I decided to look up the fate of Ms. Duncan in order to settle this
question. And it turns out that the issue is very much in dispute. The
following account seems to be the source for all the online biographies I
read, none of which mention the make of car involved (it not being deemed
pertinent in the minds of dance enthusiasts, no doubt).
> New York Times, Sept. 15, 1927
> PARIS, FRANCE--Isadora Duncan, the American dancer, tonight met a tragic death
> at Nice on the Riviera. According to dispatches from Nice Miss Duncan was
> hurled in an extraordinary manner from an open automobile in which she was
> riding and instantly killed by the force of her fall to the stone pavement.
>
> Affecting, as was her habit, an unusual costume, Miss Duncan was wearing an
> immense iridescent silk scarf wrapped about her neck and streaming in long
> folds, part of which was swathed about her body with part trailing behind.
> After an evening walk along the Promenade de Anglais about 10 o'clock, she
> entered an open rented car, directing the driver to take her to the hotel
> where she was staying.
>
> As she took her seat in the car neither she nor the driver noticed that one of
> the loose ends fell outside over the side of the car and was caught in the
> rear wheel of the machine.
>
> Dragged Bodily From the Car.
> The automobile was going at full speed when the scarf of strong silk suddenly
> began winding around the wheel and with terrific force dragged Miss Duncan,
> around whom it was securely wrapped, bodily over the side of the car,
> precipitating her with violence against the cobblestone street. She was
> dragged for several yards before the chauffeur halted, attracted by her cries
> in the street.
>
> Medical aid immediately was summoned, but it was stated that she had been
> strangled and killed instantly.
>
> [The article continues.]
This account is from a Bugatti enthusiast site. Note that no sources are
cited.
> One of the events that together have all contributed to the Bugatti legend was
> the death of the most famous dancer of all time - Isadora Duncan.
>
> It is a subject which is not particularly appreciated in serious histories of
> Bugatti, being more to the taste of artists such as Cocteau or Don Passos.
>
> Real Bugatti enthusiasts even went as far as to doubt the marque of the car
> involved - perhaps it was an Amilcar and not a Bugatti after all. Of course,
> it was a Bugatti. And this was no coincidence for two reasons. Firstly, only
> the cult object "Bugatti" was capable of enticing Isadora. Secondly, if ever
> there was a car that could turn a scarf into a deadly weapon it was the racing
> and road car, the 35/37 series Bugatti.
>
> Everyone knows the story: after only a hundred metres, Isadora's scarf became
> entangled in the spokes, breaking the dancer's neck instantly.
This page <http://homepage.mac.com/bugatti/jacob/InfoHunt/Q-076.html>
attempts to trace the actual sources, and is forced to concede that the
question is unproven. However, it does quote the NY Herald Tribune of Sept.
1, (sic) 1927:
"Isadora Duncan 50, famous American danseuse, died last Monday evening in an
automobile accident. Miss Duncan was driving a Bugatti, which she intended
to buy, on the Promenade des Anglais, Nice. She wore, in the style she
herself had made famous, a red silk scarf wound twice round her neck. While
the car was in motion, one end of the scarf became entangled in the left
rear wheel and it dragged the dancer out of the machine and onto the roadway
where Miss Duncan died instantly."
Note the many discrepancies compared to the Times account. Basic things such
as who was driving, and who owned the car! This is what happens with foreign
language wire service stories, no doubt.
I am beginning to think nobody will ever know without researching French
language primary sources (police reports, etc).
Sorry for the waste of bandwidth, but this caught my attention as a classic
example of a legend which has outlived the facts it is based on. At least it
wasn't an MG!
--
Max Heim
'66 MGB GHN3L76149
If you're near Mountain View, CA,
it's the red one with the silver bootlid.
///
/// mgs@autox.team.net mailing list
/// (If they are dupes, this trailer may also catch them.)
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