oddities and magik monday :: henry cyril paget

Henry Cyril Paget
Henry Cyril’s nickname was ‘The Dancing Marquess’, and was probably used less than affectionately by the rest of his family.  He was born in 1875 and brought up in France, largely in the company of theatrical people. These formative years clearly instilled a deep love of showing off, and, sure enough, his first fait accompli upon entering the family seat at Plas Newydd was to convert the centuries old chapel into a theatre.  From 1901 onwards, he staged a series of productions whose scale and cost were boundless.  Casts of 50 or 60 were clad in luxurious, fantastic costumes and large amounts of jewellery.  Paget was especially fond of Aladdin, and it is believed this light opera was the most performed work by his company.  He played the part of Pekoe, and during the interval would perform his celebrated Butterfly Dance. What this actually consisted of is unclear, although large gossamer effect wings and huge clusters of colourful jewels, and a great deal of running around with arms flapping can be guessed at, hence The Dancing Marquess.
excerpt taken from here