59 Fun Facts About Burlesque

The word 'burlesque' ultimately derives from an Italian word meaning what?

It came into English via French from the Italian burlesco, rooted in burla, a jest or ridicule.

Whose early-16th-century Opere burlesche is the first title to use the word?

Francesco Berni's Opere burlesche, from the early 16th century, is the first title to use the word; burlesque verse was known for a time as poesia bernesca in his honour.

Alexander Pope's The Rape of the Lock is the classic example of which type of literary burlesque?

High burlesque applies an elevated literary manner to a trivial subject: in Pope's case, a snipped curl.

Samuel Butler's Hudibras, which mocks a Puritan knight in satiric doggerel, is an example of what?

Low burlesque takes a serious subject and treats it in an irreverent, mocking style.

Which 1974 Tom Stoppard play puts Joyce, Lenin and Tristan Tzara together in Zurich?

Travesties, Stoppard's 1974 burlesque, throws James Joyce, Lenin and Tristan Tzara together in wartime Zurich by way of The Importance of Being Earnest.

Which composer wrote an 1890 Burleske for piano and orchestra?

Richard Strauss wrote his Burleske for piano and orchestra in 1885-86, revised it, and saw it premiered in 1890 at Eisenach with Eugen d'Albert as soloist.

Victorian burlesque was popular in London theatres between which decades?

Victorian burlesque ran from the 1830s to the 1890s, launched by Madame Vestris's company in 1831 and fading in the 1890s as musical comedy took over.

How was the dialogue of Victorian burlesque generally written?

Victorian burlesque dialogue was written in rhyming couplets full of puns, often dreadful ones; W. S. Gilbert and F. C. Burnand were among its pun-happy authors before Gilbert teamed up with Sullivan.

Which two London theatres became the home of burlesque from the 1860s to the early 1890s?

The Gaiety and the Royal Strand were the homes of London burlesque for some thirty years; the Gaiety's house stars included Nellie Farren, Edward Terry and Fred Leslie.

Which troupe led by Lydia Thompson launched the burlesque craze in New York in 1868?

Lydia Thompson's British Blondes arrived in New York in 1868 and were the most popular entertainment in the city that season, spreading burlesque across America.

What was Lydia Thompson's first American show, in 1868?

Ixion, her version of F. C. Burnand's 1863 burlesque of the Greek myth, opened at Wood's Museum in New York in September 1868.

In 1870 Lydia Thompson and colleagues did what to Wilbur Storey, owner of the Chicago Times?

She said he had called her the most odious epithet that could be applied to a woman; she was arrested and fined.

Which 1866 musical extravaganza is remembered as an early American 'leg show'?

The Black Crook (1866) is often called the first American musical; its chorus of dancers in flesh-coloured tights made it an early 'leg show', and it ran in New York for over a year.

Which family ran the famously racy burlesque theatre at New York's National Winter Garden?

Their name lives on in the 1968 film The Night They Raided Minsky's.

By roughly when had striptease become the dominant ingredient of American burlesque?

Striptease had become burlesque's dominant ingredient by the mid-1920s as the circuits competed with vaudeville and film; by 1932 at least 150 strip principals were working in the US.

Which New York mayor's crackdown from 1937 effectively killed burlesque in the city?

Fiorello La Guardia's administration refused to renew burlesque licences from 1937, and by 1942 even the word was banned from New York marquees.

Which of the two national burlesque circuits collapsed in 1931 during the Depression?

Mutual's shows were racier than Columbia's, but tamer than the local stock houses.

What was Gypsy Rose Lee's surname at birth?

Her younger sister became the actress June Havoc.

Which burlesque star made an onstage bubble bath her signature act?

Lili St. Cyr, born Willis Marie Van Schaack, made an onstage bubble bath her signature at Ciro's in Hollywood and was tried for indecency over it in 1951, winning acquittal.

What was the title of Gypsy Rose Lee's 1941 mystery novel?

The G-String Murders (1941) is a backstage whodunit set in a burlesque theatre, narrated by a stripper named Gypsy Rose Lee herself; it was filmed in 1943 as Lady of Burlesque.

Which film director was the father of Gypsy Rose Lee's son Erik?

Otto Preminger fathered Erik, born in 1944 while Lee was married to actor Alexander Kirkland; the boy went by Kirkland, Lee and finally Preminger over his life.

Which Rodgers and Hart number satirised Gypsy Rose Lee's highbrow musings while stripping?

