Video of the Week

Having spent four years researching and writing about Lili St. Cyr, it is rare for me to uncover something new and exciting. So, I was thrilled to discover this Video of the Week. There's a tiny bit of controversy over whether it's really Lili or not, but watch the video and then I'll dish below.

After reading the comments on YouTube disputing whether or not the video is of Lili, I studied the film and suspect it is indeed her. I've seen a few rare pictures of Lili from the mid- to late- Sixties and that is what she looked like including the hairdo. The costume is also similar to one Lili wore regularly.

Also, at this time, Lili was involved with a man she called Lorenzo Holmes. According to Lorenzo's sister, after Lili retired the couple entertained themselves with extravagant private parties. “It could be Arabian week or whatever else they cooked up,” Lorenzo's sister told me. “They would have someone come in and set their whole backyard up as an Arabian tent. Lili would sew costumes for them both. They would dress up in these outfits and have a Scheherazade party." Clearly this was not filmed in Lili's backyard, but it fits her Arabian fascination. And, I wonder if the mysterious man on horseback in the video could be Lorenzo.

Of course, my speculation means little. So, I got in touch with the man behind the film -- Brutallo. Apparently, in the '60s Scopitones, a type of jukebox that showed short, 16 mm films, were all the rage in bars. You'd pop a quarter in and stand around watching these movies on a small screen. According to Brutallo, who began collecting these now orphaned shorts, they were primarily films of stars who were no longer at the top of their game. He suspects this film was shot in the mid-Sixties, which was just a few years before Lili retired. He can't be 100% certain that this film is Lili, but the original recording company, Color-Sonics, had not mis-labeled any of the other films.

I suspect it is Lili St. Cyr. Any other Lili-philes have an opinion?

The Candy Gram: Miss Dirty Martini

In our ongoing Q&A series --"The Candy Gram"-- we ask the same quirky questions of burlesque's various performers. If you want to be added to the mix, drop us a line at kellydinardo AT gmail DOT com. Today, say hello to Miss Dirty Martini, a "feminist Superhero" who is performing in Margaret Cho's The Sensuous Woman

What is your hometown?
Woodstown, NJ

How long have you been interested in burlesque/performing?
I have been a dancer since I was 6 years old. I started getting serious about my ballet training when I was about 10 to 13 and shortly after, due to the shape of my body (amply curvy as you can see), I was shuffled to modern dance. My ballet teachers said that I would be more accepted in that form. I loved all dance, so this didn't pose much of a problem. I went to college for dance and graduated from Purchase College NY with a BFA in performance. While I was there, I fostered a love for choreography and history and also womens issues.

After graduation, I came to NY and danced for the Stanley Love performance Group and got a job touring with a theater company called Pink Inc. in their lip synching girl group trio, The Fortunettes. We were essentially female female impersonators getting paid to tour the world. I was, at that time, spending most of my nights at now legendary drag clubs including the Pyramid, BoyBar, parties produced by Johnny Dynell and Chi Chi Valenti and attending Wigstock every year.

I had a video rental store down the street from my East Village tenement apartment called Kim's Video that had a section called Sexploitation where I came across Something Weird Video's compilation of old burlesque reels. I noticed that all of the women on film had varying body shapes and some had my proportions. I saw it as a platform to showcase my body -which was unacceptable in the dance world -through a new medium: 1950's striptease. I started researching fan dance through my video rentals in about 1995 and started performing regularly in NY nightclubs in 1997. My routines grew and I learned about burlesque the way the ladies in the '50s did, by doing shows - a lot of shows. The difference in performing outside of the art world and the theater world was astounding. I performed at least once a week, I was always paid something for my work, and the more I performed the more I learned about structured improvisation and the more shows I was able to book. I never thought it would become the phenomenon that it is today. I was just having a blast in the nightclubs giving a big "fuck you" to the stuffy dance world and laughing like a lunatic with the ladies and a couple of fabulous gents in the burlesque dressing room aka bar toilet and having a ball

How many pairs of pasties do you own?
I haven't really counted. I have a lot because I make them myself. I must have over 30 pairs. Generally, anything in my apartment has potential to become a pastie - forks, pretzels, fake flowers, electronics ... it's pretty endless.

