| re: Hidden puns in character names? | |
| Posted by: showtunetrivia 02:27 pm EDT 04/19/20 | |
| In reply to: Hidden puns in character names? - 37Rubydog 01:47 pm EDT 04/19/20 | |
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| Names that were obvious puns were constantly used in nineteenth and early 20th century plays. I’ll dig out a bunch in a bit. But I can explain Mazeppa without checking the reference books. The real Ivan Mazeppa was a Ukrainian separatist of the mid 17th century. He had an affair, was caught, stripped naked, and was tied to a runway horse. He survived,,and had various adventures. His life was turned into a romantic poem by Byron. Flash forward to New Orleans, and a lively young lady named Adah Isaacs Menken, a beauty who was the mistress of an Austrian nobleman, had four marriages, cropped her hair and smoke in public, and was a stage star. Her biggest hit was playing MAZEPPA, OR THE WILD HORSE OF TARTARY (1861). In which she wore a flesh colored tight, and rode across the stage on a real horse. This was a sensation, of course, and even after Adah’s time, the role continued. (Google images for the title.) People in 1920s and 1930s America were not likely to know the Ukrainian hero, the Byron poem, but the image of Nekkid Girl On Horse On Stage remained. Laura, historian (not) at large |
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| Previous: | re: Hidden puns in character names - On The Town - WaymanWong 03:41 pm EDT 04/20/20 |
| Next: | MAZEPPA is also the title of an opera by Tchaikovsky.... - Michael_Portantiere 04:52 pm EDT 04/19/20 |
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