Jo Weldon's New York School of Burlesque

Miss Nude Universe 1975, Tiffany Carter began her burlesque career at the infamous Pink Pussycat in Hollywood, California. An active, in-demand entertainer with Sparky Blaine’s American Showgirl agency, Tiffany toured the U.S., Canada, and Japan from the late 1960s through the 1980s. Tiffany has came out of burlesque retirement and become one of the most beloved and booked burlesque Legends within the international neo-burlesque community! Are you performing at BHOF this year? Yes, I am performing on Friday night! I am doing a great old classic song to begin with and I am just saying how much I love everyone! What are some of your favorite things about the BHOF Weekender? I love getting to meet all the new people in this show biz group!   Have you taught a class before? I taught a class 2 years ago "Panels and Negligee’s and it was my favorite thing that year. I want to give back to all the new people coming into this business. One of the best things about teaching is to b...

Ms Toni Elling got her name from Duke Ellington, a close friend, when she began performing in the 1960s. She became known for her originality and her skillful strut. She worked throughout the US Northeast and in Japan. She created a huge stir with the way she walked across the stage upon her return at BHoF in 2006, and has brought her signature style to stages from Detroit to New York. Today she is known for teaching the Three P’s: Parade, Pose, and Peel. Are you performing at BHOF this year? I will not be performing at BHOF this year; however, I will do the Walk Of Fame What are some of your favorite things about the BHOF Weekender? I love being able to see old friends and making new ones!  Have you taught a class before? Yes, I have done classes before. It makes me happy to share my knowledge.   What do you hope students will get out of your class?   I hope to show students how panels can be used in an act! See Toni perform! http://youtu.be/vX8h...

Delilah Jones was born in Berlin, Germany at the stroke of midnight on a full moon in 1941. She began performing in 1959 and worked with Lili St Cyr at the El Rancho in L.A, Sally Rand in 1965 in Hollywood, Tura Satana, and many other luminaries. She toured North America for two dazzling decades and retired from burlesque in 1980. Her knowledge of the different eras is extensive and her perspective is wry and insightful, with a clear understanding of context, time, and place. She is part of a lovely crew of Las Vegas local legends who make sure to spend time together in the spirit of striptease sisterhood. She will be taking the stage at the Burlesque Hall of Fame for the first time this year. Are you performing at BHOF this year? I’ll be performing on Friday! What are some of your favorite things about the BHOF Weekender? I love being with friends, all long time legends, under one roof. Have you taught a class before? If so, what do you like about te...

Camille 2000 was the first burlesque queen to introduce Aggressive Art to burlesque with her tribute to Marquis De Sade. With the tagline “The Girl for Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow,” she’s a performer no one can forget. She posed for elite photographers, travelled with trunks of costumes and props, and once had a Japanese television crew follow her, reality TV-style, long before that genre ever became popular. Her 20-year career includes acting roles in movies and television shows — alongside Burt Reynolds in B.L. Stryker, 13 episodes of Miami Vice, appeared in Porky’s II and Alan Carr’s remake of Where the Boys Are. Her emotionally powerful fan dance marked her return to the stage in 2011, and her S&M themed act with Tigger! made the audience roar at the BHoF Weekender in 2012.   Are you performing at BHOF this year? Which night? Do you want to give us a hint about what you'll be doing? I am performing on Sunday night and will be doing a number with...

With their express permission, I teach the moves certain legends of burlesque have taught directly to me. One of my favorites is the one I call "The Dee Milo," a naughty little forward bump n bend move that Dee did in the 1950s and still does today. Dee performs regularly at the Burlesque Hall of Fame Reunions, has taught there and at Burlycon, and traveled to New York last year to perform in our Mother's Day Burlesque Show. You can learn her move from my book--or better yet, go to Las Vegas this June and see her perform yourself! In anticipation of that fabulous weekend, I'm reposting my interview with Dee, for your pleasure. Image from The Las Vegas Sun. When did you get into burlesque? 1949. How did you come up with your stage name? My manager wanted to keep it short to fit on marquees. Since my name is Dorothy we used Dee, and then we used "Milo" so I could be called the "Venus of Dance." Where did you begin? New Orleans. I had great ...

I've had tons of fun with Karen Abbott, whether it's been when she's jumped in to help at a student showcase at the Slipper Room, or doing a grand event at the New York Public Library . She's always playful, smart, and hotter than a biscuit. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to interview her about her newest book, a biography of Gypsy Rose Lee. Her first book, Sin in the Second City, was a fascinating insight into Chicago's notorious Everleigh sisters and their high-end brothel. Karen manages to make her intensely researched documentary work read like great fiction, and you can feel her enthusiasm for her subjects on every page. I knew her approach to Gypsy Rose Lee would be equally iconoclastic and vivid. You've chosen some spicy subjects for your books, and write about women who've been entrepreneurial from the margins of society. Do you find any similarities between the sisters and Gypsy Rose Lee? Both Gypsy and the Everleigh sisters were very c...

