This article will focus on the iconic 1970s “ Perfumes of Araby” Belly dance troupe, lead by the almost mythical performer/actress/teacher, Diane Webber, who was also my teacher. I’ve tried to be precise: please forgive me where I’m hazy! It was the ‘70s after all! Please enjoy the links provided at the end of this article for more exciting information to further encourage and stimulate your own creativity as you, dear reader, move our dance form ever further. Now, as I reach back in my memory of these exciting times to compose this article, I’m grateful for the researched archiving amassed and available in today’s technological world. The sociological change of American society in the 1970s also informed our dance community. We always performed to live music recorded music was rare at dance events. Knowledge had to be directly and carefully mined from academic, ethnic and cultural sources. The abundance of inspiration in that era was almost beyond understanding yet once upon a time before the Internet, music, imagery and information was less readily available. The Belly dance scene in 1970s Los Angeles: It is difficult to spotlight succinctly even one portion of a vibrant, vast and quickly growing community of Middle Eastern dancers, their enthusiasts, and the ethnic communities, musicians, festivals and supper clubs that supported the dance arts. “I live by a man’s code designed to fit a man’s world, yet at the same time, I always remember that a women’s first job is to choose the right shade of lipstick.”Ĭarol Lombard quote from “Women’s Wit and Wisdom” Woodyanders (qv's & corrections by A."Perfumes of Araby" in the 1970s, Part 1 by Stasha Vlasuk In 1975 Diane was found guilty in a postal obscenity case, but the verdict was later overturned.ĭiane Webber died at age 76 from complications following surgery for cancer on August 19, 2008, in Los Angeles, California.
"The Wonderful Webbers", written by June Lange, documented the Webber's nudist life style. She appeared as herself in the obscure 1962 Russ Meyer nudie cutie short "This Is My Body." Besides acting and modeling, Webber was also a belly dancer and dancing teacher. Diane acted in a handful of films and TV shows/ She portrayed a mermaid in both the nudie-cutie feature Mermaids of Tiburon (1962) and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea: The Mermaid (1967). In addition, she also was featured on the cover photos for the music albums "Sea of Dreams" by Nelson Riddle and "Jewels of the Sea" by Les Baxter. With her lovely face and exceptionally toned, shapely and voluptuous 39C-23-37 figure, hypnotically sensual presence and large natural breasts, Diane was a popular pin-up girl of the 1950s and 1960s, doing pictorials for and/or gracing the covers of such men's magazines as "Frolic," "Escapade," "Adam," "Beau," "Jem," "Tiger," "Modern Sunbathing," "Mermaid," "Monsieur," "Fling," "American Nudist," "Rogue," "Nugget," and "Esquire." Among the noted glamor photographers she posed for are Bunny Yeager, Russ Meyer and Peter Gowland.Īn avowed nudist, Diane appeared on the covers of many publications that endorsed the "naturist" lifestyle. Webber was the Playmate of the Month in the May 1955 and February 1956 issues of "Playboy" magazine. She married Joe Webber in 1955 and was discovered by the same man who discovered the young Marilyn Monroe.
Diane worked as a chorus girl and took formal ballet training.
She was the daughter of writer/producer Arthur Guy Empey and his wife Marguerite Andrus. Buxom, gorgeous and curvaceous 5'2" brunette knockout Diane Webber was born Marguerite Diane Empey on July 29, 1932, in Los Angeles, California.
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