Member-only story
Sexy Salome Dancers Disturb the Nation
What sparked the craze for barely-clad eastern dancers?
In 1905, German composer Richard Strauss wrote an opera — Salome — centered on the story of King Herod’s stepdaughter. Loosely based on an Oscar Wilde play of the same name, Strauss’ opera featured the scandalous “Dance of the Seven Veils,” and closed with a horrific scene that featured the decapitated head of John the Baptist. Although the opera was met with rapturous approval on the Continent, promoters were uncertain how it would play when it crossed the Atlantic. Salome was booked into New York’s Metropolitan Opera House for its official American premier.
The opera company’s publicity men did such a fine job promoting the production that on January 22, 1907, the night of the opera’s premier, ten extra policemen were sent to the Opera House to handle the unprecedented demand for tickets. Lines stretched down the street. The theater was packed, not even standing room remained when the curtains rolled skyward. The police disbursed the unlucky customers who could not be accommodated, driving them into the New York night.
Inside, the lucky spectators witnessed a musical event without precedent on depravity’s scale. The story proceeded soberly until it reached the scene in which Salome, played by Olive Fremstad, performed the infamous…
