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Molly Spotted Elk: A Penobscot in Paris
Molly Spotted A Penobscot in Paris chronicles the extraordinary life of a twentieth-century American Indian performing artist. Born in 1903 on the Penobscot reservation in Maine, Molly ventured into show business at an early age—performing vaudeville in New York, starring in the classic docudrama The Silent Enemy , then dancing for royalty and mingling with the literary elite in Europe.
In Paris, Molly found an audience more appreciative of authentic Native dance than in the United States. There Molly married a French journalist, but she was forced to leave him and flee France with her daughter during the 1940 German occupation.
Drawing extensively on diaries, letters, interviews, and other sources, Bunny McBride reconstructs Molly Spotted Elk’s story and sheds new light on the pressures Molly and her peers endured in acting out white stereotypes of the “Indian.”
In Paris, Molly found an audience more appreciative of authentic Native dance than in the United States. There Molly married a French journalist, but she was forced to leave him and flee France with her daughter during the 1940 German occupation.
Drawing extensively on diaries, letters, interviews, and other sources, Bunny McBride reconstructs Molly Spotted Elk’s story and sheds new light on the pressures Molly and her peers endured in acting out white stereotypes of the “Indian.”
384 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 25, 2025
mcbride is an incredibly thorough biographer. recommended read for anyone who is curious about the life of the one of the most successful Native entertainers of the early 20th century and the complex negotiations she made between making her living and navigating where she stood in terms of the axis of cultural erasure/ensuring cultural authenticity. her journey, on foot, through the pyrenees during WWII with a baby on her back, only scratches the surface of the events of spotted elk's life. she trained as an anthropologist at UPenn, wrote a dictionary of Penobscot and Passamaquoddy words, had critical success as an entertainer in both the US and France, and lived through Nazi invasion.
side note: the love letters from her cheating french husband are INSANE
side note: the love letters from her cheating french husband are INSANE
May 24, 2019
Molly Spotted Elk a person whose story I didn’t know anything about going in, the author Bunny McBride did a really sensitive very multi-layered story of Molly’s life a life that was a spiritual journey like Prince Siddhartha, her’s was a woman’s journey and an Native journey and an artist journey and a hard journey, but unlike Siddhartha her sorrow in the end seemed to overwhelm her spirit. It was uniquely American story and in some ways it was a universal story of struggle and loss with happiness, and professional success mixed in. It was a good story and very intelligently written. Molly Spotted Elk would be a feminist icon if only her story were better known. Most remembered for her starting role as Ateek in the 1929 all native silent film “The Silent Enemy” (The movie itself is mode breaking and is worthy of a book all it’s own having been filmed on location in Northern Canada, in conditions similar to Lenorado Di Capa’s “Revenant”) but, being filmed in the 1920’s just in and of itself an amazing accomplishment. When in the movie Silent Enemy and Ateek (Molly) is attacked by a bear the attack is real and a combination of rife fire and a arrow shot killed the bear footage used in the movie. I own a copy of the movie on DVD I always thought it was a really good silent movie but I now have a new appreciation of it and of what Molly went through making that picture, and that counts as one of the really good times in her life, her bad times were really heartbreaking. As a Native woman, a dancer, a writer, and traveler, Molly was so full of life and adventure and courage that this story would be a wonderful as a HBO movie like I said there are so many different threads of life and history and drama interwoven in this woman’s journey that given a talented visual artistic director this would make a wonderful movie. Five stars.
September 1, 2017
Having lived in Maine for 30 years but not really knowing much beyond the southern pocket, it was very interesting and informative to read the life of Molly Spotted Elk, the Penobscot "princess" who was in fact quite a celebrity in her lifetime. What I learned most of all however was simply the life of the small remaining community of Penobscot and other Maine native tribes from the end of the 19th through the mid 1950's. Molly 's personal story of survival in a world not particularly caring about her as an Indian except for wanting to exploit her is sad and uplifting at the same time. She was a beautiful dancer who was way ahead of her time as an American woman in wanting her career before marriage. She was always longing to be in nature and with her heritage, but still she spent lots of time in NYC and later in Paris in pursuit of a meaningful career... although much of the time she was performing in revues which were more based on her Indian "dances" with no interest in her real culture. In France she finally fell in love with a Frenchman who longed to be Indian... a love story that spanned hardships, separation, the birth of her only surviving child, and the loss of Jean in WWII. This book is the selection for the September discussion at our local library. It should be a good one. "For Molly, genuine art and love had provided an ethereal bridge on which she traveled between two cultures on equal footing." But I do think the native culture won in her heart. She is someone I would have been thrilled to know.
