Bettie Page posing in the “Guide For Strip-Teasers”

As a burlesque performer or even an enthusiast you may have seen the old photos of Bettie Page in the “Guide for Strip-Teasers.” It was published in 1953 as a guide to show how much a stripper could reveal depending on what US. State she was in. Burlesque has changed a lot since 1953, most especially the underwear! Let’s take a journey through the ages from the beginnings of burlesque onwards, as a whole, to see how the last few layers of a showgirls costume have changed. One key area of debate is over whether the underwear worn in burlesque performances has kept getting smaller over time. In everyday life, underwear has come a long way and gotten smaller but trends in performance underwear don’t always follow trends in the “real world.” No matter what state or country you perform in, let’s see what is underneath when a stripper takes it off! Burlesque started out a lot more unclothed then what we see today. Performers were known to reveal their bare breasts onstage and sometimes even more. Josephine Baker, a dancer that was a cabaret hit in the 1920s, was known for dancing topless onstage in just her famous banana skirt. Pasties and g-strings didn’t become the burlesque norm until the early 1930s when New York City Mayor, Fiorello LaGuardia began to crack down on burlesque. Despite the law changing everywhere, some performers still revealed more then the law allowed by having “flaps” on the front of their g-string which with a graceful hand and a bump in the hip would give the audience a quick peek at what was underneath!

Rose la Rose backstage showing off her g-string

One thing that has decreased over time is not the underwear itself but the amount of layers of underwear. In the Golden Era of burlesque, a showgirls underwear would consist of an outer bra, an under bra that was triangular and netted(and sometimes adorned with tassels) and then pasties. Then came, what burlesque legend Sherry Britton referred to as the “piece de resistance” — the g-string. Performers would have an outer g-string and then an inner g-string. All these layers would be removed one by one, teasing the audience. How did they get through all those layers of underwear? Like today, they used snaps and hooks and eyes on their undergarments to remove them as easily as possible. In the late 1950s, Velcro was introduced to the world. Although slightly more noisy, this would mean garments could be removed faster and more easy. As go-go dancing became more popular in the 1960s, so did go-go dancing costumes. This was when many burlesque performers lost their layers of undies.

Bra and panty set worn by Kiva in the 1970s, on display at Documenta(13) in 2012 (from BHoF collection; photo by Nils Klinger)

But as time went on not only did underwear of burlesque performers evolve so did the go-go dancer. Go-go dancers were originally performance dancers in night clubs(sometimes dancing from inside cages), however in the ‘70s some go-go dancers lost their tops leading the way to the “modern day” fully nude stripper. As you can imagine, as a burlesque performer who doesn’t go fully nude, it can be hard to compete and try to change when business begins to reveal all. This also meant that many costumiers of the time lost work. According to Gussie Gross*, a well-known costume designer to many a burlesque star, “When burlesque went topless, I lost half of my business, and when it went bottomless it put me out of business.”

Modern burlesque has taken a different turn. With no act ideas nowadays being really 100% original, many performers go for new and unique costumes and of course shock value in order to stand out on stage. Now not everyone chooses this option when creating costume for a new act, barely there merkins and c-strings guarantee shock value and minimal, very much acceptable coverage. In the “real world” the age old merkin made a come back via the motion picture industry in 1960s America. This was so that female actors could appear “naked” on film, while covering their genitalia with a merkin and the film could still secure an acceptable cinema rating instead of going straight to video. The c-string on the other hand is a modern underwear invention simply designed to prevent panty lines when worn with clothes and to prevent tan lines when worn without.

UK performer Starla Bright (Photo by Ravey Davey)

But who wore the first merkin in a burlesque performance? Who decided to decorate a c-string and reveal it on stage? That is not known for certain but both appear to be prominent on the modern burlesque stage being worn by Dirty Martini, Michelle L’Amour, and Lada Redstar. Anna Fur Laxis, famously ends more then one of her acts with a merkin or a c-string complete with “butt jewel” as well as The Stage Boy Johnnies who love to show off and be creative with the male equivalent!

What does the future of underwear behold? Will the layers return to bring back more of the traditional retro tease of the Golden Era? A burlesque showgirl’s underwear has not necessarily gotten smaller as the size tends to vary due to trends and shock appeal but will we see more daring burlesque performers baring merkins and c-strings? Showgirls rhinestoned panties may stay the same or even test their limits further. One thing is for certain, if they do get any smaller or even non-existent burlesque will have gone back to its original roots and what is wrong with that? If it was good enough for Josephine Baker, it could be good enough for future burlesque starlets! Don’t get your knickers in a twist ladies and gents, I’m sure you will find out soon enough on a stage near you! * Read more about Gussie Gross and see some of the costumes she made in the fabulous book Pretty Things.

