Dear Constant Reader,
Please vote for The Boston Babydolls every day!
No book review today. I’m currently reading No Applause–Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous and Drinking with Men. At least one of them will be reviewed some time in the future.
As I don’t have much to say on this gloomy Wednesday, I ask you, O Constant Reader, what do you want to hear from me?
Dear Constant Reader,
Please vote for The Boston Babydolls every day!
I wrote the other day of how I had the sniffles on Friday and was planning to take it easy. Indeed, I lounged on the daybed with Albert, watching old Law & Order episodes. But it’s not easy for me to just lie around doing nothing. When the inactivity got too much for me, I ransacked my sewing room, found some fabric I’d bought on spec, and tossed it in the washing machine.
Then I set up the guest room (where the daybed and TV are) into my auxiliary sewing room and ironed, cut, and sewed a new dress, periodically lounging, snuggling Albert, sipping soup & tea, and, of course, watching Law & Order.
Trashy Diva makes a fabulous style of sundress that I love to wear in the summer. I’d wear nothing but this dress all summer long, if I owned more than 2. They’re made of comfortable cotton and have great bust support, so no bra is necessary (a boon on muggy days). Sadly, I can’t afford a whole closet full, because, while Trashy Diva dresses are worth every penny, they require a *lot* of pennies.
My plan is to make a similar comfortable summer dress based on the Folkwear Blonde Bombshell dress. The one I whipped up was just to see how the pattern worked and how fast it goes together. Answer — fast. I started the washing machine at 11 am and probably could have been wearing the dress by 11 pm, if I hadn’t taken 2 hours out to watch a movie. As it was, I needed maybe another hour the next morning for the hem and hand finishing the bodice facing. Your milage may vary. My friends call me The Fastest Needle in the East for a reason.
I did wear it to the wrap party Saturday night and Stella snapped this shot. It doesn’t show me at my best, but the dress looks pretty good.
Dear Constant Reader,
Please vote for The Boston Babydolls every day!
For The Bod of Avon wrap party Scratch promised “some genuine Elizabethan delicacies, a Shakespeare-inspired cocktail (probably hot), and some genuine English beer.”
As it turned out, the beer was a challenge. Our local liquor store has a vast selection of beers from small New England breweries, which is normally a good thing. And plenty of German and Irish imports. And many varieties of hard cider. But Scratch wanted English beer. We finally found some Newcastle brown ale.
The cocktail was inspired by the gossip’s bowl, mentioned in both Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer’s Night Dream, a hot beverage of ale & cider with roasted apples floating in it. Scratch’s version was soft cider, Shipyard Applehead beer, Jack Daniels (it was supposed to be bourbon, but the Maker’s Mark was mysteriously absent from the liquor cabinet), lemon juice, honey, grated fresh ginger, grated fresh nutmeg, all warmed together. The drink was garnished with dried apple rings (homemade).
The food was a fun project. It had to be Elizabethan, not weird (my offer of pickled herring & fruit pie was struck down), easy to make for a group, and basically finger food. Also, mostly savory because we knew guests were going to bring stuff and a lot of it was going to be dessert.
The first item was hedgehogs. No, not actual hedgehogs, but small meatballs that look like prickly little beasts. The original recipe is in Middle English and involves a pig’s stomach and spit roasting. This is Scratch’s very loose interpretation. As he tends to cook in a loose interpretive style, I don’t have a formal recipe for you.
He started with about 2 pounds total of ground beef, pork, and veal (heavy on the pork) and seasoned it with the Elizabethan quartet of spices (cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and clove), emphasis on the ginger, plus black pepper and salt. Then the meat was formed into little footballs and garnished with 2 currants for eyes and slivered almonds for prickles. Then baked until they were done (about half an hour at 350°F).
Ta da!
Aren’t they cute! And tasty too.
The second dish was Puffes, On the English Fashion, from A New Booke of Cookerie by John Murrell (published 1615).
Take new Milke curds, presse out the Whay cleane, take the yolkes of three Egges, and the white of one, fine Wheat floure, and mingle amongst your Curdes. Season it with Nutmeg, Sugar, and Rosewater, mingle all together. Butter a fayre white paper, lay a spooneful at once upon it, set them into a warme Oven, not over hot, when you see them rise as high as a halfe peny loafe, then take Rosewater, and Butter, and indale them over: scrape on Sugar, and set them in the Oven again, until they be dryed at the tops like yce. Then take them out, and serve them upon a Plate, either at Dinner or supper.
