Dear Constant Reader,
Last night was the last Harburlesque performance and we used the opportunity for a big bash to celebrate 10 years of The Boston Babydolls. Hard to believe we’ve been doing this for 10 years. It feels like forever — and just yesterday. We’ve weathered some storms, but for the most part, it’s been a fabulous time. Our current group is just amazing.
We had all 6 Babydolls dancing to live music provided by our good friends from The Legendary VuDu Krewe. For the most part everyone did their favorite standards from The Mardi Gras Ball. I never get tired of doing my fan dance to “Harlem Nocturne”. I know there are burlesque dancers out there who say that it’s a clichéd piece of music, but, oh, when there’s a sax player right there, it’s magic.
Brigitte created an adorable trio that she, Stella, and I performed for the first time last night. It was so much fun — I think you’ll be seeing it again in the future!
After both shows were done, we scrambled up to the top deck to twist & shimmy to The WaveRiders. I got there just as they started up “Sing, Sing, Sing”, our usual curtain call music. All the troupe members, plus our Wrathskellar cast, just kept dancing through a surf version of “Bad Romance” (our private pre-show warm up song) and “Miserlou” (which we use for shimmy drills). It was perfect!
So, about that new name. Scratch had been talking about changing our name to celebrate our decade in burlesque, since “Babydolls” is a little juvenile and we’re decidedly not. Then we got a series of nasty letters from the attorneys for a Texas-based strip club chain called “Baby Dolls Saloon”, who seemed to think that people were going to confuse the two businesses.
We took the opportunity and last night we announced the new name. We are now The Boston BeauTease. (That’s Beauties, only with more Tease.) I think my house will still remain Stately Babydoll Manor — it’s an ancestral name, after all.
Thank you everyone who has been with us on this journey so far and here’s to the next decade!
Most of it is now in the capable hands of Marion at 
That night we were performing in 
Tuesday: After teaching the last session of “Hot Hips” at B.A.B.E., I ran to Gorelesque Idol and saw Devora and Scratch miss first place by *that* much (really — it was like 3 or 4 votes) with an act that was more Hitchcock than Saw. One of the judges said she would have liked to have seen some blood and got roundly booed by the audience. As Scratch says, we do what we do. And I’m delighted that so many members of the audience, who were clearly there for the gore, liked our creepy little Lost Girl and her puppeteer.
When we finally arrived back at Stately Babydoll Manor much later than anticipated, there was this adorable pumpkin pincushion awaiting me from my mother, who understands how important Halloween is to this household.
Saturday: First, Betty and I went to the annual Boston Mensa gathering to teach a burlesque class. The room was packed with enthusiastic participants! It was so much fun. We had promised a G-rated, co-ed class and I was delighted to see a number of guys. None of them were shy about grabbing a boa and bumping & grinding. The conference had a lot of fascinating sessions on a wide variety of topics, but I heard that we were the talk of the weekend. I do wonder if I’m smart enough to join…
In the evening, we played an awesome Halloween party at a fabulous apartment in the North End. (Amazing chalk drawing by our hostess). There was live music from our old friends 
Last night Betty, Devora, Stella, Scratch, and I put in an appearance at the 1st anniversary party at 
Betty danced to “Midnight in Moscow” and “Night Train”. Devora took a turn with “Blue Prelude”. Stella serenaded us with “Ain’t Misbehavin'” and “Paper Moon”. I strutted to “Minnie the Moocher” and “Harlem Nocturne”. Scratch asked us to close out the night to “Little Brown Jug”. That’s the first half of Factory Girls — so Betty, D.D. and I did the choreography as best we could, sans gloves, overalls, and pink boxes. It was fun, but a little crazy trying to read each other’s minds as to how we should modify things on the fly.
The “Harlem Nocturne” act was a tad logistically complicated for me. Our dressing room was across the street in a secured building, but we found a safe place in the restaurant to stash my fans (and costume change) for most of the night — under a banquette by the musicians. It may be awkward to tote around a hard plastic box full of fans, but at least there’s peace of mind that they’re not going to be accidentally stepped on. The real challenge was fighting my way through the crowds (the joint was packed!) to get to the ladies’s room and back to change.
Friday afternoon much of our time was taken up with load-in and tech requirements. I’m was told that the usual house lighting had been adjusted before we got there to add some of our usual requirements, like an MC spot stage left. It’s nice to have a long-standing relationship with a venue.
After the appearance we had a break for food before call, but it was too early for dinner for me. All I really wanted was a cold drink and some fresh fruit and Scratch knew just the place. We all converged on 
The show was a little more frantic for me as D.D. wasn’t in it. So, I went from being in 2 acts to 4, as I did “The Stripteaser’s Education” solo and took her place in the closing trio. Betty filled in for her in “Factory Girls” and Stella played the spider in Betty’s Zorita tribute.
The show went very well and afterwards we were besieged with photo requests. Not that I’m complaining! We’re happy to pose with our fans. Within reason. we did have to turn down the roller derby team’s request that we form a human pyramid with them.
This was my back after Brigitte and I rehearsed our duet on Monday and my dress was off-center when she zipped me up. I didn’t even feel it at the time. Brigitte put some cover-up make up on it last night and hopefully the audience didn’t even notice. 
Dagny Vanderlust, reigning Cookie Queen, performed a ballet-inspired striptease to one of her favorite songs, 
Lucie Luxe, former Cookie Queen and all-time sales champ, presented a brand-new striptease, in which she had to decide between waiting for Prince Charming and going on a life of adventure. If you know Lucie, you’ll know which one she chose. The music was, appropriately, 
Brigitte Bisoux, holding the title of Cookie Queen most frequently, showed us the morning after. She lovely removed her night attire with the help of some “Black Coffee” (the song, as well as the beverage). After slowly getting dressed after her night of debauchery, she realized she just wanted a little more and undressed again to “Sugar in My Bowl”.
Lucie Luxe presented another new act. I was looking forward to this one because she had announced that was going to show off a big trick — I was dying to know what it was. She used “Here Comes the Sun” and I think we all could sympathize with her desire for better weather after this winter. And the big trick? One-sided tassel twirling!!
Scratch just wanted to make a drink, but his vermouth bottle and glass kept switching places. Then the bottle magically just kept multiplying. All to the tune of, of course, 
Vikki Likkerish, wearing little more than a string of balloons around her hips, danced to 
Vikki Likkerish did a number I’d never seen before, stripping out of a stunning multi-layer costume in Mardi Gras colors to “Sweet Child O’ Mine” as done by 
Emily Hecht sang 
Brigitte Bisoux finished off the night with a look toward Spring. And here in Boston, that means one thing — Opening Day. Brigitte was the cutest member of the Red Sox as she stripped off her uniform to, what else, 
Oh, The Glamourous Life! 
