Classic Burlesque

The history of burlesque

The word was first widely used as a literary term in Italy and France during the 1600s. Here it referred to a 'grotesque imitation of the dignified or the pathetic'.

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By the 1700s the term burlesque was being used across Europe for musical theatrical performances that juxtaposed comedy with serious elements and/or parody of classical theatre. These became more and more bold and saucy and became more and more popular, especially in the UK (it appealed to our innate British love of all things naughty!) It was mainly a middle class phenomenon as the jokes relied on the audience being farmiliar with opera and other artistic and theatrical works. One of it's most risqué elements, aside from it's love of double entendre, was the tradition of casting females in the lead male roles and males in certain female roles, a tradition that continues in British pantomime to this day.

Inevitably with time the style was being seen in the music halls too, with sketches pitched for the working classes using political and social satire. This style of burlesque is still popular to this day and so to avoid confusion with neo burlesque it is called 'musical burlesque' or 'classical British burlesque'.

It is generally accepted that burlesque first made it to America in the 1800s with " Lydia Thomson and her British Blondes". Lydia Thomson, who is reputed to have been the world's first peroxide blonde, was invited to perform in the states in 1869 by the legend P T Barnum. Their act involved spoofing the classics like Greek mythology (as seen in the film 'Carry on Dick') Their costumes were revealing, their poses provocative and needless to say it was shocking for its time. But it was not until the 20th century that the word became connected to the variety shows incorperating striptease that we would recognize as American classic burlesque now.

The striptease originates, as an art form, in Paris around the 1890s and became part of some burlesque shows across Europe, but it is only in American culture that striptease is so solidly linked to the word Burlesque. This may be because while interest in the genre was falling in Europe, it increased in America, but once film then TV began to compete with live entertainment the stiptease took center stage as something the audience could not get from other mediums.

The genre was considered 'low' by all other stage performers of the time who would have nothing to do with it and made effort to distance themselfs from it in the public eye.
On Broadway from 1907 to 1931 Florenz Ziegfeld showcased his "American Girls" in his shows, which featured slender showgirls in flamboyant costumes and huge head-dresses,designed by the likes of Erté. All very glamourous and inspired by the Folies Bergères of Paris .
On the other side was the often raided Minsky Brother's shows which featured much curvier girls and was aimed at a ... low-brow audience shall we say... The raids at Minskys were immortalized in the 1968 movie "The night they raided minskys". Though the specifics of the plot are fantasy (like Madame Fifi was not actually Amish, though she was from Pensilvania, and the exposure of her breasts was no 'innocent accident') it is true that the Minsky Brothers encouraged their dancers to push the boundaries of what was legal to keep the audiences interested.
Did you know that by the mid 1920's it was actually legal for a woman to appear topless on stage as long as she did not move? it was called a 'Living Tableau', but one movement and you have a raid on your hands.

By this time the genre had a structure and set of rules to define itself, they included: revealing costumes,dance, sexually suggestive scripts, humor and plot lines but lacking in complexity and all presented in short routines.

Minsky's Burlesque Peter Stackpole Buy From Art.com

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In 1956 Harold Minsky took a classic burlesque show to Las Vegas, where it was thriving in the lounge and showgirl culture of the casinos.

Most of the mainstream stars who emerged from the scene at this difficult time were comediens or variety performers who's act could easily cross over into more family friendly entertainment like radio and later TV. But few strip tease artists made it big, the most famous were Sally Rand with her legendary fan dance and Gypsy Rose Lee with her perfect strip tease routien in the 1930s and from the 1940s to 50s there was Tempest Storm the red hot read head with the gravity defying assets, Lilli St Cyr the tall blonde goddess with the million dollar legs and more including Blaze Star and Sherry Britton.

when looking at film and images of these great women, these classic burlesque stars performing, where they look so strong and hold such power and inspire such awe Its easy to forget that they were living in a time where women were supposed to stay at home and behave themselfs. These are women who had failed to be what society expected of them. They were unfairly judged, ostracized and lived often very hard lives...but on that stage they were above it all.

The modern strip club as we know it came into being in the 1960s and 1970s (the decades that killed style) This was due to changes in laws and social perspectives, but its effect was to push classic burlesque into the sidelines where it became a novelty act, kept alive by the likes of the sainted Sherry Britton. It was not until the 1990s that a new generation of fans, looking for the glamour and spectacle they saw in the past became determined to bring burlesque back. This is when Neo Burlesque raised it's false eyelashes to the world. These performers had a new audience in mind though...those looking for an alternative venue to the strip bars and a different mindset on the display of the female form .

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