The Electricity Fairy

Inventions: Untold Stories of the Beautiful Era Collection

By: Alex Mar

Narrated by: Amy McFadden

The inspiring true story of Loïe Fuller, a radical nineteenth-century art nouveau icon who turned artificial light into performance art and became the incandescent inventor of modern dance.

In a new era lit by Edison bulbs, Loïe Fuller was the quicksilver that connected scientific and artistic inspiration. In a flurry of shifting lights and serpentine spins, she inspired the earliest films of Georges Méliès and held Jean Cocteau spellbound. She even sought out the Curies for a radioactive showstopper. In this transportive and hypnotic historical narrative, the uninhibited Folies Bergère superstar la fée lumière is finally restored to her shimmering, glorious place in modern history.

The Electricity Fairy is part of Inventions: Untold Stories of the Beautiful Era, a collection of incredible true stories from the belle epoque, an age of innovation, daring, bluster, and beauty when anything seemed possible. Each piece can be read, listened to, and marveled at in a single sitting.

©2019 Alex Mar (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Fascinating story of Fuller

I found this short audio absolutely fascinating. I had heard of Loie Fuller but this gave me much more of an insight into who she was. I also enjoyed the juxtaposition of her story with that of Thomas Edison and Marie Curie. Overall highly recommend it.

If you love fascinating bits of history - you'll love this!

This piece is a real gem! Completely amazing with all of these movers and shakers of the 1800s building up into this crescendo of storytelling. I'm a historian and this is the telling of history at its best. I thought I knew all of the stories surrounding these characters during this era, but this one had escaped me completely. The writing and narration were like diamonds and rubies - you could have one without the other, but why, when you could have both?! Such a lovely literary marraige. Fascinaing!

Well it is short

This was an in depth study of a woman who was once known around the world but has since been forgotten. The story interweaves the biographies of several well known personages like Thomas Edison and Madame Curie who knew and admired the main subject of this tale. Sadly, however famous this performer had been at the turn of the century, in this reading she seems not very interesting. Unfortunately the narrator tries to describe a vivid performance artist with just words and those words just don't do her justice. If there were visuals to go along with the story perhaps this tale would have been more engaging.

Illuminating! ;)

This was all mostly new to me information, so I found it rather interesting. The narrator wasn't the best I've listened to recently, and there were points I found myself tuning her out. However, overall, I found Fuller's story fascinating, and I think it provides a unique lens with which to explore the rise of certain elements of electricity and tech surrounding it.

It was a nice, short listen.

Science, Art, Curie, Edison & THE BIG SHOW

This enLIGHTening (pun intended) of Loïe Fulle, nineteenth century performer and dancer that used light, science and electricity in new and sometimes crazy ways in her shows, is a delight to listen to. I had never heard of her, but was well acquainted with Madam Curie and Thomas Edison from whom she took much of her knowledge, adding her own spin and artistic license. What a fun listen!