American burlesque is a genre of variety show derived from elements of Victorian burlesque , music hall , and minstrel shows . Burlesque became popular in the United States in the late 1860s and slowly evolved to feature ribald comedy and female nudity . By the late 1920s, the striptease element overshadowed the comedy and subjected burlesque to extensive local legislation. Burlesque gradually lost its popularity, beginning in the 1940s. A number of producers sought to capitalize on nostalgia for the entertainment by recreating burlesque on the stage and in Hollywood films from the 1930s to the 1960s. There has been a resurgence of interest in this format since the 1990s.
51-413: Girlie show is a term for American burlesque performances featuring comedy and nudity. The Girlie Show may also refer to: American burlesque The term "burlesque" more generally means a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects. Burlesque in literature and in theatre through
102-1057: A camp stock character in a 1930s burlesque troupe. A new generation nostalgic for the spectacle and perceived glamour of the old times determined to bring burlesque back. This revival was pioneered independently in the early 1990s by Billie Madley's "Cinema" and later with Ami Goodheart in "Dutch Weismann's Follies" revues in New York , Michelle Carr's "The Velvet Hammer" troupe in Los Angeles , and The Shim-Shamettes in New Orleans . Ivan Kane's Royal Jelly Burlesque Nightclub at Revel Atlantic City opened in 2012. Inspired by old time stars like Sally Rand , Tempest Storm , Gypsy Rose Lee , and Lili St. Cyr , more recent performers include Dita Von Teese , Julie Atlas Muz , and Anne McDonald. Agitprop groups such as Cabaret Red Light have included political satire and performance art in their acts. Neo-Burlesque has taken many forms, but all have
153-452: A classic American burlesque presentation. In a time when some theater owners were desperate to lure audiences away from their television sets, these low-budget burlesque features were useful novelty attractions, and the format continued through the mid-1950s. Dream Follies (1954, filmed as Modern Follies ) was written by the young comedian Lenny Bruce , who whimsically shared screen credit with ancient jokesmith Joe Miller! Some figures from
204-635: A nostalgic off-Broadway show, This Was Burlesque , which she directed and in which also performed. (In 1968, she wrote a book with the same title.) Corio's show toured for almost two decades. In 1979, the Broadway musical Sugar Babies , recreated a Mutual -era show. A loose stage adaptation of The Night They Raided Minsky's , called Minsky's , opened on February 6, 2009, at the Ahmanson Theatre, Los Angeles, and ran three weeks. A 2013 play, The Nance , written by Douglas Carter Beane, focuses on
255-534: A rift between Scribner and Herk, who felt that Columbia was out of step with the times. A rival independent wheel, the Mutual Wheel , was formed and eventually headed by Herk. Mutual shows were less elaborate than Columbia's, but took inspiration from the modern risqué revues of Flo Ziegfeld and Earl Carroll . In 1923 Columbia was still the largest burlesque operation in the country with thirty-eight shows on its wheel. However, receipts were declining. During
306-673: A team), Harry Steppe , Joe Penner , Billy Gilbert , and Rags Ragland , as well as stripteasers Ann Corio , Hinda Wausau , and Gypsy Rose Lee performed in Mutual shows. Mutual collapsed in 1931 during the Great Depression. As legitimate Broadway shows closed, stock burlesque impresarios like the Minskys expanded out of working class neighborhoods and into theaters in and around Times Square. Stock burlesque companies multiplied in other cities and snatched up former Mutual talent. By
357-527: Is told, "These showers of 'Hail' anticipate your 'reign'". A staple of theatrical burlesque was the display of attractive women in travesty roles , dressed in tights to show off their legs, but the plays themselves were seldom more than modestly risqué. There were three main influences on American burlesque in its early years: Victorian burlesque, "leg shows" and minstrel shows . British-style burlesques had been successfully presented in New York as early as
