Gilda Gray

The creator of 'the Shimmy' was a voluptuous, mischievous-eyed blonde dancer who was born Marianna Michalska in Krakow, Poland. Her parents died tragically and she was eventually adopted from an orphanage and her new parents took her to the U.S. in 1909, where she commenced her career singing in her foster-father's Chicago saloon. She then worked as a cabaret dancer in New York City and, so the story goes, discovered 'shimmying' by 'shaking her chemise' out of sheer nervousness during a performance. Whether or not this is true, she managed to attract the attention of pianist and bandleader Frank Westphal, who introduced her to his wife, vaudeville singer Sophie Tucker (whose suggestion, based on a character she had read about in a 10-cent magazine, prompted her stage-name change from 'May Gray' to the decidedly more glamorous 'Gilda.'The year in which Gilda performed on stage in "The Gaieties of 1919" also saw her first 'scandalising' larger audiences with her hips and shoulder... [Details Intro]