PIN UPS

Here’s a link to an old article I wrote on the politics of burlesque ( although I’m not sure how much I agree with what I wrote any more), and also an interview with the burlesque performer Beau Burlington.

Now over to a favourite quote of mine:
“A 41-inch bust and a lot of perseverance will get you more than a cup of coffee – a lot more.”
Jayne Mansfield

We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars

“In looking at objects of nature, while I am thinking, as at yonder moon dim-glimmering through the dewy window-pane, I seem rather to be seeking, as it were asking, a symbolic language for something within me that already and forever exists, than observing anything new”. – Coleridge, 1805

Burlesque: porn or politics?

In earlier times, when the supply for unadulterated pornography was constrained by social mores, burlesque provided the necessary “artistic” overlay to pedal smut and soft porn to predominantly male audiences. Burlesque has evolved from this to become, among other things, a political art form with a largely female audience; a dance form which reflects on, or responds to, the social status quo. The current popularity of burlesque reflects both its current and historical forms. Male execs now go to burlesque shows instead of strip joints, as do women in hen parties, along with genuine aficionados. Bearing in mind the above, it is perhaps appropriate to consider whether burlesque, a form which involves the artful striptease, is an empowering or an exploitative art form for women. Can a burlesque dancer be a feminist and vice versa?

Burlesque embraces female sexual stereotypes –the archetypal male fantasies – and parodies them. Acts parody the stripper, the housewife, the pin-up, the rock chick and the slut. By performing erotic clichés to a knowing audience, the performer is pushing towards a new sexual role for women. In her book Burlesque and the Art of the Tease/ Fetish and the Art of the Tease, Dita Von Teese describes feminism as “being as feminine as possible”. A performer uses the spectacle of her own femininity to rechallenge society’s perceptions of female beauty. Burlesque performers can and often are fat (for example the rather hefty Fat Girl Revue), are often heavily tattooed or pierced, and embrace exaggerated makeup, and fetishistic or sadomasochistic carapaces. The burlesque performer Beau Burlington argues that “you have to be a feminist to be a burlesque performer, as you have to be proud of, and willing to share your femininity, in whatever shape or form it comes in”. You are displaying your femininity to a predominately female-dominated audience. According to Jackie Wilson in The Happy Stripper, modern audiences are half or three-quarter female. Beau Burlington adds “If you’ve ever heard the expression that women dress for other women instead of men, then this is what I think is going on with burlesque. It’s the women that enjoy the fur, feathers, the hairstyles, and the exploration of feminine characters”. And yet, for a dance form that looks to express the sheer variety of female beauty, why is it still so white-dominated? There is still a small minority of black burlesque performers (Miss Coco Mae is the main black British burlesque performer), and also a minority of Asian performers. Can it really be that progressive?

Burlesque essentially involves a woman being paid to strip. She may be economically independent, yet she is still selling her brand of femininity in exchange for cash, an image that is dependent on being sexually provocative. By being dependent on money, youth and various concepts of beauty, isn’t burlesque putting across a brand of sexuality that both typifies and limits the woman involved? Dita Von Teese is a prime example. Her diminutive frame, her soft-spoken voice and submissive dance routines (such as her suggestively child-like sponge-bathing) seem to adhere too closely to the stereotypical, repressive representation of ideal womanhood. By lacking any sort of political message, Von Teese’s performance becomes more pastiche than parody, a dangerously unchallenging cocktail of faux feminism in sexy suspenders.

With every performance comes a different interpretation. The beauty of burlesque is in its malleability, its variation from artist to artist. The problem with this is that it can be misinterpreted by people, and turned into something that exploits and confirms female stereotypes. Burlesque’s move to the mainstream has had a positive as well as a negative effect on the form. Burlesque classes are springing up everywhere, introducing new women to the form and encouraging new, varied and more interesting interpretations. However, with an increase in popularity comes a decrease in the quality of the form. There is also the risk of losing the strong sense of history and politics that comes with the dance form, so that instead it becomes a way of selling Wonderbras.

