Posted May 8th, 2015 at 11:40 pmNo Comments Yet
Since embarking on this adventure we call burlesque, I have tried my best to take advantage of whatever information I could find that would make me a better, more professional, and well informed performer of the art. This has included taking classes, watching videos, going to shows, and, of course, reading books. “Pretty Things: The Last Generation of Burlesque Queens” by Liz Goldwyn is a recent addition to my burlesque book collection. It’s been around for a few years, having come out after the author’s HBO documentary of the same name debuted in 2005. The book, with it’s five star Amazon rating, is one of the first you encounter when you’re looking for readily available books about burlesque, and of the first few I encountered, one of the only one’s to deal primarily with burlesque history, rather than modern stars or how-tos (while those are pretty great too!).
To be honest, it took me a bit longer than I would have liked to get through this book. Not because it was a slog, quite the contrary, but because of the book’s design. While one of the obvious plus points to the book are the photographs and bits of evidence scattered throughout it, which do very well in it’s large format, it isn’t exactly a size that lends itself to being carried around and devoured. A “coffee table book” without the archival hardcover and beautifully designed dust jacket, it lies somewhere in between dog-earable paperback and reference volume, which is a hard category for any book to fall into. I also took issue with the readability of it from a design perspective. One of my pet peeves in books that rely heavily on illustrations, photographs, or diagrams (or all of the above) is breaking off text mid-sentence at a page break, only to have a full size photograph on the following page with a caption just begging to be read. It makes me feel a bit like a crazy person, taking a break halfway through a thought to read another thought, then picking up where I left off. Would you editors please stop doing this to me?! This book has this problem in several places. Related to this is the fact that there are pages and pages of photographs, captioned and not, that break up the chapters in the book. While this may not always be a problem, in this instance it was a bit confusing, as you weren’t always sure if the images were related to the previous chapter or the one to come, as there was no headline or title. Really, I just feel like the editor, and perhaps the designer of this book did it a disservice by not doing a better job at making it readable.
Now, beyond that, the actual content of this book is really fantastic. It is personal to the author, which makes it relatable, readable, and fun. It more than tells the story of the heyday of burlesque, it tells the story of the author becoming acquainted with all the sides to the burlesque story from the glossy, glamorous view from the audience to the seedier, sadder side as seen from behind the scenes. The first hand accounts of the absolute legends presented are unique and worth their weight in gold. I finished the book wishing there had been more of these first hand accounts. More, more, more! I wanted accounts from more family members, more stage hands, and I did find myself wanting accounts from some of the later ladies too. While I understand why she focused on the era that she did, the majority of the queens she discussed really left the “business” of burlesque once it started to be performed more in nightclubs than in theaters and the touring circuits became a thing of the past. I really wanted to hear more accounts from the ladies that followed fast on these queens heels, and straddled the line between theaters and nightclubs, especially after she quoted one of the queens talking down on these very ladies. I wanted to follow the whole story arc, and had a very unfinished feeling when I was done reading. That said, what Ms. Goldwyn has done for us, the fans of classic burlesque, is fantastic. A fun, personal, readable history complete with costume sketches, reference photographs, and first hand accounts of both how acts were performed and the inner workings of the shows? Amazing.
If you’re looking for a fun, inspiring account of the high point of burlesque’s run, but don’t want to carry it around with you, this is a great buy.
Leave a Comment