#245 - Cavalcade of Burlesque 1954 Joey Bishop

Cavalcade of Burlesque, Volume 3, Number 4
Burlesque Historical Company
Philadelphia Pennsylvania
1954

digital replica

If Striparama focused on the glamour facet of burlesque, Cavalcade of Burlesque shows us the complete theatrical presentation, paying lots of attention to comedians. The founder and Executive Director of Cavalcade, Jess Mack, had a successful career as straight man to many of the top bananas in the business.

The publication blends aspects of trade journal and fan magazine. More than 50 publicity photos of strippers and dancers appear on the magazine's 52 pages. These leggy lovelies include Rusty Lane, Francine, Jennie Lee, Rose La Rose, Tempest Storm, Ann Martin, Shirley Hayes, Julie Gibson, Betty Biddle, and Kitty Lynn.

Joey Bishop, who earned his chops as a burlesque show comic, penned a brief introduction. In it, he acknowledges all he learned about delivering gags while working on burlesque stages. He says he learned TV sitcom joke timing during his early show business years in burlesque.

One page shows the names and faces of four “top bananas” and the favorite joke of each. Curtain Time presents eight pages of authentic burlesque sketches framed by photos of strippers. Cartoons make jokes about the showgirl lifestyle.

An article describes entertainers at the Greenwich Village Savannah Club as “Brown-Skin Exotics.” Pictures show the exterior of the club, performers on stage, and “Lovely Sepia Show Girls,” including Venus La Doll, The Bronze Goddess of Love.

One pictorial — From Dawn to Dawn with Gay Dawn — pretends to show a day in the life of a stripper. With some nostalgic photography of how it looked in the 1950s, a piece celebrates the Atlantic City Centennial.

Essays tell anecdotes from the careers of Shirley Hayes, the Pussy Cat Girl, and Julie Gibson, who appeared as the Bashful Bride. Washington's Lyceum Theatre, Home of the Independent Burlesque Circuit of Road Attractions in 1916, is remembered with affection.

Business-to-business advertisers sell costume fabrics, costumes, stage equipment, tickets, posters, photography, and the onstage services of entertainers. With ads organized by city, restaurants, bars and hotels offer their wares to traveling performers.

The ebook is a full-sized, page-by-page digital replica that retains the page layouts and page sequence of the original. Every word, picture and ad is in the ebook. Image-editing adjustments improve the clarity of pictures for the digital iteration.

A nostalgic artifact of mid-century bawdiness, Cavalcade of Burlesque pays sincere respect to the performance artists who made audiences dream and laugh. With its view from backstage, we're privy to the nuts and bolts of an old stagecraft that pleased generations.

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