Review of Best of Burlesque

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According to my degree, I am a historian, so perhaps I will be believed when I say I watched The Best of Burlesque out of pure historical curiosity. Perhaps. Some people will believe anything.

I think I need to start this review in March of 1975 in New Orleans. It was my first visit to the city and I was enjoying the music, the food, the river, the architecture, and the ambience. I also enjoyed the dancing girls in the smattering of clubs of that nature along Bourbon Street, including Chez-something-or-other -it is a different name now. Due to an extremely appealing young woman on stage named Karen, I was there long enough that the bartender, one of the many women named "Roxy" in that industry, became quite chatty. Roxy, a veteran of the club scene, lamented to me at length how the whole business had changed in the past ten or twenty years and had become thoroughly lame.

"It was much better in the old days," she said. "There were real shows and real acts, not just prancing around."

I nodded but dismissed the remarks. Veterans of anything always think the old days were better and that modern times are lame. I was content to watch Karen prance around.

In 2008, I picked up The Best of Burlesque. It contains 7 hours of material filmed mostly between 1950 and 1955. My apologies, Roxy. You were right.

To any contemporary ecdysiast who may read this, please take no offense. I do not suggest you are any less capable than those of yore. Rather, it is the business itself that has changed. In the 1950s the classic burlesque houses still reigned as they had for half a century. Within a decade they were all but gone except as virtual museum pieces here and there, replaced by the go-go bar.

One of the DVD features is called Too Hot to Handle. It is a record of an entire burlesque show, with the live band, the songs, and the comic acts some atrocious, some genuinely funny as well as the dancers with their elaborate sets and routines. In addition there are lots of shorts with headliners of the day and with relative unknowns. Tempest Storm's act is very traditional and simple but amazing. Corky Marshall does a funny dance/monologue routine in which she portrays a nervous stripper on her first gig.

If you are seeking straightforward graphic sexual content of the sort found in modern adult videos, this collection is not for you; it is quirkier than that. The 1950s were the bad old days in any number of ways. Most of the social changes since then have been in the right direction. Yet something was lost along the way, too, even if the loss was a price worth paying. Perhaps we can spare some nostalgia for a time when even the sleaze had more style.

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This is another Something Weird disc set to get for the extras. The 2 theatrical features draaaag! But the trailers, strip tease shorts, and promotional art galleries are fun and fascinating!

Every woman here is pre-silicone and botox. Body types vary, but most of these dolls have the one thing modern cosmetic science can't offer: CHARACTER!

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This was the best look at burlesque I've had so far. It was great to go back in time and have a peek at how strippers use to do it and I loved it! There's such a variety of perfomers and surprisingly, my favorite was not one of the better known stars of burlesque. I found the quality and content of this DVD to be excellent. This one is a nice addition to any burlesque collection.

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This is a great collection of Burlesque shorts. The "features" are not entirely worth watching. Every element of the classic grindhouse atmosphere is recorded--the gritty backdrops, the corny comics, the jaded stripteasers, and even some hilarious musicians having trouble keeping their eyes on the instruments!

Even if you aren't planning on watching every short in this two-disc set, it is a great purchase anyways. I have even used this as a sort of conversation piece/ambiance in some interesting parties. The interview of Lili St. Cyr in the liner is also well worth reading.

Enjoy the lost art form of Burlesque!!!

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... Dixie Evan's riotous "Casting Couch" , Patti Waggin's

athletic "Parisian Pickup", and the over-the-hill Jean Carter sing the blues classic "Hot Nuts" & then do a lumbering striptease. Some fun stuff here, but not all the vignettes are top-notch. You get some Tempest Storm & Lili St. Cyr, but would have loved to seen Jennie Lee's and Alouette LeBlanc's tassel-tossing. Most of the music has that blaring,wah-wah bump n' grind beat -Something Weird should put out a CD of some of these tunes.