Author | Gypsy Rose Lee or possibly ghost-written by Craig Rice (authorship in dispute) |
---|---|
Language | English |
Genre | Mystery, Detective Novel |
Publisher | Simon & Schuster |
Publication date | 1941 |
Publication place | United States |
Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
The G-String Murders is a 1941 detective novel written by American burlesque performer Gypsy Rose Lee. There have been claims made that the novel was written by mystery writer Craig Rice, [1] but others have suggested that there is sufficient documented evidence in the form of manuscripts and correspondence to prove Lee wrote at least a large portion, if not the whole, of the novel under the tutelage of editor/friend George Davis with some essential guidance from her good friend Rice. [2] The novel has been published under the titles Lady of Burlesque and The Strip-Tease Murders. Set in a burlesque theater, Lee casts herself as the detective who solves a set of homicides in which strippers in her troupe are found strangled with their own G-strings.
In 2005, Feminist Press of the City University of New York republished the book as one of its Women Write Pulp series.
Gypsy Rose Lee narrates her way through a tale of a double murder, backstage at the "Old Opera" burlesque theatre on 42nd Street, New York City.
The story depicts a world populated by strippers, comics, and costume salesmen, where crime is part of the norm and where women struggle to earn a living.
The narrative is a "wise-cracking" and humorous tale of murder in a burlesque house, and with the unusual weapon of the title. Eventually, Gypsy discovers that an elderly male stagehand, Stacchi, is the assailant, given that he was traumatised when he discovered that his grand-daughter, Lolita LaVern, was one of the performers. Fortunately, he is apprehended before he can kill Gypsy in his turn, due to a prearranged police trap in which she offered herself as 'bait.'
"Anyone keen about sex in fiction will admire this workmanlike job for its account of a performing group, its use of technicalities—if that's the word—about stripping, and its handling of the clues by a likeable lieutenant… This is one of a handful of books about backstage murder that are tolerable. It is not made worse by being told in the first person, or by a bit of sentimental lovey-dovey between the narratrix and one of the cast of characters." [3]
The novel was filmed in 1943 as Lady of Burlesque , directed by William Wellman, starring Barbara Stanwyck as Dixie Daisy (the Lee character), Michael O'Shea as her romantic interest, and Pinky Lee. [4] It is a fairly faithful, if bowdlerized, representation, but notable for the addition of music and songs, including "Take It Off the E String, Play It on the G String", sung by Stanwyck. The film attempts to show what the censors of 1943 would allow with respect to the precise nature of "bumps" and "grinds" as well as the slapdash nature of burlesque shows.
Barbara Stanwyck was an American actress, model and dancer. A stage, film, and television star, during her 60-year professional career she was known for her strong, realistic screen presence and versatility. She was a favorite of directors, including Cecil B. DeMille, Fritz Lang, and Frank Capra, and made 85 films in 38 years before turning to television.
A striptease is an erotic or exotic dance in which the performer gradually undresses, either partly or completely, in a seductive and sexually suggestive manner. The person who performs a striptease is commonly known as a "stripper" or an "exotic" or "burlesque" dancer.
Gypsy Rose Lee was an American burlesque entertainer, stripper, actress, author, playwright and vedette famous for her striptease act. Her 1957 memoir was adapted into the 1959 stage musical Gypsy.
Gypsy: A Musical Fable is a musical with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents. It is loosely based on the 1957 memoirs of striptease artist Gypsy Rose Lee, and focuses on her mother, Rose, whose name has become synonymous with "the ultimate show business mother." It follows the dreams and efforts of Rose to raise two daughters to perform onstage and casts an affectionate eye on the hardships of show business life. The character of Louise is based on Lee, and the character of June is based on Lee's sister, the actress June Havoc.
A G-string is a garment consisting of a narrow piece of material that barely covers the genitals, a string-like piece that passes between the buttocks, and a very thin waistband around the hips. There are designs for both women and men. Men's G-strings are similar to women's but have a front pouch that covers the genitals. G-strings are typically worn as underwear or swimwear or as part of the costume of an exotic dancer.
Pasties are patches that cover a person's nipples and areolae, typically self-adhesive or affixed with adhesive. They are usually worn in pairs. They originated as part of burlesque shows, allowing dancers to perform fully topless without exposing the nipples in order to provide a commercial form of bare-breasted entertainment. Pasties are also, at times, used while sunbathing, worn by strippers and showgirls, or as a form of protest during women's rights events such as Go Topless Day. In some cases this is to avoid potential prosecution under indecency laws.