2 pounds “country style” cottage cheese, allowed to drain for several hours
2 egg whites
6 egg yolks
1 cup flour
These were all beaten together. Scratch wanted a savory dish, so instead of nutmeg, sugar, and rosewater, he seasoned them with chives, dry mustard, salt, pepper. They were dropped by spoonfuls on greased foil on a baking sheet and baked for about 15 minutes at 350°F. Because they were savory, he didn’t bother with the sweet glaze in the original.
They really puffed as soon as they came out of the oven, but by the time I snapped this, they had fallen.
Besides the historic treats we also provided crudites & dip, goat’s milk cheddar & crackers, hummus, salt & vinegar crisps (okay, really potato chips). I know guests brought stuff but I only remember Alissa’s corset cookies, Evie’s pigs in blankets, Red’s quince goo deluxe (another story for another time), and Devora’s enormous avocado.
Dear Constant Reader,
Please vote for The Boston Babydolls every day!
Your Faithful Correspondent has the sniffles, but before I curl up once again on the daybed with Albert the Manor Cat, I wanted to give you your Friday Tip.
Powder your face after you line your lips but before you put on your lipstick.
It helps the lipliner last without dulling your lipstick.
Dear Constant Reader,
Please vote for The Boston Babydolls every day!
My last couple of missives were rather time consuming to put together, so today you get a short one.
I’ve heard a rumor that voting is only open for another week or so, so go vote, vote, vote (The Phoenix wants you to vote *every day*!). You know we’re the best, so let everyone know it. And then we’ll have a big Victory Party!
And if that approach didn’t work, allow me to play on your sympathies: I got some bad news about one of our projects yesterday and I’m coming down with a cold. You vote would cheer me up immensely.
Lastly, I’ll try bribery. Here’s a photo of me fan dancing at the 2012 Victory Party to “Jezebel”, sung by Miss Imani with Stella & Alissa backing her up. Photo by John L. Bilotti.
Dear Constant Reader,
Please vote for The Boston Babydolls every day!
Today’s book is not about burlesque, but a dancer who inspired one of the Boston Babydolls.
Loie Fuller: Goddess of Light by Richard Nelson Current & Marcia Ewing Current (1997)
Loie Fuller (née Marie Louise Fuller in 1862) was stage struck from a very early age. It’s said that at 2 years old she unexpectedly joined the recitation group at church and lisped her way through “Now I lay me down to sleep”. She strived for stardom as an actress and singer, but it wasn’t until she turned to dance that her fortunes turned. She took a popular music hall dance style — the skirt dance — and turned it into a dramatic swirl of fabric, dubbed the Serpentine Dance.
After a lukewarm reception in the US, Loie took her dance to Paris in 1892 and became a sensation. La Loïe, as the French quickly dubbed her, mesmerized audiences with her dances of flowing fabric, highlighted with colored light. In some of her dances she manipulated the folds of fabric with long sticks, creating the form of a butterfly, a flower, rippling waves. In “Le Lis du Nil” she was draped in 500 yards of silk.
When theatres were still using gas footlights and limelight, Loie took advantage of the new electrical arc lights for her performances and created her own colored gels to get just the right effect. Sometimes she danced on a platform of glass, lit from below, and used mirrors in some of her dances. She took advantage of new technologies, projecting images on her draperies with magic lanterns and later, making moving pictures,
Her swirling form was a hallmark of Art Nouveau and many artists depicted her, on paper and in sculpture, including Rodin and Toulouse-Lautrec. She inspired fashions in clothing, jewelry, and home decor. She can also be given credit for paving the way for modern dancers, like Isadora Duncan (in whose career she took an interest), and Fokine’s Ballets Russes.
Many of her tours and other ventures were mismanaged and lost money, despite her critical acclaim. By all accounts she was charming, generous, and childlike. Loie was constantly in debt and relied on her many friends to help her out. She wrote a hasty memoir which was eventually published in English as Fifteen Years of a Dancer’s Life, With Some Account of her Distinguished Friends.
To give you an idea of the serpentine dance, here’s a montage of films shot during Loie’s lifetime. I don’t know if the dancers include Loie herself, students of hers, or just imitators. The colored footage was hand tinted, frame by frame.
So, where do we come into this? After Betty Blaize saw dancer Jody Spurling present a program inspired by Loie Fuller, she saw the possibilities for using huge swirls of fabric to captivate and tease. She got a vast quantity of silk and sewed herself a cape à la Loie.
