Striparama Striptease Burlesque

Striparama, Volume 2, Number 8
Health Knowledge Inc.
New York, New York
1965

digital replica

Most of Mr. Burtman’s magazines carried one or more elements of misrepresentation. Issues of High Heels had no pictorials of models in high heels. Magazines showing delightful models on the cover did not show the advertised beauties inside. Magazines that purported to be new issues were collections of previously published materials. Magazines named Striparama had too many pictorials of models who weren’t strippers.

Striparama, Volume 2, Number 8, proves itself to be an excellent issue of this entertainment-focused nameplate because, except for two pages of pictures of an “amateur stripper,” it's all about strippers, and rather attractive ones. Many of these pictorials include biographical information.

Picture articles about featured performers show Irma the Body, Wanda Deel, June Knight, Tempest Storm, newcomer Baby Doll, sexy, blue-eyed Jezebel, and Dorian Dennis. A couple include newspaper advertisements of the strippers’ venues. We’re introduced to Tinker Bell and her Sins of Cleopatra, Rita Grable and her million-dollar legs, and Naja Karamura who promotes herself as a Goddess of Fire and Thunder. An appreciation of burlesque entertainer Tana Louise laments her retirement in a short picture set and back cover.

A Gene Bilbrew illustration introduces a lengthy short story involving a private striptease performance.
In “Sex in a Blue Light,” Kip Donahue tells us about Harold Minsky, son of famous burlesque showman Abe Minsky. We learn about the current glitter and feather extravaganza at the Las Vegas Dunes Hotel and a bit about the origins and history of the art. Part of this detailed essay recalls government censorship of striptease acts in the 1930s and 1940s. In Letters to the Editor, readers write about their favorite performers and editors print photos of them.

Page layouts have been revised to obtain larger pictures of the models. In so doing, margins were reduced and captions re-located. To achieve continuity in the short story, pages that carry the continued text at the back of the magazines were positioned to immediately follow the opening pages.

The tonality of photographs was adjusted. To achieve clarity and legibility in the ebook, the pages are large. All the word and picture content of the original, including ads, is in the ebook. 72 pages.

All new scans.

One of the best efforts in the Striparama series, the ebook presents this slice of cheesecake nostalgia in an accessible format that facilitates inspection. The ebook version of the magazine provides the best mechanism for enjoying its prose and picture content.

One ebook, delivered by download from your 30th Street Graphics account.