Burlesque can and should be political. The most challenging and interesting performance I have seen in a while was Miss Fancy Chance at The Smoking Cabinet Festival. She came onto the stage dressed up as a Chinese DVD saleswoman, calling out “DVD, DVD”. Having reached the stage, she performed a striptease only to be carted off kicking and screaming by Immigration Control. Miss Fancy Chance’s performance was a tribute to the Chinese Hollywood actress Anna Mae Wong, the Chinese-American movie star whose career was affected by California’s anti-miscegenation laws. Miss Fancy Chance’s performance consciously used her Chinese ethnicity to create a political dialogue about immigration, class, and multiculturalism in modern Britain. Politically radical comedians often make the transit from the fringes to popular culture successfully, without losing their radical edge. Perhaps it is the sexualised content of burlesque that makes it hard to keep its radical edge and move to the popular mainstream- how easy can it be to sell unusual erotica to a mass audience more comfortable with the eroticism of Nuts magazine and Page 3 of The Sun? The danger is that, in sanitizing (and intellectualising) burlesque, we risk delivering neither porn nor politics.

Some version of this article will be featured in Trinity Term’s issue of The Isis, check it out. And for something much more erudite, read Penny Red’s views on the topic in the following Guardian article.

An Interview with Beau Burlington

Beau Burlington is a vaudevillian burlesque dancer, who’s just finished performing at the London Burlesque festival. I asked her a couple of questions about the history of burlesque, her performances and her inspirations.

Hi Beau. Firstly, how long have you been involved in burlesque?
I have been performing properly for about 2 years, though I did a few small performances when I was at university.

What is it about burlesque versus other dance forms that attracts you?
The individuality of the acts, and the limitlessness of the genre is what I love about burlesque. Burlesque doesn’t even have to involve dance, as each performer brings their own skills to their acts, and so one could never finally say what could be burlesque and what could not. I use a lot of dance because I am dance trained, but I also use clown and mime skills as well. Some performers sing, some are acrobatic, and some just explore a character to the music. Burlesque performers don’t all have the same skills, but each performer can be classed within the genre of burlesque.

Who or what inspires your routines and your stage persona?
I’ve always enjoyed the lavish traditional musicals with Doris Day and Marilyn Monroe and the like, and that’s why my acts are usually traditional, very light hearted and fun. Specifically though I am inspired by the English Victorian Music Hall era, and this influences my music choices, and fuels the parodist and clownish style my acts have. My persona is also influenced by music hall, and my name reflects your average middle-class Victorian girl, making her living with her own act on the stage, rather than a superstar showgirl.

How important do you find the history of burlesque in influencing your art?
For me it is essential. There has been a neo-burlesque movement, but traditional burlesque is still the popular I think. Contemporary acts would not be out of place on historical stages, and performers work hard to get the styling, fashioning and atmosphere a reflection of 19th an 20th century trends. Also, there is a lot of technical skill involved in burlesque as well, which hasn’t necessarily been handed down the generations. So along with popping down to your local burlesque academy, its great to look at old footage of fan dances, balloon dances and underwear peeling.

Do you have a favourite routine?
My favourite routine at the moment is ‘The Shrinking Fan Dance’. Its a 1920s styled Charleston swing dance, Fan dances are traditionally balletic, but I went for hot step footwork, while safe behind my twirling ostrich feather fans. I’m soon fleeced by the mysterious shrinking properties of the fans though, have an argument with the stagehand, and finally give into making do with a couple of well-placed feathers.

Who are your current favourite burlesque performers?
I recently saw an amazing act by Miss Leed’em, called ‘Lady Garden’. It’s a superbly funny act, involving a very prim and proper housewife getting into all sorts of trouble with a rose bush. It’s a fantastic example of a narrative character act. Also I love Gwendoline L’amour’s fan dance. She has these two 6ft ‘Sally Rand’ fans, and the performance is just mesmerising.

Do you prefer American or English burlesque?
English definitely. American burlesque is much more of the ‘bump and grind’ version, which has the emphasis on being sexy and on the strip, and less on the exploration of a character or narrative.

