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 Zegfield."
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 that: 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 Bulfrog Hop song written in 1908 pre
dates these stories by 10 years.
The "Gilda Glide" was choreographed in her honor
by Ned Wayburn.
|
