Vintage Burlesque Photos

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.

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

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

Sherry Lavalle: vintage 8x10 photo

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 Police Gazette.

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 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.