Her first act “Lost at Sea” involved a slideshow telling a tragic love story projected onto her costume as she danced.
“Someone to Watch Over Me” was originally done behind a large Venetian blind, to give the audience a voyeuristic thrill and create a film noir look. Later, we used lighting effects to give the same atmosphere without having to worry about sightlines.
Unlucky in Love, February 2012 (Photo by Chris McIntosh)
In “Snowfall” Betty appeared in a blizzard made from tiny points of light, and then an actual blizzard of paper snow falling from the ceiling.
Dear Constant Reader,
Please vote for The Boston Babydolls every day!
To celebrate a successful run of The Bod of Avon, we’re having a wrap party at Stately Babydoll Manor. Scratch has promised authentic Elizabethan delicacies for the guests. This is not as crazy as it sounds.
You know from my writings here that I am a bit of a culinary historian with an interest in mid-century cuisine. But I also do research into Renaissance cooking, mostly Elizabethan England, and Scratch dabbles a bit too.
Here’s one of my favorite Elizabethan snacks. The recipe was originally published in The Good Huswifes Jewell by Thomas Dawson in 1597. And looked like this:
To make Peascods1 in Lent2
Take Figs, Raisons, and a few Dates, and beate them very fine, and season it with Cloves, Mace, Cinamon and Ginger, and for your paste seeth faire water and oyle in a dish uppon coales, put therein saffron and salt and a little flower, fashion them then like peasecods, and when ye will serve them, frye them in Oyle in a frying panne, but let the Oyle bee verie hotte, and the fire soft for burning of them
Odd as it may look, it’s more straight-forward than Medieval recipes. For one thing, it’s not in Middle English. Here’s my version:
Filling:
4 dates
5 figs
1/4 c. raisins
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground mace3
pinch ground clove
Dough:
1 c. water
1/3 c. oil
1 c. flour4
1/4 tsp. salt
pinch saffron
Oil for frying
Grind together salt and saffron5. Simmer together water & oil. When boiling, remove from heat and beat in flour, salt & saffron6. Keep beating. Really. It will turn into a soft dough. Let the dough cool.
Chop fruit finely and mix in the spices.
Roll out the dough to about 1/4 inch thick. Cut into 3″ diameter rounds.7
Place a spoonful of fruit filling on half of a round of dough, fold the other half over & pinch shut. They’re supposed to look like peapods, so you can curve them a little into shape. The dough might crack a bit, but that’s okay.
You have two options for cooking. You can fry them in oil, like the recipe says. Make sure the oil is quite hot because the dough is like a little sponge. Serve these hot. Or you can (less authentic, but healthier) bake them on a parchment-lined baking sheet at 350°F for 25-30 minutes until golden. These will keep longer than the fried version.
Makes about a baker’s dozen.
1 A “Peascod” is a peapod. A “codpiece” is something else entirely. Even if they look similar.
2 In the 16th century Lent meant no meat, no dairy, no eggs — basically vegan, plus fish. There’s also a “flesh day” version of this recipe with meat, butter, and eggs.
3Mace isn’t that common a spice these days. If you don’t have any in your spice cabinet, you could substitute a little nutmeg. Cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and clove are the classic quartet of Elizabethan spice. There’s even a little song.
4I use a mixture of flours, based on the researches of Marian Walke, to approximate the flour of the time: 3/4 c. white flour, 2 1/2 Tbs. cake flour, 1 Tbs. wheat flour, 1 1/2 tsp. rye flour. You don’t have to be this compulsive.
5 I do this with a mortar & pestle. The salt helps pulverize the saffron threads for even distribution. I did this hastily (because I was trying to cook & take photos) and ended up with little orange splotches in my dough instead of a lovely golden tint.
6 This is essentially choux pastry — like cream puffs or eclairs — without the butter & eggs.
7 A biscuit cutter works great for this.
Dear Constant Reader,
Please vote for The Boston Babydolls every day!
Once upon a time, in a different medium, I used to write up show reports. It was much easier when we did simple revues and not full length shows, often with plots. Still, it was a good habit and I’m going to get back into it. Here, Gentle Reader, without Much Ado, is the set list and a little commentary about The Bod of Avon.
All of the acts in this show were inspired by a work by William Shakespeare. Note I say “inspired”, or as Scratch said “interpreted through a burlesque-shaped lens” (insert appropriate hand gesture here). We weren’t recreating scenes from Shakespeare.