'Zip!' comes from Pal Joey (1940), sung by reporter Melba Snyder recalling her interview with Gypsy Rose Lee, who ponders Walter Lippmann and Schopenhauer while stripping.

Sally Rand's most famous fan dance appearances were at which event?

Sally Rand's fan dance made her the sensation of the 1933 Chicago World's Fair, the Century of Progress, where she was arrested four times in a single day.

The fan dancer born Helen Gould Beck took her stage name from what?

Cecil B. DeMille named her Sally Rand after a Rand McNally atlas; her later 'bubble dance' was invented partly to cope with wind at outdoor shows.

Which of these comedy duos got their start in burlesque before teaming up?

Abbott and Costello met on the burlesque circuit and teamed up at New York's Eltinge Theatre in 1936; their films recycle bits such as 'Slowly I Turned' and the lemon table routine.

Which 1929 backstage musical is cited as the first dramatic film to depict burlesque?

Applause (1929), an early talkie shot at Paramount's Astoria studio, starred Helen Morgan as Kitty Darling, a fading burlesque queen.

Who starred as the burlesque comic in the 1951 Broadway musical Top Banana?

Phil Silvers won a Tony as Jerry Biffle in Top Banana, with songs by Johnny Mercer; the title is burlesque slang for the lead comedian.

Which 1979 Broadway musical recreated a 1920s-circuit burlesque show?

Sugar Babies, which opened on Broadway in 1979 and ran 1,208 performances, starred Mickey Rooney and Ann Miller in a tribute to the old burlesque circuits.

Which stripteaser assembled the nostalgic 1962 off-Broadway show This Was Burlesque?

Corio had been a headliner on the Mutual circuit in its heyday.

Which pin-up star headlined Irving Klaw's burlesque films Striporama, Varietease and Teaserama?

Bettie Page headlined Irving Klaw's cheap but hugely profitable 1950s burlesque features Striporama, Varietease and Teaserama, sharing the Teaserama bill with Tempest Storm.

Which young comedian wrote the 1954 burlesque film Dream Follies?

Lenny Bruce wrote Dream Follies, a low-budget 1954 burlesque film, years before his obscenity trials made him notorious; he also wrote and starred in Dance Hall Racket (1953).

Douglas Carter Beane's 2013 play The Nance centres on what kind of figure in a 1930s burlesque troupe?

A nance was a camp stock character, the effeminate comic of burlesque bills; Nathan Lane played Chauncey Miles, a gay man performing the role, on Broadway in 2013.

To which city did the Burlesque Hall of Fame move from Helendale, California, in 2006?

The Burlesque Hall of Fame moved to Las Vegas in 2006; it began life as Exotic World on Jennie Lee's goat farm in Helendale, California.

Which retired dancer turned the Exotic World farm into a burlesque museum after 1990?

Dixie Evans, 'the Marilyn Monroe of Burlesque', ran Exotic World after Jennie Lee's death in 1990 and launched the Miss Exotic World pageant to draw visitors to the remote museum.

What is Dita Von Teese's birth name?

Born Heather Renée Sweet in Rochester, Michigan, in 1972, she took 'Dita' from silent-film actress Dita Parlo; Playboy misspelled the 'Von Treese' she found in a phone book, and it stuck.

What oversized prop features in Dita Von Teese's signature act?

Dita Von Teese's signature act has her bathing in a giant martini glass, complete with an oversized olive on a swizzle stick; she is often called the Queen of Burlesque.

Which musician did Dita Von Teese marry in 2005?

Dita married Marilyn Manson in December 2005 at Castle Gurteen in Ireland; the marriage lasted barely a year, and she filed for divorce in December 2006.

The neo-burlesque revival began in which decade?

Neo-burlesque began in the 1990s: Billie Madley's 'Cinema' revue in early-1990s New York is credited as a pioneer, and Ami Goodheart's Dutch Weismann's Follies followed mid-decade.

Who wrote and directed the 2010 musical film Burlesque?

Steven Antin wrote and directed Burlesque (2010); his sister Robin Antin created the Pussycat Dolls, and Diablo Cody did an uncredited rewrite of his script.

In the 2010 film, Christina Aguilera's Ali leaves a waitressing job in which state for Los Angeles?

Ali, played by Christina Aguilera in her first leading film role, quits a small-town Iowa diner and boards a bus to Los Angeles at the start of the film.