408-616: The Columbia Wheel or the Eastern Burlesque Wheel , was a show business organization that produced burlesque shows in the United States between 1902 and 1927. Each year, between three and four dozen Columbia burlesque companies would travel in succession round a "wheel" of theaters, ensuring steady employment for performers and a steady supply of new shows for participating theaters. For much of its history
459-661: The Vancouver International Burlesque Festival , the New York Burlesque Festival created by burlesque star Angie Pontani and Jen Gapay, and the Miss Exotic World Pageant are held. In 2008, The New York Times noted that burlesque had made a comeback in the city's art performance scene. A 2010 musical film Burlesque , starring Christina Aguilera and Cher , attempted to capitalize on
510-595: The Ziegfeld Follies . Many performers and producers abandoned Columbia, which was seen as old-fashioned and in decline. At its peak, Mutual sent up to 50 shows on the road each year to cycle through as many affiliated theaters. Mutual's shows were more risque than Columbia's, but not as racy as shows mounted by local stock burlesque theaters such as the Minskys at the National Winter Garden on
561-406: The 1830s and the 1890s. It took the form of musical theatre parody in which a well-known opera, play or ballet was adapted into a broad comic play, usually a musical play, often risqué in style, mocking the theatrical and musical conventions and styles of the original work, and quoting or pastiching text or music from the original work. The comedy often stemmed from the incongruity and absurdity of
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#1732776224392612-752: The 1840s. "The present school of burlesque originated with Lydia Thompson" - New York Clipper , 12 September 1914 Burlesque in the United States is believed to have begun in New York with the arrival from England of Lydia Thompson 's burlesque troupe, "The British Blondes". It was the most popular entertainment in New York during the 1868–1869 theatrical season: "The eccentricities of pantomime and burlesque – with their curious combination of comedy, parody, satire, improvisation, song and dance, variety acts, cross-dressing, extravagant stage effects, risqué jokes and saucy costumes – while familiar enough to British audiences, took New York by storm." Unfortunately, “the female audiences for burlesque did not last for long. In
663-410: The 1915 film Burlesque on Carmen ) noted that in 1910: "Chicago ... had a fierce pioneer gaiety that enlivened the senses, yet underlying it throbbed masculine loneliness. Counteracting this somatic ailment was a national distraction known as the burlesque show, consisting of a coterie of rough-and-tumble comedians supported by twenty or more chorus girls. Some were pretty, others shopworn. Some of
714-450: The 1920s and 1930s. Other films that include burlesque characters include Ball of Fire , a 1941 screwball comedy starring Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck. Additionally, many of the comedies of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello feature classic burlesque routines, such as "The Lemon Bit," "Crazy House," and "Slowly I Turned/Niagara Falls." Enterprising low-budget producers transferred actual burlesque revues to film, beginning in 1946. The first
765-648: The 1925 season Scribner grudgingly authorized chorus girls, who had worn tights for over twenty years, to perform barelegged. More significantly, he permitted the show "Powder Puff Revue" to feature a tableaux of bare-breasted women similar to those in the revues of Ziegfeld and Earl Carroll. By the mid-1920s cinemas were providing shows that combined film and live entertainment with ticket prices lower than any burlesque show. Columbia continued to lose customers to Mutual, more explicit stock burlesque, and other types of entertainment. Performers and theaters began deserting Columbia and switched to Mutual. Mutual also stumbled in
816-713: The 1950s indicate that burlesque films could cost upwards of $ 50,000 to produce, but Dan Sonney states that most only cost about $ 15,000 because they were shot quickly and often done in less than a day. Burlesque films, by burlesque impresario Lillian Hunt, filmed at the Follies Theatre in Los Angeles include Too Hot to Handle (1955), also known as Fig Leaf Frolics , Midnight Frolics (1949), Everybody's Girl (1951), Hollywood Peep Show (1953), Peek-A-Boo (1953), The A-B-C's of Love (1954), and Kiss Me Baby (1957). Later, other producers entered
