All posts in "Life And Times"

Adah at History.net



Adah Menken took History.net by storm. “Entertainment is a sadly neglected aspect of America’s Civil War. Its outstanding performer was Adah Isaacs Menken, aka “The Naked Lady,” whose life, celebrity, and writing epitomize the inner tensions of a war that…

Adah’s Gay Friends



On the historic date of December 18, 2010 the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy was repealed by an act of Congress. Finally, gays may serve openly in the U.S. military. In 1860, 150 years earlier, when young, aspiring actress Adah…

THE IRISH IN ADAH ISAACS MENKEN



The Stepfather, the Husband New Orleans has a neighborhood called the Irish Channel. Located between the French Quarter and the Garden District, it was originally settled in the 19th century by Irishmen looking for work in the New World. Their…

A Colored Girl from New Orleans



The search for the origins of the global figure who came to be known as Adah Isaacs Menken has gone on for some 150 years. It began even before her premature death in 1868. Today Jewish, African American, and Irish…

Defender of the Jewish People



Adah Isaacs Menken (1835-1868) the original Jewish American superstar, the beautiful sensation of the Victorian era, revolutionized a woman’s role on stage and in private life. Adah’s heartfelt cause was the plight of the Jewish people under hostile regimes, and…

The Naked Lady Dazzles the Gold Rush West



AND YOUNG MARK TWAIN Burlesque is back. Striptease, which once played to men only in seedy theaters, has reappeared in trendy clubs before mixed audiences. Post-feminist books and film documentaries, such as Liz Goldwin’s Pretty Things, have explored the lineage…