For Sherry's 85th birthday, she had a fabulous party, and the invitation was a charming 8 page booklet. She is allowing me to show part of it here, and I'm very excited to share just a bit of how amazing this woman is and how incredible her life is. She is one of the most gracious, outspoken, and hilarious people you'd ever want to meet! I've been really fortunate to get to know her and have her as a friend. When being involved in the burlesque world means you get to know people with soul, brains, and talent like this, you can see why I stay passionate about the community as well as the art form. Some of the best people in the world are in burlesque.

Did you have close friends in burlesque, and do you still have them? For some reason I really got along great with all the girls, and I don't remember having any friction with any of them. If you featured you traveled a lot and had your own dressing room, and the locals and chorus girls hung together more, so I usually didn't get to know them well, but I did make friends. I've still got friends that I still write to from way back. I would say it was a very wonderful comaraderie among the women. There may have been more conflict in the big eastern theaters. When I lost my scrapbook in Miami Beach I put an ad out to help me find it, and I got 14 letters from young people saying they wanted to hear about mortal combat backstage! It wasn't like that. I would say every once in awhile there would be two redheads or two very famous dancers and we'd expect conflict because of what they had in common. Sometimes at 9 am we'd be downstairs for rehearsal with the piano pl...

I love talking with Dixie Evans. She is one of the friendliest, most gracious, most open-hearted people in the world, and one of the most open-minded as well. If you already know all about her, you'll enjoy the stories she tells in this interview; if you're not familiar with her, you'll find a new hero. Image snagged from Java's Bachelor Pad. Click the image for more Dixie. When did you get into burlesque? I was in chorus lines in Hollywood in other types of shows before I got into burlesque, in the late 1940s. I was a page too, that's a showgirl who walks with the curtain as it opens ad then you thrust your hands open as the star steps forward. I had just worked on a show that closed in two weeks. I was hanging out on the steps of a club and the club manager came out and asked me if I could cut my act short and mix with the audience a little more, and I said, "I don't work here!" and got up to leave. He followed me down the street and offered...

Where did you perform most? Outside of Vegas I worked a lot in Florida, where it paid well. I also worked Canada, Mexico City (at the El Presidente, no less), Hawaii, Japan, Hong Kong, Guam--that's why my life story is called "Have Tassels, Will Travel!" At one point I did 25 towns in 32 weeks, working six days each week with one day for travel. I did over 25000 performances. I worked in in Europe--Barcelona, Paris, Italy, Switzerland, Germany. I used to sit on the plane and the airline magazine would list all the stops, all the little red lines going to each city, and I worked almost every city United Airlines served. You could really make a living in burlesque then. I would make 1200-2500 a week in the mid 80s, and they paid our transportation and hotels, usually. What is your fondest memory of all that traveling? Japan. I loved it. I worked at Nichigeki Theater in Tokyo in 1969, a theater in the round with the stage at the bottom. The stage came up from the baseme...

If there was ever an interview which I wish you had gotten to hear, this is it. Satan's Angel has a smoky, bawdy style of speech that I would flat-out steal if I could. She's a ball of fire even when she's not twirling flaming tassels on her nipples, and almost unbearably thrilling when she is twirling. I'm separating this interview into two parts because even with the edits I just couldn't cut it down! You'll love every bit of it. Photo available signed at satansangel.com When did you get into burlesque? I started around 1962. I went sneaking out the back door of our house and wandering the mission in San Franscisco where I'm from. I had problems with taking my clothes off at gym in junior high because I was gay but didn't know it. I wouldn't take my clothes off in front of the gym teachers. And, you know the story, nice Catholic girl, went to Catholic school. I'm probably more of a hussy onstage than I am off, just the way I was brought up...

Toni Elling made quite a splash at the Exotic World Striptease Reunion in 2006 when she was interviewed by Lottie the Body, and another strong impression when she performed at the 2007 Reunion. She is a wonderful, graceful, energetic performer, and I can listen to her stories endlessly. She was good enough to give me a full two hours of her time, which is very generous--I have yet to interview one of these ladies who wasn't incredibly busy. I couldn't use all the material here. I certainly hope she writes a book! When did you get into burlesque? 1960. Photo courtesy Toni Elling. How did you begin? My friend Rita Revere was a stripper here in Detroit and would talk to me about it. I was working for the telephone company. I had an idea, though--I wanted to buy a four family flat so that my brother, sister, parents and I could each have one of the apartments. Rita said I could do it if I went on the road and I knew I'd never get that far ahead at the telephone compan...

With their express permission, I teach the moves certain legends of burlesque have taught directly to me. One of my favorites is the one I call "The Dee Milo," a naughty little forward bump n bend move that Dee did in the 1950s and still does today. Dee performs regularly at the Burlesque Hall of Fame Reunions, has taught there and at Burlycon, and traveled to New York last year to perform in our Mother's Day Burlesque Show. You can see her move in my book--or better yet, go to Las Vegas this June and see her perform yourself! Image from Dee Milo's website. When did you get into burlesque? 1949. How did you come up with your stage name? My manager wanted to keep it short to fit on marquees. Since my name is Dorothy we used Dee, and then we used "Milo" so I could be called the "Venus of Dance." Where did you begin? New Orleans. I had great instruction from our female master of ceremonies. I don't remember her name! I don't even reme...