867-490: The 19th century was intentionally ridiculous in that it imitated several styles and combined imitations of certain authors and artists with absurd descriptions. Burlesque depended on the reader's (or listener's) knowledge of the subject to make its intended effect, and a high degree of literacy was taken for granted. Victorian burlesque , sometimes known as "travesty" or " extravaganza ", was popular in London theatres between
918-618: The 20th century was dominated by the Columbia Amusement Company . Also known as the Columbia Wheel, it produced over three dozen touring shows each year that rotated through an equal number of affiliated theaters. Columbia crushed smaller circuits or bought them outright, and organized a subsidiary circuit, the American Wheel, which played less prominent theaters and didn't censor performers as strictly as
969-509: The Columbia Wheel promoted relatively "clean" variety shows featuring comedians and pretty girls. Eventually the wheel was forced out of business due to changing tastes and competition from its one-time subsidiary and eventual rival, the Mutual Burlesque Association , as well as cinemas and cruder stock burlesque companies. Following the lead of legitimate theater owners and vaudeville producers who organized to provide
1020-570: The Columbia circuit in 1922–23: American Girl; Beauty Revue; Big Jamboree; Bon Tons; Bowery Burlesquers; Broadway Brevities; Broadway Flappers; Bubble Bubble; Chuckles of 1922; Frank Finney; Flashlights of 1923; Follies of the Day; Folly Town; Giggles; Greenwich Village Revue; Hello Good Times; Sam Howe; Keep Smiling; Knick Knacks; Let’s Go; Maids of America; Dave Marion; Mimic World; Radio Girls; Al Reeves ; Sam Sidman ; Social Maids; Step On It; Talk of
1071-546: The Empire in the west and the Columbia in the east. Sixteen managers and producers incorporated the Columbia Amusement Company on 12 July 1902 with Sam A. Scribner at the head and with principals William S. Campbell, William S. Drew, Gus Hill, John Herbert Mack, Harry Morris, L. Lawrence Weber and A. H. Woodhill. Headquartered in New York, the Columbia circuit included theaters in large cities east of
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#17327762243921122-498: The Lower East Side. The popular burlesque show of this period eventually evolved to include striptease , which became the dominant ingredient of burlesque by the mid 1920s. The transition from traditional burlesque to striptease is depicted in the film The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968). Several performers claimed or have been given credit for being the first stripteaser. Comedians Bud Abbott , Lou Costello (not yet
1173-856: The Missouri and north of the Ohio, such as Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland, as well as Toronto and Boston. Since the theaters were in the east, the Columbia Wheel was also known as the Eastern Wheel. The Columbia organizers aimed to provide affordable shows that were acceptable to women as well as men. They advertised "clean" or "refined" burlesque. Shows had multi-act programs that included comedians, skits and variety acts and chorus girls. In August 1905 Will Rogers signed with Columbia for five one-week shows in Brooklyn, New York, Buffalo, Cleveland and Pittsburgh. In 1908
1224-572: The Progressive wheel and the subsidiary circuit was spun off as the American Wheel, keeping Columbia's brand clean. Gus Hill was named president of the new entity and drove competitors out of business. While tastes were changing after World War I, Scribner still insisted on keeping Columbia shows comparatively clean. Although the American Wheel offered cooch dancers and runways, Columbia avoided runways until its final years. Scribner, who banned smoking in Columbia circuit theaters, also tried to ban
1275-473: The Town; Temptations of 1922; Town Scandals; Varieties of 1922; Billy Watson ; Sliding Billy Watson; Mollie Williams ; Wine, Women and Song; and Youthful Follies. Some titles were used year after year, although with different casts and content, while others changed titles but kept the same cast. Billy Watson and Sliding Billy Watson were two different performers. The American Wheel was dissolved in 1922 due to
