She performed through the heyday of vaudeville and later taught dancers and choreographed nightclub revues. After her career ended, she reflected on how vaudeville's history was represented in film and television.
Drawn from extensive archival research, Imitation Artist shows how Hoffmann's life intersected with those of central figures in twentieth-century popular culture and dance, including Florenz Ziegfeld, George M. Cohan, Isadora Duncan, and Ruth St. Denis. Sunny Stalter-Pace discusses the ways in which Hoffmann navigated the complexities of performing gender, race, and national identity at the dawn of contemporary celebrity culture. This book is essential reading for those interested in the history of theater and dance, modernism, women's history, and copyright.
Contents
Table of Figures
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part I: Learning How to Copy, 1883-1906
Chapter 1: A Ballet Girl in San Francisco
Chapter 2: Teaming Up with Max Hoffmann
Chapter 3: A Woman Stage Manager
Part II: Solo Imitations, 1906-1909
Chapter 4: Imitative Caricatures
Chapter 5: Women's Rivalry and Copyright
Chapter 6: A Vision of Salome
Part III: Producing Revues, 1910-1914
Chapter 7: Gertrude Hoffmann's Review
Chapter 8: Pirating the Ballets Russes
Chapter 9: Mainstream Modernism
Chapter 10: All-American Artist
Part IV: New Directions, 1914-1923
Chapter 11: Grecian Dance, Pantomime, and Silent Film
Chapter 12: Snake Acts and Other Wartime Spectacles
Chapter 13: Just Drifting
Chapter 14: From Advanced Vaudeville to Cabaret
Part V: Offstage, 1923-1966
Chapter 15: The Gertrude Hoffmann Girls, At Home and Abroad
Chapter 16: Modern Dance and Floor Shows
Chapter 17: Remembering
Conclusion
Biography
Notes
Index
