By David Cohea, ReMIND Magazine
If you want to know who put the fireworks into the all-American bombshell, remember those candescent ladies who swirled their boas and pasties in aging movie theaters.
The roots of American burlesque go back to the Victorian era in England. Burlesque was originally a theatrical variety show, mixing comedy and songs that commented on class issues, providing the entertainments of the day (including humorous re-creations of highbrow literary classics) and offering a view of attractive, minimally clothed young ladies. Back then, just the suggestion of sex was enough; the girls often wore flesh-colored tights onstage to give the appearance of nudity.
Once burlesque reached American shores, lowbrow humor and slapstick replaced the satirical revues. Many comics got their start opening up for burlesque shows, including Mae West, Abbott and Costello, W.C. Fields and Al Jolson.
The dancing became saucier, and by the 1920s, striptease became the big draw. Ziegfeld Girls — showgirls who “loosened the corset” of the Gibson Girl — were photographed by Alfred Cheney Johnston and fanned the popular imagination.
Prohibition put the kibosh on burlesque shows in the 1920s, and concerns about indecency led to crackdowns in many venues. Mayor LaGuardia closed all the New York City venues by the early 1940s.
Still, traveling burlesque shows in a circuit of about 50 theaters remained popular (like the Roxy in Cleveland and the El Rey in Oakland), as did a few swank nightclubs. And there was always Vegas.
Stars of burlesque’s golden age included Gypsy Rose Lee, Tempest Storm and Lili St. Cyr. Lee got her start as a tap dancer, but it was when a strap broke on a gown she was wearing onstage that caused her dress to fall that she discovered her true talent for stripping.
Burlesque made it onto the big screen on several occasions — Lady of Burlesque (1943), Striporama (1953) and The Night They Raided Minksy’s (1968). Natalie Wood starred as Gypsy Rose Lee in the 1962 movie Gypsy.
In the 1950s, the advent of TV brought free entertainment to one’s own living room, and burlesque began to fade. With the sexual revolution of the 1960s, burlesque seemed quaint and old-fashioned compared to X-rated movies, topless bars and massage studios. The stripper’s art of pasties, boas and demure smiles almost completely disappeared.
Just in the past decade or so, however, burlesque has had a resurgence with new burlesque clubs and revues. Stars like Dita Von Teese and Immodesty Blaize now work the circuit, paying loving homage to the old art with musical numbers, humor and artful bump-and-grinds.
There’s even a Burlesque Hall of Fame in Las Vegas with thousands of burlesque costumes, stage props and photos. For lovers and practitioners of the art — on the road or in living rooms across America — burlesque will always have a home for bombshells.
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