1326-452: The U.S., increasingly neglected, and by the 1970s, with nudity commonplace in theatres, American burlesque reached "its final shabby demise". Burlesque performances originally included comic sketches lampooning authority, the upper classes and high art, such as opera, Shakespearean drama, and classical ballet . The genre developed alongside vaudeville and ran on competing circuits. Possibly due to historical social tensions between
1377-524: The burlesque revival. However, it received mixed reviews and a score of 37% on movie website Rotten Tomatoes . Critics found it "perversely tame" and "closer to your grandmother’s fan dance than to the neo-burlesque revues that began popping up in the early 1990s". Additionally, it "wags its derrière, in the direction of new burlesque, but it’s strictly old school ... with a story line that had already gathered dust by ... 1933." Columbia Amusement Company The Columbia Amusement Company , also called
1428-448: The classical subjects, with realistic historical dress and settings, being juxtaposed with the modern activities portrayed by the actors. The dialogue was generally written in rhyming couplets, liberally peppered with bad puns . A typical example from a burlesque of Macbeth : Macbeth and Banquo enter under an umbrella, and the witches greet them with "Hail! hail! hail!" Macbeth asks Banquo, "What mean these salutations, noble thane?" and
1479-444: The comedians from using double entendres, but with less success. A 1922 report said "the companies will come to town on the same day each week to offer what is declared to be comedies with music, musical shows with chorus girls or whatever may best describe clean, wholesome offerings that should not be confused with "burlesque" as it was presented when Dad was a young chap." During the 1922–23 season, Columbia shows were routed through
1530-833: The comedians were funny, most of the shows were smutty harem comedies – coarse and cynical affairs". Burlesque shows have been depicted in numerous dramatic films, starting with Applause , a 1929 black-and-white backstage musical talkie directed by Rouben Mamoulian. Others include King of Burlesque (1936), starring Warner Baxter; Lady of Burlesque (1943) starring Barbara Stanwyck; Delightfully Dangerous (1945) starring Constance Moore; Two Sisters from Boston (1946), starring Kathryn Grayson; Queen of Burlesque (1946), starring Evelyn Ankers; Linda, Be Good (1947), starring Elyse Knox; and She's Working Her Way Through College (1952), starring Virginia Mayo. Gypsy (1962), starring Natalie Wood, and The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968), starring Jason Robards, depicted burlesque of
1581-438: The common trait of honoring one or more of burlesque's previous incarnations, with acts including striptease, expensive costumes, bawdy humor, cabaret , and comedy/variety acts. Although neo-burlesque acts honor previous acts, they often lack elements of parody, and political commentary that was commonplace in traditional burlesque. There are modern burlesque performers and shows all over the world, and annual conventions such as
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1632-670: The company acquired the Murray Hill Theatre on Lexington Avenue . Although the wheel system made the industry more stable, the shows became standardized and repetitive. New costumes and acts were expensive, and when performers became better known they often left burlesque for the legitimate theater. Performers who worked in Columbia shows included Bert Lahr , Rose Sydell , Sophie Tucker , Fanny Brice , Leon Errol , Jean Bedini, and Bobby Clark and Paul McCullough. Many of them graduated to musical comedy or Broadway as soon as they could. But as long as audiences came to see
1683-419: The entertainment was followed by a boxing or wrestling match. By the 1880s, the four distinguishing characteristics of American burlesque had evolved: ‘From 1880 to 1890 burlesque gained considerably in popularity and had developed into a definite form of entertainment, with a first part, olio and afterpiece or burlesque. Most of the shows that were rated as burlesque shows between 1870 and 1880 were partly of
1734-617: The field, using color photography and even location work. Naughty New Orleans (1954) is an example of burlesque entertainment on film, equally showcasing girls and gags, although it shifts the venue from a burlesque-house stage to a popular nightclub. Photographer Irving Klaw filmed a very profitable series of burlesque features, usually featuring star pin-up girl Bettie Page and various lowbrow comedians (including future TV star Joe E. Ross ). Page's most famous features are Striporama (1953), Varietease (1954) and Teaserama (1955). These films, as their titles imply, were only teasing
