It’s only a paragraph, but it’s a good one!

I used to teach my workshops at Waikiki Wally’s before I took burlesque to The Bowery Poetry Club with our Burlesque Salute to the Ramones and started doing my workshops there. There was a Polynesian woman who taught traditional story-telling Hula at Waikiki Wally’s, too. I wanted so much to study it, but I was too busy putting my workshops together! Although I’ve still managed to study Polynesian dance a bit, I feel like I missed out by not learning from her. I love to watch Hawaiian and Tahitian dance and would love to understand it better.

Tiki culture was the root of Tease-O-Rama, where so many of today’s best-known performers became acquainted. You can read about the first TOR in the earliest archives of their Yahoo group.

When I was a kid in the 1960s, I was crazy about Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room, and begged to be taken to Trader Vic’s in Denver for my birthday. Now I’m well aware that all my attraction to some of these representations of Polynesian culture is problematic, to put it mildly, but as a 6-year-old I was beside myself, and darned if I still don’t get a thrill of childlike wonder when I hear the music. Darn, darn, darn that childlike wonder!

I’ve been to Hawaii only once, in 1979, and my fondest memory of it is that it smelled the best of any place I’ve ever been–so I was most likely not “in a congested urban slum a block mauka of Chinatown.”

All my mental meandering aside, if anyone knows more about burlesque in Hawaii, bring it on!

Posted by Jo Weldon, Headmistress of The New York School of Burlesque, for burlesquedaily.blogspot.com.

It is AMAZING. Oh boy, does it deliver. There is a section on tools and products that no self-styled diva should be without. There are tips on using curling tools that anyone, whether or not they’re into retro hairstyles, would be grateful to have. It features page after page of beautiful color photographs and step-by-step instructions for a staggering array of techniques, including page after page on the essential pincurl. There are also instructions for using modern tools to get retro styles. I really don’t see how this book could be any better at what it is.

There is a section which describes how to make victory rolls, pompadours, finger waves, and pincurl waves, followed by a chapter on composing hairstyles with those features that include “The Pin-up,” “Jazz Singer,” and “Film Noir.”

There is a chapter on accessories, including flowers, and a final chapter on retro makeup and manicures.

I can’t promise you that my hair will improve overnight, as I doubt I’m going to suddenly become a meticulously groomed fashion diva, but I’m feeling inspired. I’m about to do a performance in Vegas that requires much more attention to detail than my usual 30-minute hairpiece application will support. This book will definitely be my go-to when I need to raise the bar on my hairdo, and I’m certainly taking it to Vegas with me.

For those who make the effort to really be a bombshell, this is a life-changing tool. If you’re just learning retro styling, this is a crash course that will greatly accelerate your skill curve. As I always tell my students when they’re planning costumes, your outfit doesn’t end at your neck! Just as a stylish outfit loses impact without stylish hair and makeup, a fabulous costume needs a fabulous head of hair to be complete. Don’t do as I do, do as I say!

Vintage Hairstyling:

Retro Styles with Modern Techniques

By Lauren Rennels

HRST Books, 2008

To Purchase:
http://www.vintagehairstyling.com

Posted by Jo Weldon, Headmistress of The New York School of Burlesque, for burlesquedaily.blogspot.com.

From the first sentence:
“I was only fifteen and still wearing knickers when I got my first look at the bouncing, bawdy, and often stimulating world of burlesque…”
to the edifying appendices at the end, this book is completely engaging. It is such a favorite of mine. Sure, today’s New York burlesque shows are as different from Minsky’s as Lili St. Cyr’s were from Lydia Thompson’s, but a huge part of the attraction to burlesque has always been the fierce brazen energy of live enertainment made with adults in mind, and this book portrays it beautifully.

Each chapter is headed by a terrible joke, such as:

STRAIGHT MAN: (running his hand over the bald comic’s head): Ya know, Charlie, your head feels exactly like my wife’s backside!

COMIC: (running his hand over his own head): Ya know, you’re right!

But of course my obsession is burlesque striptease, and this book is just packed with yummy details about all of that. His comment on Gypsy Rose Lee is priceless: “I didn’t know anything really terrible about Gypsy….If you eliminated…the fact that she showed porno movies in her dressing room and encouraged her monkeys in their obscene antics…I guess she was okay.”

He shares tips about what made great strippers that could still apply today, such as:
“Hair: The Stripper had to dye her hair a definite color. Red, yellow, or black. Theatrical lighting did strange things to ordinary natural shades of hair….”

and

“Timing: The stripper has to know when to take off what, how much to take off, what to leave on, and what to do for an encore.”

Also irresistable to the historian in me are the descriptions of the troubles they had with authorities, including actual fragments of courtroom transcripts. Having spent a bit of time in courtrooms around the subject of strip joints, I’m always amazed at what the authorities consider not only risque but dangerous to the public good, and as I read Minsky’s book I could tell that some things never change.

