Hard days work: Three British burlesque dancers sleep in an underground bunker during the Blitz after performing at the Windmill Theatre in March 1942.Īn international audience: This Japanese nightclub stripper uses a ‘dakkochan’ doll on her leg.Įxotic: By incorporating foreign themes performers tried to distinguish themselves from one another. Morale boost: This performer appeared in front of American troops to help raise their spirits during war.
Today stars like Dita Von Teese have made the idea of burlesque cool and sexy again, playing in the fashion and film arenas once more. Guilty mug: Sylvas appeared unrepentant when she was arrested for the incident.Īs it happened before, the genre has made a later comeback, appearing again in the 1990s. Unexpected: The stunt was unplanned and dangerous, as the other woman was in the tank at the time that Sylvas whacked it with an axe. Temper tantrum: Out of jealousy, Sylvas went and broke the tank where another girl was performing in the midst of an act one night.
That closure, though masked in licensing reasons, was a reflection of the increased moral distaste for the genre, and is seen by historians as the beginning of the end at that time.īad manners: Performer Evangeline Sylvas had quite the temper and that worked its way into one of her acts. New York mayor Fiorello LaGuardia shut down one of the city’s most popular venues, called Minsky’s in Times Square, in 1942. On display: American stripper Tempest Storm poses under a theatre marquee for her burlesque act.Įven though the re-emergence of alcohol onto the nightlife scene and a push of support from movies, the burlesque industry did have other problems coming for it. Mr President: Virginia Mayo, dressed as a burlesque dancer, sits on the lap of future president Ronald Reagan while shooting the film She’s Working Her Way Through College in 1952. Even then-actor, future president Ronald Reagan appeared in the film She’s Working Her Way Through College alongside actress Virginia Mayo who played a burlesque dancer. Sex symbol Mae West starred in a film about the industry titled I’m No Angel. Though New York was the hub for the live shows in America, Hollywood played a major role in the proliferation of the genre.Ī number of films brought burlesque to a mainstream audience, with several big stars bringing their name into the mix.
in 1933 helped to increase the burlesque market which was struggling in the 1920s. Sex sells: Famed stripper Divena was known for performing her unique act inside a tank of water.Īs a result, it comes as no surprise that the end of prohibition in the U.S. Showgirls: Tempest Storm was particularly brazen in the shot on the left, showing her nipple and wearing a sheer dressing gown, while the unidentified dancer on the right wore a horned headdress and bottoms. Working girls: This picture shows the women getting ready to go on stage at the Windmill Theatre in 1942.
Jazz and alcohol fuelled the ‘naughty’ perception of the evenings, and they were seen as an escape from the morals that ruled people’s daily lives. Often held in clubs and music halls, the performances took on an uninhibited tone. Nudity and sexual references were much more common stateside, and by the mid-1930s there were over a hundred famous nude principle dancers across the country. That all changed when the stage show format arrived to America. Typically the British shows would have either an exotic dancer or another performer as the grand finale but it was not considered the whole purpose of the event. Varied audience: Though typically thought to appeal to a mostly male audience, this picture shows that some more variety-based programs appealed to both sexes. From there to here: Originally, burlesque dances weren’t all about stripping, but they turned more focused on the flesh once the genre became popular in America.
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