1917: Mata Hari, femme fatale

ExecutedToday.com ^ | October 15, 2008 | Headsman

[CheshireTheCat]

At 5 a.m. this date in 1917, Margaretha Geertruida Zelle — better known as Mata Hari — was awoken at Saint-Lazare Prison to news that it was her last day on earth.

She died in a muddy drill field outside Paris, facing a firing squad as she had lived: self-possessed, mysterious, her eyes (she refused a blindfold) open.

For the oldest profession, it may be there is nothing truly original, nothing new under the sun. But Mata Hari — thanks in no small part to her genuinely fatale end — redefined it for the dawning age of mass visual media and tapped the power of sexual allure for a commercial century. She was already pushing 30 when she got into the exotic dance game, with a failed May-December marriage behind her from what a wag might call her first sexual bargain, to get out from under the thumb of her family and see the world. In Paris in the belle epoque, there were assuredly dancers younger, prettier. Margaretha, who here debuted the show name by which history would know here, surpassed them with showmanship....

[Red Badger]

[Vaquero]

Of Course our side in conflicts also used such ‘spies’. Despite the moral implications it works.

[Red Badger]

Her mugshot.............

[Red Badger]

The use Goes back to Bible times.................and probably even before............See ‘Delilah’...............

[Sans-Culotte]

Her mugshot.............

"We'll get Garbo to play her!"

[baclava]

Well, she wanted attention, brave at the end.

The execution sounds a bit rushed, she should have hired a better lawyer.

I’d do her, she seemed nice

[Red Badger]

She didn’t talk, either................

[Little Ray]

Sad.
She was off her diet and had no makeup.
Once you get around that, she’s still not that bad looking.

[Red Badger]

That German food will do it to ya ever time!................

[steveo]

in the Indonesian language matahari means ‘eye of the day’ or the ‘Sun’.

[Joe 6-pack]

She looks like a young Sonia Sotomayor.

[BubbaBasher]

[Red Badger]

Laz would hit it..................

[Red Badger]

Well, as long as she could cook...................

[Bratch]

Mata Hari - Dancer, Lover, Spy

[Little Ray]

It was French prison food!
She was shot by the French.
Probably something along the like of rough bread, a little sausage, and a little cheese.

[Red Badger]

That was her mugshot when she was arrested. Still eating high on the hog at that time...............

[BenLurkin]

The Lady Gaga of her time.

[BenLurkin]

Colorized