THE AMERICAN BURLESQUE SHOW

by Irving Zeidman ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1967

A full undress picture of the girls who sometimes have little between themselves and their audience save their nail polish, Zeidman's apparently definitive work does not hit full stride until 1925. (It starts in 1880.) Except for a few brief years at the Irving Place Theatre Just off Union Square in Manhattan, really rowdy, dirty, funny burlesque never existed. It has always been a travesty of the libidinous display it was intended to be, starting with hippopotami in pink tights and passing through phases of mock nudity. Or real--Margie Hart, who had a peachy complexion, or Rose La Rose and a few girls who performed the end of their acts posing with merely loosely placed fingers.... Zeidman is interested in mass coverage, but he writes with little style. Even so a few of the pages are worth the trip.

Pub Date: April 1, 1967

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Hawthorn

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1967

Categories: NONFICTION