Cultural history question: screaming fangirls?

[alexxkay]

So, I was watching a cartoon from 1944, Swooner Crooner (link is a brief excerpt), and it featured a trope I didn't think went back that far: that of fangirls screaming and fainting at the presence of famous musicians. I was familiar with it from The Beatles and Elvis, but had no idea it went back to "Frankie" Sinatra and his generation. So how far back *does* it go?

(One could argue for the Bacchantes being the prototype, but I'm looking for more early 20th / late 19th century examples.)

Comments

[negothick.livejournal.com]

I remember that cartoon! My mother told me all about her friends swooning over Frank Sinatra--love that rooster version of his famed skinny frame, and the chickens wearing bobby sox and oxfords.

The Dionysos of the 20s was not a singer--it was the actor, Rudolph Valentino. Same effects on the teenage fangirls. This article compares him to Justin Bieber. What a laugh! Bieber is already passe, while Valentino endures in memory.
http://modernnotion.com/before-bieber-rudoloh-valentino/