I am trying to research the performance style of early burlesque performers like Lydia Thompson and her british Blondes. Anyone out their with any info.

Kittie Klaw, Mother of Ministry of Burlesque, actively researches British Burlesque of this era (or so I believe!).

See also: http://www.ministryofburlesque.com/f...s-history.html

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I have done a lot of research into the origins of Burlesque but need to find someone who has an idea of what the performances would have been like. All the refs and images I can find are 1940's ish.

There's a biography of Lydia Thompson - http://www.amazon.com/Lydia-Thompson...dp/0415937663/ (preview at http://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=e...um=5&ct=result). She's also mentioned in quite a few other books too.

For more general history, you'll need to widen your search terms - try things like "Music Hall" or "Vaudeville "or "Variety Theatre" or "History of Cabaret". There are lots of histories of British music hall from the period you're interested in (like this one for instance), and lots of more general histories of cabaret (such as this and this). There will be specific country histories too, with books out there on the 'burlesque' theatre movements in America, Britain, France and Germany. Quick searches on Amazon have brought up tonnes and tonnes of interesting-looking tomes (this and this looks interesting for the history of strip-tease, and I'm sure Google Scholar, JSTOR and your local / university library will have loads more.

By "origins of burlesque" do you mean of burlesque cabaret acts, or do you mean the origins of girls doing fan dances in their knickers? The two histories converge at music hall.

Are you doing a university project?

Thanks I will def by the books you recommended.
Are there any performers out there who do acts that are more akin to this period?

Kittie Klaw is the performer who most explicitly tips her hat to that style, but Vicky Butterfly does too...

I definitely recommend the biography of Lydia by Kurt Ganzl.

Ive thought about doing a stage play about the British Blondes - maybe one day in the future ...

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Get in touch with Judith Bowers at the Britannia Panopticon Music Hall in Glasgow - she's an expert on Music Hall and anything associated

Britannia Panopticon Music Hall Panopticon

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