Editing Chorus line

{{short description|Group of dancers who perform synchronized routines}}
{{for|the Broadway musical|A Chorus Line}}
[[File:Rice & Barton's Big Gaiety Spectacular Extravaganza Co. - Gaiety Dancers.png|Theatrical poster from 1900 showing an early chorus line.|thumb|upright]]
[[File:Modern chorus line.jpg|thumb|right|A modern chorus line]]
A '''chorus line''' is a large group of [[dancer]]s who together perform [[synchronization|synchronized]] routines, usually in [[musical theatre]]. Sometimes, [[singing]] is also performed. While synchronized dancing indicative of a chorus line was vogue during the first half of the 20th century, modern theatre uses the terms "[[Ensemble (musical theatre)|ensemble]]" and "[[Chorus (musical theatre)|chorus]]" to indicate all supporting players in a [[stage production]]. 

== History ==
In the mid-1800s, chorus lines of cartwheeling, synchronized dancing [[can-can]] "girls" began sprouting up throughout Paris with even edgier, more erotic cabarets found in venues like the [[Moulin Rouge]], [[Le Lido]], and the [[Folies Bergère|Folies Bergẻre]]. By the late 1860s, the scandalous trend found its way to the United States with a more conservative trend of chorus lines hitting England, including [[Tiller Girls]] and [[Gaiety Girls]]. Chorus lines throughout Western Europe and the United States largely owned the stages of the early twentieth century.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Lowbrow |first=Yeoman |date=2017-10-22 |title=Chorus Line Dancers and Can-Can Girls from the 1920s-1960s |url=https://flashbak.com/chorus-line-dancers-can-can-girls-1920s-1960s-388803/ |access-date=2022-05-17 |website=Flashbak |language=en-US}}</ref> Chorus line dancers in early [[Broadway musicals]] and [[revue]]s were referred to by slang terms such as ''ponies'', ''gypsies'' and ''twirlies''. 

Chorus lines hit vogue in the 1920s and 30s, as the life and possibilities of a "chorus girl" became sensationalized in fiction, newspapers, and film, capturing the imaginations of young women seeking independence, adventure, and a happily ever after. Real-life examples of the Cinderella narrative included [[Lillian Russell|Lilian Russel]] and [[Billie Dove]], both of whom began their careers as chorus girls and married into wealth.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Victoria |first=Ava |date=5 May 2022 |title=The Life of a Chorus Girl |url=https://thevintagewomanmagazine.com/the-life-of-a-chorus-girl/ |access-date=5 May 2022 |website=The Vintage Woman}}</ref>

For women hoping to make a career out of performing, the chorus line was a common place of entry. Big names of the day like [[Paulette Goddard]], [[Barbara Stanwyck]], and [[Betty Grable]] are just some of the stars who began successful performing careers by joining a chorus line.<ref name=":0" />

One of the most popular productions of the time was the [[Ziegfeld Follies]], operating out of [[New York City]], which was well-known for hiring only the most striking women for the chorus line. [[Florenz Ziegfeld Jr]] received the reputation of being able to objectively define and select exceptionally beautiful women.<ref name=":0" /> Ziegfeld's standards, then, soon became the ideal, and publications and news articles circulated with headlines like, "How I pick my Beauties" and "Picking out pretty girls for the stage".<ref name=":0" />

Decades later, chorus lines of a more erotic flavor found huge success on America's west coast in Las Vegas, before declining again in the face of competition from [[American burlesque|burlesque]] and [[strip club]]s.<ref name=":1" />

Some popular chorus lines found their way onto the golden screen. One group in particular was [[Samuel Goldwyn]]'s dancers, the [[Goldwyn Girls]]. Popping up in numerous [[MGM]] productions, the famous Goldwyn Girls included stars who went on to find great success on-screen like [[Lucille Ball]], [[Virginia Mayo]], and [[Jane Wyman]].<ref name=":1" />

To this day, some live performance venues keep the traditional chorus line alive with groups like [[The Rockettes]], but more frequently the term "chorus line" in modern terms is used to differentiate supporting singers and dancers of any gender in a musical or musical revue from the lead actors or performers.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Definition of CHORUS LINE |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chorus+line |access-date=2022-05-18 |website=www.merriam-webster.com |language=en}}</ref>

