Customer Reviews

Horrible Prettiness: Burlesque and American Culture (Cultural Studies of the United States)

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This enchanting work brings the burlesque back to life! When Lydia Thompson hit New York theaters in 1868, she and her troupe were an immediate success. But she also initiated a vituperative debate over the appropriate limits for the female performer. Robert Allen vividly describes how Americans increasingly put aside their religious reservations and took to the theater by the mid-19th century. He first examines the physical and social arrangement of space within the theater auditorium. He then takes his reader on a journey through the male-impersonating, revealingly attired, slang-spouting, minstrel-dancing burlesque women to their descendants - the cooch dancers and modern day striptease. A unique book for entertainment buffs and feminist thinkers alike. To read actual burlesque plays see "The Best Burlesque Sketches".

While the information is very informative, the book itself is very hard to read. There is more than oneinstance where instead of focusing on the subject at hand, it appears the author tried to cram as many multi-syllable words onto 1 page as he possibly could. Rather than being impressed by his vocabularly I found it distracting, and completely unneccasary.