Striptease: From Gaslight To Spotlight (Hardcover)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

One might expect an illustrated history of stripping to be superficial and salacious-or else politicized and academic. Glasscock aims, successfully, for middle ground in this breezy but detailed consideration of the art of "revealing, arousing, and amusing, and doing all of these on a stage (although not necessarily in that order)." Most theater historians identify the origins of striptease in 19th-century burlesque; while Glasscock doesn't dispute the connection, she finds influences in a host of other American theatrical forms, including vaudeville, Broadway and modern dance. Connecting Isadora Duncan with New Orleans stripper Blaze Starr-however circuitously-may seem like sacrilege to some, but Glasscock respectfully, and persuasively, argues that the public's reception of the nude female body has a lot to do with whether or not that body is positioned as art or entertainment. Duncan was able to get away with dancing in a state of undress, Glasscock says, because she applied "a veneer of intellectualism to her performance." Glasscock spends a long time establishing her history of striptease, and while her diligence is laudable, the result is that comparatively short shrift is given to striptease icons of the 1950s such as Tempest Storm, Blaze Star and Lili St. Cyr. That said, this is a compelling history, one that the author feels is still being written. Referring to a new breed of burlesque revivalists, Glasscock writes, "the increasing success of the New Burlesque suggests the possibility that the live sex acts of the 1970s and the lap dances of the 1980s and 1990s may only be remembered as a prelude to another era of classic striptease." 70 b&w and 74 color illustrations.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Description

Striptease is the history of unapologetic fun aimed not at the head, not at the heart or even the stomach, but south of all three. Beginning with the birth of the striptease in the mid-19th century and culminating with its garish heyday in the 1950s, this book charts the evolution of the infamous bump and grind, which is, at its simplest, a pretty girl in a pretty dress ... and then not.

The only fully illustrated book available on the subject, Striptease tells the history of this provocative form of stagecraft from its birth in vaudeville and burlesque through the "take it all off" attitude for which the term "striptease" was coined. Along the way, the book highlights such performers as Isadora Duncan, Loie Fuller, Maud Allen, Gypsy Rose Lee, Tempest Storm, and Blaze Starr. The witty and well-informed text is illustrated with an array of titillating images, including never-before-published ephemera and illicitly photographed performances in progress. Whether revealing ankles or breasts, playing peek-a-boo or going the full monty, Striptease pays tribute to the women who made a vocation of their sex appeal and shimmied their way into American culture.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams (September 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810945444
• ISBN-13: 978-0810945449
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 7.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #982,118 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars striptease, December 28, 2003

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

Appreciated for its lengthy and detailed account of its American origins the book manages to dry out just where you thought it would be most interesting - the post war scene. The photography from this period is also dissapointing whereas the early imagery is very good.
I found its international references strangely lacking. Occupied west Germany had a huge industry as did France and of course the famous Windmill Theatre of London could and should have been dealt with.
Even Australia in the sixties especially had its lively clubs in the major centres (and even country shows), so this history missed the opportunity of presenting the universiality of stripptease, in this fairly dryly written history. In style this book is sadly missing the point of stripping!
Lets hope a better history gets done someday.

17 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't publishers fact check these books?, January 6, 2004

By A Customer

It amazes me that this book got printed. I collect many historical books about burlesque and vaudeville and follow the actual neo burlesque movement very closely. This author not only merely copied every book I have but she didn't bother to fact check many things. It also seems as though the author is living in denial about who the tops names in neo burlesque are, because the names she chooses to list along side people like Lili St. Cyr and Tempest Storm are names that are so far from these legends it's ridiculous! Are these performers relatives of the author or what? She actually mentions Dita Von Teese and Catherine D'Lish, the biggest names in the movement and says that they are Velvet Hammer Girls, along with many other omissions and incorrect facts that every burlesque afficinado knows! Catherine D'Lish can easily be credited as a pioneer in the resurgence with three Miss Exotic World titles won before 1995, and the author mentions other Miss Exotic World winners from the past two years, but dismisses Miss Delish as being a stripper with a side job! It's absurd. I cannot help but wonder how this woman could actually get a book deal if she didn't bother to research the two highest profile dancers(and three time headliners of Teaseorama, the only burlesque convention in the world!) on the circuit who happened to be the only ones with complete websites that have information on them! How could she screw up that? I wonder if she has ever even seen an actual burlesque show?
This book goes on in my burlesque book collection as a laugh.
For authentic history, try vintage books or wait til an expert on the feild decides to write, because this woman hasn't a clue.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you're gonna bump it, bump it with a trumpet, January 11, 2006

By	E. R. Bird "Ramseelbird" (Manhattan, NY) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