April 23, 2021
An entirely factual look at a fascinating woman. Born at the turn of the last century to a Penobscot Indian family, Molly Spotted Elk made a name for herself as a Native Dancer both in the US and in Europe. She started out dancing in Wild West Shows and made her way to the heights of fame in New York and Paris. She split her life between the quiet, natural surroundings of her tribal land, Indian Island, where she lived with her extended family and the cold, gritty urban centers where she could make a living dancing. Despite enjoying popularity Molly seemed always to be struggling to make ends meet.
In addition to her dancing, which brought her friendships with some of the wealthiest families in New York, she also pursued higher learning, taking classes at Ivy League colleges and became almost as well known as a writer and lecturer as she was for her dancing. She yearned to popularize the stories and legends of her native people and bring their culture to the fore.
This book uses Molly's own diaries and letters as well as interviews and articles printed about her to tell her story. The writing is, at times, remarkably dry, considering the passion with which this woman lived and loved. Her dogged rise to stardom, her passionate love affair with a Parisian Journalist, her incredible flight from the Nazis (where she practically walked the entire distance from Royan, France to Spain, starving, dodging enemy attacks and sleeping in ditches, all while trying to shield and carry her 6 year old daughter!) her years of post war trauma and descent into madness are all annotated and footnoted. The ending is, however, very poetic.
Molly Spotted Elk by Bunny McBride should be required reading in schools. This book illustrates a new perspective on life at the turn of the last century and how it was lived by Native populations. The Penobscot Tribe was able to retain their original land, resisting the fate of many Indigenous Americans who were uprooted and forced to live in environments that were unfamiliar.
Still complex societies and methods of earning a living were totally eliminated with the encroachment and usurpation by European settlers. A culture dependent on seasonal migration, careful stewardship of the land and harmonious exchange of goods and celebrating life was made impossible by people moving in from cultures that were largely agrarian or capitalist and had no reference for this way of life.
Molly and her family refused to be marginalized and made the most of the new Americans by studying them and educating themselves to better use the systems that now existed. Her father, a great proponent of higher learning, became the governor of the Penobscot's on Indian Island. He governed the community and represented them in Washington, but he refused to keep white man's hours and continued to perform the duties of a tribal man. Rather than set meetings and live by the clock he preferred to gather saw grass so the tribe could earn a living from the crafts they made with it. He preferred to fish, to revel in nature, to read and spend time with his wife and children.
Everywhere we turn in modern life there's some doctor telling us to de-stress or some spiritual leader or scientist telling us we can live longer and better if we get with nature, meditate, and take time with our loved ones. The Penobscot Indians already had that going on. All the tribal members in Molly's extended family, no matter how far they ranged, always came back to refresh themselves with nature, community and ceremony on Indian Island. It was to her family that Molly inevitably returned every time life dealt her a blow.
One gets of glimpse of Molly and her friends opinion of Wild West Shows, Indigenous peoples representation in Hollywood and on stages throughout the first half of the 20th century. What it was like to be in show biz in New York City in the 1920's. What it was like to be an expat living in France in the 1930's. Through it all you can feel Molly's zest for life, her determination and drive to succeed and her passion for her people and their story, their traditions. Molly always remained true to who she was and remembered where she came from. It was in her art and in her passion.
In addition to her dancing, which brought her friendships with some of the wealthiest families in New York, she also pursued higher learning, taking classes at Ivy League colleges and became almost as well known as a writer and lecturer as she was for her dancing. She yearned to popularize the stories and legends of her native people and bring their culture to the fore.
This book uses Molly's own diaries and letters as well as interviews and articles printed about her to tell her story. The writing is, at times, remarkably dry, considering the passion with which this woman lived and loved. Her dogged rise to stardom, her passionate love affair with a Parisian Journalist, her incredible flight from the Nazis (where she practically walked the entire distance from Royan, France to Spain, starving, dodging enemy attacks and sleeping in ditches, all while trying to shield and carry her 6 year old daughter!) her years of post war trauma and descent into madness are all annotated and footnoted. The ending is, however, very poetic.
