The Boys from Syracuse - Center Stage

BurlieANABBREVIATEDHISTORYOF THEBy the late 1930s, the traditions ofvaudeville and burlesque were wellestablished in the US. Indeed, afterflourishing for 50 years, they actuallyteetered on the edge of decline; whatworldwide Depression hadn’t killed,radio and movies helped finish off.When The Boys from Syracuse firstlanded on the Great White Way, itboasted a cast including some genuineveterans of the vaudeville circuit—folkslike Jimmy Savo, one of the Dromios—and played to an audience raised onand steeped in the form. The likes ofJackie Gleason, Fanny Brice, Bert Lahr,Al Jolson, Charlie Chaplin, Cary Grant,Buster Keaton, W.C. Fields, Bobby Clark,Red Skelton, Abbottand Costello, the MarxBrothers, Phil Silvers,Bob Hope, RobertAlda, Fred Astaire, andMae West all got theirstart as burlesquers orvaudevillians, alongsidesuch greats as GypsyRose Lee, Lili St. Cyr, SallyRand, and Baltimore’sown Blaze Starr.As many have observed,burlesque, more thanvaudeville, was the true“break-in ground” whereBaltimore Burlesque amateurs could proveQueen Blaze Starr they had the talent anddoes her part to determination to survivesupport CENTERSTAGE in show business. By theduring a fundraiser. time most performersreached vaudeville, theywere already experiencedpros. It was supposedto be a one-way trip; vaudevilliansconsidered it a fatal disgrace to appear inburlesque, insisting that only those whowere washed up would stoop so low.However, many a vaudeville veteran hitthe burlesque wheels during dry spells,appearing under an assumed name.Burlesque comedy was built aroundsettings, situations familiar to workingclassaudiences. Courtrooms, streetcorners, and schoolrooms were favorites,as were examining rooms ruled overby quack doctors or the offices of hacklawyers. If a joke didn’t work, the ensuingrain of produce left no doubt of the fact,and the comedian either revised or gotcancelled. Burlesque made no pretenseto an overall organization nor to anyelevated sensibility; coarse gags, sexualinnuendo, sly puns, and physical humorwere the staples of a succession of shortbits or turns, alternating with songsand novelty acts. These might featuremagicians, jugglers, animal acts, acrobats,or material familiar from sideshows andcircuses. Chief attraction, though, werethe ladies—the “peelers”—who cameout in various stages of undress andproceeded to get more so.Treading that fine line between titillationand exhibition, between the suggestiveand the merely illegal, led to greatingenuity. There were fan dancers andacrobats, or the comically intellectualmonologue performedwhile stripping. Therewere exotic dancers froma mysterious, imaginaryEast, like the legendaryLittle Egypt. Therewere sly parodies ofhigh culture, fromShakespeare toGilbert and Sullivan.Gradually, the stripteasebecame the centerpiece of burlesque,with the other acts merely additionsto lend a semblance of decorum—likethe pasties adorning the performersthemselves.Vaudeville differed little, chiefly inlacking the explicit titillation of thestriptease. Also essentially a variety show,vaudeville may have offered a few morepretensions to literacy and culture, butessentially it rested like burlesque onthe talents and appeal of comedians,Next Stage: The Boys from Syracuse | 9