American burlesque

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American Burlesque is a genre of variety show. Derived from elements of Victorian burlesque, music hall and minstrel shows, burlesque shows in America became popular in the 1860s and evolved to feature ribald comedy (lewd jokes) and female striptease. By the early 20th century, burlesque in America was presented as a populist blend of satire, performance art, music hall and adult entertainment, featuring striptease and broad comedy acts.

The entertainment was presented often in cabarets and clubs, as well as music halls and theatres. Performers, usually female, often created elaborate tableaux with lush, colorful costumes, mood-appropriate music, and dramatic lighting; novelty acts, such as fire breathing or contortionists, might be added to enhance the impact of their performance. The genre traditionally encompassed a variety of acts: in addition to the striptease artistes, there was some combination of chanson singers, comedians, mime artists, and dancing girls, all delivered in a satiric style with a saucy edge. The striptease element of burlesque became subject to extensive local legislation, leading to a theatrical form that titillated without falling foul of censors.

Burlesque gradually lost popularity beginning in the 1940s. A number of producers sought to capitalize on nostalgia for the entertainment by attempting to recreate the spirit of burlesque in Hollywood films from the 1930s to the 1960s. There has been a resurgence of interest in this format since the 1990s, and it inspired a 2010 musical film, Burlesque, starring Christina Aguilara and Cher.