Georgia Honey (1 Posts)

Georgia Honey is originally from Augusta, Georgia and now resides and performs burlesque in the United Kingdom. The ultimate tease who twirls tassels onstage and writes by twirling pencils offstage!

She was dancing to the jukebox at the hotel bar where she worked when a photographer from a nightclub recognized her talent. He asked her to dance for their club, and Bambi Jones was thrilled, as she loved to dance. Later, an ex-Rockette scouted Bambi, and she soon began touring the burlesque stages of the United States, South America, Mexico, and Canada.

Married to a politician in Nevada, Bambi was ‘in the closet’ about her burlesque stardom for many years. Her daughter briefly followed in Bambi’s sparkly footsteps, under the name Bambi Jr. When Bambi Sr.’s husband passed away, she went public again and, now in her 80’s, she still performs and teaches burlesque, sharing her moves, knowledge and experiences with today’s burlesque community. She authored the memoir My Journey: BURLESQUE, the Way It Was and appeared in the documentary Exotic World and the Burlesque Revival.

Bambi Jones at BHoF Weekend 2012

A burlesque lesson from Bambi Jones

Indiana Bones (1 Posts)

Indiana Bones is a burlesque performer with the Sizzling Sirens of Sacramento. Her backside is fabled, and her interests include merkins and glitter bombs.

In March, we paid a visit to Patti Starr in her Arizona home where we recorded an interview and goggled at her adventures. Now in her 90s, Starr has led an amazing life and wanted the museum to have her collection so her stories become part of history. She donated 3 pairs of shoes, 5 pairs of earrings, a pearl-bead bracelet with an AMAZING matching necklace, a beaded and embroidered stage gown (we’ve included a close-up so you can get a sense of the detail on the dress), and the black hat that was her signature during her performing years.

Thanks to her son, Lamont Holiday, we also acquired a gorgeous blue sequined dress worn by Jean Idelle onstage at Minsky’s Rialto Theater in Chicago in 1952. The piece will be on display in the museum as part of our upcoming exhibition on performers of color, Not-So-Hidden Histories, so we’re not going to show it here — you’ll have to come and see it in person! But here’s a little tease…

For more information about how you can donate pieces from your collection to the museum, please visit our Donate Artifacts page.

Welcome to the newly re-designed, re-structured BurlesqueHall.com. We’ve made a bunch of changes to make the information you need easier to find AND to provide more interesting reasons to come back again and again. We hope you’ll enjoy our new look! Please take some time to explore the new site and, as always, be sure to contact us with your questions, concerns, or suggestions.

We recently added to our collection a selection of stage jewelry, shoes, and a dress, all from the career of Patti Starr. Now in her 90s, Patti Starr performed in the mid-20th century before marrying an oil man and retiring… for a while. She was a close friend of Jennie Lee and was around at the very beginning of the Exotic Dancers League, though she doesn’t seem to have been very much involved. We were able to record an interview with Patti, which we’ll add to our oral history collection, but right now we want to focus on her shoes.

And oh, what tremendous shoes they are! Patti is a small woman, and has small feet. Really small feet. Like, <em>really</em> small feet. We have a pair on display in the museum and the first thing anyone says when they see them is “Oh, look at these tiny shoes!” These are women’s size 4, covered in silver glitter, with tassels on the top and the heel (missing from the left shoe).

Aside from the size, what’s most notable about these shoes are the elastic straps along the instep. Marketed under the brand name Spring-O-Lator, these straps held the foot in place and prevented the shoes from going “slap slap slap” against the bottom of the foot, allowing for shoes without heel straps. Obviously, this was great for dancing, as it reduced the likelihood that your shoes would stay on the ground when you lifted your foot up! You can see Patti in a pair of strapless shoes in the photo below.

The Spring-O-Lator went out of fashion somewhere along the way, although there have been some recent efforts to revive the design.

Over the weekend, we here at BHoF got to do something that’s both wonderful and not-so-wonderful: inform the people who applied to perform at this year’s BHoF Weekender who was accepted and who was not. Letting people know they were accepted is wonderful, and watching their joyous tweets and Facebook posts as they tell the world their good news is truly heartwarming. And what a pleasure it is to know that these amazing performers will be on our stage come June 1st!

But there were 311 applicants this year, and only about 50 slots, give or take a few alternates. So we also had to let around 250 applicants — considering a good number of them are groups and duos, that’s WAY more than 250 people — that they were NOT being accepted to perform this year, and that’s not-so-wonderful. In fact, it’s kind of heartbreaking.

We have a good process for selecting performers, and I believe in the process. 10 people representing a broad cross-section of geography, level of involvement in burlesque, age, and experience independently score submissions. We take great pains to assure that the process is fair and that we don’t play favorites. (Incidentally, the judges will be a different group of people, and both selectors and judges are allowed to do the job only once. We want a fresh take on who should perform and who should win every year.)

