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Located at 8 rue Saulnier, in the 9th Arondissement, it was built as an opera house by the architect Plumeret . It opened 2 May, 1869 as the Folies Trévise, with fare including operettas, comic opera, popular song, and gymnastics. It was renamed the Folies Bergères on 13 September 1872.

The Folies Bergères catered to popular taste. Shows featured elaborate costumes; the women's were frequently revealing, and shows often contained a good deal of nudity. Shows also played up the "exoticness" of persons and things from other cultures, obliging the Parisian fascination with "négritude" of the 1920s.

In the early 1890s, the American dancer Loie FullerLoie Fuller (Marie Louise Fuller) ( January 15, 1862 to January 1, 1928) was a pioneer of both modern dance and theatrical lighting techniques. Born in the Chicago suburb of Fullersburg, Illinois, Fuller began her theatrical career as a professional child starred at the Folies Bergères. Nearly thirty years later, Josephine BakerJosephine Baker ( June 3, 1906 April 12, 1974), born Freda Josephine McDonald was an African American dancer, actress and singer, sometimes known as "the Black Venus". She became a French citizen in 1937. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, the daughter of Eddie, an African-American expatriate singer, dancer, and entertainer, became an "overnight sensation" at the Folies Bergères in 1926Centuries: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s Years: 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 See also 1926 in aviation 1926 in film 1926 in literature 1926 in mu with her suggestive "banana dance", in which she wore a skirt made of bananaFor other meanings, see banana (disambiguation) A banana is a tree-like plant (though strictly a herb) of the genus Musa in the family Musaceae, closely related to plantain. The term banana is also applied to the elongated fruit (technically a false berrys.

Other notable Folies Bergères performers have included singers Maurice ChevalierMaurice Chevalier ( September 12, 1888 January 1, 1972) was a French actor and popular entertainer. He was born in Paris, France in 1888 and made his name as a star of musical comedy, appearing in public as a singer and dancer at an early age. It was in 1 and Louisa BailecheLouisa Baileche (born 1977) is a singer, dancer and performer and has achieved success in a variety of artistic genres. She was born near Paris to an Italian mother and a Kabyle father. Louisa Baileche has performed on the prestigious Comedie Francaise st and comedian CantinflasMario Moreno Reyes ( August 12, 1911 April 20, 1993), better known as Cantinflas was a Mexican actor, circus performer and comedian. Charlie Chaplin once called Cantinflas the 'funniest man in the world'. Cantinflas did not start his professional life as.

The Folies Bergères inspired the Ziegfeld Follies in the United States and other similar shows.