Florence Waren
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Florence Waren (1917-2012), born Sadie Rigal, was a South African dancer who performed at the Bal Tabarin.[1][2]
Sadie Rigal was born in 1917.
She moved to France from South Africa in 1938, and was soon hired by the Bal Tabarin. In 1939, she was offered a place in the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, but World War II began before she could join.[2]
During the occupation of Paris, the Bal Tabarin was frequented by German officers; she performed there then.[2] Unknown to the Germans, she was Jewish, but she was still interned for several months in late 1940 as an enemy alien, because as a South African, she was a British citizen.[2] On her release, she returned to the Bal Tabarin and paired up with Frederic Apcar to form the dancing duo "Florence et Frederic".[2] They became famous, appearing on stage with the likes of Edith Piaf and Maurice Chevalier, while Waren at the same time aided the French Resistance.[2][3] She hid fellow Jews in her apartment, helped Jews find their way from one safe house to the next, smuggled supplies and arms to the French Resistance, and, after a performance in Germany for French prisoners of war, collected letters prisoners had written to their relatives, which if discovered could have made her a prisoner.[2] In 1944, Frederic rented a house in the suburbs to hide her and several other Jewish performers after learning she was to be arrested.[4]
Florence married Stanley Waren in 1949, who she met performing in New York City at the Copacabana with Frederic.[2] She then ended the dancing duo with Frederic (but trained a replacement); Frederic died in 2008.[2] Florence stayed in New York with Stanley and appeared on the Kate Smith and Ed Sullivan shows, as well as in plays.[2] She also choreographed shows Stanley directed in Africa, Taiwan, and China.[2] From approximately 1973 until 1983, she was a professor of theater and dance at City College, and she led the department for part of that time.[2] She was also a dance panelist on the New York State Council on the Arts.[2]
She died in 2012, and her obituary was included in The Socialite who Killed a Nazi with Her Bare Hands: And 144 Other Fascinating People who Died this Year, a collection of New York Times obituaries published in 2012.[3]
Documentary
There is a documentary about her by her son Mark Waren, titled Dancing Lessons.[5] He also made two documentaries about her friends, Romance and Resistance and The Count of Montmarte.[5] Romance and Resistance is about Gisy Varga, a Hungarian-born nude dancer at the Bal Tabarin who had an affair with a Jewish doctor and hid him from the Nazis.[5] The Count of Montmarte is about Mario Lembo, a gay Italian aristocrat-turned-performer and member of Josephine Baker’s touring company, who supported the resistance and aided Jews.[5]
References
- ↑ "Famed Dancer and Holocaust Survivor Florence Waren Dies at 95". Archived from the original on 2014-10-18.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Grady, Denise (4 August 2012). "Florence Waren, Jewish Dancer who Resisted Nazis, Dies at 95". The New York Times. New York. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
- 1 2 McDonald, William (2012). The Socialite Who Killed a Nazi with Her Bare Hands and 143 Other Fascinating People Who Died This Past Year: The Best of the New York Times Obituaries, 2013. Workman Publishing Company. ISBN 9780761175063.
- ↑ "Jewish dancer who resisted Nazis dies at 95". ynet. 8 August 2012.
- 1 2 3 4 "New York". The Jewish Daily Forward. 3 October 2003.
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