==Famous chorus lines==
*[[Gaiety Girls]] (started in England during the 1890s)
*[[Tiller Girls]] (international act starting in the 1890s)
*[[Ziegfeld girl]]s
*[[The Rockettes]] (U.S. act founded in 1925)

==Famous performers==
Performers who started out dancing in traditional chorus lines include:
{{div col|colwidth=12em}}
*[[Louise Alexander (dancer)|Louise Alexander]]<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Stuart|first1=Judson D.|title=The High Cost of Stage Beauty|journal=The Theatre|page=240|publisher=The Theatre Magazine Co.|location=New York, New York|date=May 1915|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=MQ8-AQAAMAAJ&q=%22louise%20alexander%22 |access-date =June 18, 2021|via=Google books}} </ref>
*[[June Allyson]]
*[[Carroll Baker]]
*[[Josephine Baker]]<ref name=Cantu49>Cantu, Maya.  ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=4y_eCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA49 American Cinderellas on the Broadway Musical Stage: Imagining the Working Girl from Irene to Gypsy]'', p. 49 (Palgrave Macmillan 2015).</ref>
*[[Lucille Ball]]<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.fentonhistorycenter.org/special-features/lucille-ball/timeline-of-lucille-balls-life-career/ |title=Timeline of Lucille Ball's Life & Career - Fenton History Center |access-date=2017-10-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107005256/https://www.fentonhistorycenter.org/special-features/lucille-ball/timeline-of-lucille-balls-life-career/ |archive-date=2017-11-07 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
*[[Betty Boothroyd]]<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/830452.stm |title=Profile: 'Call me Madam' |work=BBC News |date=2000-10-23 |access-date=2012-09-09}}</ref>
*[[Anise Boyer]]<ref>{{Cite news|date=October 23, 2008|title=Obituary: Anise Boyer Burris|page=37|work=[[New York Amsterdam News]]|via=[[ProQuest]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Freeland|first=David|date=2009|title=Automats, Taxi Dances, and Vaudeville: Excavating Manhattan's Lost Places of Leisure|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OWg10z3xoIEC&dq=anise+boyer&pg=PR12|publisher=[[NYU Press]]|page=xii|isbn=9780814727898}}</ref>
*[[Louise Brooks]]<ref name=Cantu49 />
*[[Virginia Bruce]]
*[[June Clyde]]
*[[Joan Crawford]]<ref name=Cantu18>Cantu, Maya.  ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=4y_eCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA18 American Cinderellas on the Broadway Musical Stage: Imagining the Working Girl from Irene to Gypsy]'', p. 18 (Palgrave Macmillan 2015).</ref>
*[[Marion Davies]]
*[[Yvonne De Carlo]]
*[[Myrna Dell]]
*[[Marlene Dietrich]]
*[[Alice Faye]]
*[[Paulette Goddard]]<ref name=Cantu49 />
*[[Betty Grable]]
*[[Lena Horne]]<ref name=Cantu49 />
*[[Adele Jergens]]
*[[Dorothy Jordan (film actress)|Dorothy Jordan]]
*[[Ruby Keeler]]<ref name=Cantu18 />
*[[Phyllis Kennedy]]
*[[Dorothy Lamour]]
*[[Ruta Lee]]
*[[Myrna Loy]]
*[[Jeanette MacDonald]]
*[[Dorothy Mackaill]]
*[[Jessie Matthews]]
*[[Virginia Mayo]]
*[[Eve Miller]]
*[[Juanita Moore]]
*[[Nita Naldi]]
*[[Evelyn Nesbit]]
*[[Sheree North]]
*[[Joan Shawlee]]
*[[Barbara Stanwyck]]<ref name=Cantu49 />
*[[Tyra Vaughn]]
*[[Toby Wing]]<ref>"Glorifying the American Girl: Adapting an Icon", Cynthia J. Miller; "The Adaptation of History: Essays on Ways of Telling the Past" edited by Laurence Raw, Defne Ersin Tutan; McFarland, 2012; page 33</ref>
*[[Jane Wyman]]
{{div col end}}

==See also==
*[[Can-can]]
*[[Friedrichstadt-Palast]]
*[[Showgirl]]
*[[Corps de ballet]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{Commons category inline}}

[[Category:Musical theatre]]
[[Category:Dance in the United States]]