But no matter what the process, 250 performers — many of them people I like, people whose careers I respect, people whose work I admire, people who are in every possible way great performers — have to be given bad news. Really amazing performers — really amazing PEOPLE — have to be rejected.

And for them, I’m sorry. I know it sucks. But I have faith in you. I know you’re going to pick yourself up, brush yourself off, freshen up your glitter, and try again next year. Some of my favorite performers haven’t been on BHoF’s stage yet, but I know and (better yet) you know that you will. And meanwhile, you’re out there, working your assels off, honing your craft and getting better and better.

In the end, the BHoF Weekender isn’t about the competition or the showcases or the awards or even raising money for the museum, though all those things are important. It’s about a community coming together to celebrate itself, and to celebrate the art that makes that community. 311 performers, duos, and groups applied this year, which is 20% more than last year, which was 20% more than the year before, which means that burlesque is becoming more and more popular with every passing year, which in turn means more and more great performers, and that means everyone wins. To the people who applied, accepted or not, I salute you for your courage, your artistry, your support of BHoF, and your participation in the most amazing community it’s ever been my privilege to be a part of.

–Dustin

The BHoF Weekender has a home of its own now at www.bhofweekend.com. Ticket and room information, show and class schedules, special announcements — everything you need to plan and enjoy the sexiest weekend of the year is now in one place on the Web.

Special thanks to Scott Bokma, who designed and built the site, one of the dozens of volunteers who make the Weekender happen every year.

The Burlesque Hall of Fame Weekend is back at The Orleans! Be part of the largest, longest-running burlesque event in the world!

Not only is it four days of incredible fun, learning and performance, the Weekender is a fundraiser for The Burlesque Hall of Fame, the only museum of its kind to feature the history and artists of the distinctly modern art form of burlesque.

Once again, we’ll feature the best in burlesque with events throughout the full four days! World-class performances, premier vendors, panel discussions with legends and today’s stars, instruction and classes, pool-side fashion shows, Barecats Bowling, poker, and parties! And NEW this year: a shuttle between The Orleans and the Burlesque Hall of Fame to make it easy to visit and see exactly what your history is all about!

And, of course, there’s a little thing we call the 23rd Annual Tournament of the Tease, where the world’s top burlesque entertainers compete for best debut, duo, group and boylesque, and for the coveted title, “Reigning Queen of Burlesque”!

BOOK NOW AND SAVE! Make the most of your trip — arrive Wednesday and check out Monday! Our special group rates and early-bird ticket discounts make it possible!

LOWER-PRICED, early-bird Weekender Passes go on sale today! On April 16th, the price will go up, so GET YOURS EARLY!

Get your EARLY-BIRD DISCOUNT tickets here, use code BHOFEARLY — March 23 – April 16, online ONLY: http://www.orleanscasino.com/whats-new/events/burlesque-hall-of-fame-weekend (after April 16th, the price goes up!)

Book your SPECIALLY PRICED room on-site at The Orleans http://www.orleanscasino.com/burlesque

No rest for the wicked, though — we’re already hard at work planning 2013’s Reunion Weekend, developing new exhibitions, and continuing to provide the loving care our collection needs and deserves. Meanwhile, we’ve seen ever-increasing attendance as the Downtown Las Vegas area continues to grow and evolve.

As usual, we’ve got BIG NEWS for you below, but the biggest news is (still) this: the BHoF and the global burlesque community continue to thrive. And as we increase our funding and outreach, we’re able to touch an ever-expanding number of lives… and to be touched by them.

And now, the news so many of you have been waiting for…

MARK YOUR CALENDARS! BHOF WEEKEND 2013 dates set, application for performers NOW OPEN!

Our contract for the 2013 Reunion Weekend is officially signed, sealed, and delivered–which means we can finally tell you the dates for next year’s show: May 30 – June 2. Once again, we are returning to The Orleans Hotel and Casino here in Las Vegas, who have been so good to us the last two years.

Reserve your room now, at our special group rate, by going to www.orleanscasino.com/groups and using the Reservation ID# A3BHC06, or by calling 1 (800) 675-3267 and giving the group ID “Burlesque Hall of Fame”. The group rate expires on April 27, 2013, and you must mention both IDs at the time you book to get it. Show tickets will go on sale in the Spring and like last year, we will make them available to applicants (and BHOF Members) before opening them to the public.