What are your three favorite songs to perform to?
Black and Tan Fantasy by Duke Ellington
God Bless the USA by Dolly Parton (It makes me both physically ill and wildly excited when I hear it)
Living on a Prayer by Bon Jovi

What three items could you not live without as a performer?
It's funny, but since I'm writing this from Europe - I'm finishing up a 3 month run in Nantes, France - I've been dealing with this daily. When I came back to NY for a day here's what I walked one mile in Marilyn drag to buy: Emergen-C and Eyelash Glue. Also my rolling samsonite hardcase has been a lifesaver

Who had the biggest influence on your career?
Many people have had a hand in making what you see when I perform. I have a lot of amazing people in my life and they inspire me and instigate my art. My college pal and first apartment mate in NYC, Matt Mohr, has had a big influence on my life showing me the world of drag in NYC and later came into my world of burlesque as Serge LeGainswack and choreographer for drag and burlesque troupes.

My performance family in New York have constant influence in my life. They are my life! Namely Julie Atlas Muz, Murray Hill, Velocity Chylld, World Famous *Bob*, The Dazzle Dancers, Bambi and Bunny Love, Scotty the Blue Bunny, Tigger, Duelling Bankheads, Daniel Nardiccio, Starshine and Pinchbottom Burlesque continue to inspire me to make ridiculous numbers! The list fortunately goes on and on.

Who is your favorite burly queen?
I really have so many favorites. From the old days - Jennie Lee and Dixie Evans for keeping burlesque alive and founding and bringing young people to Exotic World burlesque Museum and Hall of Fame in Las Vegas Currently our Miss Exotic World is Immodesty Blaize from London and she really is marvellous.

Go look at the list of performers who perform and volunteer every year at Exotic World. As the world of burlesque continues to grow, it's harder to accomodate all of the wonderful new performers, but I'm so lucky to be able to see these people perform regularly all over America and the world.

What is your favorite item of clothing?
My gold lame swimsuit from the 1950s and whatever I buy next!

What's the last movie you saw?
Spinal Tap, again, and John Waters' Dirty Shame

What's on your must-see-TV list?
Not much, but I do love The Simpsons and South Park.

What book is on your nightstand?
Usually an autobiography of some incredible woman, but for summer it's Wicked and I'm having a great time reading it. By the nightstand - you know - the nightstand I have The Best of Meat Erotica. It's pretty corny though!

If you could go anywhere for vacation, where would you go?
I don't take vacations, I travel, but I'm currently performing in Nantes, France and I'm taking some time off in Paris this week. I guess I want to see Hawaii, though I still would like to perform while I'm there.

If you could have any superpower, which one would you want? Why?
You know, I've thought about this quite alot. Sometimes, I'd like to be an X-Man woman and be able to blow people up, but generally I'm pretty docile. Really if I could have a super power, it would be to erraticate women's self deprecation. After all, I am a feminist Superhero.

Satisfy your appetite for more Candy Grams: Princess Farhana, Miss Delirium Tremens, Paris Green, Jo Boobs, Jack Midnight, Heidi Von Haught, Diamond Minx, The Titillation Twins, Scratch, Creamy Stevens and Gina Louise.

Video of the Week

The Candy Pitch typically celebrates hump day with a video. News from Playboy gives us an excuse for an extra dose today: Amber Lee Ettinger, more popularly known as Obama Girl, will appear in the October issue. Wonder if she'll strip or just tease?

UPDATE: Playboy tells us Ettinger will appear as the "Babe of the Month." It's a non-nude, bikini shot.

Here's the video that made her famous and the follow up where she takes on Giuliani girl.

J Lo and K Diddy?

Photos from J Lo's new video hit the Interwebs. In the Do It Well video the curve-alicious singer searches for her son who is being held hostage in a sex club. The set up allows director David LaChapelle to show off "a dominatrix, dressed up as a cat, whipping a man in a mouse mask and underpants." That's not the only kitty cat in the video. The photos show Kitten Deville strutting her stuff -- not Gwen Stefani.

