One Night on Second Avenue
Born in the boondocks, Lake Ann, Michigan,
I was in my early twenties in 1917
when I
revolutionized the burlesque show:
on a particularly steamy summer night
at the National Winter Garden Theater –
Minsky’s – corner of Second Avenue and Houston
Street,
way up on the sixth floor,
I “accidentally” removed my bodice
before I walked offstage, introducing
what became known as the “striptease.”
I’d performed as a soubrette – a saucy maid –
in comedies at the Union Square Theater on
Irving Place,
but this was my big break.
I went on the circuit – Baltimore, Buffalo,
Cleveland –
with Barney Gerard’s “Follies of the Day,”
and by the time I was thirty
I’d developed my “Try to Get In” act,
where I stripped down
to just a banana covering my cooch –
which fell off, suggestively, as I exited the
stage.
At the State and Lake Theater in Chicago,
I pulled papier-mâché cherries from between my legs,
threw them at the salivating dogs in the
audience.
Mae Dix and her Chicago Harmonaders
performed to sell-out crowds all over the
Midwest.
I like to think that poet, Hart Crane,
had me in mind after a National Winter Garden
show
when he wrote, Outspoken buttocks in pink beads
in that poem, “Three Songs”:
And while legs waken salads
in the brain…
Hell
yeah, that must have been me!
The Howl
My name alone a poem –
Mitzi Von Wolfgang, the German translation
of my real Italian surname Del Lupo –
the grand dame of Italian burlesque;
started the Burlesque School of Milano,
a city famous for La Scala,
the European capital of fashion and design.
Gypsy Charms, the Edinburgh stripper,
encouraged me
to start the school.
Angie Pontani and Jo “Boobs” Weldon
served as visiting tutors. The secret?
Create magic on stage!
The word “burlesque” comes from burlesco,
derived from the Italian burla –
a joke, ridicule, mockery.
As Miss Glitter Painkiller put it,
“It’s funny – burlesque, in a word!”
It’s a visual art form in the main –
classical and theatrical; so many styles:
classic cabaret, Las Vegas showgirl,
1930’s Berlin cabaret, French Can Can.
Opulent costumes and props, precise
in every detail and preparation.
I’ve performed at Le Salon Parisien and La
Maison Milano,
shows revolving around bikers, rockabilly,
tattoo.
I’m proud to have been on stage
with Eve La Plume, Cleo Viper, Scarlett
Martini,
Jane Fischietto and dolly Lamour.
The Milan extraordinaire!
I’m from the wolves, for sure:
I howl with pleasure, flirt with class!
Jo
Boobs
Commonly known as Jo Boobs –
a name I don’t find offensive –
I’m an activist, essayist and photographer
as well as a burlesque star.
But still I created my website,
G-Strings Forever, after I stopped
working in strip joints.
People kept saying the most offensive things
about strippers, right in front of me.
A pioneer of the neo-burlesque movement,
I stripped from 1980 to the mid-nineties
I don’t think I’m that beautiful,
but my self-confidence is off the charts.
My signature act? The Godzilla.
I’d strip from a monster costume
to a mashup of Blue Oyster Cult’s “Godzilla”
and sound clips from the original Godzilla movie.
I’m an absurdist, a surrealist and lover of
glamor!
In 2003 I founded the New York School of
Burlesque;
I’ve taught at Mitzi von Wolfgang’s
Milano School of Burlesque.
But you know what? Besides my degree
in Business Administration, I’ve done graduate
work
in media ethics, and I’m an advocate
for the rights of sex workers and strippers.
Look me up – Jo Weldon; Jo Boobs Weldon.
I’m not going to blush.
That’s your problem.
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