Ziegfeld only chose the finest and loveliest of applicants for his Follies. Beauty mattered, but he needed for his performers to be able to sing or dance or be able to move the audience in some essential way.
 
He required his dancers be extraordinary.
 
When an applicant offered to perform underwater, Ziegfeld knew that he had to audition her even if he wasn't quite certain exactly how she'd be able to demonstrate this particular skill onstage.
 
Ziegfeld Follies performer dancer Haeckel undersea design lady woman Victorian