Brainchild of Broadway impresario Florenz Ziegfeld and his first wife, European singer Anna Held, The Ziegfeld Follies dominated the American theatrical revue scene from 1907 until the late 1920s and early 1930s when the popularity of vaudeville began to diminish. Featuring scores of women in elaborate costumes and boasting the debut of some of the country's most popular songs like "Shine on Harvest Moon," The Follies started as an American version of satiric French cabaret acts whose sophistication Ziegfeld hoped to evoke in order to appeal to a high-hat audience. Ziegfeld's attempt at continental appeal, however, could not match the flamboyance and over-thetop glitz his own personal flair lended to his works. Thus The Ziegfeld Follies offered a hybrid: high-brow artistic endeavor reflected, for example, in the Art Nouveau sets designed by artist Nathan Urban and near vulgarity evidenced by skimpy, even gaudy, costuming. Though...