 Burlesque gradually lost popularity beginning in the 1940s.  A number of producers sought to capitalize on nostalgia for the entertainment by attempting to recreate the spirit of burlesque in Hollywood films from the 1930s to the 1960s.  There has been a resurgence of interest in this format since the 1990s, and it inspired a 2010 musical film, ''[[Burlesque (film)|Burlesque]]'', starring [[Christina Aguilara#2010–present: Bionic, Burlesque and The Voice|Christina Aguilara]] and [[Cher#2010s: Film comeback, twenty-sixth studio album|Cher]].
-==Literary and theatrical origins==
-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 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 the 1830s and the 1890s.  It took the form of [[parody music|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 [[pastiche|pastiching]] text or music from the original work.  The comedy often stemmed from the incongruity and absurdity of 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 [[pun]]s. 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 is told, "These showers of 'Hail' anticipate your 'reign'". A staple of theatrical burlesque was the display of attractive women in [[Breeches role|travesty roles]], dressed in tights to show off their legs, but the plays themselves were seldom more than modestly risqué.
-==Burlesque in America==
-There were three main influences on American burlesque in its early years: Victorian burlesque, "leg shows" and [[minstrel show]]s. British-style burlesques had been successfully presented in New York as early as the 1840s. They  achieved wide popularity with productions by [[Lydia Thompson]] and her troupe, the British Blondes, who first appeared in the United States in 1868. "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 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 [[Olio (musical number)|olios]] in which the women did not appear.  The show's finish was a grand finale.  Sometimes the entertainment was followed by a boxing or wrestling match.
-Originally, burlesque performances included comic sketches [[Parody|lampooning]] the [[upper class]]es and high art, such as opera, [[William Shakespeare|Shakespearean]] drama, and classical [[ballet]]. The genre developed alongside [[vaudeville]] and ran on competing circuits. Possibly due to historical [[Class conflict|social tensions]] between the upper classes and lower classes of society, much of the humor and entertainment of later American burlesque focused on [[low culture|lowbrow]] and [[ribaldry|ribald]] subjects.
-By the 1880s, the four distinguishing characteristics of American burlesque had evolved:
-*Minimal costuming, often focusing on the female form.
-*Sexually suggestive dialogue, dance, plotlines and staging.
-*Quick-witted humor laced with puns, but lacking complexity.
-*Short routines or sketches with minimal plot cohesion across a show.
-The artist and writer [[Jerome Myers]] gave a view of burlesque as observed in the working class neighborhoods of New York in the early years of the 1900s:
-{{quote|I have been impressed by the sincerity of the audience. On the runway extending out over the orchestra, the girls would gesture back and forth. It was not always of beauty; yet never that I can remember did these onlooking men, by word or gesture, annoy or belittle the performers. Pitifully inadequate the girls often were for their parts; yet they were working girls, catering to an audience of men who also worked for a living.
-[A]mong these imitation actresses, I have seen at times real jewels, featured girls who exercised all their youth and talent, working an enchantment within their narrow limits. There was one young girl who did the so-called strip-tease act. Playfully casting away her garments, she disclosed the full glory of her beautiful figure, her movements unsurpassed in a harmony of action.  Had that inspired girl had the benefit of a French or German background of publicity, she would have revealed her art to a top-hat audience. Susceptible artists would have filled their sketch-books, photographers would have vied with one another, books of laudation would have appeared, and a world celebrity would have danced onto the newspaper pages. Yet this audience of ordinary people, in this ordinary burlesque theatre, applauded her in their simple way, and for years kept on applauding her as a featured artist, her name up in electric lights."<ref>Jerome Myers, ''Artist in Manhattan'', New York: American Artists Group 1940.</ref>}}
-[[Charlie Chaplin]] (who starred in the 1915 film ''[[Burlesque on Carmen]]'') noted in 1910: "Chicago&nbsp;... 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 the comedians were funny, most of the shows were smutty harem comedies – coarse and cynical affairs".<ref>Chaplin, Charles. ''[[My Autobiography (Chaplin)|My Autobiography]]'', pp. 125–26, Simon & Schuster in 1964</ref>
-By the early 20th century, there were two national circuits of burlesque shows, as well as resident companies in New York, such as [[Minsky's Burlesque|Minsky's]] at the Winter Garden.<ref name=britannica/>  The uninhibited atmosphere of burlesque establishments owed much to the free flow of alcoholic liquor, and the enforcement of [[Prohibition]] was a serious blow.<ref name=Hartnoll>Hartnoll, Phyllis and Peter Found. [http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t79.e493 "Burlesque, American",]  ''The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre'',  Oxford University Press, 1996. Oxford Reference Online, accessed 16 February 2011 {{subscription}}</ref> The popular burlesque show of this period eventually evolved into the [[striptease]] which became the dominant ingredient of burlesque by the 1930s. At first [[soubrette]]s showed off their figures while singing and dancing; some were less active but compensated by appearing in elaborate stage costumes.<ref name=humez/> Exotic "cooch" dances (similar to [[bellydancing]]) were brought in, ostensibly Syrian in origin.<ref name=britannica/> Strippers gradually supplanted the singing and dancing soubrettes; by 1932 there were at least 150 strip principals in the US.<ref name=humez/>  The transition from traditional burlesque to striptease is depicted in the film ''[[The Night They Raided Minsky's]]'' (1968).<ref name=baker/>
