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Every year in downtown Las Vegas, often called "Old Vegas", The Burlesque Hall of Fame reunion brings together members of the former League of Exotic Dancers, one of the earliest unions for women in exotic entertainment, to perform their half-century-year- old routines. In this annual tradition, performers from the golden age of Las Vegas burlesque rally counter-culture neo-burlesque fans who both keep the tradition alive and add new meaning to it.
Over the past five years, documentarian Kaitlyn Regehr and photographer Matilda Temperley have embedded themselves within this communitya group, which like Old Vegas itself, continues to survive and thrive sixty years past its supposed prime. Here, in a smoky, off-strip casino, they found women, at times well into their 80s, subversively bumping and grinding away preconceptions about appropriate behavior for a pensioner.
This collection of interviews and photographs is drawn from the backstage dressing rooms, homes, and lives of this aging burlesque community, as well as the young neo-burlesque community who adore them. Through a range of experiencesfrom discussing struggles for wage equality, to helping stabilize an 85 year old as she steps into a sequined g-stringthe authors describe the complexity of the lives of these performers and the burlesque history from which they come. Regehr and Temperley present multidimensional portraits of this relatively untold womens history and conclude that they are at their most vital when read with all the nuances, troubles, trials, and triumphs that they formerly and currently experience.
List of contents
- GLITTER AND GRIT: AN INTRODUCTION
- PART 1: RETELLING TWENTIETH-CENTURY EXOTIC DANCE
- Aging, Staging, Sparkle, and Struggle
- Burlesque-Dead, Alive, and Imagined
- PART 2: LEGENDS OF THE AMERICAN BURLESQUE SHOW
- Bambi Jones
- Ellion Ness
- April March
- Tempest Storm
- Toni Elling
- Ivy Tam
- Big Fannie Annie
- Holiday O'Hara
- Kitten Natividad
- Gabriella Maze
- Judith Stein
- Isis Star
- Tai Ping
- Suzette Fontaine
- Marinka
- Dusty Summers
- Penny Starr Sr. and Penny Starr Jr.
- Camille 2000
- Liza Jourdan
- Rita Alexander
- Bic Carrol
- CONCLUSION: GLAMOUR OUT OF ADVERSITY
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- NOTES
- BIBLIOGRAPHY
- INDEX
About the author
Dr. Kaitlyn Regehr is a writer, documentarian and scholar of cultural studies. Her work has been published internationally across academic and popular print media. In addition to serving as a topic specialist for BBC World, she has created documentary content for iTunes and networks including Super Channel (CA), SWR (DE) and ARTE (FR). Regehrs work has explored intersections between gender, performance and politics in female driven communities.
Matilda Temperley is an award-winning photographer. Her work regularly appears in international publications such as, The Guardian, The Telegraph, Harpers Bazaar and National Geographic. Matilda's work is inspired by marginalized societies. Her sell out book, Under The SurfaceSomerset Floods won the Royal Photographic Societys Vic Odden Award in 2015. Her second book, Omo- Change In The Valley documents human rights abuses in Ethiopia.
Summary
Every year in downtown Las Vegas, often called "Old Vegas", The Burlesque Hall of Fame reunion brings together members of the former League of Exotic Dancers, one of the earliest unions for women in exotic entertainment, to perform their half-century-year- old routines. In this annual tradition, performers from the golden age of Las Vegas burlesque rally counter-culture neo-burlesque fans who both keep the tradition alive and add new meaning to it.
Over the past five years, documentarian Kaitlyn Regehr and photographer Matilda Temperley have embedded themselves within this communitya group, which like Old Vegas itself, continues to survive and thrive sixty years past its supposed prime. Here, in a smoky, off-strip casino, they found women, at times well into their 80s, subversively bumping and grinding away preconceptions about appropriate behavior for a pensioner.
This collection of interviews and photographs is drawn from the backstage dressing rooms, homes, and lives of this aging burlesque community, as well as the young neo-burlesque community who adore them. Through a range of experiencesfrom discussing struggles for wage equality, to helping stabilize an 85 year old as she steps into a sequined g-stringthe authors describe the complexity of the lives of these performers and the burlesque history from which they come. Regehr and Temperley present multidimensional portraits of this relatively untold womens history and conclude that they are at their most vital when read with all the nuances, troubles, trials, and triumphs that they formerly and currently experience.
Report
Wonderful Jonathan Gray, Dancing Times