Erik Lee Preminger is an American writer, actor, and producer.
Michael O'Shea was known as an American actor who appeared in feature films and later in television and whose career spanned the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s.
Minsky's Burlesque refers to the brand of American burlesque presented by four sons of Louis and Ethel Minsky: Abraham 'Abe' Bennett Minsky (1880–1949), Michael William 'Billy' Minsky (1887–1932), Herbert Kay Minsky (1891–1959), and Morton Minsky (1902–1987). They started in 1912 and ended in 1937 in New York City. Although the shows were declared obscene and outlawed, they were rather tame by modern standards.
Marion Suplee, known professionally as Marion Martin, was an American film and stage actress.
Neo-burlesque, or new burlesque, is the revival and updating of the traditional American burlesque performance. Though based on the traditional burlesque art, the new form encompasses a wider range of performance styles; neo-burlesque can include anything ranging from classic striptease to modern dance to theatrical mini-dramas to comedic mayhem.
Barbara Stanwyck was a prolific American actress and dancer who appeared in a total of 95 theatrically released full-length motion pictures. Orphaned before she was old enough to attend school, she became fascinated by the burgeoning film industry, and actress Pearl White in particular, whom she would mimic on the playgrounds. "Pearl White was my goddess, and her courage, her grace, and her triumphs lifted me out of this world."
Craig Rice was an American writer of mystery novels and short stories, described by book critic Bill Ruehlmann as "the Dorothy Parker of detective fiction, she wrote the binge and lived the hangover."
Lady of Burlesque is a 1943 American musical comedy-mystery film, produced by RKO Pictures and directed by William A. Wellman and starring Barbara Stanwyck and Michael O'Shea. It is a faithful, if sanitized, adaptation of the 1941 novel The G-String Murders written by strip tease queen Gypsy Rose Lee.
American burlesque is a genre of variety show derived from elements of Victorian burlesque, music hall, and minstrel shows. Burlesque became popular in the United States in the late 1860s and slowly evolved to feature ribald comedy and female nudity. By the late 1920s, the striptease element overshadowed the comedy and subjected burlesque to extensive local legislation. Burlesque gradually lost its popularity, beginning in the 1940s. A number of producers sought to capitalize on nostalgia for the entertainment by recreating burlesque on the stage and in Hollywood films from the 1930s to the 1960s. There has been a resurgence of interest in this format since the 1990s.
Velma Fern Worden, better known by the stage name April March, is an exotic dancer and prominent star of American burlesque. Billed as April March, The First Lady of Burlesque, she was a headline act in burlesque from 1952 to 1978. During her more than thirty-year career, she gained popularity throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico and Europe for her classy and sophisticated striptease. March was one of the innovators of the elegant strip tease.
Jo Weldon, commonly known as Jo Boobs or Jo Boobs Weldon, is a performer, author, activist, and educator based in New York City. Weldon's body of work centers around stripping and striptease. She established and runs The New York School of Burlesque and wrote The Burlesque Handbook. She is an advocate for sex workers' rights and freedom of sexual expression.
Queen of Burlesque is a 1946 American mystery thriller film directed by Sam Newfield and starring Evelyn Ankers, Carleton G. Young and Marion Martin. The film was distributed by the low-budget Producers Releasing Corporation. Rose La Rose, who played Blossom Terrain, was a stripper in real life and, according to Variety, a "runway peeler with considerable experience." She portrays a supporting character and has one feature dance, a faux "Arabian Fantasy" that is not a striptease.
Sarah Weinman is a journalist, editor, and crime fiction authority. She has most recently written The Real Lolita: The Kidnapping of Sally Horner and the Novel That Scandalized the World about the kidnapping and captivity of 11-year-old Florence Sally Horner by a serial child molester, a crime believed to have inspired Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita. The book received mostly positive reviews from NPR, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, and The Boston Globe.
Georgia Sothern (1913–1981), born Hazel Anderson, was a burlesque dancer and vaudeville performer. She was known for her striptease performances. She gave an interview to The Harvard Crimson during a trip to the Old Howard Athenaeum in Boston during 1939. She toured New York Philadelphia, Boston, Buffalo, and Miami. She was a red-head. One of her performances was captured in a Film Theatarettes short film. She wrote her memoir titled Georgia: A Life in Burlesque. She had a series of marriages.