This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 7/11/2024
LITTLE EGYPT. Pair of cymbals used by Little Egypt at the Chicago World’s Columbia Exposition. Brass cymbals with suede leather handles (diameter 8”). Accompanied by a letter of provenance dated 21 July 1955, signed by Doris Bramson Whitehouse, to Mr. Miller. In part: “I am mailing you the cymbals that Little Egypt used in her shimmy dancing at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893 (?). They were bought directly from her by Thaddeus Gray and (sic) actor, who in turn gave them to me.” Whitehouse was a Boston-area actress who founded the Whitehouse Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1926. A rare artifact from the introduction of belly dancing, or hoochee-coochee dancing, in America.