As I’ve mentioned before, we had to keep a minimal set for this show because of the requirements of the venue, so each act had a video projected on the back wall in lieu of scenery. Some of them were quite clever.
All of the photos were taken by Hans Wendland at our second preview at Oberon.
The Bod of Avon
Scratch, Ginny Nightshade, Lara Pollack: Introduction
In the darkness, they recited opening lines from Shakespeare plays, some famous, some more obscure.
Evie Sphinx, Stella Diamond, Ginny Nightshade, Lara Pollack: Henry V (“Drink Up Me Hearties” from Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End)
King Evie fights battles, receives her crown, and knights her loyal followers, all while shedding clothing and armor. Black-clad Stella, Lara & Ginny play the opposing army, Evie’s subjects, and scenery.
Video: The St. Crispin’s Day speech, in a Star Wars-style crawl
Mina Murray: The Tempest (“Green Sleeves” by The Musicians of Swanne Alley)
This act was several years in the works and I’m so glad to finally have presented it. I originally thought of myself as being Queen Titania, but we already had a Midsummer act, so I became Ariel. It was a toss up between that and Queen Mab from Romeo and Juliet. There’s no shortage of faeries in Shakespeare. I’m really happy with this costume, which came out pretty much as I wanted. I have to thank Jeff McBride for the magic coaching and suggestions that formed the core of this act.
Video: Butterflies
Stella Diamond: The Taming of the Shrew (“I Hate Men” from Kiss Me Kate)
We certainly weren’t the first to re-interpret Shakespeare. We had to pay tribute to the great Kiss Me Kate. (Seriously, songs by Cole Porter? We’d have been fools to ignore that opportunity.) Stella’s got a great Broadway voice and excellent comic timing. She lounged against the bar, insulting male patrons as she sang. None of them seemed to mind.
Video: none (the stage was dark as the crew quickly cleaned up my mess.)
Betty Blaize: Antony and Cleopatra (“Melancholy Serenade” by Tommy Dorsey)
Betty’s tribute to the Queen of the Nile, longing for her Antony. There’s no striptease, but who cares — Betty dances with a sword. She routinely stunned the audience when she balanced it on her head and then slid into a low lunge and down onto one knee (while wearing high heels, no less). I love Betty’s costume for this, which I suspect was made from one of the many saris she brought back from India. Scratch introduced her as a performer with “great pyramids and a killer asp”.
Video: The pyramids at Giza
Brigitte Bisoux, Lara Pollack, Scratch: Sonnets (Sonnet 29/”Summertime” by Scarlett Johansson/Sonnet 18)
We couldn’t present a tribute to Shakespeare without acknowledging his work as a poet. Brigitte wanted to present a modern dance to a spoken word piece, so everything worked out nicely. Lara recited the first sonnet (“When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes”, then there was a little musical interlude, and Scratch read the second sonnet (“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day”). Poetry in motion, Scratch called Brigitte.
Video: A beach scene
Devora Darling, Ginny Nightshade, Mina Murray: Macbeth (“Pantaloons” by Tape Five)
We were the Three Weird Sisters, only cuter. Devora had a magic wand that forced us to take off our clothes. When we joined together against her, the wand wouldn’t work against its owner and we had to rip off her clothes the old-fashioned way. Many thanks to Scratch for building us a wand that would come apart into 3 sections on cue.
Viedo: A montage of witches from the Middle Ages to the present day
Intermission
Betty Blaize, Devora Darling, Ginny Nightshade, Mina Murray: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (“Yes Sir! That’s My Baby” by The Firehouse Five Plus Two)
We had 2 couples running away into the woods, but sadly, both the guys wanted Hermia (Ginny) leaving poor Helena (Me), sad and unwanted. But I upstaged everyone in the end! Most amusing part of this act was Betty & Devora in white suits, kind of like the one Scratch was wearing to host.
Video: A forest (just outside of Athens)
Scratch: King Lear
Scratch tells the story of King Lear using 3 cups (to represent the 3 daughters), one of which is concealing the serpent’s tooth (a very sharp, 6-inch long metal spike). Cordelia (an audience member) mixes up the cups and then Scratch, demonstrating Lear’s willful blindness to his daughters’ treachery, smashes his hand down on one of the cups. One of the empty ones. Then to represent Gloucester’s actual blindness, he dons a blindfold and with Cordelia as his guide, chooses between the remaining cups. He says that the difference between a comedy and a tragedy is often one character making a decision — the wrong one and it’s a tragedy. The right one? *SMASH* All’s Well The Ends Well. This is a very tense piece with the actual possibility of injury and I find it hard to watch.