Video of the Week

Inspired by a previous Video, Little Brooklyn sent us this one. For the eager, she duly noted that, "stripping shoe starts at 5:21 for those who like to cut to the chase."



On the video section of the Starshine you'll find a collection of burlesque references in Tex Avery cartoons.

Video of the Week

Everyone -- even Larry Flynt -- is chattering about Senator Vitter's connection to the DC Madam and wondering who else will show up on Deborah Jeane Palfrey's phone list. A New Orleans madam told the AP, "It wasn't all about dirty, raunchy, crazy sex." Since when?

As the story gets as hot and steamy as the weather, we honor a few of yesterday's scandalicious couples with the video of the week, which features two of the burlesque babes matched up with politicos.

Want more? Tempest Storm was last week's video star.

Video of the Week

Take a peek at even more of Jo Boobs' costumes with the video of the week.

Video of the Week

Jack Midnight suggested this Gorilla Chase for the Video of the Week. Have one you want to share with The Candy Pitch? Send it to kellydinardo AT gmail DOT com.

Video of the Week

The Candy Pitch loves a little political debauchery. When David Vitter's phone number turned up in the DC Madam's little black book, we looked at the tassel-twirling interests of past politicians. Blaze Starr, whose long-term affair with Louisiana Governor Earl Long inspired the 1989 film Blaze, earned our highest scandal rating. When Academy Award, Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning actor and director Paul Newman stars in a movie about your affair, you know it's steamy. Eliot Spitzer may resign as governor, but don't resign yourself to a Lifetime movie.

In honor of the latest political mayhem, we bring you the original Blaze Starr as our Video of the Week.

Video of the Week

We'll return to our special edition series of The Miss Exotic World Candy Gram interviews tomorrow. Today, enjoy this video from Trixie Little and The Evil Hate Monkey's performance at last year's pageant.

Video of the Week

Princess Farhana stars in Underbelly, a feature-length documentary about her belly dance and burlesque career. The film will be released in March, but you can get a royal tease in our video of the week.

Revealing Images: Selene Luna

In Revealing Images, photographer Don Spiro dishes up sweet photographic treats and the stories behind them. Today, Don aims his lens at Selene Luna, currently of the Margaret Cho show

One of my favorite shots I’ve done was of Selena Luna for Augusta’s Velvet Hammer documentary. Augusta directed her as her burlesque persona, Bobby Pinz, in a humorous homage to Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman.

Because of the requirements of the shoot everything was based around a location that would work, and we found one in the hills of Burbank that was both secluded and offered a low horizon line. This was critical because we intended to use forced perspective to make Selene appear gigantic, which depended on having a background clear of objects that would destroy the illusion. The angle was chosen carefully to exploit the natural advantages of the set. The crew was small, just Selene, Augusta, our make up artist and myself.

The position of the sun was up to frame left at the time we chose to shoot, and its arc would stay on that side all day, so I used that as the key light. While Selene got into make up and wardrobe Augusta designed the set: small, scale toy buildings and lichen from a model railroad, which Selene would walk amongst and occasionally crush. I set the camera down near ground level, which would simulate eye level of the buildings, and put on a wide angle lens to shoot looking up at Selene as she posed. I kept the camera mostly horizontal to emulate the aspect ratio of movies and tv.

The way Augusta had placed the set enabled us to incorporate actual elements in the distance, including far away trees, hills, and even telephone poles. Due to the angle they didn’t appear so much far away as they did small in comparison to Selene. They seemed the same scale as our small model buildings.

Because there were no clouds, just a bright blue sky, the sun threw hard shadows in high contrast. To make the image more flattering a large white bounce-board filled in from the right side of the frame. The image was taken with 400 speed color film exposed at 320 to reduce grain a bit, but the fast speed let me to shoot at an aperture of f/22, allowing for maximum depth of field. I wanted everything to be in focus from the ground at Selene’s feet to the far distant tree tops.

During the video sequence a helicopter slowly crossed the frame, very far away. At our angle it appeared to be near Selene’s waistline, further extending the illusion of her as a giant. Because of the video aspect of the shoot everything had to be done in-camera, and I am glad that the stills were done the same way, without benefit of post production. To me, the illusion is best when a model can interact with an actual environment.

