Spider dance
The fascinating Lola Montez is part of Australian folklore, living a life of great high and tragic lows. Famous for her suggestive [ by mid 1800's standards ] spider dance. The following is a very condensed history, which is difficult considering she had such a full life.
Lola Montez [1818-1861], dancer and courtesan, was born in Limerick, Ireland,daughter of Ensign Edward Gilbert and his fourteen-year-old wife who claimed descent from Spanish nobility.
Lola visited Spain and trained as a dancer,making her debut before royalty at Her Majesty's Theatre, London, on 3 June 1843. Lola travelled Europe, giving performances which were then considered suggestive in Warsaw, Paris and elsewhere. In turn she became the mistress of Franz Liszt, Alexandre Dumas, and Alexandre Dujarier.
After Dujarier was killed in a duel on 11 March 1845, Lola went to Munich posing as a Spanish noblewoman. The ageing King Ludwig I of Bavaria fell in love with her, buying a large house and settling an annuity on her. Lola exerted great political influence for a time; ministries rose and fell at her bidding and she won support from radical university students. On 25 August 1847 Ludwig created her Countess Marie von Landsfeld but the Bavarian aristocracy and middle class refused to acknowledge her. On 7 February 1848 street riots broke out against her influence and on the 10th thousands of burghers marched on the palace to demand her expulsion. Presented with proof of her background and infidelities, Ludwig gave way but also insisted on abdicating the throne. Lola fled to Switzerland when her Bavarian rights were annulled.
Lola returned to the stage, touring Europe and America, carrying a cowhide whip and often a pistol, and becoming involved in innumerable assaults, scandals and legal actions. In gold-rush San Francisco, she gave the first performances of her notorious 'Spider Dance'.
In May 1855 Lola appointed a young actor Noel Follin as her manager. In June they sailed for Sydney in the Fanny Major with their own company. They arrived on 16 August and opened with local actors at the Royal Victoria Theatre on the 23rd in a farrago entitled 'Lola Montez in Bavaria'. Two weeks later Lola and Follin (who had changed his name to Folland) decamped from Sydney. A sheriff's officer followed them on board the Waratah with a debtor's warrant of arrest; Lola undressed in her cabin and dared the officer to seize her but he left on the pilot boat without her. Lola opened at the Theatre Royal, Melbourne, on 13 September in her Bavarian role; when audiences diminished she began to perform the 'Spider Dance'. She was denounced by the press but the mayor of Melbourne, sitting as a magistrate, refused an application for her arrest. From 26 November to 31 December she played to full houses in Adelaide, returning to a 'rapturous welcome' at Sydney in January 1856. She opened at Ballarat on 16 February in a series of sketches; greeted by packed houses she invited miners to shower nuggets at her feet as she danced. The Ballarat Times attacked her notoriety; Lola retaliated by publicly horsewhipping the editor, Henry Seekamp, at the United States Hotel.
From 1 April Lola successfully toured Bendigo, Castlemaine and other Victorian towns, causing both outrage and gold nuggets thrown on stage.
In 1857 after returning to America, rapidly ageing, Lola failed in attempts at a theatrical comeback in various American cities.she was showing the tertiary effects of syphilis and her body began to waste away. Aged 42 she died on 17 January 1861 pennyless.
"Spider Dance" © Carl Rolfe. All rights reserved. Copying and/or distributing this images without my written permission is strictly prohibited.
Lola Montez [1818-1861], dancer and courtesan, was born in Limerick, Ireland,daughter of Ensign Edward Gilbert and his fourteen-year-old wife who claimed descent from Spanish nobility.
Lola visited Spain and trained as a dancer,making her debut before royalty at Her Majesty's Theatre, London, on 3 June 1843. Lola travelled Europe, giving performances which were then considered suggestive in Warsaw, Paris and elsewhere. In turn she became the mistress of Franz Liszt, Alexandre Dumas, and Alexandre Dujarier.
After Dujarier was killed in a duel on 11 March 1845, Lola went to Munich posing as a Spanish noblewoman. The ageing King Ludwig I of Bavaria fell in love with her, buying a large house and settling an annuity on her. Lola exerted great political influence for a time; ministries rose and fell at her bidding and she won support from radical university students. On 25 August 1847 Ludwig created her Countess Marie von Landsfeld but the Bavarian aristocracy and middle class refused to acknowledge her. On 7 February 1848 street riots broke out against her influence and on the 10th thousands of burghers marched on the palace to demand her expulsion. Presented with proof of her background and infidelities, Ludwig gave way but also insisted on abdicating the throne. Lola fled to Switzerland when her Bavarian rights were annulled.
Lola returned to the stage, touring Europe and America, carrying a cowhide whip and often a pistol, and becoming involved in innumerable assaults, scandals and legal actions. In gold-rush San Francisco, she gave the first performances of her notorious 'Spider Dance'.
In May 1855 Lola appointed a young actor Noel Follin as her manager. In June they sailed for Sydney in the Fanny Major with their own company. They arrived on 16 August and opened with local actors at the Royal Victoria Theatre on the 23rd in a farrago entitled 'Lola Montez in Bavaria'. Two weeks later Lola and Follin (who had changed his name to Folland) decamped from Sydney. A sheriff's officer followed them on board the Waratah with a debtor's warrant of arrest; Lola undressed in her cabin and dared the officer to seize her but he left on the pilot boat without her. Lola opened at the Theatre Royal, Melbourne, on 13 September in her Bavarian role; when audiences diminished she began to perform the 'Spider Dance'. She was denounced by the press but the mayor of Melbourne, sitting as a magistrate, refused an application for her arrest. From 26 November to 31 December she played to full houses in Adelaide, returning to a 'rapturous welcome' at Sydney in January 1856. She opened at Ballarat on 16 February in a series of sketches; greeted by packed houses she invited miners to shower nuggets at her feet as she danced. The Ballarat Times attacked her notoriety; Lola retaliated by publicly horsewhipping the editor, Henry Seekamp, at the United States Hotel.
From 1 April Lola successfully toured Bendigo, Castlemaine and other Victorian towns, causing both outrage and gold nuggets thrown on stage.
In 1857 after returning to America, rapidly ageing, Lola failed in attempts at a theatrical comeback in various American cities.she was showing the tertiary effects of syphilis and her body began to waste away. Aged 42 she died on 17 January 1861 pennyless.
"Spider Dance" © Carl Rolfe. All rights reserved. Copying and/or distributing this images without my written permission is strictly prohibited.
