Oh, The Glamourous Life!

Dear Constant Reader,

I must confess: today’s book is not actually about burlesque. I’m justifying its inclusion here because it’s partially about the Ziegfeld Follies from which many a burlesque show took inspiration and to which a few burlesque performers graduated. You may ask why I’m skipping over the dozens of unreviewed burlesque books on my bookshelf. I received this one from the publisher in exchange for a review and as long as I was reviewing it already, I would kindly share it with you.

Lillian Lorraine: The Life and Times of a Ziegfeld Diva by Nils Hanson (2011).

A trunk full of memorabilia sparked Nils Hanson’s interest in beautiful Lillian Lorraine. The trunk belonged to his mother, Lillian’s companion and confidant, and he remembered meeting the diva once when he was just a boy. He wanted learn more about the star who shone so brightly and now had faded from memory.

As a pretty teenager at the turn of the century, Lillian Lorraine was plucked from the chorus by Florenz Ziegfeld to be one of his Follies stars and his mistress. Her tragic story was sadly not uncommon: early stardom, fast living, messy romances, alcoholism, poverty, death in obscurity. She was so scandalous that the Ziegfeld Club, dedicated to preserving the history of the Follies, removed her from their records.

The book is illustrated with promotional photos of Lillian, covers of sheet music bearing her image, personal snapshots, as well as other Ziegfeld related pictures. It’s filled with personal accounts of those who knew her. The Ziegfeld Club, despite initial reluctance, was helpful in his quest for information and he was able to interview former Follies girls who knew her.

It’s a good resource for fans of the golden age of the Follies and the early days of Hollywood. Lillian Lorraine’s story may be tragic, but there are many inspiring details in the book. And nothing is more inspiring than the research Mr. Hanson did to bring her life back to light.

Dear Constant Reader,

If you could only read one book on this history of burlesque, this is the one I’d recommend.

Striptease: The Untold History of the Girlie Show by Rachel Shteir (2004).

Ms. Shteir looks at the entire history of burlesque in America and its foreign influences. She begins with the earliest days — minstrel shows, travesties and tableaux vivants — and the introduction of the striptease. She continues through the golden age, the decline, and finally the introduction of the topless (and more) club. There’s a little bit about the burlesque revival at the end.

The endnotes are extensive and reveal an academic bibliography. The book may originally have been her Ph.D. dissertation, but it’s quite readable. Illustrations sprinkled throughout.

UPDATE: Use with caution. There is unreliable information in this book.

Dear Constant Reader,

It’s Wednesday and that means a book review!

Candy Barr: The Small-Town Texas Runaway Who Became a Darling of the Mob and the Queen of Las Vegas Burlesque by Ted Schwarz (2008).

Candy Barr’s story is not a pretty one. Born Juanita Slusher in rural Texas, she suffered abuse from a young age. As a teenager, she ran away to Dallas, hoping only for a job and the chance to dance. Instead she found herself forced into prostitution and porn. Bright, beautiful, and a talented dancer, she managed not to be crushed by her horrible situation and escaped to become a headlining burlesque dancer. There were a few shining years as a star in Las Vegas and Los Angeles before forces beyond her control again tried to bring her low. She seemed destined never to have a quiet life.

Because Candy/Juanita was alive while the book was being written (she died in 2005), it is full of quotes and memories direct from the source. The author does tend to play the martyr card a little too much. He often portrays the dancer as a naive innocent, caught up in a vast conspiracy to destroy her. The chronology is occasionally hard to follow as the author sometimes jumps ahead or back to provide a better flow to the story.

Her story is one of survival against terrible odds rather than one of glamour and glitter. The descriptions of her dancing will make you wish you were one of the lucky ones in the audience.

Dear Constant Reader,

Today’s book has a lot of information on one of my favorite topics — costumes!

Pretty Things: The Last Generation of American Burlesque Queens by Liz Goldwyn (2006).

After making her documentary, also called Pretty Things, Ms. Goldwyn returned to her original focus, burlesque costumes, with this book. There’s lots of fabulous information about two prolific costumers with photos, sketches, pages from their account books, &c. Some of the sketches even still have fabric and trim samples attached. It’s marvelous inspiration.

The book also discusses burlesque in general and certain performers in specific, liberally illustrated with photographs and scrapbook pages. The biographies of Betty Rowland, Dian Rowland, June St. Claire, Lois de Fee, and Zorita are livened with first-hand stories from interviews conducted with some of the remaining “last generation”. I was a little surprised that despite numerous quotations from Sherry Britton, she didn’t rate a chapter of her own.

Ms. Goldwyn clearly loves her subject and her sources, but she’s not a dazzling writer. There are the occasional clunkers like the dancer who was “riding a horse wearing a white feather bikini”. Even if you skipped the text and just looked at the illustrations, this book would be worth it.