~Don Spiro

Video of the Week

Today's Video of the Week is brought to you by Candy Pitch pal Michael Birchenall who discovered this saucy magic act here.

Video of the Week

This video blends Satin Chic by Goldfrapp with clips of Dita Von Teese, Sally Rand and other burlesque performances as well as clips of Marlene Dietrich films.

Video of the Week

Here's a Dita-licious video to heat up your week.

Burlesque Redux

Last week a group of performers including Bambi the Mermaid, Rose Wood, World Famous BOB, Dirty Martini, Bonnie Dunn and Tigger took part in a panel discussion at the Slipper Room in New York. Neil O'Fortune sends us this dispatch:

Kate Valentine, Julie Atlas Muz, left, and Jo Boobs all sat together on the stage of the Slipper Room, to take part in a panel discussion about the development of New York burlesque over the last ten years-and longer. Dr. Lucky was the evening's moderator and kept the conversation moving with plenty of humor and insight. The evening was organized by Legs Malone, Clams Casino and myself, and we were thrilled to be in the audience for it. It was a truly unique and special evening, that everyone in the packed house was lucky to share with this group of brilliant and inspiring performers, each one of a kind.

The conversation roamed over the ways that a group of performers, venues and producers created shows in the formative years of New York burlesque, where many of them performed for the first time, met each other, or first discovered that what they were doing could be called burlesque. Asked what made the New York scene distinctive in its history and growth, they talked about New York's unique early to mid-1990s confluence of dance clubs, drag queens, gay bar go-go scenes, downtown theater and post-NEA crisis performance art bringing performers together and inspiring them. They discussed how the distinctive grittiness of the city influenced the New York style and attitude.

The group also talked about how the influence of the legendary performers of yesteryear, the donning of the iconic Marilyn wig or the first time picking up feather fans was the beginning of an entirely new persona. New York's early neo-burlesque shows allowed these performers to hone their skills and develop their performances over a long time.

An audience question led to an enlightening conversation about what they would like to see from new performers: true passion, a distinctive voice and a commitment to truly giving the audience their money's worth.

Much more ground was covered in nearly two hours than I can summarize here of course, but I'm happy to report that there was video recording and transcribing going on to record the evening for posterity.

Thanks for the report Neil! If the video gets uploaded to YouTube, we'll be sure to post some of it here on The Candy Pitch.

Video of the Week

Get a sneak peek at Jo Weldon's new instructional video.

Video of the Week

Well, the Detroit Tigers didn't make the playoffs, but as Drew Sharp wrote there's plenty of celebrating left to do. So in this week's video burlesque stars like Lili St. Cyr, Tempest Storm and Sally Rand put their hands up for Detroit.

Gilded Lili Book Trailer Contest

Have you heard the buzz about book trailers? Well, considering Lili St. Cyr's, ahem, visual appeal putting one together for Gilded Lili is a no-brainer. So, drum roll please, today The Candy Pitch announces the Gilded Lili Book Trailer Contest. Forget legalese, I'm a writer so here are the rules in reporter-speak.

Who: Lili-philes, contest mavens, aspiring directors, anyone handy with a camera or computer software.

What: Create a trailer for Gilded Lili: Lili St. Cyr and the Striptease Mystique.

Where: Post your video on YouTube with the tags Gilded Lili, Kelly DiNardo and then e-mail me the link at kellydinardo AT gmail DOT com

When: Now through October 9th -- one week before Gilded Lili shimmies onto store shelves.

Why: The best video will win a signed copy of Gilded Lili and other goodies to make bath time lots of fun.

How: Record a Lili-esque act, create a montage, use puppets. Let Lili, past Videos of the Week or other book trailers inspire you, but be sure to follow YouTube's Terms of Use.

Video of the Week

Tracy Phillips is ...
a) The girl who plays the belly dancer in Charlie Wilson's War
b) Current Dallas Cowboys head coach Wade Phillips' daughter
c) A burlesque dancer who has appeared at Forty Deuce
d) The Candy Pitch's Video of the Week
e) All of the above