What do you make of the link between the music and the dance performance? Do you have any particular music you like to perform to?
I think the music choice is as important as the act, and needs to be as individual. After coming up with an act idea, the music is the next thing I decide on, before anything else. I like to think that I’ve got a specific type of music I perform to, but thinking about it, its extremely varied. I’ve used French café music, jazz and rag-time songs a lot, but then I’ve also used rock music and even The Prodigy in some acts. I think its good not to box those kind of choices in, but choose the music that will work for the act, even if it’s a surprising choice to you, or not what you thought you would use. I generally like to use two songs, the first being one a can interpret with comedy or parody, and the second being a bit sexier and with a big finish!

In her book Burlesque and the Art of the Tease/ Fetish and the Art of the Tease, Dita Von Teese describes feminism as “being as feminine as possible”. What does feminism mean to you as a burlesque performer? Can you be a feminist and a burlesque dancer?
I suppose feminism in the burlesque world is personified in the fact that my audiences and fans and mainly women. If you’ve ever hears the expression that women dress for other women instead of men, then this is what I think is going on with burlesque. It’s the women that enjoy the fur, feathers, the hairstyles, the exploration of feminine characters, and appreciate all the effort and detail I put into my acts! I think you have to be a feminist to be a burlesque performer, as you have to be proud of, and willing to share your femininity, in whatever shape or form it comes in.

In particular, what do you make of the claim that burlesque, like stripping, is an exploitative art form- that it encourages, rather than parodies, female sexual stereotypes?

I see burlesque in its traditional form. The definition of which is ‘grotesque exaggeration. I always employ my clown training and commedia dell’arte skills, and so my acts are always very parodical, of not just sexual stereotypes, but of every theme my act addresses. I start with a character, and then ask myself, “right, what are all the things that could go wrong in this?” am those are the ideas with which I develop my act, often exposing my character as a fool. For me, the parody is the essence of burlesque.

What do you make of the difference between burlesque dancing and stripping? Is there much of a difference?
Burlesque is a whole act, like any act, where you show off your skills and one of them is likely to be stripping (N.B. there are plenty of burlesque acts that involve no stripping at all). If you are stripping then that is all you are doing. I could never go up on to sage, and expect the audience to be impressed with me just being sexy and seductive, which the form of stripping, and arguably some burlesque acts do. And to be honest I can think of sexier things to put on my boobs than sticking nipple tassels on them and twirling them about! Most importantly, as said before, burlesque employs parody where stripping does not. There is so much creation, theatre and comedy present in the burlesque, which makes it rightfully a genre of its own, and infinitely different to stripping.

What do you make of burlesque’s recent move to the mainstream? Do you think its increasing popularity has negatively affected the form or given it a new vitality?

Well, everyone like to think of themselves as part of something quirky and underground, so with its move to the mainstream, and many opportunities for amateurs to perform, sometimes burlesque can feel diluted. But then, if its your job, you can’t work unless you have an eager audience, and a mainstream interest obviously gives you more scope for performances and continuing popularity of the art form, and therefore the development of it as well.

Thanks Beau! And good luck with everything. By the way, how did your performance in The London Festival of Burlesque go?
It was great! I performed in the UK Showcase at Madame Jo Jos, and it was packed with audience members. I’d just had a beautiful new set of fans made as well, so they had their debut. Its so nice to have a whole festival, and to see the professional talent gathered up together.

The Ruby Revue

Illustration by M.

Even though I was pretty annoyed at missing the London Burlesque Festival, I still got to catch a bit of burlesque during my stay here in Sydney. I’m working on an article on the politics of burlesque for The Isis magazine, so “in the name of research” (hoho) I went to see the Ruby Revue at the Arthouse Hotel on Pitt Street. It was so much fun! The night was a mixture of cabaret, vaudeville and burlesque, and included a balloon-popping act, and a hilarious Marie Antoinette-inspired performance by Vivi Valentine; a superbly performed cabaret act combining violin and cello-playing with tango, fire-eating and stripping; a performance by the Australian burlesque performer Danika; a can-canning sailor by the name of Semen something, and a retro singing group called The Fabulous Chandeliers, who were a hilarious throwback to the forties, and then the fifties. It was a really great night.

