Misplaced Pages

#242757

35-515: Formerly known as Exotic World , the museum began as the personal collection of striptease artist and founding member of The Exotic Dancers' League of America Jennie Lee . After her death in 1990, her friend and fellow entertainer, Dixie Evans , created the museum in Helendale, California , and launched the "Miss Exotic World" Competition in 1990. In 2006, The Burlesque Hall of Fame relocated from Helendale to Las Vegas, NV, to establish itself as

70-455: A press release claiming that "Lili St. Cyr, Tempest Storm, Blaze Starr and 30 other alumni of burlesque will all be invited to attend this reunion." While technically true, none of those invitees attended that year. However, the release garnered press attention for the pageant, which was successful enough to become an annual event. Each contest features burlesque performances by both stars from burlesque's golden age and younger women involved in

105-677: A black velvet shoulder cape worn by Gypsy Rose Lee , a heart-shaped couch owned by Jayne Mansfield and the cremation ashes of Miss Sheri Champagne. The history of the Burlesque Hall of Fame is the featured subject of the 2010 documentary Exotic World & the Burlesque Revival . Dixie Evans appears in Leslie Zemeckis' documentary Behind the Burly Q . Exotic World hosts the annual Miss Exotic World pageant on

140-406: A fan dance performance and while riding a white horse down the streets of Chicago, where the nudity was only an illusion, and again after being bodypainted by Max Factor Sr. with his new makeup formulated for Hollywood films . She was convicted of willfully performing an obscene and indecent dance in a public place on September 23, 1933 but was allowed to continue performing at World's Fair, and

175-460: A night of the trial while performing her act, despite her immunity and the fact that she was wearing long underwear and a note that read "CENSORED. S.F.P.D. " that time. In an unusual move, the judge viewed her performance at the Savoy and cleared her of all charges after deeming that "anyone who could find something lewd about the dance as she puts it on has to have a perverted idea of morals". In

210-852: A permanent tourist attraction and exhibition space for its collection. After nearly a decade in the Emergency Arts building in the heart of a revitalized Downtown Las Vegas , the museum moved to Las Vegas' Arts district in 2018. This Miss Exotic World competition is in its 29th year (as of 2019), and has grown to become The Burlesque Hall of Fame Weekender, a four-day convention held annually in Las Vegas that includes class, vending, museum tours, pin-up safaris, and four nights of showcases: Movers, Shakers, and Innovators; The Titans of Tease Reunion (now in its 68th year); The Miss Exotic World Competition; and Icons and All-Stars. Retired dancer Jennie Lee started collecting burlesque memorabilia when she owned

245-943: A significant contribution to burlesque history. BHOF also presents a "Sassy Lassy" award to a person who has contributed significantly to the promotion and preservation of the art of burlesque. Living Legend of the Year recipients include: Sassy Lassy recipients include: The Exotic World museum collection includes costumes , props , posters , photographs , publicity stills, newspaper clippings, and playbills related to famous burlesque performers including Dita Von Teese , Blaze Starr , Lili St. Cyr , Chesty Morgan , Candy Barr and Tempest Storm . The museum includes costume elements and props such as feather boas , fans , gloves , garter belts , gowns , shoes , pasties , g-strings , and jewelry . Many of these items are specially made for use in striptease routines. Unique individual items include ivory fans used by Sally Rand , gloves and

280-675: A temporary space in The Las Vegas Emergency Arts building. The Hall of Fame relocated to a permanent premises in S Main Street, Las Vegas in April 2018. The Burlesque Hall of Fame does not have a formal induction process. The museum is dedicated to celebrating and honoring the entire history of burlesque. A "Living Legend of the Year" award is presented annually during the BHOF Weekender to a performer who has made

315-633: A then-unknown Humphrey Bogart . During the 1920s, she acted on stage and appeared in silent films. Cecil B. DeMille gave her the name Sally Rand , inspired by a Rand McNally atlas. She was selected as one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars in 1927. After the introduction of sound films, she became a dancer, known for the fan dance, which she popularized starting at the Paramount Club, at 15 E. Huron, in Chicago. Her most famous appearance

350-582: A variety of magazines. As the years went by, the EDL became more of a social organization for retired dancers and collectible items associated in their acts. Lee gathered press pictures, gowns, pasties, and G-strings of burlesque dancers for the organization and displayed them at businesses she ran, including her nightclub/bar The Sassy Lassy. The collection would become part of the Exotic World museum (Burlesque Hall of Fame) in Helendale , California , which

385-693: The Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco in 1939 and 1940. To advertise for her upcoming Treasure Island Nude Ranch, she organized a stunt on February 17, 1939, wherein lingerie clad women on horses rode down Market Street in downtown San Francisco. Rand took an interest in flying due in part to her brief relationship with Charles Lindbergh . By 1923, Rand had learned to fly, and she would later receive her pilot's license. Rand often flew herself to her performances. On August 1, 1939, she reportedly broke

