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Magnificent Mamie Van Doren Sings & Dances To A Strippers Story

Rolf Armstrong (1889 – 1960)

Born in Seattle in 1899, Armstrong grew up in the rugged environment of the Pacific Northwest. He moved to Chicago in 1908 and later enrolled at the Art Institute, where he studied for three years under the master draftsman John Vanderpoel. He then went on to New York, where he became a student of Robert Henri. Athletic as well as artistic, Armstrong both boxed and sketched at the New York Athletic Club.

After a trip in 1919 to study art at the Académie Julian in Paris, Armstrong established a studio in Greenwich Village and started to paint Ziegfeld Follies girls. In 1921, he went to Minneapolis-St. Paul to study calendar production at Brown and Bigelow. A perfectionist all his life, Armstrong mastered the technical aspects of modern publishing because he wanted his work to have the same “freshness and beaming colour” on paper as on canvas. Not surprisingly he refused to work from photographs, and his search for the perfect model was unending.

During the 1920s and 1930s, Armstrong’s work appeared on numberless pieces of sheet music as well as on the front covers of many mainstream theatre and film magazines. All the great stars posed for his glamorous portraits – Mary Pickford, Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Katherine Hepburn. He even persuaded Boris Karloff to pose for him on the set of Frankenstein.

Armstrong’s covers for Pictorial Review were largely responsible for the magazine’s achieving, by 1926, a circulation of more than two million copies per issue. A year later Armstrong emerged as the best-selling calendar artist at Brown and Bigelow. RCA hired Armstrong in 1930 to paint pin-ups to advertise their products, and by 1933 his popularity was so great that the Thomas D. Murphy Company signed him up to produce a series of ten paintings for their line, an honour shared only by Billy De Vorss.

Armstrong maintained a “fantasy mansion” on Little Neck Bay in Bayside, Long Island, complete with a lagoon and sailboats for his friends to enjoy. Because light was so crucial to his work, he often painted his models outdoors in the glow of the setting sun. Employing an extraordinary selection of pastel colours for most of his work, Armstrong also at times utilized charcoal, pencil, and oils. In the mid-1930s, the artist realised his quest for the “perfect, dream-come-true model” when he met Jewel Flowers, whom he later adopted. He lived in Hollywood, from 1935 to 1938, then returned to New York.

In 1943, Armstrong joined Earl Moran, Zoë Mozert, and Norman Rockwell as the guest artists at a War Advertising Conference in Minneapolis-St. Paul. With Jewel Flowers by his side, the articulate and elegant Armstrong generated a lot of press. When asked why he insisted on a live model, Armstrong said:-

“When I paint, I want the living person in front of me. As I look at her again and again and again while I work, I get a thousand fresh, vivid impressions… all the glow, exuberance, and spontaneous joy that leaps from a young and happy heart.”

Armstrong was inspired by the glitter of society and he appreciated beauty in people, cars, furniture, fabrics, and, of course, in art. A collector of swords and antique lances, he built one of the greatest private collections of ancient weapons in America. He died on 22nd February 1960, on the island of Oahu in Hawaii, surrounded by his beloved blue ocean and tropical winds.

Armstrong’s artistry was an amalgam of brilliant lighting techniques, magnificent vivid colours, superior craftsmanship, and beautiful subjects – his vivacious, spirited ideals of American femininity.

Blaze Starr (born 1932) is a former American stripper and burlesque star. Her vivacious presence and inventive use of stage props earned her the nickname “The Hottest Blaze in Burlesque”. She was also notorious for her affair with Louisiana governor Earl Long.

Blaze Starr was born Fannie Belle Fleming in rural Wilsondale, Wayne County, West Virginia to Lora Evans and Goodlow Mullins (later changed to “Fleming”). Fleming left home and moved to Washington D.C. when she was sixteen, where Red Snyder discovered her either working in a doughnut shop (according to her autobiography) or as a hat check girl (according to other sources).

Snyder became Fleming’s first manager, encouraged her to start stripping, and gave her the stage name Blaze Starr. After he attempted to rape her, however, Starr left Snyder.

Starr moved to Baltimore, Maryland, eventually becoming a headliner at the Two O’Clock Club nightclub. Starr rose to national renown after she was profiled in a February 1954 Esquire magazine article, “B-Belles of Burlesque: You Get Strip Tease With Your Beer in Baltimore.” The Two O’Clock Club remained her home base, but she started to travel and perform in clubs throughout the country.

Starr’s striking red hair, voluptuous figure and on-stage enthusiasm were a large part of her appeal. The theatrical flourishes and unique gimmicks she used in her stage show went beyond established burlesque routines like the fan dance and balloon dance.

For example, Starr trained a panther to remove her clothes onstage. After it died unexpectedly, she decided to imitate a panther onstage instead, snarling at her audience while writhing on all fours. This performance, which she made a regular part of her act, eventually got her arrested for obscenity in Philadelphia.

Perhaps her most famous prop was a couch that she rigged to smolder and then appear to burst into flame as she sat on it and undressed.

Two of Starr’s performances, including the combustible sofa, are among the burlesque routines featured in the 1956 compilation film Buxom Beautease, produced and directed by Irving Klaw.

Director Doris Wishman’s 1962 film Blaze Starr Goes Nudist, a nudie-sexploitation film, features Starr’s one lead movie role. As the title suggests, she plays herself. The film is also known as Blaze Starr Goes Back to Nature, Blaze Starr Goes Wild, Blaze Starr the Original, and Busting Out.

Diane Arbus photographed Starr in 1964. The photo “Blaze Starr at home” was included in the book and traveling exhibit Diane Arbus: Family Albums.

Starr eventually bought the Two O’Clock Club on The Block in Baltimore, Maryland. Some of her costumes and other memorabilia have been displayed at the Museum of Sex in New York City and the Burlesque Hall of Fame. In the early 1980s, Starr made an appearance at the Mitchell Brothers’ O’Farrell Theatre in San Francisco, California.[citation needed] She retired from stripping in 1983, and by 1989 had become a gemologist who spent several holiday seasons selling hand-crafted jewelry at the Carrolltowne Mall in Eldersburg, Maryland, near Baltimore.

Valerie Cormier
Raymond, NH
SPECS:
AGE: 28
HAIR COLOR: Blonde
HEIGHT: 5ft 2in
WEIGHT: 105 lb
BREASTS: 38C
MEASUREMENTS: 38C-22-26
Playboy’s Busty Babes

Valerie likes riding motorcycles, fishing, football and watching movies. She told us she loves stormy days. To learn more about this exceptional beauty check out her interview video in her members area. Learn more about Valerie at Playboy’s Busty Babes

Carolee Bass
Long Beach, CA
SPECS:
AGE: 28
HAIR COLOR: Brown
HEIGHT:5ft 7in
WEIGHT: 128 lb
BREASTS: 34D
MEASUREMENTS: 34D-25-35
Playboy’s Sexy Wives

Carolee has an eclectic list of likes.They include red wine, airplanes over her head, new socks and old shirts. She also enjoys running, hiking and jazz clubs. To learn more about Carolee check out the interview video in her members area. Learn more about Carolee at Playboy’s Sexy Wives

Brittany Fuchs
George Mason University
SPECS:
AGE:22
HAIR COLOR: Brown
HEIGHT:5ft 0in
WEIGHT: 102 lb
BREASTS: 34C
MEASUREMENTS: 34C-22-34
Playboy’s Student Bodies

Brittany comes from good genes. She loves to workout, dance and go shopping. Right now Brittany is a bartender wanting to be a Cybergirl/Playmate. We wish you good luck. To learn more check out Brittanys interview video. Learn more about Brittany at Playboy’s Student Bodies

Melany Denyse
San Diego, CA
SPECS:

OCCUPATION:Optician
HAIR COLOR: Brown
HEIGHT: 5ft 7in
WEIGHT: 115
BREASTS: 34C
MEASUREMENTS: 34C-24-25
Women Of Playboy

Melany is an optician who plays in the LFL also known as the lingerie football league. She enjoys a good smile, confidence and humor in her men. To learn more about this Venezuelan beauty check out her interview video in the members area. Learn more about Melany at Women Of Playboy

Alanna Hensley
Burlington, NC
SPECS:
AGE: 25
HAIR COLOR: Blonde
HEIGHT: 5ft 5in
WEIGHT: 115 lb
BREASTS: 30C
MEASUREMENTS: 30C-25-34
Playboy’s All Naturals

Alanna enjoys warm weather, going to the beach, her iTouch and Blackberry Storm. She also told us that at 3:30 in the morning you will most likely find her at the local pancake house. To learn more about Alanna check out the interview video in her members area. Learn more about Alanna at Playboy’s All Naturals

Burlesque & pinup fashions are suddenly all over the Internet. The original burlesque designs with their risqué overtones have become the fun fashion, being adapted and adopted by rockabilly. Almost every city now hosts regular burlesque events where not just the performers, but the audience gets to dress the part as well.

Origins of burlesque – lingerie on show!

