Vintage Burlesque Photos

Holliday Dancers: vintage 8x10 photo

Sat, 25 May 2013 10:20:21 -0400

Holliday Dancers: vintage 8x10 photo

Milton Berle and Bernice Decker of the Chez Pare Adorables:...

Fri, 24 May 2013 20:46:29 -0400

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...

Fri, 24 May 2013 14:42:11 -0400

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...

Fri, 24 May 2013 10:20:32 -0400

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...

Thu, 23 May 2013 19:46:22 -0400

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...

Thu, 23 May 2013 14:40:40 -0400

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...

Thu, 23 May 2013 10:20:33 -0400

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...

Wed, 22 May 2013 21:14:41 -0400

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

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

Wed, 22 May 2013 19:57:48 -0400

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

Wed, 22 May 2013 14:40:25 -0400

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

Sherry Lavalle: vintage 8x10 photo

Wed, 22 May 2013 10:20:21 -0400

Sherry Lavalle: vintage 8x10 photo

Charles “Tubby” Boots - Tons of Fun: vintage 8x10...

Tue, 21 May 2013 22:14:36 -0400

Charles “Tubby” Boots - Tons of Fun: vintage 8x10 photo

The son of the vaudeville dancing team Boots and Barton, Charles had show business in his blood. Reportedly, at the age of 7 he already weighed in at 200 lbs earning him the nickname “Tubby”. He grew up backstage at burlesque theaters and became enamored of the comics. So he embarked on a career as a comic and burlesque emcee, using his nickname ‘Tubby’ and being billed as 375 lbs of Fun or Tons of Fun. His signature gimmick was that he not only wore tassels that matched those of some of the dancers, but he could twirl them simultaneously and in opposite directions. Tubby would go on to record at least 2 comedy records: Tubby Boots Goes Topless and Thin May be In - But Fat’s Where It’s AT.

Sequin (Geri Garner): vintage August 1956 calendar from the...

Tue, 21 May 2013 14:41:57 -0400

Sequin (Geri Garner): vintage August 1956 calendar from the Police Gazette.

Sally Lane (Majestic): vintage 7x9 news service photo dated 27...

Tue, 21 May 2013 10:20:00 -0400

Sally Lane (Majestic): vintage 7x9 news service photo dated 27 February 1949.

Sally Lane (also danced under Sally Majestic) had been arrested for performing an ‘immoral dance’, and is shown here being taken to the police station. The police originally sent a police woman backstage to arrest her in Sally’s dressing room.

Norma Noel: vintage 8x10 photo dated 29 September 1929. This...

Mon, 20 May 2013 20:49:33 -0400

Norma Noel: vintage 8x10 photo dated 29 September 1929.

This photo was used to promote the show “Girls of the USA”, in which Norma was the featured dancer.

Maria Lane: signed, vintage real photo postcard This postcard...

Mon, 20 May 2013 14:40:40 -0400

Maria Lane: signed, vintage real photo postcard

This postcard was signed to Louise, the mother of popular comedian and burlesque, Bucky Conrad.

Vickie Welles: vintage newspaper ad for Vickie appearing at...

Mon, 20 May 2013 10:20:43 -0400

Vickie Welles: vintage newspaper ad for Vickie appearing at Minsky’s Rialto Theater in Chicago, IL.

Her name is frequently spelled differently - first name: Vicki or Vickie and last name: Wells or Welles.

Virginia Kinn - The White Orchid or The Orchid Girl: vintage...

Sun, 19 May 2013 21:18:41 -0400

Virginia Kinn - The White Orchid or The Orchid Girl: vintage 8x10 photo from 1950.

Virginia was a popular dancer on both the eastern Hirst and the Midwest Burlesque Circuits in the late 1940s and into the 1950s. This particular photo was used to promote an appearance at the L&L Cafe in Chicago, IL.

Satira (Patricia Schmidt): vintage 8x10 news service photo dated...

Sun, 19 May 2013 20:12:03 -0400

Satira (Patricia Schmidt): vintage 8x10 news service photo dated 7 October 1947.

Satira is shown placing Problema, her pet dog, into the crate in which she will be flown to Satira’s parents in Toledo, Ohio. Satira had been convicted of murder in the shooting death of her then lover, wealthy Chicago lawyer, John Lester Mee. Satira claimed it was in self-defense, and that Mee had been holding her captive on his yacht - also named Satira - but the jury did not accept her plea and she was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Hence, she was sending her dog to her parents to care for while she served her sentence. Though convicted to 15 years, Satira would only serve 18 months before receiving a pardon from the Cuban president.

Alta: vintage 8x10 photo

Sun, 19 May 2013 14:40:44 -0400

Alta: vintage 8x10 photo