In the early 1930s there was a crazy rush to make the first Arabic talking movie. Newspapers were talking about it; audiences were desparate to see an Arabic talkie. Among all competition a now almost entirely forgotten Arab American film was made, "The Bride of the East" 🧵 The film was made by a production company in Brooklyn who went by a number of different names (including "The Arabic talking film company" as above). The star of the film (and its director, according to some accounts) was the Arab-American Jack Cameron, born Jack Karam.

The battle of Emad al-Din Street: In 1926 the Egyptian magazine al-Masrah reported on a brawl that took place in a cafe on Emad al-Din street between some of the top actresses of the 1920s. The story was a complex web of rumours and allegations [Thread] The Background: A few months before the Baheyya Amir had been working in Amin Sidqi's theatre troupe in the Rod al-Farad district, a little outside downtown Cairo. She had got into an argument with another member of the troupe, Nina. Nina insulted Bahiyya and Bahiyya hit Nina.

In the winter of 1930-31 the Egyptian magazine al-Dunya al-Musawwara ran a series of articles documenting Cairo's underworld - "Hidden Cairo" - and delving into the city's murky underbelly. [Thread] The first (pictured in previous tweet) was a tour through the bars and brandy joints of Ezbekiyya from the high class to the low life. But the journalist was only easing himself in to the assignment.

About a year ago I came across a turn of the century book of poems about Cairo's nightlife district with a picture of an American woman I had never heard of:
مدام شيمي
I just discovered that she was the Princess de Chimay, one of the most scandalous women of her age [thread] She was born Clara Ward in Detroit in 1873, daughter of the rich industrialist Eber Ward. As a teenager she went to Europe and caught the eye of the Belgian Prince of Caraman-Chimay. They were married in 1890 when she was only 16. But she caused a huge scandal in 1896 when she...