If you are at a loose end, a tad bored, you could do a lot worse than click on the magazine link. Without doubt, Kittie's informed article is the definitive view of Burlesque. But despite the mockery, parody and send-up that the art of Burlesque is, it's the striptease that seems to be the attraction, it almost borders on hagiography.
I must say that I adore a good performance of striptease as much as anyone else, although my preference is towards the humour, like Red Sarah. But for me this performance to David Rose's 1962 classic, The Stripper, is without equal.

YouTube - Morecambe And Wise

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Ooh la la!

Absolute brilliance. I grew up watching them. The amount of work they put into each show was exhausting just hearing about it! Always loved that sketch.

hah! that is briliant! i've never seen that one before! love the melon bit xx

Ah, they don't make comedy like that anymore! Proper parody, absolutely hilarious!

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That sketch has always been a favourite of mine and I have urged many newcomers and students to look out for it come the festive season.

It is in fact a true burlesque in the older British sense of it.

It is a burlesque of 'The Stripper' and is an invaluable example of the traditional genre before the genre was reinterpreted and the term skewed to be synonymous with striptease, in the USA.

Both Morcambe and Wise and Carry On are perfect examples of where the British form of burlesque went after the Music Halls and Variety theatres faded out, and show how it translated to TV and film.

BP - in what way is the attraction to striptease hagiographical? Do you mean that people worship the sexy rather than the silly? Perhpas seeing burlesque striptease as a form of ritual in 'Goddess Worship'?

I am intrigued by your view on this...

As for people being attracted to the striptease end of burlesque, i think this is because it is relatively new - and certainly the glamorous theatrical striptease style is new to us in Britain. The burlesque striptease is quintessentially an American art form and like many US entertainments, has grabbed our attentions too.

The love of traditional burlesque however, is no less attractive - it has never died in Britain and our affair with it has yet to falter. 'Send up' and lampooning is the crux of our 'British sense of humour'. The irony is that the older satirical form is as popular as ever, it's just that the majority of people don't realize that it has had a name all along - 'burlesque'.

There is no doubt that the risque and bawdy elements of both forms are key to it's success in both the USA and UK. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink...

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Kittie Klaw - The Ministry Of Burlesque
"Together We CanCan".

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Oh honey
thank you so much for putting that up for us today laughed my head off.
Diva xxx

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I was searching for the word to define the sort of reverence that is given to (mainly) female performers. For the benefit of anyone without access to a dictionary, hagiography is a biography of a saint. How do I put this without sounding like a brown nose?
Kittie writes her prose with an eloquence that makes it easy for someone with far less knowledge of Burlesque to understand. The way some academics can put complexities into simple lay terms. I do not have this gift, or I need to read more.
But, as usual, Kittie was able to dissimilate my rambling and make sense of it. The worship of the sexy, rather than the silly, is exactly what I mean.
Thanks Kittie. Hoped you enjoyed the re-run of the clip.

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Ooh la la!

Interestingly enough - when I did my first performance I was asked to make it a bit more 'goddessy' because it was at a ball for Beltane, or Walpurgis night, the Pagan spring festival. I tried to make it look like a bit of a goddess worship or fertility dance, but couldn't work out quite how ... wish this subject had come up back then!

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Excellent... just what i needed on a monday night :-) Thanks xx

Beautiful example of burlesque comedy, fantastic. Think i may have to dance about whilst making breakfast now, give my bloke something to giggle at!! lol