Dear Constant Reader,
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Do you know this charming creature? Scratch found it wandering the streets, but it’s clearly a house cat. We’d like to find its owners. Drop me a note if you know anything about this cat.
Glamourpuss
Review: Weeki Wachee, City of Mermaids
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Weeki Wachee, City of Mermaids: A History of One of Florida’s Oldest Roadside Attractions by Lu Vickers (2007).
You might remember that I spent a little time learning to swim like a mermaid. For my birthday my mother gave me this history of Weeki Wachee Springs and their famous mermaids. And it’s even signed by the author to “Mermaid Mina”!
It covers the history of this unique attraction from underwater entertainment before Weeki Wachee opened, through the glory years of the City of Live Mermaids, to the decline into kitch, and the recent (successful) Save Our Tails campaign. Many mermaids and others intimately involved with Weeki Wachee contributed interviews as well as memorabilia.
Hardly a page goes by that doesn’t have photographs, postcards, or ads from all eras of Weeki Wachee’s history. I was particularly thrilled to see some of the Former Performing Mermaids and pick out the wonderful women who trained us to swim and pose in a tail.
I know I said I had a lot of burlesque books to review before moving on to other topics. This book does have pictures of Bambi the Mermaid and Julie Atlas Muz in a tail. Does that count?
It’s obvious from this book that those who worked at Weeki Wachee, especially those who have swum in its crystal-clear waters, consider it a magical place. I have to agree — sometimes I still dream of the spring and my short time as a mermaid.
New Companion
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For my birthday, Scratch got me a brand-new dress form, which you can see here, graced with my latest creation (a 1914 blouse, just lacking the buttons and buttonholes).
For a long time I had been working with an old clunky mannequin that was very hard to adjust. It was only really good for keeping costumes in progress off the ground and for displaying them at the Expo. The new one is set to my measurements and height, so I can actually do fittings and hemming with easy.
Expect a lot more to be coming out of my sewing room!
Naked Girls Reading Salon: Literary Boston
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The Boston chapter of Naked Girls Reading (of which I am the hostess) held a salon on Saturday with the theme “Literary Boston”. If you’d like to see what we read, go to the NGR Boston blog. You can always see everything we’ve ever read in the Naked Girls Reading Boston Book Club, linked in the sidebar of this blog.
Friday Tip!
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I love giving you these tips. I have a whole pile of them and accumulate more every day. I’m often tempted to post tips more than once a week, but so far I’ve resisted.
To shape an ostrich plume, heat the shaft with an iron on the highest setting. Then gently bend it into the shape you want and hold it until it cools.
Don’t iron the fronds of the feather!
Happy Mardi Gras
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It’s Mardi Gras, or Carnival, or Shrove Tuesday, as you like. Enjoy the last day before those 40 days of penitence and abstenance until… The Great Burlesque Expo! (or Easter, if you’re like that)
You may be wondering how the Boston Babydolls celebrate Mardi Gras. Or not, but I’m going to tell you anyway.
On Saturday, we performed at the 19th Annual Mardi Gras Ball, hosted by Shaun Wolf Wortis. We love this event. It’s such a treat getting to perform to live jazz & blues in front of hundreds of screaming revelers.
Evie starting things off with a smokin’ striptease to “Purple Wail”. On stage Evie is often sweet, goofy, adorable, or mysterious, but that night she was sexy as all get out.
She was followed by Betty Blaize showing off her bellydance skills to “Caravan”. As sometimes happens with a live band, things got a little interesting, but Betty is a great improvisation dancer and I don’t think the audience had any idea things had not gone completely according to plan.
Brigitte reprised her tap dance from Unlucky in Love to “Let’s Misbehave”, as sung by Alissa Coates. I’m afraid the people in the back of the club were unable to see her fancy footwork, but someone put a microphone down on the stage, so the tapping could be heard.
I closed out the set with a fan dance to “Harlem Nocturne”, one of my favorites. As always, the drummer is the happiest guy in the band, since he sees what is concealed from the rest of you.
The next morning (not too early) we had a cast party for Unlucky in Love, continuing the Mardi Gras theme. Scratch made big batches of jambalaya and red beans & rice and Devora brought homemade pralines. I made beignet dough (I will admit, it was Cafe du Monde mix, but only because I’ve been sick lately & tire easily and Scratch wouldn’t hear of me putting in the extra work to make them from, well, scratch). Then Bobby the Fry Guy cooked up the beignets to crispy perfection with the Fry Gal on powdered sugar duty. And of course a soundtrack of jazz to accompany it all.
Because I am a traditionalist, I believe there will be pancakes tonight.
And how do you celebrate the day?
It’s my birthday
Dear Constant Reader,
For my birthday, I would love it if you voted for The Boston Babydolls!
I hope you have as fabulous a day as I’m going to!
Photos!
Dear Constant Reader,
Please vote for the Boston Babydolls!
The talented Chris McIntosh photographed Unlucky in Love last Friday and despite the challenges of taking pictures during a show, they came out great! Take a look here. He also took some portraits and perhaps I’ll share those too.
Friday Tip!
Dear Constant Reader,
Please vote for the Boston Babydolls!
If you are planning a stocking remove, pumps slip off easily and you don’t have to worry about unfastening buckles or untying laces. And you can put the shoes back on with little fuss.
Unlucky in Love: Introduction
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Unlucky in Love is the story of The Writer (Scratch) who is trying to write a guide to romance. Unfortunately what he doesn’t know about women could fill a book. Everytime he comes up with a good idea, a dancer or singer illustrates it and frequently proves him wrong!
This show was challenging for us in several ways. First and foremost, we were working with live music. Having a band and singers was an amazing experience, but logistically interesting.
The theatre is a little quirky. The stage is small and, even with extensions that Scratch built, was mostly taken up by musicians, singers, and The Writer, so the dancers were predomintly on the floor, performing in three-quarter round. Trying to make sure everyone in the audience got a good view was not easy.
Another thing about the theatre is that there is almost no backstage. We kept the set pieces to a minimum, but we still needed a chaise, a desk, a table and chair moving on and off. The backstage ballet of shifting them around while hitting cues and not blocking the entrances was nothing short of amazing. Our stage crew, especially our Stage Manager, really went above and beyond to keep everything running smoothly.
Perhaps tomorrow I’ll start writing about the acts in specific.
Oh, The Glamourous Life! 