Molly Spotted Elk by Bunny McBride should be required reading in schools. This book illustrates a new perspective on life at the turn of the last century and how it was lived by Native populations. The Penobscot Tribe was able to retain their original land, resisting the fate of many Indigenous Americans who were uprooted and forced to live in environments that were unfamiliar.
Still complex societies and methods of earning a living were totally eliminated with the encroachment and usurpation by European settlers. A culture dependent on seasonal migration, careful stewardship of the land and harmonious exchange of goods and celebrating life was made impossible by people moving in from cultures that were largely agrarian or capitalist and had no reference for this way of life.
Molly and her family refused to be marginalized and made the most of the new Americans by studying them and educating themselves to better use the systems that now existed. Her father, a great proponent of higher learning, became the governor of the Penobscot's on Indian Island. He governed the community and represented them in Washington, but he refused to keep white man's hours and continued to perform the duties of a tribal man. Rather than set meetings and live by the clock he preferred to gather saw grass so the tribe could earn a living from the crafts they made with it. He preferred to fish, to revel in nature, to read and spend time with his wife and children.
Everywhere we turn in modern life there's some doctor telling us to de-stress or some spiritual leader or scientist telling us we can live longer and better if we get with nature, meditate, and take time with our loved ones. The Penobscot Indians already had that going on. All the tribal members in Molly's extended family, no matter how far they ranged, always came back to refresh themselves with nature, community and ceremony on Indian Island. It was to her family that Molly inevitably returned every time life dealt her a blow.
One gets of glimpse of Molly and her friends opinion of Wild West Shows, Indigenous peoples representation in Hollywood and on stages throughout the first half of the 20th century. What it was like to be in show biz in New York City in the 1920's. What it was like to be an expat living in France in the 1930's. Through it all you can feel Molly's zest for life, her determination and drive to succeed and her passion for her people and their story, their traditions. Molly always remained true to who she was and remembered where she came from. It was in her art and in her passion.
July 2, 2017
Anthropologist Bunny McBride has given us a profoundly personal portrait of an intriguing woman. Molly "Spotted Elk" worked as a dancer, writer, actress, and aspiring academic during the early twentieth century, at a time when her Native American heritage was anything but esteemed. This biography offers a glimpse into the myriad of cultures in which Mollidell Nelson lived: Penobscots on Indian Island, Maine; Prohibition in New York City; across the United States during the vaudeville era of the 1920s; artistically sophisticate Paris; and more. I found myself fascinated by Molly's intellectual dreams, passion for dance, and deep love for both her eventual husband and her daughter. The facts of her life alone are enough to retain the reader's interest, but beyond that, the author has a great knowledge of the Native American tribes in that area and truly enters into the story. Indeed, McBride remarks in the final footnote (which moved me to tears) that in her writing and research, she was seeking to understand and meet Molly's soul. My life and understanding of history are richer for having "met" Molly, too, through this book.
October 14, 2019
Molly Spotted Elk was a talented Penobscot woman who, though incredibly popular in the US and even more so in Europe in the 1920s and 1930s, has largely faded from the public conscience. I was fascinated by her family history, her hustle in booking so many different performing jobs, and her romantic encounters. While her story ultimately ended in tragedy, I'm glad I read this biography. It gave me a great deal of insight into the larger issues of Native American treatment, assimilation, and culture in the United States, and it connected it all to my home state of Maine.
June 11, 2024
An interesting biography in that the subject matter and main character are topics I knew little about. For that reason I’m glad I read it - it broadened my horizons. From the author’s telling of her, reading about Molly Spotted Elk made me want to be a better person. But the writing was just okay & the storyline could’ve been better.
July 26, 2008
A terrific theatrical biography, the story of a native American woman, singer, dancer and cabaret star, who, like Josephine Baker, had to travel to Paris to find acceptance with audiences. It is such a pity that Spotted Elk made only one movie, "The Silent Enemy" (1929), which was released as a silent; it would be magnificent to be able to see and hear her, although there’s little room in this movie for singing and dancing about the struggle of a tribe relocating after being forced off their land and starving to death along the way.
November 1, 2011
I don't really like fiction books that much but it has a lot of facts that helped with my reports.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews