Gotta Have A Gimmick
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It goes without saying that if you want to make it in any business, especially show business, you need to get your name out there. Back during the golden age of burlesque, how was a gal suppose to be noticed in a crowd of a thousand other tassel-twirlers? The answer is simple…they got a gimmick.
Now a gimmick could have been a prop, or a tag line, or even clever promotion. It could usually be summed up in a couple of words or a short phrasesomething that could fit easily on a theater marquee or look good on a promotion photo.
One of best gimmicks early on was Sally Rand and her fans-- big ostrich feathers that she would flutter and swoop across her naked body. This dance made her a sensation and caused every other gal out there to find the nearest fan maker. Nowadays, no self-respecting strip-tease artist doesn’t have a fan dance routine in her repertoire.
Other famous props included giant-size oyster shells which would open to reveal a dancersort of a poor man’s Venus on the Half Shell, giant champagne glasses in which a woman would bathe (Dita Von Teese has done a good job bringing this gimmick back), and if you want to include animals in this categorydoves, pigeons, and even donkeys that helped gals peel onstage.
Lili St. Cyr was famous for her props. She would have full sets made, like a boudoir or a bathroom, to do her routine in. One of her famous acts what the 'Reverse Strip' where she would start by taking a bath in a see-through bathtub. She would splash around for a bit and then elegantly emerge wearing her pasties and g-string. Instead of removing more clothes as the act went on (since she was down to almost nothing to start with), she would actually put more clothes on!
When it comes to tag lines, it was all about the mixing a clever turn-of-a-phrase with a hint of titillation. A good tag line could sum up a dancer’s act within a couple of words. A great tag line could stay in your head long after the act was over. For example, there was April Daye 'Voted Miss Behaving'; Ann 'Bang Bang' Arbor 'The Million Dollar Figure'; Lilly Christine 'The Cat Girl'; Lotus DuBios 'The Parisian Un-Cover Girl'; Scarlett O’Hara 'The Exciting Lassie with the Classy Chassis'…the list goes on and on. Gals fought tooth and nail to protect their tag lines, or variations of them, from other gals hoping to copy their act or persona. A good tagline could mean the difference between a headliner and just another chorus girl.
Now, props and tag lines are all well and good, but if you really wanted to make a name for yourself, you made sure you got your names in the press. Gals would go out of their way to stage events for the cameras in hopes it would fill a few more seats when they came to town. Evelyn 'Treasure Chest' West had her 39˝-inch chest insured for $50,000. As if that wasn’t publicity enough, she made sure everyone knew that she was a big fan of nudist camps. In fact, there is one famous episode where she was a bridesmaid for nudist wedding. I guess this was too much for some to handle, because petitions were handed around to get her barred from the camp. (You can read the whole story in the article Treasure Chest West and the Nudists .)
Tempest Storm was also no slouch when it came to publicity either. There is famous footage of Tempest getting a mold of her equally famous breasts done in front of a gaggle of drooling newspapermen. Tempest could easily wrap men around her little finger and was not afraid to exploit it to her benefit. She actually dated Elvis for a while and made sure lots of pictures were taken of the two of them togetherthat is until Col. Parker broke the two of them apart. Tempest always made sure there was at least some bit of gossip or buzz floating out there about her.
So, then as todayit’s all about marketing. The tricks haven’t changed much in the last few decades. Starlets and entertainers are always vamping it up in front of the camera and making sure they do something that will make the tabloids. As the old saying goes, there’s no such thing as bad publicity as long as they spell your name right.
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