This article follows a woman named Laverie Vallee, more widely known by her stage name “Charmion”, and the effects she had on both film and self identity of women in the early 20th Century. Charmion was most famously known for her vaudeville trapeze acts in which she strips into a leotard and tights that accentuated her incredibly tone body, another reason so many were attracted to her shows.
Charmion advocated her shows as educational and instructional for women who wanted to have healthier lifestyles, and she used the expanding film technology to promote her performances. The idea of “normal” feminine and masculine bodies was that of more slender for women, and more muscular builds for men, but with the short film “Trapeze Disrobing Act” the idea of these “normal” ideas slowly began to change in accordance to how people viewed not only themselves but how they saw others in pictures or even movies.
