I am trying to find any information on a snake dancer from India,
called Arimand Banu (may be spelt Badu)who toured Britain and the
Continent in the 1920's. So far I have only been able to disover a few
photographs of her in the Hulton Archive. Any informaiton aobut her
life and the tour of Europe would be appreceated.

Hello Hooty-ga, and thanks so much for an interesting and very
challenging question.

I searched quite a number of historical databases for the US and
Europe, and only came up with one reference to Arimande Banu (note the
"e" at the end, which may or may not be accurate), but I think you'll
agree that it was worth it:

http://www.newspaperarchive.com/

Indiana Evening Gazette
Indiana, Pennsylvania
Thursday, January 19, 1928


Live Snake Not Enough
For Dancer's Costume
Budapest Police Decide

VIENNA -- Miss Arimande Banu, a
dancer at the Royal Orpheum, a variety
theater in Budapest, has been
appearing in a solo turn in which
her only costume is a large live
snake. Miss Banu and her manager
have been notified by the police that
the snake is an inadequate costume.

She flatly refused to dance if she had to 
wear anything besides the snake trained to 
be her only costume, declaring "that the 
snake would resent her wearing any textile 
garment and become vicious."

The manager informed her that she
must conform to the police order, and
if she refused to appear as directed
it would be a case of "no play, no
pay." She was obstinate, so her con-
tract was broken, with the result that
she started an action for full salary
for the term of her engagement and
compensation for what she considers
the slight put upon her.

The manager unsuccessfully tried
to persuade the police to withdraw
their demand, and the unfortunate snake, as he 
is not performing, has
been put on half rations.

----------

I hope the snake didn't go hungry, and that the show, eventually, did
go on!

You can see a bit of the actual article at the newspaperarchives.com
site by searching on "Arimande", and can retrieve the full article (as
an image of the actual newspaper page) in PDF format by signing up for
one-day access for $4.95 (note that a search on "Banu" turns up a lot
of false leads, since the work "bank" is often misread as "banu" for
some reason).

If you have any difficulty with the site -- or any questions about
what I've posted here -- just let me know through a Request for
Clarification and I'll be glad to assist you further.

By the way, I also came across two photos of Ms. Banu at the Hulton
Archives, and I presume you've seen them both as well.

Thanks for that! It gives me some more information and more leads to
follow up. And an interesting story!