“BURLESQUE LIVES”

By Raymond Benson

Kino Lorber and Something Weird Video continue their collaboration to present “Forbidden Fruit: The Golden Age of the Exploitation Picture” with Volume 12—the double bill of Peek-A-Boo and “B” Girl Rhapsody, two documentations of burlesque revues from the 1950s.

The delicious and suitably sleazy pictures in the “Forbidden Fruit” series were made cheaply and outside the Hollywood system. They were distributed independently in the manner of a circus sideshow, often by renting a movie theater for a few nights, advertising in the local papers, and promoting the scandalous title as “educational.” It’s certain, however, that in this case both features in Volume 12 were not educational in any way except to provide the experience of burlesque shows to audiences who were unable to view them in person.

This reviewer, who usually welcomes and enthusiastically supports all the volumes in the “Forbidden Fruit” series, found these two pictures sadly unwatchable, with the caveat that Alexandra Heller-Nicholas’ audio commentary on one of the titles might well be worth the price of admission.

Burlesque has a long history in the United States, and the entertainment form goes way back nearly two hundred years. It was closely associated with vaudeville, but at the beginning of the 20th Century burlesque broke off and became its own thing—something a bit more ribald and forbidden. There were still musical numbers of song and dance, and sketches by comedians who told groaner jokes—but burlesque added the striptease act.

The phenomenon flourished in the early half of the century, and especially in the ten or so years after World War II it enjoyed popularity in the big cities. Burlesque probably peaked in the early fifties, when these two documentaries—for that’s really what they are—were filmed. Once we got into the 1960s, burlesque became even more sleazy and was relegated to the more questionable and red light areas of “downtown” until it faded away for good.

One of the unsung impresarios of burlesque in Los Angeles in the 1940s and 50s was Lillian Hunt, who managed burlesque performers, produced and directed stage productions, and documented her work on film to be distributed independently. Hunt was a former burlesque artist in her younger years, and the fact that she directed ten feature films (albeit of this ilk) in a decade in which there were very few women behind the camera is something that can’t be brushed aside.

Both “B” Girl Rhapsody (1952) and Peek-A-Boo (1953) were staged in the old Burbank Theater in L.A., renamed the “New Follies Theater” for these burlesque productions. They were filmed mostly in long shot with a stationary camera in the front row of the theater so that the full proscenium stage is in the frame. It’s as if the viewer is in the audience watching the entire show. Sometimes the camera cuts to a medium shot, at best, but there are never close-ups. As a result, this does not make for very interesting viewing. The striptease acts aside, the musical numbers and comedian sketches are, well, pretty bad. As both audio commentators remark, the actor/comedians were so jaded from repeatedly doing the routines night after night that the deliveries became rather uninspired.

The stripteases? Sure, the lovely ladies of a variety of shapes and sizes range from being somewhat amateurish to quite accomplished dancers. Unfortunately, these two titles feature none of the big name stars of the era like Lili St. Cyr, Tempest Storm, or Blaze Starr. Note: there is never total nudity.

The two features on Kino Lorber’s Blu-ray disk are surprisingly well preserved and pristine. The audio commentary for Peek-A-Boo is by Eric Schaefer, author of Bold! Daring! Shocking! True! A History of Exploitation Films, and curator of the “Forbidden Fruit” series. He is always knowledgeable about these subjects.

The audio commentary for “B” Girl Rhapsody is by the previously-mentioned and always entertaining Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, whose wit and insight into these titles and exploitation films in general will make you laugh and appreciate more fully what you are experiencing.

Theatrical trailers round out the package.

While Volume 12 of the “Forbidden Fruit” series is not quite up to par with the preceding entries, these films of Old Burlesque might find their way into the hearts of some viewers who are interested in the history of this unique American art form.

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