Last week’s #Throwback Thursday explored how circuses and carnivals, like P.T. Barnum’s circus, have long been traditions of American and European entertainment as well as a way for women to launch their own careers. Coney Island in New York was the launching place for many a female performer and was the birthplace of the dazzling Princess Rajah’s career as a show-stopping belly dancer and entertainer.
Princess Rajah, or Rose Ferran as she was born, was a headliner on the Keith Vaudeville Circuit in the early 1900s. She made an impressive $1000 per-week as a “cooch dancer” in Coney Island in the 1890s. One of her most popular dances, “The Arabian Chair Dance” (shown below), was recorded in a 1904 film and received rave reviews from the public.
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