Video: none
Brigitte Bisoux, Butch: Twelfth Night (“The Object of My Affection” by The Stolen Sweets/ “Roller Coaster Blues” by Diana Dors)
Brigitte & Butch dance adorably together until Brigitte goes in for a kiss and comes away with Butch’s mustache. Butch is slowly revealed to be Stella! Everyone’s favorite moment is when Brigitte reaches into Stella’s jeans and pulls out a couple of long socks knotted together. From backstage we would hear this huge swell of laughter and know they had just revealed The Dick Sock. Everyone loved The Dick Sock.
Video: Illyria High School
Devora Darling, Evie Sphinx: Danse Apache (“The Disillusioned Guitarist” by Zum)
I’ll be honest with you. This act wasn’t actually inspired by Shakespeare. Evie & Devora created it for The Wrathskellar, but Devora wasn’t able to be a part of the show, because of several broken bones. They planned to perform it at the Marathon, but a week before, Evie broke her foot. (From now on everyone gets bubble wrap suits.) It was just too good to allow to go fallow, so Scratch put it in this show. He thought about making it our tribute to Richard III (“Was ever woman in this humour wooed? Was ever woman in this humour won?”), but decided to use it to show the power of the sort of simple stage devices Shakespeare would have used and how the audience was willing, nay, wanted, to believe. Special thanks to Richard Gilbert of R&D Choreography for the violence.
Video: Red velvet curtains
Ginny Nightshade, Scratch: The Merchant of Venice
Scratch says that during the research for this show, he found a reference in Pepys’ diary to a scene in The Merchant of Venice which did not appear in the First Folio. He and Ginny recreate that missing scene. It’s actually an old burlesque comedy routine, known as “Post Office”. Yes, it’s old and corny, but still fun.
Video: none
John J. King, guest singer: Hamlet (“Ophelia” by John J. King)
From Denmark With Love, a James Bond/Hamlet mash-up opens in May and we thought it would be appropriate to give our audience a sneak preview. Creator John J King and a roster of lovely singers presented “Ophelia” (to the tune of “Goldfinger”). The picture shows Emily Hecht, but we were also graced by frequent Babydoll songbird Alissa Coates and a couple of others whose names I can’t remember right now.
Video: “From Denmark with Love” image
Betty Blaize, Brigitte Bisoux, Devora Darling, Evie Sphinx, Mina Murray, Stella Diamond: Finale (“Is You Is or Is You Ain’t My Baby” by Joe Jackson)
As the show began, so did it end, with disembodied voices quoting Shakespeare. This time they were asking questions (“Is this a dagger I see before me?”) occasionally peppered with the title of this song. I will confess, this act didn’t have much to do with Shakespeare. It’s been the finale to our last couple of Valentine’s shows and we like it a lot. Sometimes Scratch sings it for us, but he got a break this show. And we got new parasols! I do like the mix of colors; it makes us look even more like a flower garden.
Video: Flowers
And that, Constant Reader, was The Bod of Avon and we hope it was done As You Like It.
Dear Constant Reader,
Please vote for The Boston Babydolls every day!
Tonight is the last performance of The Bod of Avon. As usual, that’s bittersweet. We’re excited for the show tonight and sorry it’s the last one.
This show had a lot of challenges and I think we’re all glad that we’re done with that. The venue cancelled some of our dates. The snow storm cancelled more. We had to set up the theatre and dressing room every night and break it down, which meant we had to have *very* simple staging (hence the video backdrops). Our last show was The Wrathskellar, with set dressing in 2 rooms plus the theatre and a revolving stage. Quite a change.
After this, we focus on our new act for The Expo, plus our performances at the rescheduled Mardi Gras Ball!
Just for fun (and to reward you for voting), here’s Betty getting naughty with a glove at the 2011 Victory Party. Photo from Time Out Boston.
Dear Constant Reader,
Please vote for The Boston Babydolls every day!
Dance to music you love.
You’re going to be listening to that song constantly. Listen to it while you brainstorm, choreograph, practice, perform, while you’re in the car, walking around, before you go to sleep. You should know that music in your bones. And if you don’t love it, all the above becomes a chore. If you do, it’s a delight and that comes through in your performance.
Oh, The Glamourous Life! 