One of my favorite sections is in Chapter 6, where he compares what he says the more highbrow and uptown Zeigfeld Follies were able to get away with in comparison with Minsky’s, who were harrassed more for their tone than for the content of their shows. This kind of cultural class war continues today in comparisons between high-end strip joints and dives. As a feature dancer I was always amused that the high-end clubs didn’t want the feature dancers with our elaborate costumes and props and theatrical shows because we were associated with porn (most of us were centerfold models or porn stars or both), and the high-enders were very consciously trying to be disassociated from porn. Funny, that. And in Minsky’s objection to Earl Carroll’s girls being considered art no matter how naked they got, while his were considered dirty no matter how clothed they stayed, I sense a bit of the same frustration with the strange ways people associate sexual behavior with class.

The tone of this book is so forthright, and the presentation of stories is so entertaining, that I always forget how wonderful the pictures are. There is only a section in the middle of the book, but the juxtaposition of his selection of historical documents, hysterical comics, and hot dames is something every burlesque fan should see.

You can buy this book used on amazon.com or on EBay, and I recommend you do!

Posted by Jo Weldon, Headmistress of The New York School of Burlesque, for burlesquedaily.blogspot.com.

The Hollywood Reporter offers up this bit of Gypsy trivia:

The role of Mama Rose won a 1975 best actress Tony for Angela Lansbury in the first revival of the show; it also won Tyne Daly a 1990 Tony for her redo. However, there was no Tony for Ethel Merman, the woman who created the role, despite the fact that that has always been considered the role and the performance of her legendary legit career.

Getting saucy with scripture
Tanya just sent me some letters they have received since this article was published. Here is one of them:

‘To Whom It May Concern,

I just read the Toronto Star article about the upcoming bible burlesque show. I find this is completely offensive. I’m not a prude, but this is downright tasteless. Isn’t there anyone out there who is clever? Let me ask you this question, would you host a burlesque review that depicted Mohammed or Buddha in the same way Mary/Jesus are being characterized? Why not? So then, why do you think it is ok to present this show? Who are you afraid of offending? It’s not harmless. It’s not even funny. It’s low-brow. How about our kids, teenagers, university students, ourselves — is this something we want to “aspire” to intellectually or in any other way? Show some real courage - put your money where your BRAIN is - cancel the show - on principle. Stand for something or you’ll fall for anything.

Respectfully,

Name Withheld ‘

As well as several other letters expressing disapproval.

Religious themes are hardly rare in burlesque. For instance, when I used to perform at the Blue Angel, people occasionally walked out on Sister Ammo’s “Sister Christian” act.

Left: Ammo at the Blue Angel, 2002. Click the image for more from this show.

The Wau Wau Sisters have created a ruckus with their version of “Sister Christian.”

And, Tigger performed in one of my productions of the Follies Fromage as Cheezus Christ.

Above: Cheezus receives a Judas kiss. Photo by Dale Harris. Click to see more of the Follies Fromage.
In my case, I actually WENT to Jesus Camp (or, I should say, something pretty close to its 1970s equivalent). I have photos of one of my blasphemous acts in which I’m dressed as the Virgin Mary and dancing to Tori Amos’ “God” with Julie Atlas Muz, performing in Pinchbottom’s “Blasphemy” show, and I can’t freakin find the folder on my computer. So here is a link to some photos of Dita Von Teese dressed as the Virgin Mary:

Gaultier Show “A Dream Come True” For Dita

Keeping in mind that I feel no obligation to post any kind of anonymous (’anonymous’ meaning that you’re unidentifiable and flame-ey, not that you’re not using your legal name or that I might be offended by your comment) remarks (stand behind it or stand down), any comments about why blasphemy seems to be so popular in burlesque? Because I’ve often wondered, myself. I think it has something to do with this quote:

“Burlesque is the art of treating the frivolous seriously, and the serious frivolously.”
I don’t know the original source of this quote, but it was most recently said to me by Fisherman of Fisherman’s Burlesque Orchestra. I do think that many of us who come from theater and performance art backgrounds follow this definition of burlesque.

Posted by Jo Weldon, Headmistress of The New York School of Burlesque, for burlesquedaily.blogspot.com.

Jo Boobs points out that religion often serves as inspiration burly-q performers and offers up several neo-burlesque examples. It’s not a new trend.

Lili St. Cyr staged a short dance based on Oscar Wilde’s Salome, a tale of the woman who dances to encourage King Herod to behead John the Baptist. One reviewer described the performance as a “barbaric portrayal [that] shows her gloating over the head of the prophet and [ending] in a wild, frenzied dance.” And a routine she called “Eve,” in which she danced around a large apple, inspired a Montreal priest to start a crusade to run her out of town. “Who’s ignoring the repugnant obscenity of the shows presented in Montreal by Lili St. Cyr,” he wrote. “All affirm that a stench of sexual frenzy plagues the theater the whole time this dancer’s exhibition lasts.” The priest caused such a brouhaha that Lili was arrested, but the trial lasted less than two hours and she was acquitted.

