Cabinet cards, 6 ½ x 4 ¼. Anna Boyd, burlesque actress in costume, showing a bit of leg,risqué for the time. Anna Boyd (d. 1916) was an actress best known for the role of the Widow in A Trip to Chinatown (1892). Of an earlier production, Zig Zag (1888), the New York Times reviewer said, "Of the ladies in the cast, Miss Anna Boyd is easily the premiere acrobat. Her dancing and her brick bat throwing are the essence of energy and accuracy, while her girlish simplicity is in an indirect ratio to her matronly development" (19 February 1889). Boyd married actor Joe Coyne in 1898; they were divorced in 1909.. In the 19th Century, the term "burlesque" was applied to a wide range of comic plays, including non-musicals. Beginning in the 1840s, these works entertained the lower and middle classes in Great Britain and the United States by making fun of (or "burlesquing") the operas, plays and social habits of the upper classes. By the  mid 1860s,  burlesque relied on the display of shapely, underdressed women to keep audiences interested. In the Victorian age, when proper women went to great lengths to hide their physical form beneath bustles, hoops and frills, the idea of young ladies appearing onstage in tights was a powerful challenge. Suggestive rather than bawdy, these shows relied less on strong scripts or songs than on sheer star power. .  Campbell, NY photographer’s imprint.  Exhibits good tonality and contrast, light crease t/l corner, small crease at left center edge, p/w light use and wear, overall VG- Fine. Ccet425