Jo Weldon's New York School of Burlesque

Ann-Margret doing some fierce boa work in The Swinger . Above: Image from coolcinematrash.com.

I had started this scrapbook blog , but it doesn't make sense to run two at the moment when I haven't had time to do one, so here's a scrapbook post for the holiday. Happy Halloween!! Julie Atlas Muz's feet backstage at Wanted! Wild Bandits of Burlesque. Gal Friday and Bambi the Mermaid backstage at the Slipper Room. Rudy balances on one finger on a strap-on dildo. Click to view larger.

The Uber-Lovable Kitten on the Keys posted these images of Cabaret New Burlesque in Italy, and gave me permission to use them here: Click here to see more of them and to see larger versions!! Posted by Jo Weldon, Headmistress of The New York School of Burlesque , for burlesquedaily.blogspot.com .

Current TV just sent me this adorable clip of young ladies learning about burlesque in Rome! She says she gets upset when people call her a stripper, but we'll not make much of that, shall we, fellow strippers? Right now some of my favorite strippers are also in Italy! Miss you, girls! Kitten on the Keys, Julie Atlas Muz, and Dirty Martini in the Mediterranean Sea. Photo from Kitten on the Keys. Posted by Jo Weldon, Headmistress of The New York School of Burlesque , for burlesquedaily.blogspot.com .

There is an article about burlesque in the New York Times today: 'Burlesque, that fabled if slightly soiled fantasy realm whose heraldic totem was the twirling pasty and whose undisputed queen was Gypsy Rose Lee, has returned to New York, dripping with rhinestones and trailing clouds of glitter. Under the rubric neo-burlesque, a Depression-era genre whose hallmarks were smut with attitude, bargain-barn glamour, rock-bottom ticket prices and a proudly stuck-out tongue is reasserting itself, flourishing in unexpected corners around the city.' The Almost Naked City This one, also from the Times, circa 2003: 'It is not surprising that there is an old-time burlesque revival in New York. Like tiki bars and the jitterbug, the striptease had to come back sometime. What is impressive, though, is that it has come back with such a vengeance. Suddenly, women in very scanty clothing are everywhere, or at least on every bijou stage in every hipster neighborhood, introduced by languid ...

When I said I was going to post more personal posts, I didn't mean ones like what's about to follow. This post was going to come along in my blog in one form or another no matter what. The fabulous Lady Monster , who so generously shared her pastie-adhesive tips in one of this blog's first posts, just announced a few days ago that Leonard Nimoy's book, The Full Body Project , was to be released this weekend, and she gave a presentation about being a bigger bodied model and performer at the reception at R. Michelson Gallery . Lady Monster at The Burlesque Hall of Fame weekend in Las Vegas. Photo snagged from Neon Salt Mine. The blurb on amazon.com reads, 'In his provocative new book, photographer and actor Leonard Nimoy captures images of full-bodied women, some of whom are involved in what is known as the "fat acceptance" movement. "The average American woman," Nimoy writes, "weighs 25 percent more than the models selling the clothe...