Danika’s feather dance
(sorry for the bad quality photo, it was really pretty dark in there)

Marrakech

We took a bus from the centre of Marrakech that went all the way up into the mountains, a ‘precarious’ journey (the odd rock slide and snowstorm got in the way). The landscape went from busy city, to dusty desert, to the snowy peaks of the Atlas mountains in the space of a couple of hours.
Exploring a kasbah was my favourite part of the trip. A kasbah, like a medina, is a walled city, a fortress if you like. A lot of filming had been done in this area; Lawrence of Arabia was filmed here, as were some other films I hadn’t heard of, and you can see why they chose this location. It really is beautiful:

Bellydancing:

On the last night, a belly dancer performed in the local restaurant where we were having dinner. I was struck by how sensual it is, how much flesh the dancer shows, bearing in mind that Morocco is a predominantly Muslim country. It brought back the bellydancing lessons a friend and I did ages ago, very badly, when we thought the teacher was coked up to the eyeballs.

Even though many of the women I saw were veiled, or at least it seemed so to me while I was there, I loved the way the eyes, so heavily kohled, became such a focal point. There’s a bit in Anais Nin’s diary when she’s in Morocco and some women in a harem show her how to kohl her eyes:

“At the house of Driss Mokri Montasseb I was allowed to visit the harem. Seven wives of various ages…They told me how they made up their eyes. They bought kohl dust at the market, filled their eyes with it. The eyes smart and cry, and so the black kohl marks the edges and gives that heavily accented effect”.

Speaking of harems, I include a picture of the window of a harem in the kasbah we visited. This is where the women look through to the outer world. It is a very old window…

And finally, the shelves of the pharmacy in the kasbah:
Pretty drugs!

Lisa Faith Phillips interview

Lisa Faith Phillips, hilarious comedienne and former stripper, tells me about the trials of being a female comedienne, whether women are actually funny, and about her brilliant show 7 1/2 Habits of Highly Effective Mistresses.

I wanted to ask her some questions about women in comedy because of an article I’m working on for Jay’s new zine, ‘Culo’, about the topic. Lisa’s answers were so interesting, I thought I’d put them up on the blog in full. She writes brilliantly, as is apparent from this interview, her blog, and the script to the show, which I can’t post but I assure you is hilarious. Drawing on her colorful experiences, working as a stripper to pay her way through graduate school at the London School of Economics, and her background in stand-up comedy and music, Lisa weaves topical humor and songs into a clever, thought-provoking show that is part comedy, part cabaret and part one-woman theater piece. Here’s hoping she’s performing in Edinburgh next year!

Interview with Dr. Lisa Faith Phillips

How hard has it been for you to get into stand-up comedy?
I always recommend to people who ask me how to get into comedy – Just do it. I’ve been putting on comedy shows since the third grade so now when I do a show in New York or Washington DC or Dublin, I am struck that it hardly feels different from the shows I used to stage in our garage, though my name is up in lights off-Broadway.

Growing up in Findlay, Ohio, comedy and laughter was always my family’s way of communicating. Although my father was a lawyer, he often performed WC Fields and Laurel and Hardy routines to entertain friends and family. In school I wrote and performed funny shows and sketches, winning my high school drama and speech awards. During the summers in college I did summer stock usually musical comedies. Even at graduate school at the London School of Economics, I was one of a group that started a drama society and wrote a humorous panto of Peter Pan where I played Wendy.

