Edna Morton for Elcha studio

Anthony Barboza ~ Portrait of actress Edna Morton, in costume, early 20th century (studio Elcha, NY) | src getty images

Edna Morton (April 2, 1894 – July 31, 1980) was an American actress who was in films in the 1920s. She starred in mainly race films most of them produced by Reol Productions. Her most notable films being Spitfire (1922), Easy Money (1922), and The Call of His People (1921). She was also in a film by Oscar Micheaux called A Son of Satan (1924). She is known to have been in ten films in total. She was referred to as “the colored Mary Pickford”. (text retrieved from wikipedia entry)

Anthony Barboza ~ Portrait of actress Edna Morton, in costume, early 20th century (studio Elcha, NY stamp on bottom right)

Theda Bara in Cleopatra · 1917

Theda Bara (anagram of Arab death, 1885-1955), in Cleopatra (1917) | src alamy
Theda Bara (b. Theodosia Burr Goodman, 1885-1955), in Cleopatra (1917) directed by J. Gordon Edwards | src alamy
Theda Bara in Cleopatra (J. Gordon Edwards, 1917). Studio publicity still, Fox Film | src alamy
Theda Bara in Cleopatra (J. Gordon Edwards, 1917). Studio publicity still, Fox Film | src alamy
Detail from image # 1: Theda Bara in Cleopatra (1917) | src alamy

Merkelbach · Johanna Wittrock

Atelier Jacob Merkelbach ~ Danseres Johanna Wittrock, 1895 | src Stadsarchief Amsterdam Beeldbank
Atelier Jacob Merkelbach ~ Danseres Johanna Wittrock, 1895 | src Stadsarchief Amsterdam Beeldbank
Atelier Jacob Merkelbach ~ Danseres Johanna Wittrock, 1895 | src Stadsarchief Amsterdam Beeldbank

Désirée Lubovska · ca. 1915

Underwood & Underwood :: Portrait of ‘Russian’ dancer Désirée Lubowska [aka Mme Lubowska or Lubovska], full-length portrait, standing, left profile, in Cleopatra costume, 9 September 1915. (Désirée Lubovska was not actually Russian. It was the stage name of American born dancer Winniefred Foote). | src Library of Congress
White Studio (NY) :: Portrait of ‘Russian’ dancer Désirée Lubowska [aka Mme Lubowska or Lubovska], full-length portrait, standing, right profile, in Cleopatra costume, 1915. | src Les sources d’une île

Desiree Lubovska, also Desiree Lubowska, was the professional name of American dancer Winniefred Foote (1893 – 1974). Foote was born in Minnesota. She changed her name, adopted an accent in her speech, and created a backstory of dancing in Russia; she also said that she studied Egyptian art at the British Museum. She went on a diet and fitness regimen in pursuit of a more angular physique, and her dances reflect this focus. ‘I finally felt I was one of them, a reincarnated spirit of the Nile’; she said in a 1921 interview.

Text adapted from the Wikipedia entry (in English)

Ballet dancer Desiree Loubovska / Lubovska. Egyptian dance of mourning taken from tombs of Egypt. Press photo by White Studios (1916) | src Worthpoint ~ Worthopedia

The text “Egyptian dance of mourning taken from tombs of Egypt” can be read on the verso of the photograph, written in pencil amongst the stamps of press agencies.