Sexy, beautiful actress Eugénie Fougère, 1888 cabinet card, Scandal and Tragedy

Description

Eugénie Fougère (1870-after 1934): She was a French vaudeville and music hall singer and dancer. She made her stage debut at the age of 12. At the age of 15 she started her stage career at the Café des Ambassadeurs in Paris, where she would live for the rest of her life. Her act was as a soubrette, a flirtatious or frivolous girl. She was known for her eye-catching outfits, frisky movements, suggestive demeanor, and for her sexy rendition of the popular "cakewalk dance" to black rhythms, which she often performed with her face and body painted black! 1891: She toured the US, Spain, Cuba, Germany, Mexico, Canada and Italy, sometimes to negative reviews due to her highly erotic dancing. Her death was falsely reported in 1903 when her friend, a 42 year old prostitute also named Eugénie Fougère, met a violent end. Jewel thieves broke into her home at night as she was sleeping and they tightly bound and gagged her. Her maid, who was apparently involved in planning the robbery and who hated her mistress, strangled her. The date of death of the actress on this cabinet card is unknown.
She poses facing left and wearing a decorated hat, flamboyant gown with wide bodice, necklace, and white gloves.
Photographer: [Napoleon] Sarony, 37 Union Square, New York. Reverse: Fougère in ink, 5082 in pencil.
CONDITION: Excellent with light soiling and almost none of the warping typical of cabinet cards.