Wonderland Burlesque's Let's All Go To The Movies Burlesque Style - Part 4 of 10

Wonderland Burlesque's

Let's All Go To The Movies

Burlesque Style - Part 4 of 10

In recent years, there has been a huge upsurge of interest in burlesque, creating a whole new generation of performers which have added sparkling new dashes of diversity and imagination to the brew.

This is the fourth post of a ten-part series where Hollywood shows us how it burlesques! 

Keeping 1987 as our cut-off point, we'll take a look at a few of the artifacts capturing the classic era of this art form. Along the way, we'll also stumble on some delicious dish - as in some first rate dirt!

So, tits up, ladies. Get your feather fans and tasseled pasties out. Let's all go to the movies and take another trip down mammary lane.  

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King Of Burlesque

(1936)

(A former burlesque producer transitions to legitimate theatre, initially finding success. But then he makes the mistake of marrying a socialite and his fortunes quickly reverse.  Their rocky relationship leads to divorce, after which one of his former headliners, a singer, swoops in from London to pick up the pieces.)

(This musical was directed by Sidney Lanfield and stars Warner Baxter, Alice Faye and Jack Oakie. Choreographer Sammy Lee received an Academy Award nomination for the now defunct category of Best Dance Direction at the 8th Academy Awards. The film is best known for Fats Waller's rendition of I've Got My Fingers Crossed.)

(Future Oscar, Golden Globe and Emmy winner, Jane Wyman appears as a dancer in this film, along with other notables like Lynne Bari, who became a familiar face in a number of film noirs, and Marjorie Weaver, who is best remember for her work as Mary Todd Lincoln in 1939's Young Mr. Lincoln opposite Henry Fonda.) 

(Remade in 1943 as Hello, Frisco, Hello - starring Warner Baxter, Alice Faye and Jack Oakie - again!)

Alice Faye

(Alice Faye was the premiere musical star of the 20th Century-Fox lot in the 1930's and 40's. She starred in such films as 1937's On the Avenue and 1938's Alexander's Ragtime Band. She's also often associated with the Academy Award–winning standard You'll Never Know, which she introduced in the 1943 musical film Hello, Frisco, Hello. However, due to 20th Century-Fox's odd policy of not allowing screen talent to release songs they sing in a motion picture commercially, the song rose up to the charts thanks to the likes of Rosemary Clooney.) 

(Faye had a great run. She frequently portrayed a performer who was climbing up the social ladder resulting in situations both comical and moving.)

(During the war years, Faye's focus switched from career to family. After the birth of her second child, she signed a contract with Fox where she would make only one picture a year, with the option of a second, at her discretion.)

(Faye accepted the lead role in 1945's Fallen Angel. However, producer Darryl Zanuck wanted more attention for his latest protégé, Linda Darnell - so he hijacked the film. Zanuck ordered many of Faye's scenes cut, replaced with one's featuring Darnell. When Faye saw the final cut of the film, with her role reduced by 12 scenes and an entire musical number left on the cutting room floor - she wrote a scathing letter to Zanuck, went straight to her car, gave her dressing room keys to the studio gate guard, and drove home, vowing never to return to Fox ever again.)

(In 1987, she told an interviewer, "When I stopped making pictures, it didn't bother me because there were so many things I hadn't done. I had never learned to run a house. I didn't know how to cook. I didn't know how to shop. So all these things filled all those gaps.")

(Leaving Hollywood and the big screen behind, she continued to delight her many fans  thanks to her role on radio's The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show. Her co-star was a comic featured on The Jack Benny Show and... Faye's second husband, the father of her children.)

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Burlesque In Harlem

1949)

AKA: Rock & Roll Burlesque

(A burlesque act in Harlem, complete with singers, baggy-pants comics and erotic/exotic dancers.)

(This revue was directed by William D. Alexander and features a cast of singers, dancers and comedians who were prominent on the 'Chitlin' Circuit' of vaudeville theaters and nightclubs which exclusively showcased African American talent.)

(Hosted by Dick Barrow, who sings Juice Head Baby, with the main attraction being comedian Dewey 'Pigmeat' Markham, who performs a sketch called The Love Making Bureau. Other performers include dancer Gertrude 'Baby' Banks, singers Jo Jo Adams and Hucklebuck Jones, striptease contortionist Tarza Young, and the tap dance duo Slip and Slide.) 

