Striptease: The Untold History of the Girlie Show

Shteir, Rachel

ISBN 10: 0195127501 / ISBN 13: 9780195127508

Published by Oxford University Press, 2004

About this Item

First edition 2004, first printing, number line starts with 1. Published by Oxford University Press. Hardcover with DJ. Condition new, square tight and crisp book, no edgewear, corners not bumped, no markings of any kind, no names, no underlinings, no highlights, no bent page corners, not a reminder. DJ new, bright and shiny, no tears, no chips, no edgewear, price not clipped. 8vo, 448 pages.

Seller Inventory # 001368

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Striptease: The Untold History of the Girlie Show
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication Date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0195127501
• ISBN 13: 9780195127508
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: New
• Dust Jacket Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

The fascinating, untold story of the history of undressing: over fifty years of taking it off. Striptease combined sexual display and parody, cool eros and wisecracking Bacchanalian humor. Striptease could be savage, patriotic, irreverent, vulgar, sophisticated, sentimental, and subversive--sometimes, all at once. In this vital cultural history, Rachel Shteir traces the ribald art from its nineteenth century vaudeville roots, through its long and controversial career, to its decline during the liberated 1960s. The book argues that striptease is an American form of popular entertainment--maybe the most American form of popular entertainment. Based on exhaustive research and filled with rare photographs and period illustrations, Striptease recreates the combustible mixture of license, independence, and sexual curiosity that allowed strippers to thrive for nearly a century. Shteir brings to life striptease's Golden Age, the years between the Jazz Age and the Sexual Revolution, when strippers performed around the country, in burlesque theatres, nightclubs, vaudeville houses, carnivals, fairs, and even in glorious palaces on the Great White Way. Taking us behind the scenes, Rachel Shteir introduces us to a diverse cast of characters that collided on the burlesque stage, from tight-laced political reformers and flamboyant impresarios, to drag queens, shimmy girls, cootch dancers, tit serenaders, and even girls next door, lured into the profession by big-city aspirations. Throughout the book, readers will find essential profiles of famed performers, including Gypsy Rose Lee, "the Literary Stripper"; Lili St. Cyr, the 1950s mistress of exotic striptease; and Blaze Starr, the "human heat wave," who literally set the stage on fire. Striptease is an insightful and entertaining portrait of an art form at once reviled and embraced by the American public. Blending careful research and vivid narration, Rachel Shteir captures striptease's combination of sham and seduction while illuminating its surprisingly persistent hold on the American imagination.

About the Author

Rachel Shteir is Associate Professor and Head of the Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism Program at the Theatre School of DePaul University. She has written forThe New York Times, The Nation, and the Chicago Tribune.