When I moved to NYC to the East Village in 1983 with the idea of continuing my writing though not certain where it would take me, comedy clubs and performance art venues were suddenly springing up all over. My first week in town I met a comedian who took me around to a number of comedy clubs. I found the excitement of a room filled with people laughing addictive. I started going to open mike nights and set up performing dates at the downtown performance clubs such as Folk City, CBGB’s Gallery and the Wah-Wah-Hut. It was an exciting time of experimentation and a number of the performers from that period went on to great careers. The Wah-Wah Hut was at that time an unmarked building so you had to be in-the-know to find it on Thompson Sq Park. There I was on a bill with comedy duo Steve and Mark – Steve went on to the successful career, the actor Steve Buscemi. I met The Blue Men when there were just trying out their ideas at PS 122. I rubbed shoulders with Spaulding Gray, Penny Arcade, Reno and Eric Bogosian. I auditioned at The Comic Strip the same night as Chris Rock, though he was introduced as a good friend of Eddie Murphy’s.

When I quit my day job at a law firm to pursue comedy full-time, I was invited to join Manhattan Punchline, a theater on West 42nd Street that specialized in comedy. Tamara Jenkins, who later went on to write and direct Slums of Beverly Hills and The Savages, was in the comedy troupe, and I took her with me to try stand-up.

Do you think it is a male-dominated sphere?

Yes, it is male dominated. In part I think the life in the comedy club circuit appeals is a very clubby, aggressive world that appeals more to men who enjoy hanging in groups and one-upping each other. I have found many of the funny women I know move on to writing books, plays or films, which allows them to work at home and they often develop a more observational humour about life rather than the more common put-down humour found in the clubs.

Also men do still control most of the comedy outlets and that can be a barrier for women comedians. The male-dominated atmosphere also makes it harder for women who want to join in to be accepted. My own experiences are typical. My audition at The Comic Strip, a hot Manhattan comedy club where Seinfeld got his first break, went very well even though I had been warned the man who passed the talent did not like women comedians.

It was considered an honour to be mentored by this man and after my set, he asked me to sit with him. He started by telling me that since I was attractive, when I came out on stage the men in the audience desired me and the woman were jealous and resented me so I was already at a disadvantage as I would have to struggle to win both groups back to thinking of me as funny. He then said it “I do not find women funny.”

He went on to add that it had to be hard to be a woman comedian as most of the producers and talent agents were men and they did not find woman funny!! Although he did like my comedy since I commented on the latest news events and not PMS and dating. He kept me there talking while the audience left and the club closed up. Then when we were alone, he said that his wife didn’t understand him and he was suffering from blue balls! I declined the offer to relieve him. He did say I could come back and try out material during week nights after 11. But I did not feel comfortable.

Something tells me Chris Rock and Jerry Seinfeld were not expected to blow him after their sets….

On another occasion I was invited by an executive of Club Med to dinner to discuss a job creating a comedy program for the North American Club Meds. He seemed to think I was the main course and I had to fight him off as he pawed me and tried to shove his tongue down my throat. Not the job interview I was expecting. And since he looked like a fat toad not an invitation I was interested in reciprocating.

Do you prefer male comedians to female comedians?
I like both male and female comedians. It is the kind of humour that appeals to me. I like thoughtful political social observation humour so I don’t enjoy for example put-down humour as David Letterman loves to do, making fun of people on the street. Or dumbed-down humour like comedians such as Larry the Cable Guy.

Some of the funniest best shows I’ve ever seen have been by women: Whoopi Goldberg’s first one-woman show, Lilly Tomlin’s one-women shows, The Kathy and Mo Shows.

Why is it that men are considered funnier? Are men better at laughing at themselves, particularly physically?
I was struck by a book that came out in 1986 Comedy Writing Secrets by Melvin Helitzer, in it he proposes that the two most important elements of why we laugh are superiority and surprise, with the desire to feel superior the most important.
He writes: “There is a strong and constant need for us to feel superior…What we are often doing with humour is comparing ourselves with others we consider inferior by ridiculing their intelligence, their social standing and their physical infirmities.”

It seems easier for men to pursue this sort of comedy as they have been used to being in the power position for centuries. It is harder for women, though it has thankfully been changing, to come at the audience from a power position as for centuries we have been relegated to the position of helpmate, nurturing and supportive. So women have to break the mold of how society has viewed them for centuries to follow their male counterparts.

