Lona Barrison
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The Barrison Sisters were a risqué
vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...
act which performed in the United States and Europe from about 1893 to 1897; in the United States they were advertised as ''The Wickedest Girls in the World''.


Origin

Lona (Abelone Maria, 1871–1939), Olga (Hansine Johanne, 1875–1908), Sophia (Sofie Kathrine Theodora, 1877–1906), Inger (Inger Marie, 1878–1918), and Gertrude (Gertrud Marie, 1881–1946) Barrison were actual sisters (many "sister" vaudeville acts were not) of Danish-German descent. The five sisters were all born in
Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...
, Denmark. Along with their mother, the sisters emigrated to the United States in 1886, joining their father, who had earlier made the same journey. Lona Barrison, the oldest of the sisters, had a fleeting theatre experience in Copenhagen as a young girl, and it was she who initially gravitated towards the theatre scene after the family settled in
Manhattan, New York City Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the smallest county by area in the U.S. state of New York. Located almost entire ...
. Later on, she was joined by her siblings. Originally called Bareisen, they anglicized their surname, thus becoming the Barrison Sisters. The five blond and curly-haired siblings were said to sing in high squeaky voices and dance with middling ability. They achieved notoriety, however, by ingenious use of
double entendre A double entendre (plural double entendres) is a figure of speech or a particular way of wording that is devised to have a double meaning, one of which is typically obvious, and the other often conveys a message that would be too socially unacc ...
s on stage. Actress
Pearl Eytinge Pearl Eytinge (''née'' Wyckoff; 1854–1914) was a New York-born actress, author, producer, playwright and activist who once said "There is no vice on earth of which I have not partaken". Her addiction to drink and drugs ended her stage career ...
initially produced them and wrote a comedietta for them called ''Mr Cupid''. Her manager, Danish-born William (Wilhelm Ludvig) Fleron (1858–1935), took over the management of the sisters and married Lona in 1893.


Most famous act

In their most famous act, the sisters would dance, raising their skirts slightly above their knees, and ask the audience, "Would you like to see my
pussy ''Pussy'' () is an English noun, adjective, and—in rare instances—verb. It has several meanings, as slang, as euphemism, and as vulgarity. Most commonly, it is used as a noun with the meaning "cat", or "coward" or " weakling". In slang, ...
?" When they had coaxed the audience into an enthusiastic response, they would raise up their skirts, revealing that each sister was wearing underwear of their own manufacture that had a live
kitten A kitten is a Juvenile (organism), juvenile cat. After being born, kittens display primary altriciality and are fully dependent on their mothers for #Establishing immunity, survival. They normally do not open their eyes for seven to ten days. A ...
secured over the crotch. After their success in Europe in the mid-1890s, scores of troupes purporting to be "sisters" followed in their footsteps, among them the British Machinson Sisters. The Barrison Sisters broke up in 1897, but both Gertrude and Lona went on to have successful solo careers on the stage. Gertrude, the youngest and perhaps most talented of them all, became a groundbreaking modern dancer in
Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
, where she lived for two decades, married to Carl Hollitzer (separated in 1910), a renowned Austrian painter. She was the last to die—in 1946 in Copenhagen.


Renewed attention

The Barrison Sisters came to renewed public attention in the first decade of the 21st century when they were featured on the label of Five Wives Vodka, produced by
Ogden Ogden may refer to: Places Canada *Ogden, Calgary, in Calgary, Alberta *Ogden, Quebec, a small municipality in the Eastern Townships * Ogdensville, British Columbia or Ogden City, alternate names for gold rush-era Seymour Arm, British Columbia *Og ...
's Own Distillery in Utah; the vodka was initially rejected for sale in the adjacent control state of
Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...
, an action for which the
Idaho State Liquor Division The Idaho State Liquor Division is an agency of the government of the state of Idaho (hence an alcoholic beverage control state) which maintains a monopoly on the sale of all alcoholic beverages which exceed 16% alcohol by volume. Jeff Anderson ...
was later awarded a 2013 Muzzles Award by the
Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression was a nonprofit, nonpartisan institution devoted to the defense of the First Amendment rights guaranteeing freedom of speech and of the press. The center was founded in 1989, under ...
. A Danish book about the phenomenon was published in 2020. It won the Danish annual history book award for 2020.


References


External links


The Old Spice Girls
by Richard Smithson
Text of one of their performances
{{Authority control Danish vaudeville performers Danish emigrants to the United States Actresses from Copenhagen Sibling performing groups