-By the late 1930s, a social crackdown on burlesque shows began their gradual downfall.  The shows had slowly changed from ensemble ribald variety performances, to simple performances focusing mostly on the striptease.<ref name=humez/>  In New York, Mayor [[Fiorello LaGuardia]] clamped down on burlesque, effectively putting it out of business by the early 1940s.<ref name=NYT>Caldwell, Mark. [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/18/nyregion/thecity/18burl.html "The Almost Naked City",] ''[[The New York Times]]'', 18 May 2008, accessed 19 September 2009</ref>  Burlesque lingered on elsewhere in the U.S., increasingly neglected, and by the 1970s, with nudity commonplace in theatres, American burlesque reached "its final shabby demise".<ref>Allen, p. xi</ref>
-==Burlesque shows on film==
-[[File:Mae West in I'm No Angel 3.jpg|thumb|left|200px|[[Mae West]] performing her burlesque dance in the film ''[[I'm No Angel]]'']]
-During its declining years and afterwards, films sought to capture the spirit of American burlesque.  For example, in ''[[I'm No Angel]]'' (1933), [[Mae West]] performed a burlesque act.  The 1943 film ''[[Lady of Burlesque]]'', although a murder-mystery, spends much of its running time depicting the back-stage life of burlesque performers.<ref>"New Films In London", ''The Times'', 2 August 1943, p. 8</ref>
-The first motion-picture adaptation of an actual burlesque show was ''Hollywood Revels'' (1946).  Much of the action was filmed in medium or long shots, because the production was staged in a theater and the camera photographed the stage from a distance.  In 1947, film producer W. Merle Connell reinvented the filmed burlesque show by restaging the action especially for movies, in a studio, where he could control the camerawork, lighting and sound, providing close-ups and other studio photographic and editorial techniques.  His 1951 production ''French Follies'' recreates a classic American burlesque presentation, with stage curtains, singing emcee, dances by showgirls and strippers, comic sketches and a finale featuring the star performer.  The highlight is the famous burlesque routine "Crazy House", popularized earlier by [[Abbott and Costello]].   Another familiar sketch, "[[Slowly I Turned]]" (later famous as a [[The Three Stooges|Three Stooges]] routine), was filmed for Connell's 1953 feature ''A Night in Hollywood''.{{Citation needed|date=February 2011}}
-[[File:MarionMartinandGloriaDicksonLadyofBurlesque.jpg|thumb|[[Marion Martin]] and [[Gloria Dickson]] in the film ''[[Lady of Burlesque]]'']]
-Other producers entered 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),<ref>[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047535/ ''Striporama'']. Internet Movie Database, accessed 17 February 2011</ref> ''Varietease'' (1954) and ''Teaserama'' (1955).  These movies, as their titles imply, were only teasing 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 community|nudist colony]]" format, and the relatively tame burlesque-show movie died out.{{Citation needed|date=February 2011}}
-As early as 1954 burlesque was already considered a bygone form of entertainment; burlesque veteran [[Phil Silvers]] laments the passing of burlesque in the [[musical theatre|musical]] ''[[Top Banana (musical)|Top Banana]]''.  ''The Night They Raided Minsky's'' (1968) celebrates classic American burlesque.<ref>Slonimsky, Nicholas, [http://glnd.alexanderstreet.com/search/fulltext/Burlesque "Burlesque show",] ''Baker's Dictionary of Music'', Schirmer Reference, New York, 1997, accessed 16 February 2010 {{subscription}}</ref>
-==Neo-Burlesque==
-[[File:Miss Dirty Martini 2009 Howl Festival 8 by Shankbone.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Miss Dirty Martini]] at the 2009 Howl Festival in New York<ref name=NYT>[http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/18/nyregion/thecity/18burl.html The Almost Naked City], Mark Caldwell, ''[[The New York Times]]'', May 18, 2008; accessed 9/19/09</ref>]]
-{{Main|Neo-Burlesque}}
-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 City|New York]], Michelle Carr's "The Velvet Hammer" troupe in [[Los Angeles]], and The Shim-Shamettes in [[New Orleans]].  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 [[Agitprop]] groups like [[Cabaret Red Light]], who have included political satire and performance art in their acts. The revival of [[roller derby]] also features elements of burlesque.<ref>[http://bitchmagazine.org/article/holy-rollers Holy Rollers: Is roller derby the new burlesque?]</ref>
-Today Neo-Burlesque has taken many forms, but all have 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.<ref>Sohn, Amy. ''Teasy Does It'', [http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/nightlife/sex/columns/nakedcity/9210/ New York Magazine], 21 May 2005, accessed 24 February 2011</ref><ref>Clodfelter, Tim. [http://www2.journalnow.com/content/2008/jan/31/this-aint-your-granddads-burlesque-but-he-sure-wou/ "This ain't your granddad's burlesque – but he sure wouldn't mind watching"].  ''Winston-Salem Journal'', 31 January 2008, accessed 24 February 2011</ref> There are modern burlesque performers and shows all over the world, and annual conventions such as the [[Vancouver International Burlesque Festival]] 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.<ref name=NYT/>
-A 2010 musical film ''[[Burlesque (film)|Burlesque]]'', starring [[Christina Aguilara#2010–present: Bionic, Burlesque and The Voice|Christina Aguilara]] and [[Cher#2010s: Film comeback, twenty-sixth studio album|Cher]], "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."<ref>Dargis, Manohla. [http://movies.nytimes.com/2010/11/24/movies/24burlesque.html?ref=movies "Small-Town Girl Trades Her Naïveté for Lingerie",] ''The New York Times'', November 23, 2010</ref>
 ===Notable writers, stars and agents===
-{{Div col|colwidth=15em}}
 *[[Abbott and Costello]]
 *[[Jack Albertson]]
 *[[Dita Von Teese]]
 *[[Mae West]]
-{{Div col end}}

American burlesque

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