After catching the neo-burlesque of Seafarer Follies this weekend, check out some vintage stars of early striptease with the Seattle premiere of Behind the Burly Q. See it- it’s HISTORY!
*Behind the Burly Q runs from Aug 6-12 at The Grand Illusion
www.grandillusioncinema.org
Bambi The Mermaid in Helendale, CA (photo Andrew Brusso)
Bambi the Mermaid, Coney Island’s loveably lunatic showgirl, makes a first time appearance in Seattle this weekend at The Seafarer Follies. In email, Bambi peppers her sentences with generous and sincere exclamation points- she’s just that excited to see new cities and bring her extraordinary sideshow stripping to the stage.
A sunny blond with a beatific smile, Bambi’s acts are deceptively sweet: she’s been a Pantyless Cheerleader, Bug-Eating Wild Girl, Snake Charmer, Little Girl, and an array of half Bambi-half creature characters. She’s a fixture at the annual Coney Island Mermaid Parade and has performed at NYC’s Slipper Room. Jo “Boobs” Weldon credits Bambi as a pivotal force in her own realization that burlesque could be full-blown, bizarre performance art.
“Bambi has a significant body of work that revolves around sea creatures and her costumes are over the top amazing, which is why I felt she had to be part of this event,” says Paula The Swedish Housewife, producer of the first annual revue and pageant. “I could have booked an entire show just with her, but you’ll only get to see two of her delightful Sea Crustaceans at The Seafarer Follies this year. Too bad we don’t have a tank on the stage.”
Regardless of her fabled cache of costumes, with Bambi (who has forged a rich career in various acts of creative sex work and exhibitionism) you get the distinct impression she’s the type of wild woman that’s difficult to keep still- let alone with her clothes on.
Click HERE to read my full preview of The First Annual Seafarer Follies in the current issue of The Stranger.
For Seafarer Follies tix, visit : www.thetripledoor.net
Trixie Little (photo Mike Lee)
Baltimore’s Trixie Little & The Evil Hate Monkey are legendary for their combination of burlesque, vaudeville, and circus arts. The pair won Best Duo at Exotic World in 2006, and this year the Monkey scored Most Comical as well as Best Boylesque. Trixie’s taken home her share of titles as well- 2nd Runner Up and Most Innovative in 2008. Paula The Swedish Housewife brings them to Seattle for The First Annual Seafarer Follies August 6 & 7 at The Triple Door- and Trixie graciously took some time to write about her fantastical career:
You and The Evil Hate Monkey been performing together since 2002- how did that start? You have an amazing chemistry and friendship- it’s very visible even in YouTube clips.
Monkey and I started out swing dancing a long time ago and we got really good at all the throws and acrobatic moves. It wasn’t long before we wanted to focus on the flipping and cut out the dancing. We began going to study with former Cirque Du Soleil acrobats in Vermont for several weeks each year and over time we cultivated our unique style of “flipping-and-stripping!”
Your bio mentions high-level circus training- and it shows! Your physicality is awe-inspiring. What’s the background and training behind it?
As you can imagine, Monkeys are hard to keep up with! They really do have about 7x the strength we do- so going into trapeze and acrobatics seemed like the best thing to do with him. A little ways back, we actually moved up to Vermont for two years to study more intensively at our favorite circus school and we go back to continue training whenever we can. The way I see it, it will take a lifetime to truly master our art.
You’ve performed in such an amazing array of places- what has been most memorable to you?
We are so lucky to travel so much! We have annual trips that we look forward to each year- we always look forward to Seattle and Key West the most! As for individual shows, one REALLY memorable show was called “Elegance.” This was a show I produced two years ago in Baltimore’s former burlesque/vaudeville theater district that is now the red light district, called “The Block.” It felt majorly radical to stage a burlesque show in a fully nude strip club. There was literally not even five minutes between the nude girls dancing to Poison and the start of our show with Miss Astrid and Catherine D’Lish. It was so funny to watch our audience file in and sit down on the red velvet couches beneath the giant coochies framed in marabou- major deer-in-headlights looks going on. It took a few drinks, but the audience relaxed and went bananas for the whole experience. The stage was in the round on a granite table top with people seated all around it staring up at us. We tried to incorporate the two stripper poles into the show as much as possible and Monkey and I made several amazing entrances from the second floor by sliding down from the top balcony! The performances were off the charts too! It just felt historic to bridge the gap between burlesque and stripping for just one night.
So you’re from Baltimore? What’s it like there? The John Waters mental images about being from Baltimore are pretty alluring in a cult-kitschy kind of way.
Baltimore is AMAZING and John Waters is pretty much a patron saint here. There are definitely parts that have the classic “Bawlmer” (that’s how Baltimore sounds with a proper local accent) vibe- there really are women who call you “Hon” and chain smoke on their stoops. But it’s also an arts-friendly town with major art and music schools, cheap warehouse space, great audiences, a supportive arts council and a down-to-earth / do-what-you-want mentality which allows people to cultivate a wild sense of individuality. This past Saturday alone, I attended a community water ballet in a public park, performed in an Aerial Festival that was staged in a two story alley / graffiti gallery and then went to a burlesque show in a rock club!
Speaking of John Waters- what/where did you perform with him?
We opened for him once when he was doing a one-man Christmas show. It was a huge club in Washington, DC called the 9:30 Club. Afterwards we actually hung out and talked about our favorite dive bars, most of which were being bought by developers at the time, so it was a nostalgic conversation. I told him about my favorite corner bar that used to be on my street- it was called Fran’s. Fran was the owner and bartender- a grandmother who actually crocheted doilies and covers for the liquor bottles, the bar back was her butch daughter who always wore a sleeveless plaid flannel shirt and taped her knuckles. That place had the best juke box ever too, all doo-wop.
