Ziegfeld girls: beauty versus talent

This thesis investigates the progression of female images on the stage with specific reference to the women fostered by Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. It posits that Ziegfeld was responsible for a patriarchal construction of ideal female as commodity for male fantasy and consumption and exploited this idea to market his Broadway revue, Ziegfeld Follies. This notion is examined through a liberal and material feminist framework supported by the theories of Sue-Ellen Case and Naomi Wolf. Ziegfeld's progression from manager to selling ideal women rather than talented actresses, singers or dancers is investigated. The careers of Anna Held, Lillian Lorraine, Bessie McCoy, Vera Maxwell, Dolores, Paulette Goddard, Marilyn Miller and Fanny Brice are analyzed. These women's skills as actresses are addressed with consideration for their beauty used as a means to make them famous by Ziegfeld. Lastly the audience is appraised as white, middle to upper class patrons who were mostly anti-suffrage. This thesis puts forward that Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. kept women in a place of little power by promoting their beauty and never their talent, grouping the chorus girls as one entity rather than individuals and satirizing the suffragettes in many editions of Follies.