Album with photographs and autographs from Cabaret dancers and performers across Europe and the Orient from the 1920s. Europe, Africa and Asia. 8vo [183 x 146mm]. Hardcover. 1928 – 1930. 132 unnumbered pages. With 86 mounted original photographs (including some postcards) and 73 autograph dedications with signatures. Some pages lightly stained, binding is rubbed and bumped, about 2-3 photos are missing; otherwise well preserved.

Remarkable personal album of a German dance duo that travelled across Europe, Africa and Asia in the 1920s.

The present album comprises original photographs and postcards of fellow dancers the two women met during their travels. Most photos are accompanied by a personal handwritten dedication – made, in most cases, to Lotte, one of the two young women who formed the dance duo „2 Uschilotts – Jugendliches Tanz Duett“.

The album opens up with 4 photos of the dance duo and continues with dedications from the fellow dancers they have met along the way. Most of the photos and personal dedications are dated 1928, from different summer theaters and cabarets in Romania, such as Moara Rosie („Moulin Rouge“, in translation) and Alcazar in Bucharest or Chat Noir in Galati. The duo travelled further, to Milan and Lugano in Italy, Czernowitz in Ucraine, Lwiw in Poland and took a ship from Italy to get to Alexandria and then furtheralong to Istanbul, Damascus and Aleppo. The dedications come from actors, dancers, ballerinas & ballet troops, dance duos or dance troops, music orchestras, and acrobats. The collection of photographs constitutes a valuable source for the dance and performance stage across Europe in the 1920s, while the abundant travels and dedication are a firsthand account of a performer’s life in that time. The style of the contemporary Jazz Age, as well as Oriental influences, are visible in the dancers‘ costumes and appearance. Alongside pictures and dedications (including also lyrics and verses) from colleagues, there is also an anecdotical drawing, captioned „Lotte im Jahre 1999“, as well as a page with 2 photographs of 4 directors and agents of the above mentioned theaters in Romania. Some of the photographs depict erotic poses. Amongst the dancers are Hanni Hanita, Del Rio, Jany Adele, Lotti Valden, Dorit Daria, Ria Rose, Geschwister Ferry, John & Pola, Mafalda Bernardi, Putti Lokita, Ellinor and Henry (Acrobatic-Excentric), Abé et Georges d’Arrée, Renée van Weert, Chaida Hessen, Alira Kaden, Lilly Kaden, Else Olchanasty (?), Kapelle Rachmaninoff, Negri and Patino, Manette et Lulu, Ballet Dorian, Victor Saude, Lulu More (Loulou Mauree), The Flick Flack Boys, Nina Marchand, Milly et Soldy, André and Harry, Emmy de Walt Sisters, Rido Castello, Gretl König, Mimi Marjan, Josef Lugert (?), Mia de Roché, Poldi Poretty, Helly Roy, Friedl Dorsay, Bessy and Johnny (acrob. tric dancers), Sonja Terry, Duo Brockeus, Princess Wantura, Trio Lukasch, Nandy’s Revue Girls, Bekeffy Vocal-Quartett, Eszty Mendoza, Lya Ray, Lola Renée, Margaret et Karess, Les Darqeurs, Tony Hell, Hanny Vidor, Olly Carmine,Meey’s 3, Hella Andar, Relly & Rolly, Ella and his Boys, Der Ucrainer and Lo Lolott. – Nearly 30 dedications were written in Bukarest (nearly 10 from the Moulin Rouge and another 7 from the Alcazar Theatre), 7 in Galati, 2 in Milano, 1 in Lugano, 1 in Alexandria (Egypt), 13 in Czernowitz (Ukraine), 3 in Lemberg (Lwiw / Poland), 3 in Damaskus, 10 in Istanbul and 2 in Aleppo.

The uniqueness of this album also lies in the fact that many of the theaters where the duo had engagements in Bucharest were also considered to be secret brothels, thus there are not many accounts about them from contemporary writings. Furthermore, this is a very interesting account of the theater and dance scene in the 1920s in Europe, as well as in the Orient.

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