Désirée Lubovska Internet Shrine

Lubowska, Lubovska, Lubouska. Which one is she? All the backs of the photos say LUBOVSKA, but some of them clearly said LUBOWSKA first, only to have the W covered with a heavier V. A Google search on Desiree Lubovska will take you to 573 results on Desiree Lubowska. But the IBDB (Internet Broadway DataBase), which has only this to say about her, “Everything [Original, Musical, Revue, Spectacle] Aug 22, 1918 – May 17, 1919 Performer: Desiree Lubovska” says it’s LUBOVSKA.

That Everything was a show at the Hippodrome Theatre located at Sixth Ave between W. 43rd and W. 44th in New York, NY.

So much confusion. So much mystery. Who was Desiree Lubovska? The simple answer, according to a man who claims to be her grandson, is that she was:

…Winniefred Foote (b. Faribault, MN, June 21, 1893; d. Washington, DC 1974), who at the time, under the stage name Désirée Lubovska — she had not a drop of either French nor Russian blood, despite what can now be read in various places online, nor did she ever dance with Pavlova — was the première danseuse and artistic director of her own dance troupe, the National Ballet Theatre.