On this day ...... in 1873, Beulah Maude Durrant is believed to have been born in Toronto, Canada (different sources give different dates; some even alter her birth name). In her 20s she studied piano in Berlin, Germany. After her brother was executed in 1898 for murdering 2 women in San Francisco, California, where she had grown up, she changed her name to Maud Allan and abandoned the piano for dance. Allan, who once published a sex manual, is best known for her "Vision of Salome" dance (above), and for her involvement in a salacious defamation trial. She traveled throughout the world during her career, and died in Los Angeles in 1956. (credit for photo ca. 1906-1910)
(Prior August 27 posts are here and here.)
