Caroline Simpson Collection

Page from 'Cupid Camouflaged' photograph album, 1918 : The open air dancing class.

Percival, Lacey, 1885-1968.
Rolfe, Alfred, 1862-1943.

1918

1 album page including photoprint : b & w ; page size 225 x 164mm ; photo size 144 x 99mm.

Inscribed in white under the photograph : 'The open air dancing class' Clockwise from bottom left: Miss J. Garland, Miss E. Dalrymple Hay, Miss Ruth Macarthur, Miss Nina Massie, Miss Betty Levy, Miss Leslie Johnson, Miss Pyllis Macarthur, Miss Garland, Miss Angie Mitchell.

Rona (Bellevue Hill, N.S.W.)
dancing classes
dancing
dancers
scarves
dresses
Levy, Betty.

Cupid camouflaged album

Betty Levy leads an open-air dancing class with eight dancers. Probably shot at Rona, Bellevue Hill. From a souvenir album of stills from the silent film 'Cupid camouflaged'. Considered a lost film it was produced in 1918 to raise funds for the Red Cross.
The actors were amateurs, all well-known figures in Sydney society. Society also provided many of the film's locations.
The premiere for Cupid camouflaged was held at Sydney's Theatre Royal on 31 May 1918. Percival's photography was generally admired but the film's storyline was slight -- featuring matchmaking, mistaken identity, elopement, and true love winning through -- and the reviews were at best lukewarm. But all agreed that the film had succeeded in its purpose of swelling the coffers of the Red Cross, raising £1100 in ticket sales on the opening night. Everybody who was anybody in Sydney society had turned out to see themselves or their friends in the pictures.

Caroline Simpson Collection

Caroline Simpson Library & Research Collection ; CSL&RC PIC 2014/5

You may save or print this image for research and study. If you wish to use it for any other purposes, you must contact Museums of History NSW to request permission.

Picture

52346