A Celebration Of BURLESQUE! Bettie Page, Gypsy Rose Lee, Tempest Storm, Dita Von Teese!
If page freezes, refresh. Burlesque has made a huge comeback, here is what you need to know!
Bettie Page lived long enough to see she was celebrated by the kids of the parents who banned her! Blamed for juvenile delinquency, all of her photos were ordered to be destroyed. Bootlegs kept her image alive.
It wasn’t her magazine photos that got her in trouble. It was her private, sold under the counter photos that did.
Bettie Page Dream scene & Bubble Bath scene to the 1953 burlesque film Striporama:
Bettie had vanished in disgrace and a friend of hers years later was at Tower Records and saw a huge display with a large cut-out of Bettie, magazines about her, models and posters. When she brought Bettie to the store, Bettie could barely believe what she was seeing!
To find out more about Bettie and one of the plays I did about her (I did 4) click this link:
The Subversive Purpose Of Bettie Page Uncensored
You can watch her and some of the top burlyq stars of the day here:
This is a great 15 minute documentary about Bettie:
Mabel Santley Was one of the first stars and pioneer of early Burlesque in the 1870's. Became part owner of the Leavitt's 'Mme. Rentz's Female Minstrels' (1869) to the newer 'Rentz-Santley Novelty company' in the 1879 along with her partnerMichael B. Leavitt (1843-1935) and Sam T. Jacks as manger. Leavett already owned theRentz's Circus (aka: Mme. Rentz's Female Minstrels') and at first Mabel was the star Blackface attraction. The show was later renamed to include Santley. This traveling show was where the term Burlesque would be defined and be copied by many others. Mabel was arrested at least once in her career for indecent exposure during the Can-Can when she lifted her skirt on 3/1879.
Burlesque began in the United States when Lydia Thompson brought her troupe, the British Blondes, to New York City stages in 1868.
They were independent, confident women who performed on stage and defied most of the social and cultural mores of women of the day. And they were as wildly popular as they were reviled.
Most people in 'proper' society viewed these ladies as being in the same category as common street prostitutes -- selling their bodies for sex.
But men adored them. Their acts were considered 'low brow,' but that simply made them more approachable for the common man.
It was said some men were willing to kill themselves in fits of lustful passion after seeing Ms Thompson's shows. The veracity of these stories, however, was somewhat dubious.
The secret of burlesque dancers' sexual appeal was not that they revealed skin and sensitive body parts -- like modern-day strippers. Burlesque was so scandalous because women showed off their feminine shapes.
Where most women wore layers of skirts and petticoats, concealing their legs and thighs, burlesque dancers wore tights.
This led to the frenzy of 'loose women in tights,' which might seem ironic to modern sensibilities.
Women of the Victorian era were expected to be modest, conservative and concerned about domestic affairs of the home.
Burlesque performers were anything but this. Some posters of the day even depicted tall, burly, Amazonian women who emanated a sense of danger.
In their own way, burlesque dancers -- while being the object of sexual desire for men -- worked to improve the standing of women in American society.
They presented the image of a woman who willfully defied the place society had dictated. Through exaggerated humor, performers addressed political issues of the day and spoke freely and challenged the men in their audience.
Burlesque went into a decline and had been replaced by strippers by the 1960’s. But there is no question that one woman brought it back with a vengeance. Her name is Dita Von Teese.
From head to toe, Dita Von Teese possesses the total package, setting her aside as a beauty and overall female icon for not only us, but women across the world. She's the embodiment of confidence, glamor, style, and brains, and we just can't seem to get enough of her.
She has a now historic residency in Las Vegas which you can find out about here:
Here she is in the BEJEWELED Taylor Swift video where she and Taylor do a burlesque number! :
Burlesque is making a comeback all over the world. Lisa from Blackpink, the biggest women’s pop group in history, did shows at The Crazy Horse in Paris!
What is the difference between burlesque and stripping? Women in the audience. Burlyq places got rid of the acts when they realized women wouldn’t come if there was no show. That way the men could get their wallets emptied. There is no hustling in burlesque, and women actually have an act when they dance.
What film best captures burlesque? This was written by Gypsy Rose Lee and starred Barbara Stanwyck who in her beginnings was a scantily clad dancer with the Ziegfeld Follies.
Photo: Gypsy and her dance troupe. Gypsy had as many female as male fans!
Gypsy was a burly q star, wrote the hit play GYPSY that was made into a film with Natalie Wood, wrote best selling books, was the first female talk show host, was in Hollywood movies and still did the carny circuit. This film captures the way the women talked and the burlesque scene in the 1940’s:
Now here’s a treat. Often the best comedic and musical talent was found on The Burlesque Chitlin Circuit. Because few Blacks could find work with white companies, they had some wonderful shows. Burlesque in Harlem is a 1949 revue film directed by William D. Alexander that features a cast of singers, dancers and comedians who were prominent on the so-called 'Chitlin' Circuit' of burlesque theaters and nightclubs that exclusively presented black American talent. This is a historical document as it is not only a rare recording of a full burlesque show from the 1940s, but also a show with an entire cast of black performers (and unfortunately there are not a lot of filmed examples of black burlesque from the early days). The film is hosted by Dick Barrow, who sings "Juice Head Baby", and the main headliner is the comedian Pigmeat Markham, who performs a sketch called The Love Making Bureau. Other performers in the cast include the dancer Gertrude "Baby" Banks, the singers Jo Jo Adams and Hucklebuck Jones, the striptease contortionist Tarza Young, and the tap dance duo Slip and Slide.
Behind the paywall: The Irving Klaw films that were banned and ordered destroyed featuring Bettie Page. By the way, juvenile delinquency did not end after her films and photos were ordered destroyed.
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