Spanish dancer Nati Bilbainita at the Palace
March is Women’s History Month. Our site always centers women’s history; this month we’ll do so a bit more emphatically.
One hundred years ago today … The New York Dramatic Mirror reported on the US debut of Spanish dancer Nati Bilbainita, who was appearing at the Palace Theater.
New York Tribune, 6 March 1921, p. 40. Library of Congress.
She is of the usual attractive Spanish type and garbed in the typical costume of her country she cavorts around the stage to the clattering of castanets, offering a repertoire of typical Spanish dances. In the third spot at the Palace, Monday afternoon, she impressed the gathering, but her returns fell far below those registered by the other recent foreign invaders at this house. . . . Of course, one must consider the nervousness attending a debut performance in this country.
(Dramatic Mirror and Theatre World, March 1921. Dramatic Mirror Incorporated, 1921.p 451)
The review, by-lined “O’Connor,” was lukewarm, ending with the hope that “Miss Bilbainita from Spain may show up much better” in future shows.
O’Connor’s mention of “other recent foreign invaders at this house” refers to the early-1920s fascination with dancers from overseas.
The Tribune’s write-up was more succinct, more culturally off-base, and less error-free:
1921 Painting of Bilbainita by Gustavo Bacarisas for cover of La Pintura Moderna. todocoleccion.net
Nati Bilbainita, now [sic] to the Palace, is an importation from the Spanish music hall. She does the dances of. Spain in costumes done by Spanish modistes. She has Hispanic beauty and easily lend [sic] zest to a bowl of chili con carne.
(New York Tribune, 8 March 1921, p. 8.)
– Jonathan Goldman, March 12, 2021
TAGS: dance, Spain, Spanish, vaudeville, stage, entertainment, critics, ethnicity, errors