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New York, 1926. "Tiller girls." Arriving from England, 16 chorus girls in the troupe originated by British musical-theater impresario and precision-dancing pioneer John Tiller. 5x7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain. View full size.
Tiller Girls, eh? I see Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon dead-center of that lineup!
My grandmother was in the Tiller girls, but 25 years earlier than this. She moved from Ireland to London as a teenager and got a job on the stage as a dancer. She met and married an older businessman.
By 1926 her son was 19, and at sea in the merchant navy. My mother was 9 years old. Uncle Thomas died from TB at 21, and Grandmother left her husband for her son's best friend, Uncle Bill.
The ship in the photos is most likely the RMS Berengaria of the Cunard Line. She was originally the German ship Imperator and in 1913 had the distinction of being the first ship larger than the ill-fated Titanic to make her maiden voyage.
One of the reasons Titanic was shy of lifeboats was because they would block the view of the ocean. By 1913 the lesson was learned, and the boats here are stacked so tall they actually form a wall.
[Based on shipping news items in the New York Times, the boat seems to be either of the Cunard liners Carinthia or Samaria. - Dave]
Looks like they are ready for rousing game of crack-the-whip!
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