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ACTRESSES AND THE MISE EN SCÈNE Representations of nudity were well-established costuming conventions In 1881, Emma D’Auban danced in what can only be described as the scantiest costume of a harem—the pretence was a tribal dance of American natives, and the pantomime was Robinson Crusoe A picture from the Illustrated London News shows her midriff clearly visible through a thin layer of gauze The costume was certainly an erotic sign, as variations appear on numerous postcards of would-be Salomes and Cleopatras,41 but audiences must have been immured to such spectacles, for no objections were raised to Robinson Crusoe Similar examples are found in Carlotta Grisi’s costume for La Péri in which her torso is bare from the waist to just below the breasts (illustrated by Brandard, c 1843) and Wilhelm’s designs for the Bayadère Ballet in The Golden Ring (Alhambra, 1883) Fanny Cerrito took the dare further in Ondine by appearing in a bodice that was green on one side and pale pink on the other, with only a garland appearing to decorate her breast (illustrated by Numa Blanc, c 1843) In 1898, the controversial La Belle Otero performed a matador act at the Alhambra dressed in a sleeveless, strapless brassiere, with tight pants that appeared to expose one leg in a curvaceous strip extending from the inside of the knee to the outside of the hip Wilhelm’s cupid design for Rose d’Amour (Empire, 1888) appears to be nude except for her wings, quiver, and a wrapping of transparent fabric around the hips and over one shoulder Wilhelm knew, like Crissie The Pandora Palace of Varieties Prostitute’ (prima ballerina in an erotic novel of 1899), ‘that a little draping, flaunted about as she knew how, looks far more wickedly wanton than none at all’.42 Perhaps indifference to such displays was a quirk of English (and French) prudery; Mrs Krum Hinderup would certainly have been appalled, for in Copenhagen in 1886 she performed Anitra’s sultry dance dressed in a floor length evening gown, apparently relying on her elaborate low-slung girdle and ostrich plume fan to seduce Peer Gynt The LCC paid inspectors to write annual reports on music halls and to investigate ad hoc complaints about performances A routine report on Gatti’s Palace of Varieties blandly describes the step dance and striptease of the Irish vocalist W.P.Carey as ‘somewhat suggestive’: He dances a few steps, and then takes off his coat Then a few more steps, and he removes his waistcoat Finally he 121