| Varietease | |
|---|---|
 Varietease DVD cover | |
| Directed by | Irving Klaw |
| Produced by | Irving Klaw |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Daniel D. Cavelli |
| Music by |
|
Release date | 1954 |
Running time | 65 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Varietease is a 1954 American burlesque film and the first such directed by Irving Klaw. [1] [2] According to its plot, the iconic pin-up model Bettie Page performs a burlesque show alongside Lili St. Cyr, Chris La Chris, Vicki Lynn, Bobby Shields, and others.
Varietease was Klaw's first documentary film reflective of burlesque clubs of the 1950s. [1] Master of ceremonies Bobby Shields introduces the film's acts. Bettie Page performs a nudity-free Dance of the Seven Veils but teases in only removing four veils. Lili St. Cyr does four separate sequences, wherein she dresses and undresses to her underwear. Bettie Page returns presenting act cards while performing a few burlesque moves as she presents. Following are a comic, a female impersonator, the Barrow and Rodgers dance team, additional songs, and can-can dancers. The film ends with a pastie-covered reveal of Lili St. Cyr's chest.
Bettie Page performed a "particularly sexy but amateurish" Dance of the Seven Veils in the film. [3] One performance by female impersonator Vicki Lynn in the film was said to have "crystallized the transgressive potential of the burlesque film." [4] Varietease is one of the "famous compilations" of "classic burlesque shows." [5] The film was rereleased by Something Weird Video in 2006, sharing release with Teaserama . DVD Verdict noted that the films were both performed and staged as if for live audiences but offered: "Still, there is something endlessly fascinating about this old-fashioned flesh fest." [2] In looking at the films 50 years after they were made, it was noted that the comedians were bad, the dance acts "droned on," and only a couple of the songs were mildly amusing. The reviewer stated that while the film would be best appreciated by viewers already fans of St. Cyr and Page, "[t]he stripping is indeed skillful and the ladies are almost always lovely to look at" and continued, "Sure, in 2006 these acts look positively tame. However, back when pornography was a social sin and fornication was for procreation, a glimpse of gam or a peek at some pert personal pillows was the height of honorable horniness." [2]
The film was the subject of a lawsuit by Page's estate against Something Weird Video, an Oregon company that was marketing videos of the film. Page's estate argued that marketing materials for the video infringed on Page's rights as a celebrity. A U.S. district court ruled against Page's estate because the video company had legitimately obtained all rights to the film and its associated marketing materials. [6]
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 dancer".
Bettie Mae Page was an American model who gained notoriety in the 1950s for her pin-up photos. She was often referred to as the "Queen of Pinups": her long jet-black hair, blue eyes, and trademark bangs have influenced artists for generations. After her death, Playboy founder Hugh Hefner called her "a remarkable lady, an iconic figure in pop culture who influenced sexuality, taste in fashion, someone who had a tremendous impact on our society".
Irving Klaw, self-named the "Pin-up King", was an influential Jewish-American merchant of sexploitation, fetish, and Hollywood glamour pin-up photographs and films. Like his predecessor, Charles Guyette, who was also a merchant of fetish-themed photographs, Klaw was not a photographer, but a merchandiser of fetish art imagery and films. His great contribution to the world was to commission fetish art and sponsor illustrative artists, and to indirectly promote the legacy of Charles Guyette and John Willie. Irving Klaw is a central figure in what fetish art historian Richard Pérez Seves has designated as the "Bizarre Underground," the pre-1970 fetish art years.
Marie Frances Van Schaack, known professionally as Lili St. Cyr, was a prominent American burlesque dancer and stripper.
A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects. The word derives from the Italian burlesco, which, in turn, is derived from the Italian burla – a joke, ridicule or mockery.
The Notorious Bettie Page is a 2005 American biographical drama film directed by Mary Harron. The screenplay by Harron and Guinevere Turner focuses on 1950s pinup and bondage model Bettie Page, portrayed by Gretchen Mol.
Something Weird Video is an American film distributor company based in Seattle, Washington. They specialize in exploitation B to Z films, particularly the works of Harry Novak, Doris Wishman, David F. Friedman and Herschell Gordon Lewis.
Tempest Storm, also dubbed "The Queen Of Exotic Dancers," was an American burlesque star and motion picture actress. Along with Lili St. Cyr, Sally Rand, and Blaze Starr, she was one of the best-known burlesque performers of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. Her career as an exotic dancer spanned more than 60 years, and she was still performing in the early 21st century.
Mara Gaye, born Marjorie Helen Ginsberg in Bronx, New York, was a professional showgirl, dancer with the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes (1938–1943), and exotic burlesque striptease dancer of the 1940s through the 1960s. She also performed under the name Marjorie Gaye.
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 acts can range from anything from classic striptease to modern dance to theatrical mini-dramas to comedic mayhem.
Richard Ira "Rick" Klaw, is an American editor, essayist, and bookseller.
Striporama is a 1953 comedy film directed by Jerald Intrator. The film starred a number of burlesque comedy, dance and striptease acts that were popular during the early 1950s. Today, it is best known as one of the few feature films starring pin-up model Bettie Page.
Paul Valentine was an American film and television actor. He was married to Lili St. Cyr from 1946 to 1950 and danced opposite her on stage.
Veronica Varlow is a burlesque dancer, pin-up model, actress, producer, and performance artist based in Brooklyn, New York. She was the owner of the former internet boutique Danger Dame, which specialized in clothing inspired by burlesque, cabaret, the 1940s and 1950s. More recently, Veronica has revamped her website in accordance with her focus on teaching magic and tarot - the website is now called Love Witch and features a new store named Love Witch Potions and Devotions. The new store offers incense blends, magical jewelry and other curios.
Teaserama is a 1955 American low-budget sexploitation film directed by Irving Klaw. It follows the performance of a burlesque show.
American burlesque is a genre of variety show derived from elements of Victorian burlesque, music hall and minstrel shows. Burlesque became popular in America 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 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.
Mary Lee "Dixie" Evans was an American burlesque dancer and stripper.
Movie Star News was a New York City landmark and is a collection of vintage pin-up, bondage, and Hollywood publicity photos amassed over the course of 73 years by Irving Klaw, his sister Paula Klaw and nephew Ira Kramer– nearly 3 million images and 250,000 negatives, including 1,500 prints of Bettie Page, known as the queen of pin-ups.
Color-Sonic was a type of visual jukebox developed in the United States in the 1960s. They were the first ones to use continuous loop cartridges, which were both more durable and more easily replaced than the film reels used by their competitors, Cinebox and Scopitone. The Color-Sonic films were shot on 35 mm, as opposed to the 16 mm film used for Scopitone and Cinebox. Before Color-Sonic, Panoram had already pioneered the use of visual jukeboxes in America.
Giulia Di Quilio is an Italian actress.