Pauline Markham (1847-1919) was born in England, beginning her performance career there in 1867 at the Queen's Theatre in The First Night. She came to the United States in 1868 with the Lydia Thompson Troupe known as The British Blonds, as Venus in Ixion, later closing with the same company at Niblo's Garden, New York. She was a burlesque actress and is mentioned in an article in The Galaxy magazine as early 1869 as already being a burlesque actress of note. Her . . . speech is vocal velvet . . . her voice and her smile give to her presence a rare attraction, that calls to mind the allurements which Horace immortalized . . . (The Galaxy, Aug. 1869). It is rumored that she quit the Lydia Thompson company in order to join the cast of The Black Crook. She returned to burlesque eventually, as the The National Police Gazette in 1879 commented: Miss Pauline Markham, the popular and widely famous artiste, who has by general approval been invested by right of her beauty and magnificent statuesque form with the title of 'Queen of the burlesque stage'. . . Burlesque actresses were quite popular in their own ways . . . pictures of burlesque actresses were sold as souvenirs on the streets. Pauline Markham was most often billed as an actress in tights, rather than an actress showing bust, as other actresses were pictured, however this carte-de-visite photograph shows Markham dressed in a queen-like costume, at least from the waist up!
Type
Text
Original format
Portrait photo
Original publisher
[Place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified]
Language
en
Contributing institution
Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, UNCG University Libraries
Source collection
MSS255 Robert C. Hansen Performing Arts Collection
Series/grouping
10.1.1: Photographs, Cards, Caricatures/Satire and Other Pictoral Materials -- Photographs -- People
[Identification of item], Robert C. Hansen Performing Arts Collection, 1753-2006 (MSS255), Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives and Manuscripts, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, NC, USA.
NO COPYRIGHT - UNITED STATES. This item has been determined to be free of copyright restrictions in the United States. The user is responsible for determing actual copyright status for any reuse of the material.
Object ID
MSS255.088.002
Digital publisher
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, University Libraries, PO Box 26170, Greensboro NC 27402-6170, 336.334.5304
