LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Burlesque Theater
built 637 days ago
The popular burlesque show of the 1870s through the 1920s referred to a raucous, somewhat bawdy style of variety theater. It was inspired by Lydia Thompson and her troupe, the British Blondes, who first appeared in the United States in the 1860s, and ... by early "leg" shows such as The Black Crook (1866). Its form, humor, and aesthetic traditions were largely derived from the minstrel show. One of the first burlesque troupes was the Rentz-Santley Novelty and Burlesque Company, created in 1870 by M.B. Leavitt, who had earlier feminized the minstrel show with her group Madame Rentz's Female Minstrels.
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Carmela, the Sophia Loren of Burlesque— worked all over the country from 1950 to 1976, preferring the burlesque theaters to the clubs. She ... worked In Europe, Canada and South America, sometimes following and/or co-featuring with Blaze Starr and Tempest Storm. Fellow performers that Carmela worked with include: Louis Armstrong, Soupie Sales and Don Rickles. She is especially proud of the performance she gave for President Kennedy’s honor guard.
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Barbara Jean Dishong (1931- ) performed in burlesque shows at the Hollywood Theater in San Diego from 1950 to 1963. Janne Cafara Kane (1908-1997) entered show business in 1921. She came to San Diego in 1940 and headlined at the Hollywood Theater off and on for 18 years. Her stage name was Jan "Irish" Cafara.
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Joni Taylor— Joni began her career in burlesque in 1952 working in the chorus line at the Casino Theatre in Pittsburgh. Comic George Murray was the theatre manager and his wife Eileen Hubert, dancer/talking woman, choreographed the shows. As her career progressed, Joni went on the road working in bits with comic Charlie Robinson, and dancing as a co-feature, always working in theaters on the east coast. Joni left burlesque in 1964, but would fill-in if AGVA called for a last minute replacement. She is proud to have worked with many top-notch comics and straight men from the last decades of burlesque.
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Burlesque refers to theatrical entertainment of broad and parodic humor, which usually consists of comic skits (and sometimes a striptease). While some authors assert that burlesque is a direct descendant of the Commedia dell'arte, the term 'burlesque' for a parody or comedy of manners appears about the same time as the first appearance of commedia dell'arte.
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The theater depicted below is generously large by vaudeville/burlesque standards. Instead, many were similar to today's comedy clubs and striptease bars, with a minimal exposed apron and a solid back wall. Everything behind the proscenium arch was gone. Consider this diagram to be of a medium-sized theater that allowed complicated production numbers and skits.
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Burlesque Theater