"Take It Off, Take It Off"

"The heavy beat of a snare drum tattoos the shimmery erotic movement of the semi-dressed dancer as she slides in a seductive slow motion dance on the stage. At the beat of the snares she removes an article of clothing - first a decorative flimsy jacket, which leaves the show of her erect nipples daintily covered with a colored pasty on ample breasts. Then slowly she removes her diaphanous tiny skirt with a bit of tease that reveals a strip of cloth, a dainty article of flimsy material that covers a tiny portion of her satiny smooth thighs, which she fondles in sensual delight. Temptation increases as she presents a charade of a half a dozen sexual postures that thrust the tempting view of the cloth with its hidden mystery to the sight of the audience. ‘Boom’ taps the bass drum as she squeezes her ivory mounds and her pelvis gyrates provocatively to the rhythm. The wolves cry out, “take it off, take it off!"

The strippers’ routine on the boards became increasingly graphic through the years. To avoid total nudity but still give the audience what it wanted, the ladies covered their groins with flimsy G-strings and used "tassels" to cover their nipples. But to a more experienced dancer the thin threads hanging on her erect nipples were more erotic as they are made to twirl with the whirling motions of her mounds of beauty.

The tassels as well as pasties covering the buds of beauty was usually enough to keep the cops at bay, even though these tempting bits of silken threads or satin were far more sensual than a plain naked breast.

The strippers brought about the greatest sexual passion; how they were perfectly made in their flimsy silks and satins to the sight of the feverous viewers. They simulated in their lacey garments the rhythmic movement of copulation as their bare feet beat the sensual measure. How the desire flamed from their eyes and burst in hot gusts from their scarlet mouths that infected the very air with madness of passion.

The audience took their breathes in with excited ecstasy as the strippers’ fingers fondled their cunnus within the strip of cloth that barely covers the legality. Then their slim hands caressed their delectable body and the boys groaned in delight. And as an added thrill the dancers gripped the end of the stage curtain allowing the openness of her luscious thighs to slowly caress the heavy broadcloth. Then with a sly movement the strippers then turned with a naked back to the boundary of her ‘cheeks' in show; with a slow tempting movement the flimsy bra is removed and discarded. As they slowly turns to the panting faces the teasers deftly covers their 'twin orbs' with her slim hands, allowing a peek of pointed 'rosebuds'.

As they slide erotically across the stage they cup and fondles delectable 'didies' as an offering to the delighted audience. Then at a signal beat of a cymbal the strippers quickly leaves for the cover of the stage curtain returning momentarily to reveal ample and inviting boobs. Hooting catcalls are their applause as the lights dim."

(In the book Hot Strip Tease (1937) a passage is cited from the James T. Farrel's 'Studs Lonigan' where the hero has an orgasm while watching a shimmy dancer in a cheap American burlesque theater.)

Burlesque (Burla-mockery, Italian) from it early beginnings in the 1860,s was a 'honky-tonk' type of variety acts and bits, or comic sketches, mingled with musical numbers, featuring beautiful women and bawdy humor. A favorite comic sketch of that period was the clown and the pickpocket. 'A lovely pickpocket accosted the clown, dressed in baggy clothes. The delectable creature in an enticing costume came close to him in a provocative manner. Then one of her slim hands slipped into his pocket and wiggled about in search. Suddenly the lovely pulled back her hand, and let out a delightful scream, and fled from the stage. Then the jester faced the audience with a wide grin, shrugged his shoulders and laughingly called out, "Pockets, shmockets, who has pockets!"'. The comic retained his position in the burlesque until the introduction of striptease in the early 1930's.

Actually the first famous strip-tease dancer was Salome where she pranced in the 'dance of the seven veils' around the head of John the Baptist, served on silver platter. Legend never tells of the ogling eyes of King Herod and the elders when Salome dropped the seventh veil and bumped and ground her pelvic muscles with its temping offer of her vulva.

Even Lady Hamilton, the mistress of Lord Nelson, posed shamelessly in the altogether (with a light covering over her delicate parts) as Hygeia at the 'Temple of Hymen' on Pall Mall, a theater where the owner and gentile ladies would watch performances in the nude. (there were some clubs in Jolly England where gentlemen disrobed together with their female companions and took an orgiastic part in the performances.) The 1841 edition of 'The Swell's Night Guide through the Metropolis (London)' directed the admirers to such artistic performances (and of other entertainment where 'bubbies' twirled and the 'Venus Font' thrust in tempting erotic pleasure to the sight.)

It continued till 1959 when London became to be known as the Mecca of strip tease... until the Public Morality Council stepped in, which saw the closure of clubs featuring the art 'where a tempting brunette or blond, thrusting her hands in her strip of panties, kneading her ample bare bubbies, and prancing about in bumps nd grinds, all to the delight of gentlemen...'

Scandals galore followed the steps of striptease history. In 1908 the American dancer Isadora Duncan shocked the British public. Her costume, in her classical dances at the Duke of York theater, was a flowing tunic that left bare her unshaven auxiliary hair. Her partial emulation of Salome on the stage with the display of her ample buds of beauty caused consternation. Maud Allen, was another shocking American dancer whose costume was a wisp of chiffon on her satin smooth skin. And also in America, Sally Rand, the queen of burlesque, didn't require strips of costume for her seductive acts; a colored balloon that burst at the correct time served. Other members of royalty appeared with large peacock feathers, wide spread fans, etc...

The bluenoses in one American city were not titillated by the tempting offer of delectable flesh on the stage. The Boston police, under their instruction in the late 1960's, closed the Globe and Old Howard burlesque theaters. During the proceeding for the closure order, the investigating police detectives were asked by the judge why they had to visit the theaters many times. Their answer was that they were obliged to make quite certain the disrobing during the dancing wasn’t obscene, as it should have been performed 'in an artistic way.’

By the 1960s, hard core pornography became readily available. Men no longer needed strippers to feed their fantasies. The few remaining burlesque shows were campy soft-porn, with even the strippers aiming for "yocks."

An article in Esquire (July 1964) describes how then reigning Queen of Striptease, Blaze Starr played her strip for laughs. After one of her breasts "accidentally" bounced out of her costume: “Blaze tripped to the microphone. Looking down at her exposed breast, she said, "What are you doing out there, you gorgeous thing?" Then she covered herself. "You got to tell them they're pretty," she said; "it makes them grow" Then she flung herself on the couch and quickly stripped down to a transparent bra and black garter pants. She produced a power puff and asked rhetorically, "Who's going to powder my butt?"

Well, in this day and age, with shows like 'Oh Calcutta', one does not have to be tempted by the offering of delectable flesh by strip dancers. As on critic put it, "Excellent naked performance, delightful songs, but with one minor disturbing element, "The privates, privities and titties did not keep in step with the beat of the music."