Stripper Fun Facts:

Burlesque where, when and who started this whole stripping mania?

There are a dozen or more popular legends as to how the strip was born – telling how a dancer's shoulder strap broke, or some similar nonsense. In fact, it had been around since Little Egypt introduced the "hootchie-kooch" at the 1893 Tennessee World's Fair, and had always remained a mainstay of stag parties. Burlesque promoters like the Minsky brothers took the strip tease out of the back rooms and put it onstage. While stripping drew in hoards of randy men, it also gave burlesque a sleazy reputation.

As right wing moralists once again expressed outrage, male audiences kept burlesque alive and profitable through most of the Great Depression. Strippers had to walk a fine line between titillation and propriety – going too far (let alone "all the way") could land them in jail for lewed acts corrupting public morals. Some gave stripping an artistic twist and graduated to general stardom, including fan dancer Sally Rand and former vaudevillian Rose Lousie Hovick – better known as the comically intellectual Gypsy Rose Lee.

The strippers soon dominated burlesque, and their routines became increasingly graphic. To avoid total nudity but still give the audience what it wanted, the ladies covered their groins with flimsy G-strings and used "pasties" to cover their nipples. This was usually enough to keep the cops at bay, even though pasties were far more vulgar that a plain naked breast.


The Woman That Kept it Alive:
In the striptease domain or world, there is only one name that is universally known and loved, that of Gypsy Rose Lee. She turned stripping into an art form, and gave the art class. But Gypsy Rose Lee's talent was greater than the burlesque world. She wrote novels and a play, headlined the 1939 New York World's Fair, starred in films and became a television celebrity. Her own autobiography, "Gypsy," was turned into a Broadway musical and, later, a major motion picture played by Bett Midler. Wow! Gypsy Rose Lee was a little Hottie and defiantly ahead of her time click here to view picture.


Striptease "The Untold History of the Girlie Show"

"Striptease: The History Of The Girlie Show" by Rachel Shteir Click Here to Listen! You must have realplayer click here to download.