Figure of fun : gender, performance, and popular entertainment in the theatrical career of Trixie Friganza, 1889-1940 /

Abstract

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] This study examines Friganza's many performances of gender over the course of her career, from her first appearance as a young, nubile chorus girl in The Pearl of Pekin (1889) to her screen appearance in the film How to Undress In Front of Your Husband (1937), investigating how her gendered performances both supported and subverted dominant ideals of femininity. This study reveals how at several points Friganza adapted her performance of femininity, moving from the object of desire as the ultra-feminine chorus girl to the less-feminized object of fun as a comedienne, and finally, to the monstrous feminine of her vaudeville performances, in which she largely rejected the dominant expectations of femininity.