Wonderland Burlesque's Let's All Go To The Movies: Burlesque Style - Part 8 of 10

Wonderland Burlesque's

Let's All Go To The Movies

Burlesque Style - Part 8 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 eighth 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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Too Hot To Handle

(1950)

"Big musical show. Sensationally different."

"Rich, rare, race, sparkling comedy."

"More gorgeous glamorous girls than you can shake a stick at."

"Don't miss it."

(Filmed at the Follies Theatre at 337 S. Main Street, Los Angeles, CA, this actual burlesque show features 'gorgeous glamorous girls' and bawdy comics.)

"A smart show for sophisticated people."

"Girls who will dazzle you! Girls who will excite you! Girls who will make you squirm!)

"Delectable undraped loveliness."

(This revue was directed by Lilian Hunt and stars Jean Carter, Dixie Evans, Patti Waggin and Leon DeVoe.)

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Dixie Evans

(Dixie Evans was known on the circuit as The Marilyn Monroe of Burlesque, The Sensation of the Nation, and Hotter than the Hydrogen Bomb.)

Dixie Evans

(Harold Minsky deemed her the 'Marilyn Monroe of Burlesque' and her star started to shine brightly as she created a striptease act around the moniker. As Monroe's fame grew, so did Evans' due to her uncanny resemblance to the Hollywood legend. When Monroe died so did Dixie's burlesque dance career as a headliner. On top of that, burlesque was changing, becoming more explicit - so she retired and moved to the desert to  help fellow performer and activist Jennie Lee, who was ill. Lee ran the Exotic World Burlesque Museum and Striptease Hall of Fame. When Lee passed, Dixie took the reigns of the museum and kept it running, eventually expanding it (it's now in Vegas). Dixie still makes burlesque appearances at some burlesque extravaganzas and holds one or two of her own striptease shows for the museum. You can catch Dixie on her Facebook page here.)

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French Follies

(1951)

"Tantalizing, teasing, terrific girls. Famous comedians."

"Big time burlesque... as you like it!"

(A live revue featuring tantalizing girls and risqué comics.)

"World's grandest girls!"

"40 performers, 10 acts."

"Plus complete new screen show."

(Seems the director of this one is unknown. It stars Val de Val, Jeanne Carroll, Pat Flannery, Devvy Davenport, Mary Andes, and Doreen Grey.)

"A front row seat at the Follies Bergere... teasing... tantalizing... torrid torsos!!"

Val de Val

(Hailing from Chicago, Val de Val was known on the circuit as The H-Bomb of Burlesque!, Miss Temptation, Queen of Temptations, and The Liberator.)

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Bagdad After Midnite

(1954)

"Hot as the Sahara sun... wild as a cyclone!"

"Luring, tempting saucy damsels!"

"An intimate peek into a harem!"

(This burlesque revue features an Arabian Nights-inspired theme.)

(Directed by Phil Tucker, this revue stars Wally Blair, Mae Blondell, Hanna Landee, Dimples Morgan, and Mitzi Doenee.)

Mae Blondell

(Mae Blondell was known on the circuit as The Statuesque Blonde and The Blonde Temptress.)

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Son Of Sinbad

(1955)

"The women... the wickedness... the world of Sinbad!

(The legendary pirate and adventurer is single-mindedly in pursuit of two things: beautiful women and a secret weapon called 'Greek Fire' - composed of pitch or bitumen, sulfur, and other ingredients, it's an early version of gunpowder. The formula, lost during the downfall of the Roman empire, haunts his dreams as lusty ladies delight his senses!)

"The wicked and the bold share a thousand delights!"

(This action/adventure film was directed by Ted Tetzlaff. Dale Robertson stars with Sally Forrest, Vincent Price, Lili St. Cyr and over 127 beautiful women.)

"He's ten times the man his old man ever was."

"An adventure that makes you wish you were in his turban."

( Due to difficulties with the Motion Picture Production Code, studio head/producer Howard Hughes shelved the film until 1955. Originally shot in 3-D,  by the time it was released in 1955, 3-D was out and wide screen was in. To accommodate the trend and convert the film to SuperScope, the top and bottom of the frames had to be cropped off.)

"Lover... rover... warrior, bold!"

 (Production Code Authority director Joseph Breen deemed the film 'unacceptable' due to 'indecent dance movements and too scanty costuming.' To please the board, a featured dance in the opening credits was removed while other dance scenes were severely edited. The dances which remain are surprisingly lengthy and remarkably suggestive - even by modern standards.)

 (Sally Forrest took over the female lead when Piper Laurie became ill. Lili St. Cyr's erotic dances were a lightening rod for censors. Her voice was dubbed over at the request of Howard Hughes. A bit of a double-standard, considering Dale Robertson was supposed to be an Arabian sailor and his Oklahoma accent remained noticeable throughout.)

(Many of the harem girls, tartar girls, slave girls, trumpeters, and raiders were selected through a series of pageants and contests which Howard Hughes either attended or hosted. One such pageant was sponsored by the magazine Modern Screen. A few of the girls were cast because they were finalists in the Queen of the Los Angeles Home Show pageant of 1952, while Gee Sparks and Nancy Dunn were cast in walk-on roles because their fathers, Robert Sparks and Linwood Dunn, were the film's producers. Slave girl Leonteen Danies was cast after being spotted at a dance academy.)

(The slave girls and other female extras complained that each day they arrived on the set, the bra portion of their costume became smaller and smaller. This was due to studio-owner Howard Hughes and his obsession with female breasts.)

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Dreamland Capers

(1958)

(Structured as a vaudeville show, with the sounds of a band and a live audience, besides the usual exotic dance numbers, there's comedians, risqué songs, a number featuring bottles, washboards and pans, rope tricks and a scantily-clad contortionist.) 

 

(Filmed at a theater in Los Angeles, this revue was photographed by W. Merle Connell and stars Edward Innes, John Maloney, Jean Carter, Ray Vaughn, Dot Hackley, Jacqueline Hurley, Valetta Hurley, Lady Midnight, Venus, Satalyte and headliner Justa Dream.)

Miss Justa Dream

Justa Dream was known on the circuit as The Girl from Out of this World!.

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And that's all for now.

Tune in next week.

Same time, same channel.

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Welcome To Burlesque - Cher

from the motion picture Burlesque