If you walk up to a random person on the street and simply say the word, "striptease" to them, they're going to conjure up a wide variety of conflicting images. Some of the more tawdry amongst them will instantly connect the word with strippers, probably because the word "strip" is in both terms. Others will equate striptease with something archaic. An ancient form of entertainment now banished from contemporary respectable life. Still others might be on the ball enough to understand that "striptease" is a burlesque art that is going through a revival like never before and, with the publication of books like, "Striptease: From Gaslight To Spotlight" scholars everywhere are starting to banish some of the myths previously associated with this form of dance. Author Jessica Glasscock, costume scholar and current employee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, has written a history of striptease that does away with the myths surrounding it, the incorrect terms that swamp it, and manages to give it its due. For the laymen amongst us (like myself) the book is not a titillating romp with sexy pictures (though in this respect it does not lack) but rather a thoughtful history that will introduce ignorant schmucks to what striptease really was and is. If you're looking for a classier version of Playboy for your coffee table, look elsewhere. If you want a fabulous encapsulation of this history for the average joe, stop here.

The book offers a full history of the roots of striptease, giving quite a lot of attention to the shifting morals of early America and climaxing with the death of striptease and its subsequent rebirth. After a quick introduction and explanation that the striptease heyday in America was in the 1950s, we zip back in time to the 1860s. At that time there were Victorian mores to deal with and female performers at that appeared on the stage were sometimes referred to as "skirt dancers". Which is to say, if they showed so much as a glimpse of their "nether limbs" they earned themselves that term. We see the heyday of the concert saloons, the birth of the American dime museum, and, of course, burlesque. The book spends an awful lot of time giving a very detailed and in-depth history to striptease. The truly ridiculous tableau vivants appear, fooling people into equating nudity with classical nudes (and giving striptease artists an artistic excuse for years to come). In comes Orientalism and when the Little Egypt scandal hits the Chicago World's Fair in 1893 all hell breaks loose. Striptease is born in the wake of such artists as Isadore Duncan and even Sarah Bernhardt. Add in the marketing of Ziegfeld and the entrepreneurial spirit of the Minsky brother and before you know it women are doing complicated and truly amusing routines upon the stage. They're training white pigeons to cover them tactfully. They're employing exploding couches and staged special effects. But when Playboy came around and striptease artists gave way to the less talented and not amusing in the least strippers, the heyday was over. Killed with a mighty blow. Today, there's a resurgence in the art, but whether this is mere nostalgia for a new generation or the start of a whole new trend, it will depend on today's jaded audiences to attest.

The heroes of this book turn out to be the great Ziegfeld, his common-law wife Anna Held, Gypsy Rose Lee, the Minsky brothers, and the countless women who knew how to perform in the purest sense of the term. Glasscock effortlessly makes the very real distinctions between the merely charmless (not to say disempowering) stripping and the witty, fun, and altogether amusing striptease. There's no getting around the fact that it all boils down to women taking of their clothes, but there's a world of different between a headlining performer dancing a complicated routine in a very natural (often less than ideal) body and a breast-implanted gal with a pole who has to interact with her audience in a degrading way, get them to buy her drinks, and makes money only through the club and not on her own terms. If you cannot see the difference then this is not the book for you.

"Striptease" is obviously very well-researched though I was disappointed to find that there wasn't a collection of Source Notes in the back. The accompanying Bibliography is certainly very fine and I was delighted to find the New York Public Library's Library For the Performing Arts specifically thanked by Ms. Glasscock, but I sometimes wished I could see where precisely she had culled a particularly interesting quote or statement. Nonetheless, Glasscock makes an excellent use of the materials she has on hand. The photographs, reproduced flyers, posters, movie stills, and paintings break up the never-tedious text perfectly. For the newbie striptease enthusiast, Glasscock's book is a necessary read. It is also a far more intelligent take on a now classic (and deeply amusing) artform than most of the literature out there.

It's interesting to read reviews of this book on Amazon.com. On that site, supposed striptease "experts" lament the fact that Glasscock makes short work of current performers and, in their eyes, spotlights the wrong ones. Due to the fact that figuring out who the currently best in the business is is completely figurative, not to mention personal, such criticisms aren't exactly noteworthy. Besides, this is not a book about the neo-striptease movement. There are only four pages of written text discussing it, after all. This is a historical and well-researched title, taking into account how dances of the past fit into the current striptease movement. If you want to know the current headliners I'm sure there are plenty of nice up-to-date websites where you can spout off your opinions. If you want something with history and scholarly insight, "Striptease" is your best bet.

I'm not claiming that "Striptease: From Gaslight To Spotlight" is the only book on the subject you should seek out. Just the same, if you want a single go-to source for a rough history of dance leading up to and encompassing the striptease movement, you could not ask for a better book than this. Amusing, intriguing, and often more intelligent than it has any right to be, "Striptease" is the ideal gift for the burlesque curious or the striptease scholarly.