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42 of 46 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Untruths, May 4, 2005
I own a number of burlesque-themed films on VHS, mostly actual stage performances from the 1940's and 1950's. These films are discussed in the book, and I was surprised to find descriptions that sometimes seem drawn from thin air.
On page 287, author Shteir tells us, "For example, in A Night At the Follies (1956), a murder provides an excuse to see undressed women backstage." There is no murder nor any other plot and no visits backstage -- it simply films an actual burlesque show.
On page 287 - 288, stripper Tempest Storm in A Night In Hollywood is described as "guiding audiences through an evening of burlesque striptease, comedy, ragtime and jazz music, and stripping." Storm doesn't guide anybody through anything. She does not appear until the very end of the show, as was the custom for the star, and dances for eight minutes without one audible word.
On page 288, describing female impersonator Vicki Lynn's act in Varietease, "In the last moments, Lynn takes off the wig to reveal her bald head." Actually Lynn has a full head of hair, without any sign of baldness.
On page 289, turning to mainstream movies, Shteir comments on the 1958 hit The Naked and the Dead, and stripper Lili St. Cyr's role. She tells us the movie "pumped up the sex and violence considerably, partly by casting St. Cyr to play Croft's wife." Wrong. Sergeant Croft's wife was played by Barbara Nichols. Lili St. Cyr played Private Wilson's girlfriend, and she was only in the film for two minutes. Shteir does not mention the brevity of St. Cyr's role, but tells us, "St. Cyr plays a selfish, cold, neurotic, sexually omnivorous stripper - a cartoon of a woman." Wrong, wrong, wrong. The only thing right is that St. Cyr played a stripper. Everything else is completely at odds with the film, where Lili is a warm, smiling, light-hearted woman who knows she'll be arrested if she strips but performs as usual because, "I gotta have integrity with my public, even if I gotta pay for it." All we see of her act is a slow dance that resembles a hula (and reveals less). Wilson adores her, and she sends him money when he's overseas.
Shteir has academic credentials and a reputable publisher, but I wouldn't trust anything she says.
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21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Read with a Grain of Salt, March 2, 2005
"Striptease: The Untold History of the Girlie Shows," is quite simply this author's interpretation of those things she read regarding burlesque...things any one could read on their own, and decipher their own way. Would I consider her to be an expert on the history of burlesque? No! Reading her list of notes I'm not sure she talked to anyone who was involved in burlesque-there are certainly people still alive who worked the venue. My suggestion for those who like the history of burlesque, read books written by those who were there...Gypsy Rose Lee, Georgia Sothern, Ann Corio, Morton Minsky, and even Erik Preminger. There are also excellent books available by noted historians such as David Kruh and Robert Allen as well. There are even a couple historical societies out there that are working to preserve the history of burlesque and the theatres where burlesque shows were performed. But please take this book with a grain of salt. All I did was skim it over, and I'm listing just a few bloopers found...
P 235: "I didn't want to stand behind the counter and serve people, explained Rose La Rose, who before her death in 1957 owned several burlesque theaters in Toledo, Ohio."
However on page 241 the author writes, in 1960 Rose became a pornographer.
Now if Rose died in 1957, as the author states, how can she become a pornographer in 1960? It's well known among burlesque historians that Rose owned two different theatres in Toledo, not SEVERAL, and that she died in the summer of 1972.
Page 238: Tex Guinan? I assume the author means Texas Guinan...
Page 240, she writes: "Buddy Wade's tap shoes caught fire, the sparks ignited her costume, and she burned to death one night at the Old Howard in Boston."
Curious, I emailed David Kruh, a historian and the author of, "Always Something Doing: Boston's Infamous Scollay Square." This is his response...
"No one I've contacted is aware of any fire at the OH that killed anyone. There were two fires of which I am aware at the OH. The first was way back in 1846 and was the original wooden structure (that house the church), which burned down. That's when the owners built the theater you and other devoted patrons knew and loved.
The second fire that I know of was in 1960, seven years after the theater was closed by the city. Some homeless men that were sleeping inside got out safely, and there was one firefighter slightly injured that day. But no deaths."
Page 241: "In 1954 the darling of burlesque Loretta Miller watched one of her fans shoot himself at the LA Follies Theater."
Both the LA Herald-Express and the LA Mirror report things a bit differently-but they both report the police shot Roger around dawn while Miller was home in bed.
"According to Loretta Miller, as told to John Grover, "This is the strangest thing that's ever happened to me in show business. I still can't believe it. I've been a specialty dancer and worked in chorus lines for nearly ten years, and I don't understand this poor kid Roger Whittier. I thought it was a gag at first when a Mirror reporter called me out of bed this morning to tell me about his death."
There are things in this book that are not that difficult to double-check, but I believe this author took everything she read regarding burlesque to be fact. It's Rozell Rowland, not ROSE ZELLE. Maybe that's being picky, but this is history-so the author, a professor, in my opinion has an obligation to the public to get it right!
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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Pulp Fiction, February 28, 2005
I would only recommend this book as a fictional Fairy Tale. It is filled with errors and falsehoods. For instance, Rose La Rose's Towne Hall theater was NOT a 'porn theater', in the '60s. I know because I was there. Rose was VERY particular what the dancers did on Her Stage. She insisted on a rehersal, before we got to do a live show. If she didn't like something, she let us know. Any dancer who did Porn was fired on the spot!!! Her theater didn't show any movies between the shows, either. She prided herself on hosting only live burlesque shows.
When I saw the first review on this book, in the Washington Post, I sent in my comments ... which were printed. (Text below.) If anything, my attitude has become more 'fixed' regarding Professor Shteir's book:
Rather than something by a professor expounding upon the 'societal implications of the strip tease', (BORING) I suggest you run reviews on books that were written by people who had actually been there (i.e.: 'Gypsy', recently re-issued) or people who've interviewed the folks that were in Burlesque. Many 'old timers', unfortunately, have passed on and these writings may well be their last impressions of 'the good old days'.
Jane Briggmen recently released "Burlesque, Legendary Stars of the Stage". Many of the people she interviewed are no longer with us. She has just finished "Burlesque, Book II" which will be published in the near future. The second book portrays many of the 'younger' acts (people still alive, but getting on in years ... like myself). She also heads up the 'Golden Days of
Burlesque Historical Society' and is in the process of amassing a very large collection of Burlesque memorabilia that will be given to an accredited University for preservation, in the future:
http://www.burlesquehistory.com/
As someone who was 'in the business', it really irritates me when some Academian publishes their impressions of what Burlesque was all about. They weren't there. They don't know. Watching Burlesque shows makes them no more able to understand the 'hows & whys' of Burlesque than watching a few operations would make me a surgeon.
Please point readers to books that accurately portray the era, not the 'wanna bees'.
Thank you,
Daphne Lake
"Miss Elegance"
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