The word burlesque probably derives from the French, which describes a piece of slightly outrageous, humorous art. The term burlesque originally applied to shows intended for middle or lower classes. Such shows lampooned upper class niceties and parodying upper class entertainments like opera & dance. Such music and comedy shows and plays grew in popularity on both sides of the Atlantic during the nineteenth century. In Victorian England, where even “a glimpse of stocking was looked on as something shocking”, burlesque challenged its audience by offering rather more than a “glimpse of stocking” – the lure of young ladies appearing in tights and lingerie! Certainly demure by today’s standards these slightly suggestive interludes certainly boosted the popularity of burlesque. Lydia Thompson took a burlesque troupe, called the British Blondes to New York near the end of the 1860s where they were an immediate hit. At first they were feted by the press, but before long strident voices, from the pulpit and the papers were complaining of loose morals and indecency. The result of all this adverse publicity was to spread the word about burlesque far and wide in America effectively having the reverse effect to that desired by burlesque’s critics – female burlesque troupes with close copies of the original British act sprung up around the country.

These shows owed a great deal of their structure to the minstrel shows of the time and generally consisted of three parts – the initial section featuring the ladies, the middle section was a mix of male comedians and specialty acts and the final part the grand finale. Copying Lydia Thompson’s lead, most of the troupes had female managers. However towards the end of the nineteenth century, as male managers took over, they switched the emphasis away from comedy to push boundaries, determined to show as much uncovered female flesh as the laws would allow.

This form of entertainment metamorphosed in the early twentieth century into a mix of music hall, satire and striptease. During the twenties the bias continued inexorably towards striptease and away from the accompanying elements. This shift doubtlessly was burlesque’s downfall; by the thirties the popularity of burlesque waned as a social reaction against what had become slightly tawdry striptease shows. Local authorities were no longer as tolerant of this entertainment, which had lost much of its music hall variety flavor.

New Burlesque

In the mid nineteen nineties the genre was resurrected, with troupes in the USA, and the trend has snowballed over to the UK. Now, once more on both sides of the channel, it is possible to see shows equal in glamour, bawdiness and variety to equal the art form in its heyday in clubs and theatres in major cities. Arguably the Internet has played a major part to spread the interest in the genre. There are websites, such as Ministry of Burlesque dedicated to promoting it, to teaching dance, makeup and fashion.

Burlesque lingerie fashion

The mainstay of this style is lingerie and modern burlesque generally concentrates on the fifties and to a lesser degree the forties look. This extends not only to clothing, but hats, footwear and makeup too. There have always been fans of fifties silk and nylon stockings. When pantyhose all but killed the stocking market vast numbers of stocking mills closed. Their huge stocking machines were destroyed and along with it the expertise to manufacture fully-fashioned stockings. Now the few remaining machines are being reconditioned and brought back into service to once more produce copies of the fifties seamed stockings. However a few companies trading online still have limited supplies of the original fifties stockings so the purists can satisfy their need to the ‘real thing’ rather than the modern copies. Sadly, once that depleting stock is exhausted, they will only be viewable in museums and private collections.

However, for burlesque stage performance it is the fishnet tights or pantyhose that are still really popular.

Companies are making exact copies both of retro costumes and burlesque accessories, from ostrich feather fans to bullet bras, sensing an opportunity not to be missed, are enticing. Even well-known burlesque artists are being enticed by lingerie brands to lend their names and expertise to burlesque-inspired lingerie designs.

Burlesque is eagerly embraced by all physiques, from plus size to skinny-minny, proving how empowering it can be to women – all physiques are equally welcomed, but there is not set ‘burlesque costume’ either. It is very common for burlesque artists to take everyday lingerie, adapt it by sewing on sequins to devise their own unique take on burlesque. However the common thread that runs through the new outfits, going right back to the earliest days of the art form is the element of ‘tease’, the showing of rather more lingerie and stocking tops that would normally be seen in everyday life.

Rockabilly fashion

Over the years a number of fashion styles have grown towards each other, oft times overlapping. The word rockabilly was used around the mid forties and was a blend of hillbilly and rock and roll music styles. Today’s pinup photographers generally recreate the stylish fifties imagery which overlaps but is distinct from rockabilly. Many rockabilly enthusiasts have tattoos and piercings, and that certainly was never a fad of the fifties, but a modern phenomenon.

Pinup fashion

The term pinup also has blurred origins, covering photos of movie stars from around the thirties and forties, but also the airbrushed fantasy women gracing men’s magazines by such exponents as Petty and Elvgren. The fashions often featured nylons and lingerie, sometimes being exposed by a sudden unexpected gust of wind or other ‘mishap’ that befell the model. The intention was actually to reveal very very little by today’s standards. It is a certainty that pinup art, with the sexy lingerie has strongly influenced the outfits adopted by many of today’s burlesque artists.

Debbie Mendoza is an expert in fifties fashions specializing in the history of vintage shapewear & stockings. Ten years ago her love for the fifties led to her founding http://www.sleeknchic.com, initially in America and more recently in England where she has relocated, having married a Brit! Her leisure interests include reading, theatre, cinema and keeping fit.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Debbie_Mendoza

The queen of burlesque, Dita Von Teese – interviews plus performances.
Pure sex and glamour.