- Dita von Teese
Dita Von Teese is a popular American burlesque artist, model and actress. She is one of the instigators of the burlesque revival, and has been a considerable factor in bringing burlesque to mainstream attention. She initially rose to fame during her relationship with Marilyn Manson, whom she married and subsequently divorced.
- Gypsy Rose Lee
Gypsy Rose Lee (also known as Rose Louise Hovick and Louise Hovick) (February 9, 1911 or 1914 - April 26, 1970) was an American actress and burlesque entertainer, whose 1957 memoir, which included a scathing portrait of her domineering mother, was made into the stage musical and film "Gypsy".
- Bettie Page
Betty Mae Page (she prefers "Bettie") born April 22, 1923 in Nashville, Tennessee, is a former American model who became famous in the 1950s for her fetish modeling and pin-up photos. While she faded into obscurity in the 1960s, she experienced a resurgence of popularity in the 1980s and now has a loyal cult following.
- Tempest Storm
Tempest Storm (born February 29, 1928) was born Annie Blanche Banks in Eastman, Georgia. She is a retired American burlesque star and motion picture actress.
- Sally Rand
Sally Rand (January 2, 1904 - August 31, 1979) was born Harriet Helen Gould Beck in Hickory County, Missouri. She also performed under the name Billy Beck. She was an exotic dancer and actress. During the 1920s, she acted on stage and appeared in silent films. Cecil B. DeMille gave her the name Sally Rand. She was selected as one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars in 1927. After the introduction of sound film, she became a dancer, …
- Lili St. Cyr
Lili St. Cyr (June 3, 1918 - January 29, 1999), was an American striptease artist. Born Willis Marie Van Schaack in Minneapolis, Minnesota, little is known about the childhood that developed St. Cyr into the outspoken celebrity she became. Her grandparents, the Klarquists, reared her and her two show business sisters, Dardy Orlando and Barbara Moffett. Having taken ballet lessons throughout her youth, she began to dance professionally as a chorus line girl in Hollywood.
- Michelle L'Amour
Michelle L'amour is an American neo-burlesque performer who grew up in Orland Park, Illinois. In 2006, she performed her stripteases for several audiences including more than 40 million people via NBC's America's Got Talent, Showtime's "Sexual Healing", two foreign documentaries and international performances from Canada to Brazil. Her tagline is "The Ass That Goes POW!" and she sells related promotional products (The Michelle L'amour Signature Fanny Facial).
- Catherine D'Lish
Catherine D’lish is an American performance artist specializing in classical strip tease and burlesque. Elaborate costumes and decorative props are part of her show. She has been the headlining performer at multiple events in the genre including the 50th anniversary celebration of Playboy. Las Vegas shows were held at the Riviera, Stardust, Tropicana, Bally's, and Caesars Palace. D'lish's titles include: Miss Nude USA, Miss Exotic America, Miss Erotic World, …
- Mae West
Mae West (August 17, 1893 - November 22, 1980) was an American actress, playwright, screenwriter, and sex symbol. Famous for her bawdy double entendres, West made a name for herself in vaudeville and on the legitimate stage in New York before moving to Hollywood to become renowned as a comedienne, actress and writer in the motion picture industry. One of the most controversial stars of her day, West encountered many problems including censorship.
- Fanny Brice
Fanny Brice (October 29 1891 - May 29 1951) was a popular and influential American comedian, singer, theatre and film actress and entertainer, remembered best for her many stage, radio and film appearances and her recordings. She was the creator and star of the top-rated radio comedy series, "The Baby Snooks Show". In the decade following her death, she was portrayed on stage and film by Barbra Streisand in "Funny Girl".
- Little Egypt
Little Egypt was the stage name for two popular exotic dancers. They had so many imitators, the name became synonymous with exotic dancers generally. Farida Mazar Spyropoulos, (c. 1871, death date unknown), also performing under the stage name Fatima, appeared at the "Street in Cairo" exhibition on the Midway at the World's Columbian Exposition, held in Chicago in 1893.
- Chris Owens
Chris Owens is a United States performer, club owner and entrepreneur who bases her act out of the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana. She has been a French Quarter fixture and celebrity from the start of the 1960s through the early 21st century. Though perhaps not a name of world-wide recognition, Owens is extremely well known in Louisiana and throughout the U. S. South.
- Bob Hope
Bob Hope, KBE (May 29 1903 - July 27 2003), was an English-born American entertainer who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, on radio and television, in movies, and in performing tours for U.S. Military personnel, well known for his good natured humor and career longevity.
- Phil Silvers
Phil Silvers (May 11, 1911 - November 1, 1985) was an American entertainer and comedy actor. His best-known work is "The Phil Silvers Show", a 1950s sitcom set on a US Army post in which he played Sergeant Bilko; the show was also often referred to by this name. The show's chief writer, Nat Hiken, was TV's first writer-producer, and Hiken helped set a high comic tone for the show through his inventive plots and snappy comedic repartee for the characters.
- Red Skelton
Richard Bernard "Red" Skelton (July 18 1913 - September 17 1997) was an American comedian who was best known as a top radio and television star from 1937 to 1971. Skelton's show business career began in his teens as a circus clown and went on to vaudeville, Broadway, films, radio, TV, clubs and casinos, while pursuing another career as a painter.
- Milton Berle
Milton Berle (July 12, 1908 - March 27, 2002) was an Emmy-winning American comedian who was born Milton Berlinger. As the manic host of NBC's "Texaco Star Theater" (1948-1955), he was the first major star of television. He became known as Uncle Miltie to millions during TV's golden age.
