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Burlesque West: Showgirls, Sex, and Sin in Postwar Vancouver PDF

402 Pages·2009·2.669 MB·English
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BURLESQUE WEST Showgirls, Sex, and Sin in Postwar Vancouver After the Second World War, Vancouver emerged as a hotbed of strip- tease talent. In Burlesque West, the fi rst critical history of the city’s notorious striptease scene, Becki Ross delves into the erotic entertain- ment industry at the northern end of the dancers’ west coast tour – the North−South route from Los Angeles to Vancouver – which provided rotating work for dancers and variety for club clientele. Drawing on extensive archival materials and interviews with fi fty former dancers, strip-club owners, booking agents, choreographers, and musicians, Ross reveals stories that are deeply fascinating and evoke, in the words of ex-dancer Lindalee Tracey, an era before ‘striptease fell from grace because the world stopped dreaming.’ Ross demonstrates that Vancouver’s glitzy nightclub scene, often condemned as a quasi- legal strain of urban blight, in fact greased the economic engine of the city. Though jobs in the industry are often perceived as having little in common with conventional types of labour, retired dancers’ accounts resonate with those of contemporary service workers, particularly in regard to such matters as unionization and workplace benefi ts and haz- ards. Incorporating fi rst-hand narrative with feminist, anti-racist, and queer analysis, Ross traces the evolution of the industry over several decades, examining its roots and effl orescence, as well as its subsequent devaluation and sanitization with the integration of striptease style and neo-burlesque trends into mass culture. Lavishly illustrated and thoroughly documented, Burlesque West is an ambitious and engaging social history that looks at the convergence of the personal and the political in a phenomenon that combines sex, art and entertainment, and commerce. Like its subject, the book will stimulate, delight, and offend. becki l. ross is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology and the Chair of the Women’s and Gender Studies Program at the Uni- versity of British Columbia. This page intentionally left blank BECKI L. ROSS BURLESQUE WEST Showgirls, Sex, and Sin in Postwar Vancouver UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS Toronto Buffalo London © University of Toronto Press Incorporated 2009 Toronto Buffalo London www.utppublishing.com Printed in Canada ISBN 978-0-8020-9698-2 (cloth) ISBN 978-0-8020-9646-3 (paper) Printed on acid-free paper Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Ross, Becki, 1959– Burlesque West : showgirls, sex and sin in postwar Vancouver / Becki L. Ross. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8020-9698-2 (bound). ISBN 978-0-8020-9646-3 (pbk.) 1. Burlesque (Theater) – British Columbia – Vancouver – History. 2. Stripteasers – British Columbia – Vancouver – History. 3. Showgirls. – British Columbia – Vancouver – History. 4. Nightlife – British Columbia – Vancouver – History. 5. Vancouver (B.C.) – History. I. Title. PN1949.S7R68 2009 792.7 C2009-901219-7 This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, through the Aid to Scholarly Publications Programme, using funds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. University of Toronto Press acknowledges the fi nancial assistance to its publishing program of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council. University of Toronto Press acknowledges the fi nancial support for its publishing activities of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP). For Tracy, my one, for always This page intentionally left blank Contents Acknowledgments ix Preface: Beginnings, Backlash, and Brazenness xiii 1 Uncloaking the Striptease Past 3 2 ‘I Ain’t Rebecca, and This Ain’t Sunnybrook Farm’: Men behind the Marquee 29 3 ‘We Were Like Snowfl akes – No Two Were Alike’: Dancers and Their Gimmicks 86 4 ‘Peelers Sell Beer, and the Money Was Huge’: The Shifting Conditions of Selling Fantasy 141 5 ‘Everyone Wanted to Date a Dancer, Nobody Wanted to Marry One’: Occupational Hazards in the Industry 185 6 ‘You Started to Feel Like a Dinosaur’: Exiting and Aging in the Business 222 Notes 247 Bibliography 297 List of Interview Narrators 335 Photo Credits 339 Index 343 This page intentionally left blank Acknowledgments As a contributor to feminist, anti-racist debates and activism for thirty years, in my journey to complete this book project I benefi ted, on many levels, from rich collaborations. I want to commend my stellar research assistants at the University of British Columbia: initially, Kim Green- well and Michelle Swann; at later stages, Erin Bentley, Maureen Doug- las, Christine Harris, Geneviève Lapointe, and Rachael Sullivan. Each woman’s commitment to the project extended well beyond the scope of my hopes and expectations. Eminent historians and friends Michael Fellman and Angus Mc- Claren read an early draft of the manuscript. I am grateful to them, as well as to other comrades in the academy, including Santa Aloi, Eileen Boris, Deborah Brock, Elise Chenier, Gillian Creese, Dawn Currie, Wendy Frisby, Franca Iacovetta, Tom Kemple, Eva Mackey, Renisa Ma- wani, Steven Maynard, Patti Moore, Dianne Newell, Bryan Palmer, Joy Parr, Leila Rupp, Joy Sangster, Rima Wilkes, Cynthia Wright, and Patri- cia Vertinsky. Additional friends provided sustenance on myriad fronts: I thank Nancy Archbould, Stuart Blackley, Anita Braha, Jane Coombe, Bill Coombe, Aaron Devor, Jamie Lee Hamilton, Arlene McLaren, Mary Millen, Heather Mitton, Marina Morrow, Judy Parrack, Judy Sewell, Gill Thomas, Cynthia Wright, and the ‘Sudbury girls’ – Karen Beange, Liz Dow, Peg Evans, Marg Ghent, Penny Gingell, and Alison Strong. Each person, at various points, offered me uncommon insights, loving support, and much-appreciated humour. I would like to honour my parents, Carol Ross, Sheila Ross, and Chucker Ross, and my siblings, Brenda, Larry, Karey, and Julie; every family member graciously indulged my passion for this work. My in-laws, Carol and Terry Porteous, wrapped me in prairie hospital-

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