Who plays Tess, the owner of the struggling lounge in the 2010 film?

Cher plays Tess, owner of the Burlesque Lounge, and sings 'Welcome to Burlesque' and 'You Haven't Seen the Last of Me' in the film.

Who wrote the film's Golden Globe-winning song 'You Haven't Seen the Last of Me'?

Diane Warren wrote 'You Haven't Seen the Last of Me', which won the 2011 Golden Globe for Best Original Song; Aguilera's ballad 'Bound to You' was nominated in the same category.

What was the budget of the 2010 film Burlesque?

Burlesque cost $55 million, an unusually large budget for Screen Gems, and grossed about $90.5 million worldwide after its November 2010 release.

Which real Los Angeles venue's exterior served as the 'Burlesque Lounge' in the 2010 film?

The Ricardo Montalbán Theatre on Vine Street in Hollywood stood in for the Burlesque Lounge's exterior; filming ran from November 2009 to March 2010 in California.

Which cast member of the 2010 film plays Nikki, the lead performer struggling with alcohol?

Stanley Tucci plays Sean, the club's stage manager and Tess's confidant.

A stage-musical adaptation of the 2010 film opened in London's West End after tryouts where?

Burlesque the Musical tried out at the Manchester Opera House and Glasgow's Theatre Royal in 2024 before transferring to the Savoy Theatre in London in 2025.

Charlie Chaplin starred in a 1915 film parody of which opera?

Chaplin's 1915 two-reeler Burlesque on Carmen parodied Cecil B. DeMille's film of the opera Carmen, with Edna Purviance in the title role.

Which director made Applause (1929), the first dramatic film to depict burlesque?

Rouben Mamoulian, a Broadway stage director making his film debut, shot the picture at Paramount's Astoria studio with a freely moving camera that broke early-talkie conventions.

Which 1968 film, starring Jason Robards, depicts burlesque's shift from comedy to striptease?

It is set at the Minskys' racy National Winter Garden on New York's Lower East Side.

Michael B. Leavitt's 1870 Rentz-Santley company grew from a company that feminised which entertainment format?

American burlesque then borrowed the minstrel show's three-part structure of songs, olios and a grand finale.

Which star of the 1943 film Lady of Burlesque also played a burlesque dancer in Ball of Fire?

Barbara Stanwyck played Sugarpuss O'Shea, a brassy nightclub singer hiding from the law, opposite Gary Cooper in the 1941 screwball comedy Ball of Fire.

What was the first neo-burlesque club in New York City, opened in 1994?

The Blue Angel Cabaret, opened in 1994, was New York's first neo-burlesque club; Le Scandal Cabaret, founded in 2001 by Bonnie Dunn, grew directly out of it.

Which Los Angeles troupe founded by Michelle Carr helped pioneer the mid-1990s revival?

Michelle Carr founded the Velvet Hammer Burlesque in Los Angeles in 1995, reviving vintage striptease with a punk-rock edge; Billie Madley's New York revues were doing the same independently.

Neo-burlesque shows featuring male performers have been given what name?

Boylesque is the name for neo-burlesque with male performers; its roots in the scene go back to early-1980s acts such as John Sex, and New York has hosted a Boylesque Festival since 2012.

In neo-burlesque, what are the helpers who tidy up between acts called?

Stage kittens are the helpers who pick up discarded costumes and reset props between acts, often with a flourish of their own; emcees introduce each dancer.

Which J. R. Planché piece opened Madame Vestris's run of London burlesques in 1831?

Olympic Revels; or, Prometheus and Pandora, by J. R. Planché, opened Madame Vestris's management of the Olympic Theatre in January 1831 and set the pattern for Victorian burlesque.

Stravinsky described which 1911 ballet as a 'burlesque in four scenes'?

Petrushka (1911), with its puppet hero at the Shrovetide fair, was subtitled 'burlesque in four scenes'; Stravinsky also called his 1916 Renard a 'burlesque tale sung and played'.

Which symphony contains a third movement titled 'Rondo-Burleske'?

Mahler's Ninth Symphony (1909-10) has a third movement marked 'Rondo-Burleske'; Shostakovich used the label too, for the finale of his First Violin Concerto.

George L. Cobb's ragtime travesty Russian Rag is based on a prelude by which composer?

Russian Rag (1918) by George L. Cobb sends up Rachmaninoff's famous Prelude in C-sharp minor, Op. 3 No. 2, turning its thunderous opening chords into ragtime.