In the Victorian age, when proper women went to great lengths to hide their physical form beneath bustles, hoops and frills, the idea of young ladies appearing onstage in tights was a powerful challenge. Suggestive rather than bawdy, these shows relied less on strong scripts or songs than on sheer star power. When Broadway's The Black Crook became a massive hit in , its troop of ballerinas in flesh-colored tights served notice that respectable American audiences were ready to fork over big bucks for sexually stimulating entertainment.
All it took was a daring producer to take things to the next level. The original program to Ixion , Broadway's first burlesque hit. In the late s, Lydia Thompson 's British burlesque troupe became New York's biggest theatrical sensation.
Their first hit was Ixion , a mythological spoof that had women in revealing tights playing men's roles. No wonder men and adventurous wives turned out in droves, making Thompson and her "British blondes" the hottest thing in American show business. Thompson and her imitators did not bother with such mundane matters as hiring composers. Instead, they used melodies from operatic arias and popular songs of the day, incorporating them into the action for comic or sentimental effect.
To prevent unauthorized productions, the scripts from these early burlesques were not published. In fact, the material changed so often sometimes from week to week that a written script would serve little purpose. We can only guess at the exact content and staging of these shows, but it is clear that audiences were delighted. At first, the American press praised burlesques, but turned vicious under pressure from influential do-gooders. But the cries of the self-righteous had an unintended effect.
Editorials and sermons condemning burlesque as "indecent" only made the form more popular! Demand was such that copycat burlesque companies soon cropped up, many with female managers. Mabel Saintley became America's first native-born burlesque star, leading "Mme.
Rintz's Female Minstrels" from the s onwards in a stylish burlesque of all-male troupes. Burlesque left little to the imagination.
Any stage hit could become a target for humor. Eliza is one of an increasing number of burlesque performers in a thriving East Midlands scene. She runs her own club, the Electro Tease at Leicester's "Basement" venue. So what's the fuss? Ask Labour politician Susan Press. It was her committee of local councillors that sent shock waves round the burlesque community by banning a show. Susan's politics were forged in the heat of s women's liberation. She rejects claims that the New Burlesque is an expression of the so-called "Fourth Wave of Feminism".
In Nottingham, I met the burlesque performer whose show was pulled. And if somebody tries to tell me what I choose to do with my time, I'm going to fight for that. But is Susan Press right? Is Burlesque no more progressive for women's rights than, say, The Sun's "Page 3"? Burlesque isn't about that," said Jacki Willson, who describes herself as a feminist.
She's the author of "The Happy Stripper", the first serious academic study of the New Burlesque phenomenon. Her follow-up book is published this spring. Today, burlesque is nothing short of an art form. Performers both male and female combine the most explosive aspects of costumery, dance, comedy and theater in a type of live entertainment that, of course, places nudity on a pedestal.
Dita Von Tesse and World Famous BOB have turned the tassel-friendly genre of performance into an evolving practice that challenges everything conventional -- from gender politics to sexuality and the public's perception of the naked body. Burlesque has historic roots in America's minstrel culture, dating as far back as the s. However, the version we know today -- a marriage of vaudevillian humor and striptease -- became popular in the early s, when mostly women performers took to clubs and Broadway venues with their own brand of music, dance and provocative nudity.
The era of Prohibition took a toll on the burlesque industry , as teetotaling politicians and authority figures took issue with both the performers and club owners that made burlesque possible. Cyr, and Blaze Starr emerged as boundary-pushing icons. We dove into the photographic archives to showcase a visual taste of burlesque in the s.
Below is a short, but effortlessly stunning look into a decade of body love on stage. Burlesque dancer Gloria Knight in a two-piece stage outfit, circa Burlesque dancer Lonnie Young in a bikini decorated with flowers, circa Burlesque dancer Mary Mack reclining on a chaise longue, circa American actress and burlesque entertainer Gypsy Rose Lee , circa
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