Timeline: Folies Bergere

November 30: General Interest
1886 : Folies Bergere stage first revue

Once a hall for operettas, pantomime, political meetings, and
vaudeville, the Folies Bergère in Paris introduces an elaborate revue
featuring women in sensational costumes. The highly popular "Place aux
Jeunes" established the Folies as the premier nightspot in Paris. In
the 1890s, the Folies followed the Parisian taste for striptease and
quickly gained a reputation for its spectacular nude shows. The
theater spared no expense, staging revues that featured as many as 40
sets, 1,000 costumes, and an off-stage crew of some 200 people.

The Folies Bergère dates back to 1869, when it opened as one of the
first major music halls in Paris. It produced light opera and
pantomimes with unknown singers and proved a resounding failure.
Greater success came in the 1870s, when the Folies Bergère staged
vaudeville. Among other performers, the early vaudeville shows
featured acrobats, a snake charmer, a boxing kangaroo, trained
elephants, the world's tallest man, and a Greek prince who was covered
in tattoos allegedly as punishment for trying to seduce the Shah of
Persia's daughter. The public was allowed to drink and socialize in
the theater's indoor garden and promenade area, and the Folies Bergère
became synonymous with the carnal temptations of the French capital.
Famous paintings by Édouard Manet and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec were
set in the Folies.

In 1886, the Folies Bergère went under new management, which, on
November 30, staged the first revue-style music hall show. The "Place
aux Jeunes," featuring scantily clad chorus girls, was a tremendous
success. The Folies women gradually wore less and less as the 20th
century approached, and the show's costumes and sets became more and
more outrageous. Among the performers who got their start at the
Folies Bergère were Yvette Guilbert, Maurice Chevalier, and
Mistinguett. The African American dancer and singer Josephine Baker
made her Folies debut in 1926, lowered from the ceiling in a
flower-covered sphere that opened onstage to reveal her wearing a
G-string ornamented with bananas.

The Folies Bergère remained a success throughout the 20th century and
still can be seen in Paris today, although the theater now features
many mainstream concerts and performances. Among other traditions that
date back more than a century, the show's title always contains 13
letters and includes the word "Folie."