Stars of Vaudeville # 626: La Carmencita


John Singer Sargeant’s portait of La Carmencita, which hangs in Musee d’Orsay, Paris

A post in celebration of Women’s History Month.

Carmencita Daucet (circa 1870-1895) was a French native who studied and performed with a troupe of traditional Spanish dancers. Much like Lola Montez before her, she caused a sensation in the English speaking world with her bold, provocative Spanish dance moves. She and her dancers initially appeared in London in 1888 in a play called Albion, which then went to Niblo’s Garden in New York. This led to a booking at Koster and Bial’s in 1890, where she was held over for ten weeks. For the next four years, she stayed in America, touring vaudeville  throughout the Northeast and Midwest and occasionally appearing in the entr’acts of Broadway plays. She then returned to London, where audiences were a little colder to her. She passed away a year later. So great was her legend that ten years after she died Willie Hammerstein still found it profitable to hire an obscure chorus girl and present her to the public, fobbing her off as La Carmencita. Sure, but another La Carmencita!





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