1785-994: The following theaters (alphabetically by city): Palace, Baltimore; Casino, Boston; Gayety, Boston; Miner’s, The Bronx; Casino, Brooklyn; Empire, Brooklyn; Gayety, Buffalo; Columbia, Chicago; Englewood, Chicago; Star & Garter, Chicago; Olympic, Cincinnati; Colonial, Cleveland; Lyric, Dayton; Gayety, Detroit; Majestic, Jersey City; Gayety, Kansas City; Gayety, Louisville; Gayety, Milwaukee; Gayety, Minneapolis; Gayety, Montreal; Miner’s, Newark; Cohen’s, Newburgh; Columbia, New York City ; Hurtig & Seamon’s 125th Street , New York City; Gayety, Omaha; Orpheum, Paterson; Casino, Philadelphia; Gayety, Pittsburgh ; Cohen’s, Poughkeepsie; Empire, Providence; Gayety, Rochester; Lyceum, Scranton; Gayety, St. Louis; Empire, Toledo; Empire, Toronto; Colonial, Utica; Gayety, Washington D.C.; Grand, Worcester. Shows were not routed in this order and theaters were subject to change each season. The vast majority of these theaters were demolished. The following shows were on
1836-556: The girls burlesque remained profitable. The Star and Garter opened in Chicago in 1908, providing "Clean Entertainment for Self-Respecting People". On 10 January 1910 the Columbia Amusement Company opened its flagship Columbia Theatre , "Home of Burlesque De Luxe", at Broadway and 47th Street in Manhattan. It was housed in the lower three floors of the Columbia Amusement Company's building. The theater, owned and operated by Columbia,
1887-646: The home-movie market; these were printed in 16mm sound and 8mm silent versions. The format usually called for two lowbrow burlesque comedians, several showgirls, and a featured burlesque dancer. Tops in Burlesque headlined burlesque star Betty Rowland ; Tomb It May Concern was a comedy sketch set in Egypt, with explorers discovering dancing girls among ancient tombs. These "for men only" attractions sold so well that Merle Connell began producing feature films for movie theaters. His 1951 production French Follies recreates
1938-551: The hour”. The New York Times consistently expressed its disgust of burlesque, even headlining an article with the plea “Exit British Burlesque”. "Leg" shows, such as the musical extravaganza The Black Crook (1866), became popular around the same time. The influence of the minstrel show soon followed; one of the first American burlesque troupes was the Rentz-Santley Novelty and Burlesque Company, created in 1870 by Michael B. Leavitt , who had earlier feminized
1989-544: The late 1920s, and merged with Columbia in 1927 to form the United Burlesque Association, with Herk as president and Scribner as the chairman of the board. The new organization, comprising 44 theaters, was still referred to as Mutual, and soon reverted to that name. By the 1927–28 season the combined circuit was struggling financially and the following year the Great Depression proved fatal. With smaller, cheaper stock burlesque theaters popping up,
2040-420: The late 1930s, shows had changed from ribald ensemble performances of skits and musical numbers to a succession of solo stripteasers. Clergy, anti-vice factions and local businesses urged crack downs on burlesque, which began its downfall. In New York, Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia clamped down on burlesque beginning in 1937 and effectively put it out of business by the early 1940s. Burlesque lingered on elsewhere in
2091-508: The main wheel. Before World War I, Columbia burlesque was generally family-friendly. Performers included Bert Lahr , Fannie Brice , and Bobby Clark , Leon Errol , and Jay C. Flippen , all of whom eventually left burlesque for Broadway musical comedies and revues. Columbia's American Wheel subsidiary went bankrupt in 1922, but some of its executives and producers formed a new, independent circuit, Mutual , that took inspiration from contemporary Broadway revues like Earl Carroll's Vanities and
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2142-406: The minstrel show with his group Madame Rentz's Female Minstrels . American burlesque rapidly adopted the minstrel show's tripartite structure: part one was composed of songs and dances rendered by a female company, interspersed with low comedy from male comedians. Part two featured various short specialties and olios in which the women did not appear. The show's finish was a grand finale. Sometimes
