Tag Archives: Little Egypt

Little Egypt…

Once in a while I stumble upon articles that fascinate me.  Here is one such article, written by Kat Vecchio and found on Salon.com concerning a notorious late 19th Century, early 20th Century dancer Katherine Devine, better known as “Little Egypt”:

Katherine Devine, the Kim Kardashian of the 1890’s

It is truly fascinating to see how our culture has both changed and remained fixed in time over the years, especially when seen through the story of Ms. Devine.

I don’t want to give too much away from the article, but Ms. Devine achieved a level of notoriety at the turn of the Century 1800’s into the 1900’s because of her “risque” dancing, specifically a party she was hired to dance for involving some wealthy patrons.

The story of how Ms. Devine took what was a scandal and made it an opportunity is classic Americana.  Not the Americana people like to pretty up, but the real life flesh and blood that made much of this country…despite attempts by many to hide the “darker” aspects of our lust.

Based on the article, Ms. Devine was hardly a stunning woman, and I actually laughed out loud at this description, offered by The New York Daily Tribune, of her appearance in court following the “scandalous” dance she gave the millionaires:

The New York Daily Tribune reported, “The woman spoke with a French accent that didn’t work much more than half of the time.”

If you truly dig below the surface of the American dream, you’ll find so many people like Ms. Devine…people who used whatever “talents” they had and pushed them to their limits to make a nice life for themselves.  Considering the status of women in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s and presented in snippets through the article, one had to take whatever advantages one could to make a living.

While Ms. Devine, at least according to the article, was not a prostitute but rather a bawdy vaudeville dancer, the role of sex in the rise of the American West is fascinating because of the things we don’t talk about.

When I visited Seattle, one of the startling things I discovered was, among others, the role madam Lou Graham had on the rise of that city.  She was a successful madam and loaned money to various businesses as well as helped the women (and men!) under her wing get an education so that once their “scandalous” days are done they will have the potential to continue their lives productively.

The saddest part of the article on Ms. Devine was the nature of her passing, an apparent gas leak in the building she resided in.

Here’s to Ms. Devine and others like her, who managed to take on the hypocrisy of society -on the one hand many of them so high and mighty fighting “smut” while on the other hand incredibly quick to devour any little piece of information on it- and make a life for herself.