- Robert Alda
Robert Alda born Alfonso Giuseppe Giovanni Roberto D'Abruzzo, was an American actor and father of actor Alan Alda. Alda, an Italian American was born in New York City, the son of Anthony Alda (who Robert Alda's son was named after) and Frances T. D'Abruzzo. He started out as a singer and dancer in vaudeville after winning a talent contest. Following brief work in vaudeville he moved onto burlesque.
- Jackie Gleason
Herbert John "Jackie" Gleason (February 26, 1916 - June 24, 1987) was an American comedian, actor, and musician. One of the most popular stars of early television, Gleason was respected for both comedic and dramatic roles. However, his major legacy is a brash visual and verbal comedy, especially as delivered as the character Ralph Kramden on the pioneering sitcom "The Honeymooners".
- Bert Lahr
Bert Lahr, born Irving Lahrheim was a Tony Award-winning American comic actor. Born in New York City, he is best remembered today for his role as the Cowardly Lion (and the farmworker "Zeke") in the classic 1939 movie "The Wizard of Oz", but known during his life for a career in burlesque, vaudeville and Broadway.
- Jimmy Durante
James Francis Durante, better known as Jimmy Durante or Schnozzle (Snozzle) Durante, (February 10, 1893 - January 29, 1980) was an American singer, pianist, comedian and actor, whose distinctive gravel delivery, comic language butchery, jazz-influenced songs, …
- Hinda Wassau
Hinda Wassau (b. 1912) was a former chorus girl who became a star of striptease and burlesque. She was from Minneapolis, Minnesota.
- Elaina Satana
Elaina Satana is a Las Vegas-based burlesque performer and pin-up model. She's the founder of The Sin City Grind Kittens (est. 2003), and specializes in eating both fire and glass on stage. She's also known for performing to and alongside rock-n-roll and punk, self-designed ornate costumes, tattoos, and her hourglass bombshell figure. Elaina adopted the surname Satana as a tribute to Tura Satana, one of her biggest inspirations.
- Leon Errol
Leon Errol (July 3, 1881 - October 12, 1951). was an Australian-born comedian and actor in the United States, popular in the first half of the 20th century. Born Leonce Errol Simms in Sydney, he managed a traveling vaudeville troupe and gave a young comedian named Roscoe (Fatty) Arbuckle his first professional opportunity. in America Errol became a well-known vaudevillian who played skits with such notables as Bert Williams and who appeared in the Ziegfeld Follies.
- Esmé Bianco
- Scot Nery
Scot Vincent Nery (born November 9, 1978), is an award-winning unusual juggler, contortionist, comedian who specializes in live performance. SCOT NERY IS THE COOLEST GUY EVER!!!
- Mara Gaye
Mara Gaye (born Marjorie Helen Ginsberg on 16 September, 1920 in Bronx, New York; died 22 July, 2005) was a professional showgirl, dancer with the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes (1938-1943), and exotic burlesque striptease dancer of the 1940s through the 1960s. She also performed under the name Marjorie Gaye.
- Jean Mode
Jean Mode (b. 1922) is a former burlesque star and erotic dancer.
- Shirley Jean Rickert
Shirley Jean Rickert was an American child actor who was briefly the "blond girl" for the "Our Gang" series in 1931, during the Roach talkie period. After the series, she had a brief movie career, followed by a string of jobs including driving trucks for the air force during World War II. She also worked in burlesque as Gilda and Her Crowning Glory. She is still alive (as of 2007), doing quilting and working with her daughter and grandchild.
- Molly Picon
Molly Picon was an American star of stage, screen and television, as well as a lyricist. She was first and foremost a star in Yiddish theatre and film, but as Yiddish theatre faded she began to perform in English-language productions.
- Lessa Wilson
Louis(e) deVille has performed on 3 continents, with 3 burlesque troupes all in less than 3 years as femme, king, and everything in between. She got the urge to twirl tassles and moustaches by observing the tail twiching antics of her family's cows on the farm in good ol' KY. Je suis une performeuse de burlesque. J'ai realisé que les gens m'ecoutent mieux quand je partage la message en culottes.
- Belle M. Baudelaire
WELCOME TO MY-WASTE OF TIME.COM.
- Diva Diva Champomy*
Performeuse et créatrice de la troupe de new burlesque "BUMP N'GRIND HONEYS" !Et une fille bien, on me le dit tout le temps !!! Ah ah.
- Dixie
I'm fairly quiet for an aspiring burlesque showgirl, happy to spend my time watching horror films and searching Ebay for vintage clothing and accessories with my Papillon Duke whom I love! I also have a passion for steel boned corsets and I'm currently training my waist so I can cinch it in further giving me sexy curves!
- Faye
"In medieval times her namesake was the sorceress enchantress half-sister of King Arthur.
- Gisele Norris
- Ginger
Miz Ginger Snapz is Seattle's premier Black burlesque starlet. With her wit, sass, and whole lotta ass, she surprises and entertains audiences weary of mainstream burlesque and brings spice to the stage.
- Alistair
The name is Smokin' McQueen. I am a boylesque stripper and absolutely love the stage. Something about people looking at me while I take off my clothes drives me wild.
- Jezebel
From Hamilton to Toronto, Chicago, even Bollywood, this co-founder of Steeltown Sirens Burlesque has been performing for audiences on the stage and in film for nearly ten years. This multi-talented Siren is armed with a background in performance writing, choreography, production, directing, teaching & coaching. Her very physical and expressive performance style has been honed by her years of experience as an Improvisational Theatre & Sketch Comedy actor and dancer.
- Nikki
I know of this girl called Nikki. She lives somewhere far up north and has hair like a glossy hair like a clear summer's night with deep set eyes to get lost in and a smile to stop a man dead in his step. And that's saying nothing about the wicked wit that hides behind that gorgeous mischievous smile. A veritable minx. - Mara xxxxComment and Message Mexxxx I wont bite unless you ask nicely.
- Sydni
Photos by the lovely Lindsay!