Oh, The Glamourous Life!

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A History of Burlesque by Ettore Rella (1940).

During the Great Depression, the Work Projects Administration put many unemployed people to work. The common image is of hard physicval labor, like roadwork, but the WPA employed artists and writers as well. One such WPA sponsored project was the San Fransico Theatre Research monograph series. There were at least 15 manuscripts published on the history of theatre in San Francisco, specific theatres, performers, and theatircal genres, including burlesque.

Mr. Rella looks at burlesque from 1850 until the present day, that being 1940. His focus is obviously on appearances of burlesque in San Francisco, but it’s still a good overview of the evolution of burlesque over almost a century. He studies individual shows as well as performers and frequently quotes from the scripts.

If you’re interested in early burlesque, this is a great resource.

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Burlesque: Legendary Stars of the Stage by Jane Briggeman (2004).

Jane Briggeman founded the Golden Days of Burlesque Historical Society to find retired burlesque dancers and let them reconnect. The result of these contacts was this book of profiles of dancers (and a couple of comics). The profiles are often verbatim from interviews with the dancers themselves. The book is also full of photographs, magazine covers, and other ephemera.

There is no doubt that the subjects of this book are very close to Ms. Briggeman’s heart. In fact, it’s a little too personal from time to time. In most of the performer essays, she specifies the extent of her relationship — did they meet, just write letters, talk on the phone, or have no contact at all.

There’s now a second edition available. I’m interested to see how it differs from the first.

Dear Constant Reader,

Please click and nominate the Boston Babydolls for “Best Burlesque” and Naked Girls Reading for “Best Literary Gang”. Thank you!

Western Popular Theatre edited by David Mayer and Kenneth Richards (1977).

This volume is the “Proceedings of a Symposium sponsored by the Manchester University Department of Drama” — a collection of papers on various topics pertaining to popular theatre. If you’re interested in the history of theatre or the social history of theatre, you might find something worth reading.

Myself, I enjoyed the two articles on commedia del’arte, because I used to perform it and it’s the great-great-grandmother of burlesque comedy. It’s interesting to see the evolution and branching of the comedica styles and charcters.

But where’s the burlesque you may ask? In the paper “Strippers and Coochers — the Quintessence of American Burlesque” by William Green. The author’s opinion can be summed up in the second paragraph:

Actually the development of burlesque in the United States may be divided into approximately three periods: 1750-1868, the age of traditional burlesque; 1868-1922, the era during which the modern burlesque show evolved; and 1922-present, the period of nudity, smut, and decline.

Ouch! Harsh. And that’s the time period we call “The Golden Age of Burlesque” that he’s slamming. It’s not all that bad. He does try to focus on some of the positives too, but they feel a little weak.

Honestly, it’s not a must-read. Most of his information has been superceeded by more recent scholarship, like Horrible Prettiness: Burlesque and American Culture. If you can find the book at a library, give it a shot; the essay is only 11 pages long.