Phyllis Monkman

This is a photo of Phyllis Monkman in Butterflies. The photo was taken by Foulsham & Banfield of London in 1908.

A review of her performance reads:

‘I do not know that the dance, which is pretty enough in its way, would have attracted any great amount of attention but for the fact that a writer in the Daily Express wrote a paragraph headed "Taste? Girl in a Dance and Little Else"; and then went on to tell us that Miss Monkman’s costume consisted of "a skirt which was little more than a whisper. The only covering on the upper part of her body was a breast-plate of jewels and a few strings of glittering stones.

Then, continued the Express writer, "the young girl is an excellent dancer, and although in her movements there is nothing suggestive or objectionable, it is a question whether the art of the stage is advanced by the introduction of a girl partially nude, no matter how poetic her poses and dancing may be."

For more information, see Maud Allan and Phyllis Monkman.