Bees Knees

Bees Knees talk by Frank Tanner

Frank Tanner came to Prestwick Rotary recently and gave us a rather humorous talk called Bees Knees. He is a member of the local Speechmasters Club which helps its members improve there skills in public speaking.

His talk was about Bee Jackson, a dancer from Brooklyn New York in the 1920s. She started dancing at 18 and joined the Ziegfeld Follies, a series of lavish theatrical review productions on Broadway inspired by the Folies Bergere in Paris.

Bee focused her energy on the Charleston dance and embellished it and became a solo artist in New York where her legs were insured for millions of dollars. She took her act on tour to the UK and danced at the Piccadilly Club in London with great success.

Then she took her act to Vienna where King Zog of Albania apparently took a shine to her which she rejected and ended up punching him on the nose. Bee decided to leave Europe and headed back to the safety of the USA where her popularity eventually waned. She died in 1933.

Frank has clearly leaned a lot at his Speechmasters club and kept us entertained with his very interesting talk on a subject we knew nothing about.

Picture shows Andy Mathieson, Frank Tanner and President Gregor Purdie.