Charmion

Laverie Vallee (born Cooper, 1875 to 1949), known by her stage name Charmion, was an American vaudeville trapeze artist and strongwoman from Sacramento, California. Her act opened with her entering the stage in full Victorian street dress, then mounting the swinging trapeze and removing the clothing down to her acrobat leotards, a routine that was daring for its time. She is recorded as making her New York debut on 25 December 1897 at Koster and Bial's vaudeville theatre, and in November 1901 she performed a version of the act for Thomas Edison's short film Trapeze Disrobing Act. Scholarship in the Journal of Sport History has treated her act as a window on sexuality and physical culture at the turn of the twentieth century. She died in Santa Ana, California, aged 73.