|
|
Stage Name |
Birth Name |
| Gilda Gray |
Marianna Michalski
(a) |
| Mary Gray |
Maryanna Michalska (b) |
Gilda started her career as a Cabaret
dancer in New York shortly after arriving from her native Poland.
Gilda changed her name from Marianna to Mary Gray, then finally
to Gilda Gray. Her English was not the best and had a strong accent
when she danced in the Ziegfeld Follies as a Ziegfeld
Girl and later in the movie "The Great Ziegfeld."
When Gilda's part was cut from the scene she sued for damages.
By 1938 she had had 3 husbands. Gilda was also a part of the Tiller
Girls dance troupe.
Gilda startled Broadway audiences with
her Voodoo dance in 1923. Her most famous dance was the scandalous
"Shimmy."
The Shimmy has been claimed by many, but it was Gilda Gray who
could never keep her body still while she sang. When she moved
her shoulders, her audiences loved it so much she kept it in her
act. The Shimmy (chemise) is said to be a part of her dress
(Straps) and when she shook her shoulder her chemise would
always show.
The New York Times reported:
around 1918, at John Letzka's Saloon, a patron watching her do
this yelled out while she was performing and said: "What
do you call that dance," she replied, "I'm shaking
my chemise, that's what I am doing." Gray later refuted
ever saying this in "The Dance Magazine." Gray also
did the shimmy in the Ziegfeld's Follies of 1922. Mae
West would later challenge Gray and Bee Palmer's claim by
stating it was her who first did the Shimmy and Palmer and Gray
just capitalized on it. West goes on to say
|
she didn't
care, she wanted to be known as an actress not a dancer. However
the "Bullfrog Hop" song (which mentions the Shimmy)
was written in 1908 and pre dates these stories by at least 10
years.
Gilda divorced three husbands
by 1936, claiming each time, that the reason she seeked a divorce
was because her husband used obscene and offensive language with
her. Gilda lived in Los Angeles in the 1930's.
The "Gilda Glide" was choreographed
in her honor by Ned
Wayburn. |
Ballrooms