Dewey 'Pigmeat' Markham

(Dewey 'Pigmeat' Markham was best known as a comedian, although he was also a singer, dancer, and actor. His nickname came from a stage routine, in which he declared himself to be "Sweet Poppa Pigmeat". He appeared in films and on television, but is best remembered for his hit single, Here Come The Judge, which peaked at #19 on Billboard's Hot 100 in 1968.)

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Peep Shows Of Paris

(1949)

AKA: The French Peep Show

(A young and buxom exotic dancer dreams of earning enough money to ensure her future, while taking care of her precious assets - her breasts.)

(This is a re-issue/rebranding of the burlesque feature directed by the infamous Russ Meyer and stars Tempest Storm, Peter A. DeCenzi, and Lilly LaMont. It was originally marketed as The French Peep Shows.)

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Love Moods

(1952)

(Reclining on her chaise lounge in a see-through robe, Lili St. Cyr decides she needs a bath. In a gilded tub, she bares all the law will allow. Afterwards, squeezing into an exquisite evening gown and mink coat, she goes off to paint the town red!)

 

Directed by Lilian Hunt, this is Lili St. Cyr's very first movie. Just as presented on the world famous Sunset Strip in Hollywood, burlesque performer and pin-up legend St. Cyr was the most famous striptease artiste of her day, living up to her scandalous image with a well-publicized private life which included no less than six stormy marriages and numerous rumored celebrity affairs.

Lili St. Cyr

(St. Cyr was born Willis Marie Van Schaack in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In the 1940's and 50's, St. Cyr, Gypsy Rose Lee and Ann Corio were the biggest names in the world of striptease. St. Cyr's reputation in the burlesque and stripping community was that of a high-quality and first-class performer. One of her signature moves, The Flying G, came at the end of her act when a stagehand pulled a fishing line attached to her G-string, which then flew all the way to the balcony as the lights dimmed. Such creative shows became St. Cyr's trademark, who was known not only for her bathtub number, but elaborate sets featuring vanities, mirrors, and hat racks. At various points in her fabled career she performed as Cinderella, a matador, Salome, a bride, a suicide, Cleopatra and 'Dorina' Grey!)

 (St. Cyr retired from the stage in the 1970's and started a lingerie business which she remained involved with until her death. Similar to Frederick's of Hollywood, the Undie World of Lili St. Cyr offered costuming for strippers, as well as fashion to add excitement to the bedroom activities of ordinary women and celebrities alike. For instance, in 1981, actress Cassandra Peterson's 'Elvira' achieved her trademark cleavage wearing a Lili St. Cyr deep plunge bra.)

(In 1989, one of St. Cyr's husbands, Ted Jordan, wrote a biography of Marilyn Monroe entitled Norma Jean: My Secret Life with Marilyn Monroe, in which he claimed St. Cyr and Monroe had an affair. The claim is both widely disparaged by Monroe's biographers and widely upheld by St. Cyr's! Liza Dawson, editor for William Morrow, the publisher of the Jordan book, said in an interview with Newsday in 1989 that "Marilyn very much patterned herself on Lili St. Cyr; her way of dressing, of talking, her whole persona. Norma Jean was a mousy, brown-haired girl with a high squeaky voice, and it was from Lili St. Cyr that she learned how to become a sex goddess.")

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The Lullaby Of Bareland

(1964)

(A husband and wife, seeking to reinvigorate their relationship, enjoy a weekend apart. He spends his time enjoying the gyrations of an exotic dancer, while she goes to a nudist camp and partakes in the various activities.)

 
Anne Howe

(This burlesque compilation consists of three separate segments, directed by Manuel Conde  and Frank Malagon and stars Virginia Bell, Anne Howe, Dolores Carlos and Charles Aldrich.)

Virginia Bell

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And that's all for now.

Tune in next week.

Same time, same channel.

I've Got My Fingers Crossed - Fats Weller

from the motion picture King Of Burlesque

You'll Never Know - Alice Faye

from the motion picture Hello, Frisco, Hello

Here Comes The Judge - Dewey 'Pigmeat' Markham

on The Tonight Show