... a titled lady wrote a letter to her brother the duke and in it she mentioned she had visited a noble house and seen a famous courtesan, Lady H., do attitudes .

Who was the courtesan's most famous lover? (He had died in 1805.) And what were the attitudes referred to?

Sounds like Horatio Nelson, Norfolk boy made good Attitude? The OED suggests ' a posture or disposition of the body in dancing'. His own most favoured lover was Lady Hamilton.

Right, Fred. The 'attitude' was a pose taken by one or more usually very handsome (and Lady Hamilton was said by some to have been a beauty) person, or group of persons, depicting a scene in mythology or history, or some great work of poetry or drama. The drapes would be drawn, the 'attitude' would be taken, and the scene revealed to polite applause and murmers of approval.

The more elaborate representations were called "tableaux vivants" and are still performed today. The tradition goes back at least to classical times.

Perhaps Mrs. H. was not at her peak, though. She died of alcoholism two years after this event.

Ah, Babs, the glory days of the Windmill Theatre come to mind. The Lord Chamberlain, the official censor and licensor of plays and theatres, had a rule which allowed female nudity on stage only if the women did not move. So the Windmill staged 'artistic' tableaux vivants. They employed someone to go onto the stage, at the point that the curtain was about to rise, to stop anyone (or anything) wobbling: so all was static at the moment of presentation

Fred, did you see the movie Mrs Henderson Presents? I thought it was well done.

quote:

Originally posted by babthrower:
Fred, did you see the movie Mrs Henderson Presents? I thought it was well done.

No. Was it a cartoon? Did it have lots of gratuitous sex and violence? No? Was it a well acted study of character? Yes? Well in that case it must have had public money, in some shape or form, behind it.

No, silly, it was directed by Stephen Frears, who also directed The Queen (the movie, not the actual queen!) and scads more. It won awards and made 14.5 $U.S. world wide. It stars Bob Hoskins and Judi Dench. It's about the Windmill Theatre, and the love-hate relationship between Mrs. Henderson and VanDamm. Good lord, where have your been hiding for the past 30 years?

the movie