Vintage Burlesque Photos

Milton Berle and Bernice Decker of the Chez Pare Adorables: vintage 8x10 photo dated 28 December 1936

This is a promotional photo used to support Milton appearing in a revue show at Chicago’s famous Chez Paree.  Bernice is demonstrating a ‘Russian Doll Dance’ that the chorus girls - The Chez Paree Adorables - would be performing.

Satan’s Angel: vintage 8x10 photo from 1954

This is not Angel Walker, the fire tassel twirler that started using Satan’s Angel as her stage name in the early 1960s.  This woman was an East Coast performer that was active in burlesque in the early 1950s.  According to a letter written by Marty Whyte, her agent, she was a talented tassel twirler, did a ‘breast control’ number, and a bubble act using a bubble machine and colored lights.   I have a press packet packet Marty Whyte sent to A.L. Meakin, the owner of the Rialto Theater in Seattle, WA, in hope of securing Satan’s Angel a booking at his theater.  

Princess DoMay - The Cherokee Half Breed: vintage 8x10 photo by photographer Leonard ‘Lenny’ Burtman. Many of the images from this photo shoot would be used in the Exclusively Yours, Princess DoMay: Personality Digest. One of the many risque or fetish inspired publications of Burtman’s publishing company.

Mae Murray - The Girl with the Bee Stung Lips: vintage 5x7 photo

Mae was born Marie Adrienne Koenig on 10 May 1885 to French and German parents, in New York city.   In 1908 she joined the Ziegfelf Follies as a chorus girl, and was a headlining dancer by 1915.  Soon after, she made her motion picture debut and went on to become a silent film star appearing in her very first two films with Rudolph Valentino.  Later, she  form her own production company with producer John M. Stahl, and sat on the board of trustees for the Motion Picture & Television Fund, a charity which provided aid to those in the industry with housing or health needs.  Due to contract disputes, Mae quit films in the late 1920s.  Ironically, she would eventually end up poor and living in a retirement home sponsored by the Motion Picture & Television Fund.

Roberta Jonay: vintage 8x1o photo

Roberta was a specialty dancer in burlesque, not a stripper.  Her real name was Roberta Jones, but she used ‘Jonay’ as a stage name to stand out.  She was a popular dancer of her time and even visited the White House at the request of Eleanor Roosevelt.  The two became friends and Eleanor always took an interest in Roberta’s dancing career.

Anne LaVelle: vintage 8x10 photo dated 4 October 1941

Anne was a tap dancer that appeared in variety and revue shows.

Unknown Dancer: vintage (mid 1950s) postcard produced by the Burlesque Historical Company in Philadelphia, PA.

June Pressier: vintage 8x10 MGM studios promotional photo from MGM.

June, and her sister Cherry, had been a popular vaudeville dancing team. They were both accomplished dancers and acrobatics, and even appeared in the 1934 and 1936 Ziegfeld Follies. In 1938 Cherry married and retired from dancing, and June went on to join MGM Studios. 

Louise Stewart: vintage 8x10 photo probably from the mid 1940s

Sherry Lavalle: vintage 8x10 photo