You’ve been here before, for Moisture Fest- what are your ties to Seattle?
A fan/friend in Washington, DC told me about the festival about 5 years ago and I remember seeing photos of the Aerialistas dangling from chandeliers over Hale’s Brewery- I was mesmerized! Every part of that equation sounded like something I wanted to be part of! So, our friend encouraged one of the producers, Tim Furst, to bring us out and he actually DID! Now it’s one of our favorite trips each year, we have been out 4 years in a row now. Also, we know Paula the Swedish Housewife and Indigo Blue from the national burlesque community. In my humble opinion, Seattle has the best burlesque scene in the entire country. Beating out my second fave, NYC, based on the quality and quantity of venues, performers, producers and professionalism.
Seeing as the Seafarer Follies are sea-themed- I’m guessing we *might* see your mermaid act. Any other hints on what you and Evil Hate Monkey have in store for Paula’s show?
Yes! That Mermaid act was one of the reasons Paula wanted us to come. Also because she really wanted to see a life-size Sea Monkey singing “Part of Your World” from The Little Mermaid. But make no mistake; we’re bringing an ocean-full of shenanigans with us! We are also polishing up two brand new numbers just for Seattle: one will be a new duo trapeze number and the second we will be auditioning to become host Cap’n Bloodbeard’s pirate crew and we’ll stop at NOTHING to please him! It’s kind of a “pirate casting couch” situation with Bloodbeard!
Seafarer Follies tix: www.thetripledoor.net
Trixie Little & The Evil Hate Monkey (photo Mike Lee)
Tempest Storm's autograph for Director Leslie Zemeckis
Behind The Burly Q isn’t so much a documentary as a thoroughly researched, jam-packed collection of vintage footage coupled with an oral history of burlesque theater from some of the last remaining grand dames and comics of that era. Director Leslie Zemeckis (wife of director Robert Zemeckis) was doing a show that touched on elements of burlesque; finding herself drawn to this largely undocumented part of history, she set out to make a comprehensive film as told by the performers who were there.
And she succeeded. Burly Q features back to back clips and extensive stories from spitfires like Dixie Evans (retired dancer and curator of the Burlesque Hall of Fame), Tempest Storm, Joan Arline (The Russian Wolfhound toting “Sexsquire Girl”), Betty Rowland, Kitty West, and Lily Ann Rose. Alan Alda makes an appearance, musing on being raised backstage when his father performed for a time as a “titsinger”. Early aerialists, acrobats, and musicians are also interviewed.
Stories range from the amusingly historic to the heartwrenching. April March recounts how in Dallas, girls ducked offstage to remove each layer of clothing so the act could pass as a costume change instead of a strip. Lily Ann Rose talks about being so afraid her “fur cat” might show that she shaved it off. Tempest Storm- who started out picking cotton and was brutally raped at 14- talks the semantics of name selection (“I didn’t feel like a Sunny Day”). Beverly Arlynne, whose crippling arthritis kept her from becoming a secretary, talks about the oft-misunderstood motivations for getting into the business. Some performers earned $1,500-$1,800 a week- more than most neo-burlesquers command today- while big names like Lili St. Cyr raked in $3,000-$5,000 in their prime.
Despite extensive travel, failed marriages, and the unexpected decline of the business, the prevailing memory of those interviewed is that the days on the burlesque circuit were the happiest of their lives. For a brief window of time when they were young, the stage families, adoration, and glamour transformed their lives into the remarkable. Leslie Zemeckis has done burlesque fans a favor in capturing some of these ladies’ last interviews on film.
*Behind the Burly Q runs from Aug 6-12 at The Grand Illusion. A possible mini-performance by a few ladies from Sinner Saint Burlesque is being talked about for opening night; details to follow next week.
Visit the Grand Illusion:
www.grandillusioncinema.org
Sharon Stone with Director Zemeckis at the film's NY MoMa screening
The Shanghai Pearl (photo John Cornicello)
Today my new column is out- featuring the pretty and pragmatic Shanghai Pearl- click HERE to read.
In other show news this week:
Continuing the burlesque/boylesque media blitz, Ben De La Creme’s Terminally Delightful three week run got a review in the current issue of The Stranger as well, check it out HERE. Last show is Friday July 23.
SHINE: A Burlesque Musical closed on Sunday, but is heading to the New York International Fringe Festival (Ellen Stewart Theatre @ LA MAMA) August 13-29. Nearly the entire Seattle cast will perform except for Polly Wood and Mark Waldstein (Richard Suit), whose parts will be re-cast with local NY talent. Roxie Moxie again plays Feral, but will double as assistant choreographer in place of Inga Ingénue, who is unable to work the NY shows due to prior commitments. http://www.fringenyc.org/index.php
Lily Verlaine’s Nightcap: L’Edition Francaise at the Triple Door was hands-down the best show I’ve seen all year. Kitten La Rue laid down the hyper-feminine French sass with costume confections by Danial Hellman and J.Von Stratton. Olivier Wevers (a principal dancer at Pacific Northwest Ballet, founder of Whim W’Him) choreographed a scandalous tryst for Paris Original and the absolutely stunning Kylie Shea to the music of Hugues Le Bars. Men blushed. Women attacked. Cats yowled. Lily Verlaine, dancer and producer, repurposed the lechery of Serge Gainsbourg- making Melody Nelson into a tale of female erotic awakening. A bicycle, a bed, Indigo Blue as a Rolls Royce hood ornament- Lily’s imagination is (thankfully) wild and boundless.
Kitten and Lily (Act 1)
Paris and Kylie (Act 2)
Burlesque Seattle Press 