Image: Phosphorescent pearl scene - Music Box Revue, NY 1921

Description: The "pearl scene", a visually spectacular dance number in the Music Box Revue, with music by Irving Berlin, the first production at the new Music Box Theater, New York City, September 1921. In this scene the dance troupe comes out in costumes covered with pearls. Then the lights in the theater are suddenly turned off, and the pearls themselves glow with an eerie light, outlining the dancers. The pearls are covered with phosphorescent paint, and before coming onstage the dancers have stood under arc lights so the pearls absorb the light and glow with phosphorescence. The image shows a closeup of 3 of the dancers, in light and in darkness. The pearls for this single 5 minute number cost $25,000.
Title: Phosphorescent pearl scene - Music Box Revue, NY 1921
Credit: Retrieved November 15, 2015 from Eric A. Dime, "Science on the Stage" in Science and Invention magazine, Experimenter Publishing Co., New York, Vol. 9, No. 8, December 1921, p. 707 on Google Books
Author: Eric A. Dime
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
Attribution Required?: No