...AND LADIES OF THE CHORUS

When the late Prince Philip reportedly observed that it’s a different world now, and some aristocrats are marrying chorus girls, some considered that a remarkably snobbish comment. It may have been. It was also the simple acknowledgement of a fact that began in the late 19th century, when a very specific kind of chorus girl began making her way into the aristocracy.
Just as some impoverished aristocrats started marrying American “Dollar Princesses,” when the strict standards for an appropriate match began to loosen, so did other aristocrats start taking a closer look at young ladies on the stage.
Not just any young ladies, though.
It started in the 1890s with the “Gaiety Girls” in Britain, polite, elegant and of course beautiful young performers in musical comedies at (where else?) the Gaiety Theatre. The ladies were the epitome of “pretty is as pretty does,” well-chaperoned and graceful, and the gents lined up to meet them. Many “married well,” as the expression goes, with more than one snaring an Earl.
Soon enough, the idea crossed the pond, and the featured members of Broadway’s famous Floradora Sextette had all the attention they could handle. Once again, they were lovely, well-behaved young ladies, impeccably chaperoned and of course virtuous. Rumor had it that every member of the original sextette married a millionaire, and true or not, the story of the sweet chorus girl who makes a good match was embedded in the culture.
It’s not, after all, a very long leap from that Floradora Girl to the cheerful gold-diggers of the flapper era – or many of the characters Marilyn Monroe played. Marilyn’s outfits are more fun, but the idea of the girl who makes the best deal with what she’s got was a well-established tradition by the time she blazed onto the screen.
While Ella Shane would admire Marilyn Monroe as an underrated artist, she doesn’t have much appreciation for the chorus girls of her time. After all, Ella’s fighting – sometimes literally – to be considered “a lady and an artist,” and those little darlings at the Gaiety or the Floradora show just waltz in and take all the cookies.
Ella expects anyone who wants to be taken seriously as a professional performer to do the work, and she doesn’t have much respect for the light singing and dancing required of the Gaiety girls especially. What she misses – but a modern observer doesn’t – is that the minimal effort is part of the point.
Someone like Ella, a magnificently talented, highly trained artist, would not be nearly as appealing and approachable to a certain kind of man as one of those pretty lightweights. Ella, even without a sword in hand, is a little scary for some men. Not so the Floradora girls, who are pretty and modestly accomplished. They’re a much more comfortable companion for the powerful men of the time, who want a woman who they can show off – but who won’t show them up.
Well, most powerful men of the time. There’s one particular British aristocrat who very much likes being challenged by Ella…and isn’t afraid of her, either. Though he is a little scared about what he might have to do to win her. No spoilers on how that turns out!

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