SECTION 10

#1732793337243

420-733: The New Burlesque scene. Miss Exotic World, Reigning Queen of Burlesque 2019 First runner Up Second Runner up RedBone Lou Lou la Duchesse De Riere Best Boylesque: Joshua Dean Best Debut: Dahlia Fatale Most Classic: Holly's Good Most Comical: Faye Havoc & Donna Boss Rogers Most Innovative: Lou Lou la Duchesse De Riere Most Dazzling Dancer: Frankie Fictitious Best Small Group: Kitten ‘N’ Lou Best Large Group: Mod Carousel Jennie Lee (dancer) Jennie Lee (born Virginia Lee Hicks , October 23, 1928 – March 24, 1990)

455-555: The Chicago History Museum. Rand once replaced Ann Corio in the stage show This Was Burlesque , appeared at the Mitchell Brothers club in San Francisco in the early 1970s and toured as one of the stars of the 1972 nostalgia revue Big Show of 1928 , which played major concert venues, including New York's Madison Square Garden . Describing her 40-year career, Rand said, "I haven’t been out of work since

490-640: The Sassy Lassy nightclub in San Pedro, California . After Lee was diagnosed with breast cancer , she and her husband moved to an abandoned goat farm in Helendale, California, located in the Mojave Desert about one third of the way between Los Angeles , California and Las Vegas , Nevada . Lee intended to create a burlesque museum, found a burlesque school and run a bed and breakfast , and

525-487: The afternoon performances." The tour was across Oklahoma and Texas, then west toward Washington before returning east. She refused to divulge her age to reporters at the time, but was known to be approaching 50. Rand was the mystery guest on the December 28, 1952, episode of What's My Line? . Her identity was correctly solved by panelist Robert Q. Lewis . She appeared on television on March 12, 1957, in episode 13 of

560-626: The audience. By the early fifties she broke into acting with minor roles in Peek-A-Boo (1953), Abandon (1958), Cold Wind in August (1961), and 3 Nuts in Search of a Bolt (1964) with Mamie Van Doren . Despite her ambitions of mainstream stardom, she found herself typecast in side roles, and never got her acting career off the ground. In 1955, she helped start a union for dancers, The Exotic Dancers' League of North America (or EDL), acting as

595-489: The club's first president. During this time in Los Angeles , dancers' pay rates were very low and the EDL helped fight to improve them and push for improved working conditions. Lee's own salary was also very low, forcing her to live in run-down studio apartments . The dancer tried to keep this from her friends, claiming in a 1980s interview: "They would've thought I was a hooker for sure." During her career Lee appeared on

630-643: The conviction was overturned in November of 1934. She also conceived the bubble dance, in part to cope with wind while performing outdoors. She performed the fan dance on film in Bolero , released in 1934. She performed the bubble dance in the film Sunset Murder Case (1938). In 1936, she purchased The Music Box burlesque hall in San Francisco, which later became the Great American Music Hall . She starred in "Sally Rand's Nude Ranch" at

665-492: The cover of the magazines Stare in 1954; Risk in 1957; and Frolic in 1958, among others. She wrote an article on herself for a 1955 spread in Modern Man . Besides her life as a stripper, Lee was a pin-up girl throughout her career. Like most of her contemporaries, she didn't pose nude , though in later years she did. She also wrote a monthly column on the burlesque and nightclub scene for several years that appeared in

700-561: The day I took my pants off." Rand died on August 31, 1979, at Foothill Presbyterian Hospital, in Glendora, California , aged 75, from congestive heart failure. She was deeply in debt at her death. Rand's adopted son told an interviewer that Sammy Davis Jr. stepped in and wrote a $ 10,000 check, which took care of Rand's expenses. Football coaches at the University of Delaware named a football play after Sally Rand. One explanation

735-414: The dirt buildup in the creases around her neck.” She was arrested twice in San Francisco in 1946; while performing at Club Savoy , she was arrested by six police officers in the audience as she danced, seemingly nude, in silhouette behind a large white fan; the judge, Daniel R. Shoemaker, granted her immunity should she be arrested for the same offense while on trial; however she was arrested during

SECTION 20

#1732793337243

770-465: The early 1950s, she was traveling with a 17-member troupe around the Midwest, appearing at state fairs and small theaters. Edith Dahl accompanied Rand's famous fan dance, the finale of the show, on the violin and "cracked a few jokes". According to local newspaper accounts, Rand's large white feathered fans acted as "a guard to keep too much of mother nature from showing." "Smutty jokes" were at minimum in

805-513: The entire farm. In late 2005, the museum was temporarily closed for inventory and renovations in the wake of Arroyo's unexpected death and significant weather damage to the museum facilities. Although the museum was not open at the time of the annual Miss Exotic World Pageant in 2006, the pageant was nevertheless held at an alternate venue, the Celebrity Theater in Las Vegas. In 2006, the Burlesque Hall of Fame relocated from Helendale to

