From what started as a simple search to find more information about the artists in this first video, has led me to discover a whole lot more about other artists who have also performed the act.
All my information has come from the internet, so if you discover anything else about them online or from books you may have read, then please say so in the comments below. I'm not sure if one was copied or inspired by the other but I'd like to hear your thoughts about it. I hope you enjoy reading about my findings.
Here we see Janik & Arnaut performing their Serpent Dance act on the US TV series, The Colgate Comedy Hour in 1954:
https://youtu.be/9IkvUnfuFlU?si=UT8UR-XSr9cX3Bb
Janine Janik (1931-1985). She was possibly French, though her surname has Polish origins. At the age of 14, she took up acrobatic dancing to correct a spinal deformity and at 16, she first performed with Arnaut in the Serpent Dance act, as part of the Jack Hylton's Crazy Gang Show at the Victoria Palace Theatre in London (1947).
Janik & Arnaut were a sensational dance team who appeared on several TV shows in the 1950s but they seemed to drop out of sight soon after their performance on The Milton Berle Show in 1959.
Christian Arnaut (1912-2003) from France, wanted to be a sculptor but after finding out it paid so badly, he became a ballet dancer. In 1936, he performed in The Bull Fight dance at the London Casino. The Bull was played by a lady called, Vega Asp and The Matador was played by Arnaut. They performed this show for several years when at some point, Arnaut had a new partner, the French actress and dancer, Marie-Louise Didion. In 1945, Didion left the act and Arnaut needed to find a replacement to perform in his new production, The Charmer & The Serpent, at the Casino de Paris in 1946. Anouk Ferjac, born in France as Anne-Marie Levain on May 25th, 1932 is still alive at 91. She was only 14 years old when she first performed with Arnaut, after he'd spotted her performing as the serpent in the French film, Un Revenant in 1946 (see photo 10).
During my research, I read a short blog written in 2017, in which the author suggested the following: “I believe that Janik & Arnaut are really Harold & Lola Liebmann”. So I did a bit of digging…
Lola Liebmann (1907-1991), born as Lola Werbesz in Kiev was an actress and dancer who married the German actor, Arthur Hans Otto Liebmann (1895-1960). Known as Harold Liebmann (and sometimes, Harald Livell), they formed a specialty act called, Dance of the Cobra, performing under the name, Harold & Lola. Here they are on The Milton Berle Show in 1951:
https://youtu.be/Xz5cO9-O0sU?si=DL5ogj6W8s-hQK0G&t=2789
It is also believed that this uncredited dancer could be her, as featured in the 1947, Indian Tamil-language film, Kannika:
https://youtu.be/kI4R0H-gdl4?si=nYnzEC7ri7Gz8dwd&t=42
Now it may just be a coincidence that Christian Arnaut first conceived, The Charmer and The Serpent Dance act in 1945 and performed it a year later with Anouk Ferjac, but here's Harold & Lola performing their act in the 1945 film, Pan-Americana:
https://youtu.be/qn00Hn4d4aM?si=oi7X5AKDZDe2RhmT&t=524
In fact, Harold and Lola were a dance team as early as 1925 and devised their Dance of the Cobra in 1929/30. They first performed it at the Ambassador Hotel in Paris in 1931. Here's a very informative blog about the life of Harold Liebmann:
https://www.roosvt.com/harold-liebmann
Judging by all this information, I don't believe that they were the same people but merely contemporaries who were inspired by each other. What do you think?
Photos:
1: Janik & Arnaut in Life Magazine (date unknown).
2 & 3: Janik & Arnaut in London in 1947.
4: Article about Anouk Ferjac & Christian Arnaut.
5-8: Ferjac & Arnaut in 1946.
9: Programme featuring Ferjac & Arnaut in 1946.
10: Anouk Ferjac in the French film, Un Revenant in 1946.
11: Christian Arnaut & Marie-Louise Didion at Casino de Paris, 1945.
12: Harold & Lola finale of the Dance of the Cobra in Paris, 1940.
13: Harold & Lola in New York, 1932.
14: Harold & Lola in Berlin, 1929.
