Fifties Cheesecake Dance No. 21

PLEASE READ THIS - This is the second of two clips from "Der Tiger von Eschnapur" (The Tiger of Eschnapur), one the films that make up Fritz Lang's "Indian Epic". The other is "The Indian Tomb". Lang directed the film in 1959 and it starred Debra Paget as Seetha; Paul Hubschmid as Harald Berger; Walter Reyer as Chandra; and Luciana Paluzzi as Baharani.

This English language soundtrack of the German film appears to not use Ms Paget's voice.

I am always looking for new ideas for this series. If you have any suggestions please don't hesitate to drop me a line.

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[TheMissFlax]

Can anyone tell me why these dances are called "Cheesecake"?

[pwgr2000]

From Wikipedia:

"The term "cheesecake" is synonymous with pin-up photo. The earliest documented print usage of this sense of cheesecake is in 1934, predating pin-up, although anecdotes say the phrase was in spoken slang some 20 years earlier, originally in the phrase (said of a pretty woman) "better than cheesecake." In the 1950s, for example, there was a magazine called Cheesecake that had a young Marilyn Monroe in a yellow bikini on its cover in 1953."

[memorysdancer]

lol and yes i apologize for the harsh reaction... i do realize that this was time when this was the general concept of india, when minimal research was done and stereotypes were just the norm. it continues till today but with some amount of research being done at some level.

[pwgr2000]

India got off easy. In the early 20th Century Africa was a place where "anything went" on popular cinema, principally because it was the place that foreigners knew the least about. The impression given was that the continent, from top to bottom, was inhabited by headhunters, pygmies and warring tribes with bones through their noses. On top of that, their villages (there were obvioulsy no cities there) were continually overrun by herds of elephants, lions, leopards and cackling hyenas.

[charliec81]

Edward Said had a word for this: orientalism. And I kinda agree, since fantasies of the orient were rather pervasive back then.

Though, that being said: I thought the statue was that of Kali, Shiva's wife.

[MORKOS621]

Fritz Lang was still making movies in the 50s? I didn't know that.

[bellydancerocks321]

I just love her costume!!!

[memorysdancer]

@pwgr2000 yes i know. did a class on stereotypes and ethnocentricities. film shamelessly fostered these notions. similar to africa, apparently india only had strange exotic religions, everyone worshipped the 'evil' goddess kali, elephants and cows were transport, princes and rajas still ruled (??) and the odd turbaned soul regularly spouted completely obvious pearls of wisdom. and thats just naming a few. so india too did not get off 'easy'. no non-western country did.

[hellifairy]

They were great dancers, they did fusion between ballett, indian and oriental elements, and they made it very hot tthey could dance erotic Its agreat inspiration as a dancer today for me

[persebra]

good night, it's almost the same identical outfit she wore in princess of the nile. i love the claw additions.

[kilgonus]

This is fifties T & A... Fritz Lang did another film in 1929 called Metropolis. It had a dance scene with one scantily clad woman shaking her money maker for a bunch of leering men. Sex sales EXOTIC SEX sales faster...

[bruiser700]

Thanks for the sermon. Really important that you pointed out about us ignorant westerners and our stereotypes.

How "tolerant" and "sensitive" you are.

This is a clip from the FIFTIES, from what is probably considered a "campy" movie.

Climb down off your ridiculous hobby-horse, it's not a lofty perch you're on.

[annaganzoni]

At that time, I think most of the people never had the chance to see India or meet an indian person. The world wasn't as "global" or informed as today..

I like these films because they're pure fantasy.