Speaking of applicants… if you are interested in performing during next year’s Weekender, the application website is now LIVE at bhofapplication.com. When you apply, you will automatically become a Member of the Burlesque Hall of Fame for one year and, as noted, be eligible for early ticket sales (regardless of whether you’re selected to perform or not). Performers who applied for the 2011 or 2012 shows can use the same login information; all your data from previous years has been saved. The deadline is February 4 at midnight, but there’s a discount for early applicants so get started now and do the first two steps (which will take about 10 minutes, tops!); you can finish up or make changes any time in the next 9 weeks. To learn more about how the selection process works, please visit http://burlesquehall.com/2012/10/selection/.

And of course, if you’re interested in participating in the 2013 Reunion Weekend as a volunteer, sponsor, vendor, instructor, or service provider, please drop us a line at one of the email addresses below:

• Volunteers, service providers, instructors, media, etc. or just general information: info@burlesquehall.com
• Sponsors, advertisers, gift bag donors: sponsor@burlesquehall.com
• Vendors: vending@burlesquehall.com

UPDATE: The Great Collection Relocation of 2012

The Burlesque Hall of Fame’s collection includes literally thousands of individual pieces, some dating back to the beginning of burlesque’s golden era, many collected by Jennie Lee and the members of the EDL, many from Helendale, and an increasing number donated since we reopened in Las Vegas in 2010. If you’ve been to the museum lately, you know there’s no possible way we can display all of the costumes, stage props, photographs, marquees, and other pieces in our collection, so the vast majority has been stored off-site since 2004.

In July of this year, we received notice that our storage facility was being demolished to make way for a freeway overpass and that we had to move the entire collection by August 31. With little notice and our budget for the year already set, we turned to the burlesque community for help — and boy, did you! In 47 days, we raised over $28,500–more than enough to cover the expenses of the move, relocation into an improved facility, and the purchase of archival materials, tools, shelving, and workbenches to appropriately conserve the collection for generations to come.

For more information on the move (and to see a list of all the amazing, wonderful, incredible, superhuman, awesome, tremendous, fantastic, super-duper-peachy-keen superstars who pitched in to support us), please visit http://burlesquehall.com/support/bhof-needs-your-help/

And a special note for our supporters: Premiums are still going out! Keep an eye out in weeks to come.

Sock Puppet Burlesque!

Did you know July 19th was National Sock Puppet Day? No? Well, now you do! To mark the occasion, we were visited by Absinthe stars Penny Pibbets, Melody Sweets, and The Gazillionaire… all on hand to “induct” the museum’s first-ever sock puppet stripteaser. Named for (and bearing a striking resemblance to) Melody Sweets herself, the pastie-clad puppet was on display for a month before rejoining the cast. Check out the full story at http://www.vegasnews.com/77842/celebrate-national-sock-puppet-day-with-absinthes-penny-pibbets.html

BHoF in Germany

The Burlesque Hall of Fame was honored to be included in an art installation by Rio Robbins and Red Vaughan Tremmel as part of this year’s Documenta(13), a major international art show held in Kassel, Germany. Featuring costumes, pasties, artwork, and other material representing both classic and contemporary burlesque, the installation focused on the embodied experience of witnessing burlesque performance, and was accompanied by a “notebook” entitled Meeting Dixie Evans: How to Burlesque, by artist and curator Raimundas Malašauskus.

Shop our Society6 Store!

Looking for the perfect holiday gift for that special burlesque fan in your life (maybe you)? Check out the selection of prints, iPhone cases and skins, holiday cards, and (new) throw pillows featuring images from our collection in our Society6 store.

How You Can Support BHoF

The Burlesque Hall of Fame’s very existence depends on the ongoing support of you, our members, sponsors, and volunteers.

Membership: For as little as $35 a year ($25 for students), you can help support BHoF year-round. Members get a discount on BHoF merchandise in our gift shop, early-bird ticketing for the annual Reunion Weekend, recognition in our event program, and (coming soon!) one of the coolest membership cards you’ve ever seen. But, wait… there’s more! You also get the satisfaction of knowing you’re doing your part to preserve the legacy of burlesque for generations yet to come. Visit http://burlesquehall.com/support/become-a-member/ to sign up today.

Sponsorship: We are actively seeking sponsors, for both the Reunion and year-round support of the museum. To discuss how you or your business/organization can help support the Burlesque Hall of Fame, please contact sponsor@burlesquehall.com.

Volunteers: With only one full time staff member, the BHoF relies on volunteer support for all aspects of our work, from day-to-day staffing of the museum to fundraising, creating content for the website and our various social media outlets, and of course, producing the Reunion Weekend. While some of these tasks are location-specific, many are not. No matter where you are in the world, if you have the inclination (and access to the Internet), you can lend a hand with a wide range of tasks. To find out more about available opportunities–or to suggest a project you’re especially qualified to take on–please drop us a line at info@burlesquehall.com.

CLOSED DATES

Thanksgiving Weekend: November 22-25

Christmas/New Years: December 24 – Jan 2