Little Egypt (Lorraine Shalhoub) bellydancing on "Batman"

Little Egypt (Lorraine Shalhoub) dances for the Penguin's electoral campaign, backed by Paul Revere and The Raiders, in the TV show Batman. The episode is "Hizzoner the Penguin." Airdate: Wednesday November 02nd, 1966.



You can see the complete bellydance sequence here, starting at 0:59.

And here's a publicity still for the episode, with Little Egypt and the Penguin.

gothic bellydance

I've been meaning to investigate this phenom further ever since I saw a Goth Bellydance troupe from St. Louis perform at "Goth Night" at the now, alas, defunct Dart Room in Fayetteville. Check out this vid:


It all goes back to Theda Bara, no?



Here, for the perplexed, is a guide to gothic bellydance.

And--although I've not read it yet--a link, courtesy wayneandwax, to what I am sure is a great article by Sunaina Mair on bellydance orientalism ("arabface"). And check out wayneandwax's recent post on bellydance here.

(I hope, inshallah, to think about these things a bit more systematically in future.)