Jo Weldon's New York School of Burlesque

Remember my interview with Sparky Lobo, Purveyor of Burlesque Memorabilia ? If you enjoyed the photos in the interview on my blog, you'll love the blog she just started under her new business name of Burlesque Babes, where she has started locating information about the women in those pictures: Burlesque Babes Above, from the new blog: Sintana, who is interviewed in Marilyn Suriani Futterman's book Dancing Naked in the Material World . I also appear in the book, with pictures of me from way back when my stripper stage name was "Cheryl," after Riff Randall's brunette sidekick in Rock N Roll High School . If you view the video I just linked, you'll see Cheryl right after Clint Howard says, "Nice set of pom poms!" And, even though I haven't yet achieved the vintage hairstyle in the book below, I did achieve Cheryl's (actually the photo below is from 1979, before the movie came out): If you're wondering about the more stream-of-co...

I first found out about "Sparky Lobo's Burlesque Emporium" when the owner contacted me to find out if I do banner exchanges. Although I don't have a banner, I'm always happy to find out more about people who are interested in burlesque, whether they are motivated by art, commerce, or something entirely other. Sparky sells prints and merchandise featuring vintage burlesque performers, and some of the images were quite new to me. I could tell from the way she talked about the products that she's developed a certain fondness for the women in them and the world they represented. All the images in this article are courtesy of Sparky Lobo's Burlesque Emporium. How did you come across these pictures, and what did you think when you first saw them? I went to a friend's home, to buy some other antiques from an estate he was clearing out for his Uncle, and saw several big file boxes marked photos. Being addicted to "old paper" (postcards,...