Demimonde whom Captain Rawdon Crawley lusts after in his younger days. Becky Sharp is perceived as a demimondaine before she is presented at court, and then becomes one when she travels through Europe after her husband abandons her. Possibly the most famous portrayal of the demimonde, albeit from before the word was coined, is in Verdi's opera "La traviata" (1853). The opera, in turn, was inspired by Alexandre Dumas the younger's "La Dame aux Camélias;" Marguerite Gautier, the heroine of the book and subsequent play, was based on Marie Duplessis, 1840s Paris courtesan and mistress to a number of prominent men,
La Dame aux Camélias Young, Theda Bara, Yvonne Printemps, Alla Nazimova, Greta Garbo, Micheline Presle, Francesca Bertini, Isabelle Huppert, and others. There have been at least nine adaptations of "La Dame aux Camélias" entitled "Camille". In addition to the "Camille" films, the story has been the adapted into numerous other screen versions: Amongst many adaptations, spin-offs and parodies, was "Camille", "a travesty on "La Dame aux Camellias" by Charles Ludlam, staged first by his own Ridiculous Theatrical Company in 1973, with Ludlam playing the lead in drag In 1999 Alexia Vassiliou collaborated with composer Aristides Mytaras for the contemporary dance performance, "La Dame aux