Joan Warner

Joanne Warner Visser ( Eichelberger; November 9, 1912 – May 2, 2002) was an American fan dancer who was put on trial for indecent exposure in Paris, France, in 1935. She was a rival of Sally Rand when she danced in Chicago, Illinois.

Early life and dancing career Warner was born Narberth, Pennsylvania on November 9, 1912, as Joanne Warner Eichelberger to Samuel E. Eichelberger and Carolyn Halsey. She was raised in Washington, D.C., studying there and in New York City. She was three years old when she began dancing. She was slender, quite tall, very blonde, with blue eyes. She danced in Hollywood in 1933 before moving on to Chicago. where she entertained at the Royal Frolics. Warner made appearances in Miami, Florida, Palm Beach, and New Orleans. In the latter city she was persuaded to go abroad by an English producer.

Warner danced unimpeded in Paris music halls and cabarets beginning in the spring of 1934. She encountered legal difficulties when numerous imitators of her shows began to perform at different venues. Warner mostly appeared nude solely in dim lighted cabarets where she was not especially close to her audience.

Warner argued for the art in her dance routine. She said she was covered from head to foot with white makeup and an invisible lavender silk cloth covered me in my absolutely correct positions. Her defense was supported by noted aviators, novelists, a zoology professor, and a painter, Maurice de Vlaminck. The latter read a text about artistic nudity and said that he was not shocked by nakedness.

On July 18 the Tenth Correctional Chamber fined Warner fifty francs. The judicial body ruled "it is against the law of the French Republic to dance in the nude, however artistically one may dance". The small fine imposed implied that the court was lenient. It mostly took exception to the dances being advertised as "nude" when actually they gave an impression of complete nudity. Specifically, the court elaborated that it was hard to distinguish "between what was art and what was lewdness".

Personal life and death Warner married Richard Gerben Visser (1906–1998) in New Orleans, Louisiana in August 1950. She died on May 2, 2002, at the age of 89.

Selected filmography Bux the Clown (1935) Cinderella (1937)