60 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?

Burlesque verses were known for a time as poesie 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 is cited as a full-length work drawing on the burlesque tradition?

It throws James Joyce, Lenin and Tristan Tzara together in Zurich by way of The Importance of Being Earnest.

Which composer wrote an 1890 Burleske for piano and orchestra?

From the early 18th century, 'burlesque' was also used across Europe for musical works.

Victorian burlesque was popular in London theatres between which decades?

Madame Vestris kicked it off at the Olympic Theatre in 1831 with Olympic Revels.

How was the dialogue of Victorian burlesque generally written?

W. S. Gilbert and F. C. Burnand were among the 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?

House stars there included Nellie Farren, Edward Terry and Fred Leslie.

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

Their show was the most popular entertainment in the city that season.

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

It was her version of F. C. Burnand's 1863 burlesque of the Greek myth.

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'?

It is often called the first American musical, and it ran for over a year in New York.

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?

By 1932 there were at least 150 strip principals working in the US.

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

Prohibition had already hurt the business, since its atmosphere depended on flowing liquor.

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 1959 Broadway musical was based on a burlesque star's 1957 memoir?

The 1959 production ran 702 performances, and its Rose is one of musical theatre's great monster mothers.

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

It was filmed in 1943 as Lady of Burlesque, starring Barbara Stanwyck.

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

She was married to actor Alexander Kirkland at the time, and the boy went by three surnames over his life.

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

It comes from Pal Joey, in which a reporter recalls interviewing her.

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

She was arrested four times in a single day during the Century of Progress fair.

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

Cecil B. DeMille gave Helen Gould Beck the name; her later 'bubble dance' was invented partly to cope with wind outdoors.

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

Their films recycle classic burlesque bits like 'Slowly I Turned' and 'The Lemon Bit'.

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

Rouben Mamoulian's early talkie starred Helen Morgan as a fading burlesque queen.

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

Johnny Mercer wrote the songs; the title comes from burlesque slang for the lead comedian.

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

Ann Miller and Mickey Rooney headlined it for years.

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?

Klaw's cheaply made features were hugely profitable in the 1950s.

Which young comedian wrote the 1954 burlesque film Dream Follies?

It was filmed as Modern Follies, years before Bruce's obscenity trials made him notorious.

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

Nathan Lane played the role on Broadway.

Where was the Burlesque Hall of Fame museum located from 2006 until its 2025 closure?

It began life as Exotic World on a goat farm in Helendale, California.

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

She launched the Miss Exotic World pageant the same year to draw visitors to the museum.

What is Dita Von Teese's birth name?

She took 'Dita' from silent-film actress Dita Parlo; Playboy misspelled the surname she picked from a phone book, and it stuck.

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

She is often called the Queen of Burlesque for spearheading the neo-burlesque revival.

Which musician did Dita Von Teese marry in 2005?

The Irish castle wedding lasted barely a year; she filed for divorce in December 2006.

The neo-burlesque revival began in which decade?

Billie Madley's 'Cinema' in the early 1990s is credited as a pioneer, and by 2008 The New York Times declared burlesque back.

Who wrote and directed the 2010 musical film Burlesque?

His sister Robin Antin created the Pussycat Dolls, and Diablo Cody did an uncredited rewrite of the script.

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

It was Aguilera's first leading film role.

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

It was her first musical performance on screen since Good Times in 1967.

Cher's song from the film, 'You Haven't Seen the Last of Me', won a Golden Globe. Who wrote it?

Aguilera's ballad 'Bound to You' was nominated in the same category.

What was the budget of the 2010 film Burlesque?

It grossed $90.5 million worldwide and was Screen Gems' priciest film outside the Resident Evil series.

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

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?

The tryouts ran from June to November 2024 before the West End transfer.

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

Chaplin later recalled the 'fierce pioneer gaiety' of Chicago's burlesque scene around 1910.

Which outfit, nicknamed 'the Wheel', dominated American burlesque from 1900 to 1920?

Columbia sent more than three dozen touring shows a year around its affiliated theatres and was largely family-friendly before World War I.

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

Later dramas on the subject included King of Burlesque (1936) and Lady of Burlesque (1943) with Barbara Stanwyck.

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?

Ball of Fire (1941) is a screwball comedy that paired her with Gary Cooper.

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

Le Scandal Cabaret, founded in 2001, is a direct offshoot of it and was still running in 2018.

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

In New York, Billie Madley's revues were pioneering the same revival independently at the same time.

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

Its roots in the neo-burlesque scene go back to early-1980s performers such as John Sex.

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

Shows also feature emcees who introduce each dancer.

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

Later Victorian burlesque writers included H. J. Byron, F. C. Burnand and W. S. Gilbert.

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

He also called his 1916 chamber opera-ballet Renard a 'burlesque tale sung and played'.

Which symphony contains a third movement titled '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?

It sends up the famous Prelude in C-sharp minor.