840-623: The first Saturday of every June. Each year a Neo-burlesque performer is crowned Miss Exotic World in a contest often referred to as the Miss America of burlesque. Winners receive both the title and a trophy. Evolving from annual celebrations for the Exotic Dancers League union, Dixie Evans initiated the Miss Exotic World pageant in 1990 as a way to draw people to the museum. She garnered attention by sending out

875-512: The first season of To Tell the Truth with host Bud Collyer and panelists Polly Bergen , Ralph Bellamy , Kitty Carlisle , and Carl Reiner . She did not "stump the panel", but was correctly identified by all four panelists (she was introduced as Helen Beck, her birth name). She continued to appear on stage doing her fan dance into the 1970s. While performing at Mangam’s Chateau in suburban Chicago in 1966, she donated two of her feather fans to

910-444: The goat farm site had enough room to contain her growing collection. Only the museum got started within her lifetime. After Lee died in 1990, Dixie Evans took over the farm and turned it into The Exotic World Burlesque Museum , aided by Lee's widower, Charlie Arroyo. Lee's memorabilia formed the core of the collection, but people from around the world soon started to donate items to Exotic World. The collection grew large enough to fill

945-470: The name Billie Beck . Rand got her start as a chorus girl before working as an acrobat and traveling theater performer. Her career spanned more than forty years, appearing on stage, screen and in television. Through her career she worked alongside Humphrey Bogart , Karl Malden , and Cecil B. De Mille . She was a trained pilot and briefly dated Charles Lindbergh . Rand was born in the village of Elkton , Hickory County, Missouri . Her father, William Beck,

980-464: The point that he forgot his own lines during a performance. “Her burlesque days were written all over her, especially in her hygiene habits,” wrote Malden in his memoirs. “One could assume she rarely bathed, and the college kids who cleaned the rooms at the playhouse confirmed that the tub was never used. Instead, she just kept dousing herself with perfume and shoveling on the makeup, layer upon layer, until it began to cake and separate so that you could see

1015-557: The speed record for a light plane flight she made from San Francisco to Reno, completing the trip in 1 hour and 54 minutes. In the early 1940s, Rand did summer stock in Woodstock, New York . She signed on to star in Rain and Little Foxes whose cast also included Karl Malden . He remembered being stressed that she was unprepared and seemed to care more about her costumes than learning her lines, costumes which he admitted were dazzling to

1050-717: Was Goodman Ace , a drama critic for the Kansas City Journal , who saw her performing in a Kansas City nightclub and wrote glowing reviews. After studying ballet and drama in Kansas City, the teenaged Helen decided her future lay in Hollywood . For a short time, as she worked her way to the west coast, she was employed as an acrobat in the Ringling Brothers Circus . She also performed in summer stock and traveling theater, including working with

1085-400: Was a West Point graduate and retired U.S. Army colonel, while her mother, Nettie (Grove) Beck, was a school teacher and part-time newspaper correspondent. The family moved to Jackson County, Missouri while she was still in grade school. Helen started on the stage quite early, working as a chorus girl at Kansas City 's Empress Theater when she was only 13. An early supporter of her talent

Burlesque Hall of Fame - Misplaced Pages Continue

1120-877: Was an American stripper , burlesque entertainer , pin-up model , union activist, and a minor role movie actress , who performed several striptease acts in nightclubs during the 1950s and 1960s. She was also known as "the Bazoom Girl", "the Burlesque Version of Jayne Mansfield", and "Miss 44 and Plenty More". She was born with the name Virginia Lee Hicks on October 23, 1928 in Kansas City , Missouri . Due to her figure (42D"–26"–37), she became known as "The Bazoom Girl," "The Burlesque Version of Jayne Mansfield ," and eventually, "Miss 44 and Plenty More". Lee's act centered on how fast she could get her pastie propellers to spin and how dizzy she could make

1155-477: Was at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair , known as the Century of Progress , accompanied by her backing orchestra, directed by Art Frasik. She would play peek-a-boo with her body by manipulating her fans in the front and behind her, like a winged bird as she swooped and twirled on the stage, usually to "Clair de Lune" . She was arrested four times in a single day during the fair due to perceived indecent exposure after

1190-505: Was founded in 1961 by Lee. By the late 1960s, an aging Lee lost interest in her own burlesque career but was still interested in supporting the next generation of Exotic Dancers and memorializing her generation of burlesque performers. Lee died in 1991 at the age of 61 from cancer. With her death, fellow burlesque dancer, Dixie Evans , took over the Exotic World museum and helped keep burlesque and Lee's legacy alive. In 1958, she

1225-566: Was immortalized in the Jennie Lee song, recorded by Jan & Arnie. The song was credited to Jan & Arnie because Dean Torrence was in the army at the time of the recording so their friend Arnie Ginsburg recorded the song with Jan Berry . Sally Rand Sally Rand (born Helen Gould Beck ; April 3, 1904 – August 31, 1979) was an American burlesque dancer , vedette , and actress, famous for her ostrich-feather fan dance and balloon bubble dance . She also performed under

#242757