Montreal’s business owners fully recognized Lili’s bottom line appeal and in their newsletter wrote: “One must never have seen the chaste and statuesque Lili to be able to decry her thus. She is the ideal woman incarnate . . . she has us experience the entire spectrum of emotion, by a gradation of personal pleasures, by all degrees of hope, desire, and enjoyment. . . . With a sparkling light she executes the most fantastic dances of eternal theme. . . . She gives a wake-up to adolescence, a stimulant to the young man, comfort to the middle-aged man, sweet memory to the old man. . . . Lili is the goddess of love reincarnate . . . She is at the same time immortal desire, and immortal enjoyment. Bravo to all those who refuse to let themselves be moved by these false cries of conscience. . . . We’d be a city dead to love and to pleasure.”

In one of her diaries, Nin wrote of Lili St. Cyr:

“Great admiration for Lili Saint Cyr. Women should learn from her. She does not express the narcissistic self-eroticism of stripteasers, she conveys the presence of the man, an expression of contact with the man. She uses her body with enormous grace and skill, to invite, to expose, to suggest, to respond, but it is always a gift, an offering. She is a great artist. She is never vulgar. The common men do not like her. … Women should study with her. She is an artist in erotic lore. … She stands apart. She does not make up or dress like other stripteasers. In one act she takes a bath. In another she tests her seduction before a painting of a Spanish matador. The man is always present, so it is charged with currents which flow out and around the audience.”

Friday, July 27 2001

‘So, if you are tired of being typed out or typecast, the burlesque scene is ready and willing for you to be anything and everything you have always wanted to be. Take your talents, your gimmicks, and your most outrageous and fantastic ideas, and floor ‘em at a burlesque revue near you!’

Burlesque Is Alive and Well And Playing in New York

By Raven Snook

Publication: BackStage

Date: Friday, July 27 2001

I’m sooooo happy that burlesque is STILL alive and well seven years later.I am so very, very, very lucky. I have to find it amusing that there are simultaneously so many articles claiming 1) that burlesque is dead or 2) that someone’s bringing it back.

Posted by Jo Weldon, Headmistress of The New York School of Burlesque, for burlesquedaily.blogspot.com.

Today In Burlesque History - Lili St Cyr

In the January 1999 issue of Playboy, the magazine released their list of the one hundred beautiful women “who made this century sizzle.” Lili St. Cyr ranked number sixty-nine, ahead of Gypsy Rose Lee at seventy-eight. Not surprisingly, Marilyn Monroe scored the top spot. At the end of that month, on January 29, 1999 at the age of 81, Lili St. Cyr died of heart failure.

Newspapers like The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Independent in London, Time magazine, and Variety included obituaries which recounted her routines, run-ins with the law, and mentioned her connection to Marilyn Monroe. (As an aside, most got her birth date wrong. She was born in 1917, not 1918.)

In one memorial, a reporter for The Guardian wrote, “They don’t make entertainers like Lili St. Cyr . . . any more. The sincerity of Miss St. Cyr (say the name quickly) was what people came to see. Or at least, that was what her fans liked to believe. She was an artiste, a delightful character who practiced her art, well, sincerely; a charming lady who did everything in the very best taste.”

Tassels And Emeralds

Seattle has some kickass burlesque. Every time I go I see incredible, gorgeous shows full of fantastic ideas, brilliant costumes, and fierce dancing. If you aren’t lucky enough to catch the scene, however, know that you are still some good bit of lucky, because in addition to having amazing performers, Seattle has its own amazing chronicler of the Seattle burlesque scene, Chris Blakeley.

He’s taken thousands of photos at hundreds of shows, and has published is own book, the beautiful and substantial Tassels and Emeralds: A journey through Seattle Burlesque.

It features descriptions and delicious photos of many of the performers I love, including Miss Indigo Blue, Paula the Swedish Housewife, Babette La Fave, Waxie Moon, the astonishing Atomic Bombshells, and the beloved Von Foxies, and too many more spectacular performers to list here. The book leaves no doubt in your mind that Seattle is one of THE cities for burlesque!

The book is a charming physical object, beautifully printed with black backgrounds and white text, and just the right size at 7.5″ X 7.5″ to distinguish itself from other coffee table books. Once you pick it up, you won’t be willing to let it go without lingering over every gorgeous page!

The book’s website

Posted by Jo Weldon, Headmistress of The New York School of Burlesque, for burlesquedaily.blogspot.com.