Looking back over what comediennes were successful on television, there does seem to be only the “allowed” roles for women by the male controlled early movies and television. Gracie Allen – ding-a-ling housewife, Lucille Ball – ding-a-ling housewife, Phyllis Diller – lazy, sloppy housewife, Rosanne Barr – fat, lazy sloppy housewife. There was also the Mae West’s and Sophie Tucker’s brand of bad girl humour which didn’t thrive as well on TV though it has had a life in the comedy and cabaret clubs.

It’s striking that many of the women comedians today who are the most successful are lesbians: Ellen Degeneres, Paula Poundstone, Rosie O’Donnell, Wanda Sykes, which ties into the aggressive outsider role that women comedians often are placed.
I am excited to see how comedy will change now that women are becoming a more accepted part of the comedy scene.

Are women funny? Obviously they are funny women, but what do you make of claims, such as a journalist in Vanity Fair who claimed that women have to be beautiful/ sexy to be funny now…do you agree?

I laugh so much when I am with my girlfriends, I often think how can I laugh so much if we are not funny?
As far as beauty I think television in the States emphasizes youth and pretty for all their shows. (I’ve never seen detectives as beautiful as all of the TV female detectives on American television). But as we’ve read Tina Fey lost 30 lbs in hopes of being on air and people still advised Lorne Michael from putting her on camera for she was not pretty enough. Most television shows are controlled by men. Bright less pretty comediennes don’t tend to get invited on TV though there comediennes like Reno or Penny Arcade who do hysterical comedy. The men doing comedy on TV just have to funny while the women on SNL have to be funny and beautiful.

I have been struck that now men tell me they think Amy Poehler is so funny, the best performer on Saturday Night Live. That is an exciting change for women in comedy especially as SNL was famous for their testosterone fueled-sophomoric humour and driving woman comics away since they were given so little airtime.

Do you have any favorite female comediennes at the minute?

Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Kathy Griffin, Whoopie Goldberg, Ellen Degeneres, Wanda Sykes, Downtown comics: Penny Arcade, Reno.

What male responses have you received from your shows? Have men openly declared they find you funny?
Men are often my biggest fans, coming to all of my shows and comic plays. I try to appeal to both men and women in the audience but my shows often deal with women’s position in society. I’m very aware that there is a great underserved universe of smart, educated women who love to come out and laugh. Media outlets, targeting 18-30 year-old men, ignores this group so I’m trying to make more comedy for them.

You have one song in your show called ‘The Fellatio Tango’. It sounds hilarious. Can you tell me more about this?
As I developed my show 7 ½ Habits of Highly Effective Mistresses, a parody self-help lecture, inspired by my years in publishing watching people take a simple idea and make a 300-page advice book, seminars and advice shows, Ellen Mandel, the gifted pianist and composer I was working with, and I began to look through her original songs as well as write our own for the show. After we had written the original “How To Be a Bad Girl”, she pulled out a tango she had written which didn’t have any lyrics. I took it home with me and when I returned to see her I was keen to do it as The Fellatio Tango. Ellen was initially hesitant but when I explained that it would all be framed as if it were an advertisement for investing in my fellatio hedge fund, she agreed to work on it with me. It turned out to be a very fun song to do (with maracas) and has gotten us lots of publicity. Though it was also singled out when I was sued for copyright infringement and dilution of copyright (by tying their copyright to the unseemly) by the FranklinCovey Corp which has taken a variety of trademarks on 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

What a shame. I take it you’re working on a new show. What’s it going to be about?

A: It will be a comic monologue weaving song, dance movement and puppets together so it should be a lot of fun. The inspiration for the new show was a book that came out last year and has been wildly popular – Eat Pray Love. I read it just before taking off on my travels and kept thinking my version would be Drink, Blaspheme F*. Her book is set up with four months in Italy as Eat, four months in India is Pray and Love is four months in Bali. So at first I thought from my travels Dublin could be drink, China blaspheme and Abu Dhabi F* but the show will be a little broader now that I am writing it. I’ve been working with a voice teacher and studying music theory at Juilliard so I’m planning on weaving how music formed Dr. Faith’s early years in songs. I had collected puppets over the years and had been thinking they would be fun to use in a show and now it feels right.

