Carmencita
{{Short description|Spanish-style dancer (1868–1910)}}
{{about||the 1894 film of the same name|Carmencita (film)|the Evert Taube song Fritiof och Carmencita|Fritiof och Carmencita}}
{{family name hatnote|Dauset|Moreno|lang=Spanish}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Carmencita
| image = Carmencita.jpg
| imagesize =
| caption = Screencap from the short film Carmencita in 1894
| birth_name = Carmen Dauset Moreno
| birth_date = {{start date|1868}}
| birth_place = Almeria, Spain
| death_date = {{Death-date and age| 1910 | 1868 }}
| death_place = United States
| othername =
| yearsactive = 1880–1895
| spouse =
| homepage =
}}
Carmen Dauset Moreno, better known simply as Carmencita (1868–1910), was a Spanish-style dancer in American pre-vaudeville variety and music hall ballet.[https://archive.org/details/carmencitapearlo00rami Carmencita, The Pearl of Seville (1890)]
Biography
Born in Almería, Andalusia, Spain, Carmencita took dancing lessons in Malaga and first danced professionally at Malaga's Cervantes Theatre in 1880.{{cite book|last=Ramirez|first=James|title=Carmencita: The Pearl of Seville|date=1990|publisher=Press of the Law and Trade Printing Co.|location=New York|pages=114–117}}{{cite web|title=A researcher from the University of Alicante discovers that the Spanish Carmen Dauset Moreno was the first leading actress of sound films|url=http://web.ua.es/en/actualidad-universitaria/2010/noviembre2010-8-14/a-researcher-from-the-university-of-alicante-discovers-that-the-spanish-carmen-dauset-moreno-was-the-first-leading-actress-of-sound-films.html|accessdate=23 May 2014}} In 1882 she toured Spain and later traveled to Paris and Portugal. She returned to Paris during the Exposition Universelle (1889) and danced at the Nouveau Cirque where theatrical agent Bolossy Kiralfy saw her performance and subsequently induced her to come to the United States under his management. She debuted in New York on August 17, 1889, dancing in the ballet of "Antiope."{{cite news|title='Antiope' at Niblo's Garden|newspaper=New York Tribune|date=18 August 1889}} Her association with Kiralfy ended in early 1890,{{cite news|title=Carmencita Sues Kiralfy|newspaper=New York Times|date=13 May 1890}} and she rose to fame under the management of John Koster and Albert Bial, who put her in their 23rd Street Concert Hall commencing 10 February 1890. Over the next several years Carmencita performed in major cities across the country. She appeared in Koster & Bial's new Music Hall in November and early December 1894 before selling her possessions and returning to Europe.{{cite book|last=Musser|first=Charles|title=Edison Motion Pictures, 1890-1900: An Annotated Filmography|date=1997|publisher=Smithsonian Institution Press|location=Washington, D.C.|isbn=1-56098-567-4|pages=94–95}} She performed at the Palace Theatre, London in February 1895{{cite news|title=Entertainment Items|newspaper=The Observer|date=24 February 1895}} and then periodically at the Théâtre des Nouveautés in Paris.{{cite news|title=Carmencita and Her Painters|newspaper=New York Times|date=8 July 1923}}
Appearances in painting and film
Carmencita inspired rhapsodic poetry and prose. Today, she is noted for having had her portrait painted by such notable artists as John Singer Sargent,[http://www.jssgallery.org/Paintings/La_Carmencita.htm John Singer Sargent Virtual Gallery] William Merritt Chase{{cite web|title=Heilburnn Timeline of Art History, Carmencita (1890)|url=http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/06.969}} and James Carroll Beckwith{{cite web|title=The Athenaeum-Carmencita (James Carrol Beckwith)l|url=http://www.the-athenaeum.org/art/full.php?ID=114739|accessdate=24 May 2014}} as well as her role in an eponymous short film, one of many early instances of filmed theater.
According to film historian Charles Musser, Carmencita was the first woman to appear in a modern motion picture made for commercial purposes and may have been the first woman to appear in a motion picture within the United States.{{cite book|last=Musser|first=Charles|author-link=Charles Musser|title=Edison Motion Pictures, 1890-1900: An Annotated Filmography|date=1997|publisher=Smithsonian Institution Press|location=Washington, D.C.|isbn=1-56098-567-4|pages=34–35}}{{cite journal |last=Ramsaye |first=Terry |author-link=Terry Ramsaye |title=The Romantic History of the Motion Picture |journal=Photoplay |volume=22 |issue=6 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/phojun22chic/page/n37 32]–35, 95 |publisher=Photoplay Publishing Company |location=New York City |date=May 1922 |url=https://archive.org/details/phojun22chic |accessdate=2015-02-26}} In the film she is recorded going through a routine she had been performing at Koster and Bial's Music Hall in New York City since February 1890.{{cite web |url=http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/papr:@filreq(@field(NUMBER+@band(edmp+4019))+@field(COLLID+edison)) |title=Library of Congress American Memory |accessdate=2007-03-10 }}
Carmencita (1894).webm|Carmencita in the film
Carmencita, by William Merritt Chase.jpg|Carmencita, by William Merritt Chase
La Carmencita, by John Singer Sargent.jpg|La Carmencita, by John Singer Sargent
Olympia Carmencita.jpg|Poster of Carmencita for the Paris music-hall Olympia
Filmography
| class="wikitable"
! Year !! Film !! Role !! Other notes |
| 1894
| Herself | Sole performer |
| 1946
| Den gamla goda tiden | Herself | Posthumous release (archive footage) |
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category}}
- [https://www.loc.gov/item/00694116 Library of Congress]
- {{IMDb name|1588970}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20060804082604/http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6020302018400450975 Carmencita] at Google Video – Note that this also contains other footage
- [https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/search/index?utf8=%E2%9C%93&keywords=carmencita Portraits of Carmen Moreno] (NYPublic Library)
{{Authority control}}
Category:American artists' models
Category:American female dancers
Category:Articles containing video clips
Category:Place of death missing
Category:Spanish artists' models