2193-496: The minstrel type, and many contained casts entirely composed of women. Among the shows organized from 1880 to 1890 were the Ida Siddon’s Female Mastodons & Burlesque Co.—Sam T. Jack’s “Lily Clay’s" Adamless Eden Gaiety Co.—Lillie Hall’s Burlesquers—Madame Girard Gyer’s English Novelty Co.—Bob Manchester’s “Night Owls"—May Howard’s Co. (managed by Harry Morris, her husband and Tom Miaco)—the “City Club,” organized by
2244-591: The public with quality acts and theaters with a steady stream of product, burlesque producers and theater managers in 1897 incorporated the Traveling Variety Managers of America (TVMA). The concept, credited to Gus Hill , was to mount approved burlesque shows that would progress from one theater to another in succession, as though around a "wheel". Burlesque performers would be guaranteed months of work, and theaters would not have to create or compete for shows. The TVMA soon split into two wheels,
2295-419: The same managers—Sam T. Jack’s “Creole Burlesquers,” an all-negro show—Fay Foster Co., organized by Joe Oppenheimer—Rose Hill English Folly Co., managed by George W. Rice and Charles Barton—Weber and Fields’ Vaudeville Club—John S. Grieves’ Burlesquers—Boom’s “Model Burlesquers,”—“Parisian Folly”—and John H. Smiths’ “Henry Burlesquers,” in which McIntyre and Heath appeared.’ Burlesque in the first two decades of
2346-468: The summer of 1869 a wave of ‘anti-burlesque hysteria’ in the New York press frightened away the middle-class audiences ... and sent the Thompson troupe prematurely packing for a national tour”. After this untimely closure, backlash against burlesque continued to grow. Thompson's shows were described as a “disgraceful spectacle of padded legs jiggling and wriggling in the insensate follies and indecencies of
2397-570: The two wheels competed directly. In 1913 the two wheels were consolidated into the Columbia Wheel, and Scribner and Herk put on fairly clean shows. Another independent wheel, the Progressive, filled the void left by the Empire Wheel. In 1914 Columbia launched its "No.2" circuit to compete with the cheaper shows offered by the Progressive Wheel and local stock burlesque companies. The following year, Columbia's No.2 circuit absorbed
2448-525: The upper classes and lower classes of society, much of the humor and entertainment of later American burlesque focused on lowbrow and ribald subjects. In 1937, Epes W. Sargent wrote in Variety that, "Burlesque is elastic; more so, perhaps, than any other form in theatrical entertainment", meaning that burlesque performers didn't need to perform in a certain way. The performers could structure their show how they wanted. Charlie Chaplin (who starred in
2499-644: The viewer: the girls wore revealing costumes, but there was never any nudity. In the late 1950s, however, provocative films emerged, sometimes using a " nudist colony " format, and the relatively tame burlesque-show film died out. A Broadway musical called Burlesque opened September 1, 1927 and ran until July 14, 1928. Top Banana , a musical with music and lyrics by Johnny Mercer and book by Hy Kraft and starring Phil Silvers premiered on Broadway in 1951. The original Broadway production of " Gypsy " opened on May 21, 1959 and closed on March 25, 1961 after 702 performances. In 1962, famed strip teaser Ann Corio put together
2550-550: Was Hollywood Revels (1946), directed by future TV executive Duke Goldstone, where a standard burlesque show was staged in a theater and photographed from a distance. Producer W. Merle Connell improved on Goldstone's template by staging the action in a movie studio, where he could control the camerawork, lighting, and sound, including close-ups and other studio photographic and editorial techniques. Connell began his burlesque series in 1947, doing business as Quality Pictures. At first Connell produced 10- and 20-minute short subjects for
2601-405: Was designed by William H. McElfatrick and had a capacity of 1,385. The theater was The opening of the theatre was well publicized and was attended by various dignitaries. Under Scribner's leadership, Columbia put on respectable shows. Meanwhile, the Empire Wheel, headed by Isidore Herk , pushed the legal limits. Columbia responded by sometimes lowering its standards, especially in cities where
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