On With The Dance!

This extract is from The Footlight Parade (1933) and includes an incredible dance sequence by a waterfall. This was one of the shorts shown on day two of The Smoking Cabinet Festival.

A discussion followed afterwards with Tim Redfern (Timberlina) entitled ‘Boom or Bust?’ about the cyclical nature of burlesque and cabaret (popularity in the form has peaked in the 20′s, the 80′s and in the 00′s). The panel explored the idea of how theatre and cabaret responds in times of financial difficulty. Cabaret and burlesque are after all artistic expressions which are often a reflection of society. Tim Redfern argued that we shouldn’t be paying for cabaret, that gone are the days when hats where passed around in performances, and that the appropriation of cabaret and burlesque by market economy has had an effect on the quality. He argued that by paying for a spectacle, you are thus creating a pretext of expectation (I agreed with this, and thought of the 8 pound I had paid for my ticket and whether it was worth it and so on). The point of cabaret is that it is meant to be accessible, but by having been appropriated into the mainstream, the art form had lost the insight and skill it had once had. As a form, the neo-burlesque movement was continuing; as a skill, the quality had suffered. An interesting debate.

One of the many clips shown was Josephine Baker’s 1927 Plantation dance. I’m not sure what to make of it, but still, god she’s brilliant!

The Smoking Cabinet

Friday was the opening night of The Smoking Cabinet, a festival of early cabaret and burlesque cinema. The movie shown was Piccadilly (1929), a sumptuous silent about a Chinese dishwasher called Shosho (played by Anna May Wong) who catches the eye of night-club owner Valentine Wilmot after being caught dancing on a table in ripped stockings.

The plot was, like many of these early films, pretty non-descript, but some of the scenes were truly spectacular, such as the one where Shosho’s lover strangles her behind a Chinese screen. The movie stylishly captured the beat of Jazz Age London, and nowhere better than in the final scene, a panoramic view of the dancers, and drunken clientele of a Jazz club in Soho.

Minima scored the silent movie with a 21st century twist -the sound was dark, with snatches of drum ‘n’ bass and psychedelia. Their scoring of silents is interpretative, their music responds to the events on screen. So in the scene I described above, the music built up to an explosion of drums. Really incredible.

For me the best bit was the burlesque performance before the showing. Fancy Chance put on a small performance as a Chinese DVD saleswoman who gets picked up by immigration control. The performance, a homage to the star of the movie Anna Mae Wong, was obviously political, and thus true to the origins of burlesque. Here’s what she has to say about it:

“This homage to a woman who wanted “The woman who died a thousand times” engraved on her tombstone is especially important to me because of how she was treated by cinema and media from the 20’s to the 50’s. She was constantly being knocked-off in every manner of way in the films she appeared in; there is no doubt that this is because she was a Chinese woman. It will be interesting to see how I’m treated as a black market DVD “sales person” before I go on stage and then dragged off by immigration inspectors.”

I found the performance hilarious but also challenging. Her performance brought into perspective the racial politics in the film. The poster of Piccadilly shows Anna Mae Wong bare-chested and dancing, an image that would have been totally inappropriate for a white girl, but for a starlet of Chinese-American descent like herself, or the African-American Josephine Baker, was deemed ‘acceptable’ by the 1920′s audience. The stance of this theme’s racial politics are confusing: is the interracial relationship between Shosho and Wilmot a stand against social ethnic discrimination in Jazz Age London? Or is Shosho representing the sexually compliant Oriental female who is taken advantage of by the rich white club owner? To me, the movie seemed to be an early vindication of interracial relationships, even if it suffered from the prejudices of the period.

The evening was completed with a burlesque act by Millicent Binks (below), a circus performance and gin and ginger beer cocktails.